1978: The Worst New Years Eve Ever!

Like many of you, I've had my fair share of memorable New Years Eve parties. Festive parties filled with gaiety and romance: the kind of parties that will burn forever brightly in my memory. Then there are those parties I wish I had never gone to; dull, unhappy affairs that sit in my stomach like a badly digested meal. That is what happened to to me in 1978. If I could have foreseen the events of that dreary, miserable evening, I would've opted to stay home instead.

That year, I had no particular plans for that night so my friend Tom and I decided we'd scare up a party somewhere. I arrived at Tom's house(actually it was Mom's house. The putz lived at home.) and Tom wasn't there. His Mom told me that he and his brother went out to a party, thus leaving me with no options but to scare up a party on my own. Not exactly an exciting prospect.

When I eventually asked Tom why he didn't call to tell me about his change of plans, he shrugged and replied," Oh well." What a swill, I mean swell, no I was right the first time; what a swill guy he is. You know, there's nothing like a good friend. And Tom was nothing like a good friend. He was inconsiderate, cheap and petulant. One time, a friend of his and the friends father invited Tom on a golf outing. The friends father paid for everything. Well, at one point during the golf game Tom disappeared, only to reappear a few moments later sucking on a can of soda without bothering to ask his friend or the father if they wanted one. When his friend asked," Why didn't you ask us if we wanted a soda?" Tom's snarky reply was," You didn't tell me you wanted a soda." What a dick! What a piece of shit!

So anyway, there I was driving down Kirkwood Highway in search of a party and I happened upon a bar called Tony G's. Since I didn't want to devote any more of my evening to driving around, I went in and paid the twenty five dollar cover charge. Unfortunately, Tony G's was a disco bar( the disco scene was still going full throttle at that period of time) and I wasn't a particular fan of this musical genre, but it was either that or meander aimlessly around the city in search of a good time. Beggars can't be choosers.

Luckily, I ran into some people I knew and they asked me to sit down at their table. So there I was, sitting at a table with two married couples while I was flying solo, but at least I'd wouldn't be by myself on New Years. I noticed a fetching red headed female wearing a low cut black dress sitting at the bar. I also couldn't help but notice the group of men vying for her attention. She obviously thought very well of herself as she shot down man after man. After deigning  to converse with these would be Casanova's for a moment or two, she'd shake her head and turn away from them; her way of saying," You're dismissed." The rejected suitor would slink away and another hopeful approached her seeking to meet with her approval.

Accompanying this woman was a rather dumpy brunette, who I later found out was her friend. In an interesting turn of events, the men the red headed vixen cast aside then in turn made a bee line for Miss Frumpty Dumpty, hoping desperately to make some sort of male/female connection that night. As I surmised in a previous post: Disco Donna and her Friend Fat Cathy, this attractive babe chose to hang out with a rather unattractive female because there would be no competition with the guys. Although, her rejects became her friends prospects, so I guess that's how it goes in the dating food chain.

The people I was hanging out with urged me to try my luck with the red head and I being a cocky, twenty four year old Lothario wanna be, went over to the bar to try to win her heart. The problem is, you have to have a heart to begin with and I'm positive she just didn't have one. I spoke with her for a few minutes before being summarily dismissed like the others. I wasn't at all interested in her dumpy friend, so I slinked back to my table in defeat. Had I been a few years older, I would have realized my chances with the red headed babe were zilch, zero, nada and therefore would not have bothered in the first place. Hey, I like a challenge, but I also know what a brick wall is and I don't enjoy beating my head against one.

My companions(who were regulars at Tony G's) told me that the red head's name was Cathy and that she did this all the time; rejecting every male who approached her until finding a man whom she considered to be good enough for her. Which meant that Cathy's dumpy friend Dawn was the happy recipient of the scraps and crumbs thrown her way by her picky, persnickety friend. They told me she was know as The Saucy Little Red Head At Tony G's(Cathy, if you happen to read this, the appellation was no compliment).

Then to add insult to injury, I finally met an enchanting women and thought she might be a romantic prospect .Perhaps this wouldn't be a waste of an evening after all. As we continued  getting to know each other, I found that the two of us had many things in common. Things seemed to be shaping up. Then the other shoe dropped; she was having one last night out on the town before taking her final vows to become a nun. I'm not kidding at all nor am I exaggerating in any way. It was one last gratuitous kick in the ass to round out a totally f***ed up New Years.

It was now after midnight and I'd had more than enough, so I tucked my tail between my legs and crawled away like the licked dog that I was and went home. All I needed to cap off this wretched evening was to have a bird fly over me and shit on my head. What a perfect way to ring in 1979!

As for Tom The Turd, I never saw him again until a few years ago. His first wife had divorced him and although he mentioned something about a court ordered anger management class, Tom didn't go into any detail. I wonder what was being that particular door? Anyway, he talked about getting married again because he wanted to have more children (he had a girl from his first marriage).The woman he was going to marry was someone we both knew when we worked for Delmar Photo back in the seventies, Dotty, who was like himself was in her mid fifties. Tom said they were both taking fertility drugs to increase their chances of having a child.

If I had liked the asshole, I would have wished him luck and left him in peace. But since I loathed the bastard, I was blunt and said that because of their age, having a child was a bad idea. First, since they both were in their mid fifties the chances of  having a child with Downs Syndrome extremely high. Second, Tom had a hatchet face, while Dotty was bucktoothed, knobby kneed with frizzy hair and dumb as shit. Even if the kid was spared Downs Syndrome, he or she would end up being hatchet faced, frizzy haired, knock kneed, bucked toothed and dumb as shit. Either way the kid was cursed. Tom snarled," Who cares what you think", gave me the finger and walked away. Oh well, some people can't handle the truth.

My First interview: P.J. Soles

In 1983 I was recruited by Bill George to do several interviews for his book, Eroticism in The Fantasy Cinema. One of the actresses he wanted me to interview was P.J. Soles who had been rapidly making a name for herself by appearing in high profile movies such as Carrie, Halloween, Private Benjamin and Stripes. I was very excited that my first interview would be with an up and coming actress!

Now, in those days, you called up The Screen Actors Guild directory for either the actors home number or their agents business number. You were allowed to request three phone numbers per call. If you needed more, you had to call them back the following day. And even when you contacted the actor or their agent, it was no slam dunk that they would consent to an interview.

One agent in particular was quite nasty to me and said in no uncertain terms that her client was in no way interested in talking to me. The actress was Celeste Yarnell, a minor B movie starlet whose film and TV credits you could list on a napkin and still have room. You'd  have thought the agent would have been tickled to death that someone wanted to interview her client for a book. Instead, this woman practically handed me my head. Someone once said to me, "If you want to break your mother's heart, become an agent."

P.J. Soles agent, in contrast was very pleasant, extremely co-operative and we arranged for an over the phone interview. As it happened, on that day of the interview I was in the shower getting ready for my job as  manager/projectionist of a movie theatre. As soon as I heard the phone ring, I jumped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around myself and answered the phone. It was P.J. Soles cheerful voice on the other end. Undaunted and eager to talk to her, I simply turned on the tape recorder and conducted the following interview dripping wet and wearing only a towel(my then wife was rather perturbed when she came home to discover that the dining room chair was damp.). Since that time, I've conducted all of my interviews fully clothed and completely dry.







JV: Was the movie Blood Bath your first acting role?

PJS: No, I was never in that. Carrie was my first film.

JV: Because, incredibly enough, your name is in the end credits.

PJS: Blood Bath? I've never even heard of it.

JV: It was made by a New York filmmaker named Joel Reed. I heard that you did a partial nude scene in the film but it was cut out.

PJS: I don't know the movie or the guy. That's weird.

JV: You did your first erotic scene in Halloween, is that correct?

PJS: Actually, there was a brief scene in Carrie, in the shower but I wore a towel. Everybody else was nude but me. At that point, I didn't really want to do it.

JV: How do you feel about doing nude scenes or scenes that contain eroticism?

PJS: I think that if they are important to the film or they're nicely done, I think they're okay. Like in Halloween, I thought it was kind of cute because they were teenage characters. I really like the scene where the guy comes back up the stairs and you know it's him. I just thought that was a real cute scene the way I was trying to con him back into bed and he ends up killing me. You really didn't see that much.

JV: Are there any kind of scenes you'll refuse to do that are in your contract?

PJS: No, because I pretty much always know what it's going to entail before I sign it.

JV: Some actresses have a clause in their contract stating what kind of scenes they will or will not do.

PJS: But you sign a contract based on the script you're given. If there's nothing in the script, there's no problem.

JV: Have you ever been in any movie where the director or the producer, all of the sudden, out of the clear blue sky has said," Let's do this" and you didn't agree with it ?

PJS: No. In fact, in Stripes, Bill Murray and I had sort of a love scene that was cut out because they said it was too realistic and it looked like suddenly we were watching another movie. But we had a good time shooting that. That was a very romantic love scene. We were drinking champagne and Bill was doing push ups against the bed. It was really a cute scene.

JV:  With the women's movement claiming that horror films degrade women and show them as sex objects, how do you feel about the horror films you've done?

PJS: The ones that I've been in, Carrie and Halloween, both were sort of trend setters.  I'm actually very proud of them.

JV: You were in a movie called The Possessed. What was that about?

PJS: That was so long ago I can't tell you.(laughs) I had a minor role in that. Actually, what's his name was in it. He's famous as the guy in Raiders of The Lost Ark.

JV: Harrison Ford?

PJS: Yes, Harrison Ford was in it, even. So, that's how old it was. It was a television movie. He was one of the teachers of this girls school that's possessed and he's having a battle with all of the students. It's sort of like The Exorcist. I mean, it's not a great film. It's not one of those movies you'd try to find if it comes on TV.

JV: Or even if it's on TV at four in the morning, right?

PJS: Well, then you might have to watch it. (laughs)

JV:  Can you tell us about a new film you've done? I believe it's a horror film?

PJS: I did do a film in Australia. It's called Innocent Prey. When I first read the script, I really liked it and wanted to work with the Australian people. But since I've seen it, I think it's a little strange and probably something I don't want to do ever again. But it was a leading role and I liked the Australian people very much. It was basically about a young Texas girl who marries the wrong kind of guy. He has this passion for killing prostitutes after he's slept with them. His wife discovers this and turns him into the cops. He breaks out of jail and tries to get her. She goes to Australia with her girlfriend so she can be as far away as possible from this guy. And he, of course, follows her there and he traces what happens to her in Australia. He ends up dying and she falls for another guy who turns out to be the same kind of criminal. Innocent Prey being that it seems there could be habitual criminals out there and there could be habitual victims.

JV: So, you wouldn't call it a horror film, exactly?

PJS: Well,it's a thriller/chiller ,but there are some horrific moments in it. Their attempt at making an Australian Halloween. That's why they wanted me in it. So,it is a horror film, but it's not very bloody or gory. Originally, it was going to be for television.

                                    


JV: How do you personally feel about horror films?

PJS: I never go to see them.(laughs) I just saw Tarzan last night and I thought that was scary. I thought because my first movie was Carrie and it was a big success,that's why John Carpenter wanted me for Halloween. And after that, The Possession, which like I said was a small movie, but because they saw me in Carrie,they wanted me for that. So, in terms of casting people, they're never especially creative. But they always think," Who was in a horror film? Let's cast them. And if they're available,then let's get them." At this point, I don't want it to be a trend and I don't think it will be because I've done Private Benjamin and Stripes. After doing the one in Australia, after getting married again and having a baby,I realize that I've probably done enough. So, three or four is enough.

JV: Would Rock and Roll High School be considered a fantasy film?

PJS: Yeah, a fantasy and cult film.

JV: About that, New World Pictures is noted for it's exploitation values. Did you find that they attempted to put a lot of  exploitation,such as gratuitous nudity, into the film?

PJS: Rock and Roll High School had to stay pretty clean because they wanted the general audiences of kids. They did have this scene of me smoking pot on the bed and having a fantasy that The Ramones are playing in my bedroom. I'm taking my clothes off and I go to take a shower. I remember they wanted that scene more nude, but I kept my bra on in the shower when the shot was done. It was exploitative enough that they were shooting it for two hundred thousand dollars in four weeks. I've never run across especially lecherous directors. I've heard stories where people have,but in my case I've really never have come across that. Every one's been pretty considerate. Even in Private Benjamin I did sort of a nude scene. They pretty much go with what the actress wants.

JV: In other words, they don't try to cajole you into doing a nude scene by saying," We gotta do this to sell the movie?

PJS: Never. Never. Even in Carrie when everybody else in the opening shower scene was nude, that was up to the individual actress how she wanted to do it. Because I said to Brian De Palma," I want to keep my towel on."Amy Irving said," I want to keep my panties and bra on." But there's always people who are willing to do it.

JV: Let's say there were horror film producers coming up to you and offering to make you the next
Jamie Lee Curtis. Why would you refuse?

PJS: Well, like I said before, I think I've done enough of them. And they're not extremely productive movies except as a box office smash. I've been in enough box office hits where I have a certain amount of credibility and I really don't need to do that. It's not necessary and it's not terrifically productive.

       

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                                                                                   

Linnea Quigley Interview

                    

Linnea with director and friend David DeCoteau

In the 1980's, a new crop of screen queens, Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer and Debra Lamb(to name a few) became the darlings of the burgeoning direct to video horror film market. Unlike their earlier counterparts like Fay Wray, Evelyn Ankers, Beverly Garland and Hazel Court, these ladies had no qualms about flaunting their bodies in various stages of undress much to the delight of the male horror fans. The films may not have approached high art on any level, but they entertained fans and made money for the video companies that released them.

Linnea has been acting continually in horror films( as well as some non horror movies) since her debut in Psycho from Texas in 1975. She also acted in Silent Night, Deadly Night; a film that garnered quite a bit of controversy because it depicted Santa Claus as a horror movie character. The movie went so far as to become a topic discussed on the Phil Donahue show  because of it's controversial theme.

Despite the usual, short career span of a typical screen queen, Linnea is still in the business as busy as ever as an actress and has even worn the hat of producer on several film projects. This woman has no intention of slowing down. And although in the new millennium the most current and hip term for horror film actresses is Horror Hotties, don't say that to Linnea. She still proudly considers herself to be a Scream Queen.

JV:  Linnea, let's start by talking about Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues from Hell. How did you get involved with the film?

LQ:  I got a call from Dan Kaminski, who I've known forever. He was getting a couple people to introduce some films and I tried to get people,too. I happened to know some people that had a video camera because I was in Florida, he was in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. So, I did a wrap around and was trying to get people to do some and a lot of them flaked. I talked about Psycho from Texas, which I did in the very beginning of my career. Dan's got, like, a million really cool names in it doing the wrap arounds and it's grown into something really big now.

JV: Out of all of the films you've done in your career, what would be the one you'd want to be most remembered for?

LQ:  I would say Return of The Living Dead. That has all the elements and it was just one of those perfect times when everything aligned; the cast, the crew, the music, just everything. It just worked.It's got all the elements of something kind of spooky happening and something that could happen.And the comedy of when something like that would happen how people might react, because there's not much difference between horror and comedy. You act pretty stupid when you're scared.

JV:  You did a non horror film at one point called Treasure of The Moon Goddess. Did you think it would be the big breakout hit for you?

LQ:  Yeah, I really did because it was like a Disney PG 13 film. We were filming in Mexico, we were filming in the Philippines and I thought it would really be good. It's a fun little film to watch. It just didn't get pushed.

JV: During this period in your career, I understand your agent was touting you as the low budget Meg Ryan. Did that give your acting career an upswing?

LQ: I think it did. I was doing cameo's in John Landis films and things like that. But I never got a solid part in an A movie, like a co-starring or leading part, unfortunately.

JV: Since you're now living in Florida, are you acting in local films?

LQ:  I've done some in Florida, but I've also done some in LA. I just got back from doing one in LA called The Trouble with Barry, which is a comedy horror film and Disciples which I co-produced.It's got Angus Scrim, Tony Todd, Bill Mosley, Brinke Stevens; a huge crew. I mean, cast and everything. It looks really super. We had some great locations in Florida and in LA. I talked to the director and he's got a couple on the shelf right now. He going to get them totally finished and out there. It was great seeing Debra again(Debra Lamb) because she disappeared for a while. She's back and she's back with a vengeance, I tell you.

JV:  Let me ask you a question I posed to her in a recent interview,how do you feel about doing nudity in movies?

LQ: Kind of like going to the doctor,you don't really want to but....(laughter) I really haven't been called to do that for a long,long time because I've had some pretty good parts and I've gone from the ingenue to the mother roles.It's really not needed so much. Now, I can look back and go," Oh God,somebody else can do it." Like, I just did Girls Gone Dead and I play a crazy Australian bartender. That was really fun. It's like a change going from the ingenue,I had to do those parts,to playing mothers,psychics,Gypsy's and stuff;which are more substantial parts. Like,I did Demonica, which is demons on skates.I played a gypsy in that.I did a short called Stella Buio.I played a psychic in that,a scam psychic. But I'm still a psychic.

JV:  I see that your latest film is called Crazy Fat Ethel.

LQ: Oh yeah. Now that hasn't started yet. They're still waiting for funds. So hopefully that will happen.

JV: You said you were a member of the Screen Actors Guild. If you're caught working on a non SAG film,are there any repercussions?

LQ:  I've been caught a couple of times. They fine you,like,a thousand dollars. The second time they fined me another thousand dollars and they made me go to a first members meeting which was horrible.(laughs) That was like torture.

JV: What is a first members meeting, if I can ask?

LQ: It's just all," Yay SAG. Don't ever do anything non SAG".(laughter) It's like a big pep rally for SAG who actually screwed me on Savage Streets. So I really don't feel an endearment to them, because they don't really protect you and they don't get you work.

JV: Talking about Savage Streets for a minute, that was the film with Linda Blair, right?

LQ: Yeah. I was just in Canada where they showed it on the big screen and they had The Scars there,the guys who played the bad asses. It was interesting 'cause I'd seen them briefly in LA about four months before and it was just so weird to see how people had changed and not changed. They sent a script to Tarantino(Quinton Tarantino) of a remake, or a continuation of Savage Streets,actually.Which we hope happens because we'd all be in it, but grown up. When I was doing the film,they had cast Cherie Curry(the singer for the Runaways)and on the very last day of rehearsals in walks Linda Blair and I nearly died because I thought she was this huge,big star. I'm like," I'm playing her sister.Oh my God,they're going to fire me."Because we were the same age,the same height. I had blonde hair and light eyes and she had the darker hair and they went through a firing spree,so I was terrified. But I made it, luckily.

JV: You told me before the interview that you had a problem on that film. Can you elaborate on that ?

LQ: Yeah, they stopped filming for money reasons about halfway through and when you wait,according to SAG, my manager called, I called and you let them know you're still working on the film. But you're on hold,which means you can't change your appearance,you can't take something that might conflict with the schedule,so they pay you a certain amount and I was owed  about five thousand. And the SAG representative, when we started in again,came on set and said," Okey,you guys are gonna get your five thousand." That was a lot back then. I was like,' Yay, oh good!" The guy just turned to me and said," Well,you're not gonna get it." I said," What? My manager called every day." " Well, we don't remember any of that." So after that, I did not have any respect for SAG. They said," Just be glad this movie's being made." I thought," What? Who's side are you on? "

JV:  We talked about your favorite film. Looking back, which film is your least favorite?

LQ:  Oh boy, I hate to hurt peoples feelings, but probably Animals. That was probably my least favorite film.

JV: When was that filmed?

LQ: That was before I moved to Florida. I was in LA flew to Florida to do it and it was the very first shot on video thing I'd done. I wasn't expecting it to be video and it was probably 1998, I would guess. That was probably my least favorite.

JV: You make a lot of appearances at horror film conventions. What is your favorite thing about doing conventions?

LQ: Meeting the really nice fans. Ones that really get into the movies. Like the last one in Canada,people were coming up that weren't even born when my movies were made. But they were just,very,very enthusiastic about these movies and that made me feel good. Most kids are into video and what's new out there. So it was really nice.

JV: When I interviewed Debra Lamb, she was talking about producing and directing some film projects. Have you ever produced any other films besides Disciples?

LQ: Yes, like on a lot of David De Coteau's films and as I mentioned before, Joe Hollows Disciples.

JV: What goes into producing a film?

LQ: Oh my gosh, you wear a lot of hats. From everything to helping get and secure locations, your friendships with different actors, getting them in the film, fixing problems that happen during filming so other people aren't aware of them and it can go smoothly. You wear a lot of hats when you do that.

JV: Is that a good thing?

LQ: Yeah, it makes it more interesting. And just reading actors and making decisions; that kind of thing. It keeps you busy. And you can see what goes on by being behind the scenes. Also getting PR going. When I was in LA I could easily do that. I got TV Guide Channel to do something on  The Trouble with  Barry and that's going to air pretty soon. It's an interesting job to do.

JV: Are there any future projects that you'd like to talk about?

LQ: Well, Celluloid Bloodbath is coming out Oct 9. That's the one we talked about where I do a wrap around. That's going to be really fun to watch and bring back a lot of memories for people. I just did a YouTube thing if anybody wants to watch it. It's Girls Gone Dead movie website. They're doing a give a way of winning my hat and a DVD. Girls Gone Dead is a really good film. It's reminiscent of the 80's films. Cougar Cult:1313 is a fun little David De Coteau film. A little different than his other films that I did with him, but it did bring Brinke, Michelle and I together. Demonica, which is demons on skates is gonna be out soon and I play a gypsy in that. That'll be fun. So I 've been really active. Which is good.

JV: These days, it's seems that the term Scream Queen has been replaced by Horror Hotties. Which title do you prefer?

LQ: I think Scream Queens. I think there's a difference between the two. I think Scream Queens have a long past, really love what they do and the people love them for what they do. The Horror Hotties are just girls that  kind of show a lot of skin and  run around. You've gotta have a good reputation and get in there and really blast them with your scream.

Interview With Debra Lamb

A casual observer might take a quick glance at Debra Lamb's career and assume she was a B movie actress with only a handful of films to her credit.That person might also make the assumption that she eventually quit acting,got married and settled down to live a life outside of the entertainment industry. Which is exactly the assumption I arrived at. In fact, when I contacted Debra to arrange for an interview with her, she said to me at one point during our conversation,when I confessed to being familiar with her only through her films roles ,"You know nothing about me."

Sadly,she was right. Before our interview, I rectified the situation by doing a bit  a of research and discovered that Debra is more than an actress. She is a creative force to be reckoned with. As a child she performed ballet at the Portland Rose Gardens(in her home state of Oregon), and wrote,as well as illustrated, several children's stories. Debra also made a collection of puppets and  built a stage where she could put on plays.


Currently, when Debra isn't acting, she's writing for Dark Beauty and Tastes of San Jose Magazine. Debra has also built her own website by herself. If that isn't enough on her already full plate, she is a psychic, clairvoyant and spiritual counselor.Then add to Debra's list of accomplishments that of being a trained fire eater. Talk about having ambition! So, don't try to pigeon hole Debra by labeling her "an actress". She's much more than that; she's a renaissance women with an enthusiastic and bubbly personality to match.

JV:  Debra, you took a fifteen year hiatus from acting. What was the reason?

DL:  Well, it's pretty simple. I was doing my thing, making those low budget B horror movies and I was also doing some very,very good student films. I did a couple at U.C.L.A and U.S.C and they were quite good. So, I'm  going along  and I had one relationship that I was in since I was nineteen years old. I was with that person about twelve years and the relationship ended finally. It should have ended six years before that. A little late, but it finally died.(laughter)  I started dating somebody who I thought was kind of a good match for me and I kind of  got sucked in. I got sucked into the black hole!(laughter)

JV: Oh my God, the black hole!

DL: The black hole and death! Oh my God! This person who in the beginning,of course, was very excited and enjoyed my acting endeavors became a very controlling person. I just ended up getting completely out of acting and not because I didn't love it, but just circumstances. I kinda ended up moving around with this person and I ended up in the Bay area. It was all those years that I was married to my ex-husband. I was with him a total of nine years. During that time, since I wasn't acting, I had regular jobs. And I did finally get a divorce. Then I met somebody else who's wonderful,who I'm now married to. He just loves this whole acting thing;loves it that I'm doing what I love again. But how I actually got back into acting,it's funny,I had been working these regular jobs, demanding,stressful jobs like most people have. I was really suffering from depression. I was depressed a lot at just the thought of working at where I was working for the rest of my life just pretty much made me want to shoot myself in the head. I'm like,"Oh,God, if this is what it's going to be for the rest of my life,just kill me now!" (laughter) I was talking to my husband about it and I was saying," You know, I have to do something. I have to change something. Something must change or I'm going to just die". I was thinking," Okey,what would I want to do? There's only two things that I really,really love: one thing is psychic stuff, new age kind of stuff,crystal healing and all that kind of stuff is one thing that I really love. I had been doing that since I was in my twenties. And the other thing was acting;that's my love along with dancing. I was like,"Well, I have a full time job. I can't just run out and be an actress. I have to work. I can't go to auditions. I don't have the time to actually pursue it."  I thought," But I can get back into all my psychic stuff that I love."  I got back into it and picked up on my studies and just worked on that. I started doing readings and put together a website. I was still working,but at least I had that. I got on Facebook and set it up, and as every body does,they search out their friends and people that they lost contact with from the past;so after my obvious, immediate friends I started thinking,' I wonder whatever happened to this person. I wonder whatever happened to that person." You know, my acting friends;people like Brinke Stevens and Linnea Quigley.People that I used to know. The more people that I got in touch with,it was great fun. Then I started getting people who were actual fans. I'm like," Wow,people know who I'am." After some time of being on Facebook, eventually I started getting people who were fans of mine from my movies in the 80's and 90's,but who are now filmmakers themselves.  I started getting people offering me roles, people sending me scripts and eventually it lead to a very prominent role in Joe Hollow's " Disciples". Have you had a chance to see it online?

JV: No I haven't. On the IMDb website it said the film was in post production,so I didn't know if was out yet or not.

DL:  No, there doing the finishing touches on the film. So, it's not out yet. But ,there is a trailer on YouTube and if you go to the website, you can find the trailer on the website. Anyway, it's got Angus Scrim,the tall man from Phantasm. It's got Tony Todd,Bill Mosely, Camden Toy,if you know who that is.

JV: I've heard of the name, it's just not ringing any bells right now.

DL: Right. Right. You might remember his face. There's Linnea Quigley, Brinke Stevens; a ton of people.

JV: I understand you were in Robocop and Planes,Trains and Automobiles,but your part was cut out.

DL: I was!(laughs) That sucked!

JV: I bet it did.

DL:  Wouldn't it be great if my scenes hadn't been cut in Robocop?  I love Robocop. I was in the commercial where the guy would say," I'd buy that for a dollar." They actually filmed more than one commercial, they filmed a handful.  How cool was it,though that even though I got cut out of the film,I worked with Paul Verhoeven. Anyways, I'm standing there while they were setting up and doing the lights. I'm juggling this pizza dough in between the takes. And he (Verhoeven)says," Oh, I like that. Do that." So, you see me juggling pizza dough. It is hard to find,but it is on the Internet somewhere of me. Oh, and I'm topless. That's fun. I'm happily juggling pizza dough topless with a chef''s hat on. Somebody sent it to me,like,about six months ago and I'm like," Oh my God"!,'cause I'm so young. I'm like," I'm adorable." In Trains,Planes and Automobiles, I'm on the set with Steve Martin and John Candy and of course John Hughes. The scene I was in was taking place in a strip joint that John Candy and Steve Martin comes in after their car blows up. And  they come in to use the phone and John Candy gets sidetracked and enthralled with the dancers. And so John Hughes needed somebody to do a scene with John Candy and Steve Martin and they chose me. We were doing this really,really funny scene and it was all improv and everybody was loving it. It involved me and John Candy doing this really silly banter, then Steve Martin comes over and I give Steve Martin a hard time and then they leave,and then that's the scene. I'm invited to a screening on the Paramount lot. I get there and I'm handed a cast and crew card that has everybody's name on it and my name's on it,so I'm like," Oh,yay!" Then I get inside and seated right behind me was one of the editors who had worked on the film and he was very excited and said," Oh, I recognize you. You were so funny." He was excited for me because he said it was such a good scene. But then, when we watched the movie and here's where my scene was supposed to happen, it comes and goes and then of course it's not in there. After the film was over, the editor who was behind me said," Oh I'm so sorry. I didn't know they cut it out. It's too bad 'cause it was really a good scene." And of course, I cried in the parking lot because that was like my first big thing that I had done.In fact, that's how I was able to join SAG(Screen Actors Guild)was because of that film. Those were my two sad things that I got cut out of,but I was in Wild At Heart and in Point Break. Point Break,of course, is on TV all the time, so that's cool. You can see me fire eating in Point Break.

JV: You were telling me the reason they cut your scene from Trains, Planes and Automobiles was because it was a Holiday movie.

DL: Yeah, don't you think? Maybe they thought that a Thanksgiving/Christmas movie didn't need gratuitous nudity. I don't know. I always assumed that they just cut it out because they didn't want to show these sexy girls walking around without any tops on. But gee, what kind of holiday is it without half naked girls?

JV: I know, naked breasts make the holidays. I've said that time and time again to all my friends. Which leads me to my next question, how do you feel about doing nudity in films?

DL: Oh gee. Hmmm...(laughs)

JV: I mean do you do it reluctantly or is it something you have no problem with?

DL: I am a free spirit. I've always been a free spirit. I have a tendency-I shouldn't be sharing this- but I have this habit of if I start drinking I tend to want to take my clothes off. Which I really have to stop doing in public.(laughter) No, I'm kidding.

JV: Gee and I was going to fly all the way up there to see it. I was going to pay for the drinks,as a matter of fact.

DL: I was a dancer from when I was seven to fourteen. I took ballet and then I took all sorts of dance after that; jazz and all these different types of dancing and I was doing a lot of theatre productions.You change your clothes and everybody would be just rushing to change and it didn't matter who was around. I used to change my clothes in the car from school while my Mom was driving on the way between school and my ballet class. I just changed my clothes in the car; I really didn't care and that's when I was a kid.  When I was a young actress just stating out, I did do a couple of modest, nude layouts. And then I decided going that route was not for me,but I didn't have a problem with the nudity. When I was getting film work, a lot of it was topless;there would be topless scenes. I didn't mind that so much,but it started getting to the point where people were offering me roles just as the gratuitous topless scene. So, I really had to put my foot down and let people know," It's not that I mind nudity,but I'm really going to have to turn down these roles. They're not really roles they're just me being topless. I 'm gonna have to turn that stuff down. Actually, things really slowed down there for a while. I was actually turning down a lot of work. But I knew in order to get to the next step, that if I continued to accept that work,that's all I would be offered. I stopped doing it.Finally, I had some opportunities to have larger roles in films that I thought was a step up. There was for the most part still some nudity, but the roles were much better. I don't have a problem with nudity.In Disciples, that I just did this year, I have a lot of scenes where I'm topless and I still don't have a problem with it.







JV: I understand that you are a fire eater?  How did you learn to do this?

DL:Well, it takes a little chutzpah. But how I learned it was,a friend of mine who is a magician's assistant, the magician's name was William The Wizard, I think. He performed a lot at the Magic Castle. Part of the show involved pyrotechnics and she(the magician's assistant)did some fire eating for the act, so she taught me how to do it. She was no longer still doing the act;that was when she was younger. But she taught me how to fire eat and of course I was doing stage performances.  I incorporated it into my performances as well as my film work. You can see me eating fire in Point Break and Wild At Heart, which Wild At Heart's not on TV a lot, but Point Break is on a lot, so most of the people I know have seen me in Point Break many times for those two seconds;you can't blink.It's right at the scene where Keanu Reeves character goes to the Patrick Swayze's character's house for a beach party and he goes with Lori Petty. It's right at the very second they arrive inside the beach house and I spit fire right on their faces. In fact, after I did it, I had to do it a couple of times for the takes and they were saying," Wow! How do you do that?" I said ," Very carefully." I also fire eat in Deathrow Gameshow. I play Shanna Shallow the game show hostess. This is one of my earlier films and you'll see me spit fire in that.

JV: I saw on IMDb that one of you recent film projects called The G String Horror has been completed.

DL: Yes, they're going to be entering into a series of film festivals and I've become real good friends with the film maker Charles Webb and his wife; they're really cool people and really interesting. They have so many great stories. They reside in San Francisco and the building we filmed in is a building called The Market Street Cinema. It's a historic building and it just celebrated it's 100th year, I believe. Part of the building is being used as a Gentleman's Club, but the interior is really cool and there's a whole back section out of view from the public that's behind. They're only using the front half of the building and behind that, where the second half, is blocked off, is this really old, dilapidated, perfect for a horror movie setting, where the actual,original stage is back there from the Vaudeville days. They used to have Vaudeville shows there. The history of the building is amazing. In fact, how I got involved in doing the film was because of my psychic work. They contacted me because they wanted to me to go do a reading on the building and see what I picked up on in the building. That's how I first met Charles was through that, he wanted me to come in as a psychic. The film is half documentary/half horror film. It's not a regular horror film where it's a horror film throughout. You've got a lot of chunks that are actual documentary footage, where he's interviewing a lot of people who experienced a lot of paranormal activity in the building. I did a reading through the building which has been made part of the film. He also has a bonus feature that will be available at the end of the film where you see a little bit more of the reading I do on the building.  I picked up on all sorts of things; you know, fires and things like that. So it's a very interesting film. We'll see what happens. I've seen an almost completed version. I think they were still putting the finishing touches on it. We're going to show it around at some festivals and see what happens.

JV: Of course,we have to get up to speed here and talk about Celluloid Bloodbath. How did you get involved with that film?

DL: Oh, yes! Jim Murray,who was a very big part of the film, he was one of the producers and was one of the major editors on the film,he contacted me and we were friends on Facebook; he contacted me and asked if I'd be interested and he told me what it was. I was like," Oh,I love it. That's great. I'd love to be a part of it." He had a list of different films that would be featured as far as the clips and the movie trailers. He had different people,celebrities and horror characters comment on the different films. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I had seen a lot of the films that are being included in Celluloid Bloodbath,so I had a lot of fun making comments on some of my favorite old time horror flicks.

JV:  Are there any future projects you'd like to talk about?

DL: Again,just to reiterate,Disciples will be coming out. Now that one I'm really,really excited about. It's got all these classic horror genre actors in it. It's going to be very exciting to see what happens with that. And again, the director is Joe Hollow.Now, Joe and I have become very good friends and I was actually co-executive producer on Disciples. We have some other projects that we're developing right now. We have some ones that we're co-producing, but there's this other film that he wrote last year,which we'll be filming next year. It's called Cannibals. We're going to be doing that next year. We're still in the early developments of that. But there's a couple other films that we're developing right now which we hope to do spring/summer of next year.I have some other projects with some other people I'm working with. One of which is a paranormal show and I'm in the developing stages of that. I write for Dark Beauty magazine. I've been writing for them since 2010. So, that keeps me busy,too.

Meet The Men Behind Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues From Hell

From left to right: Fred Pomerleau, Dan Kaminski, Jim Murray,Happy The Zombie,April Burril,Jim Monaco,Chris Monaco





Ever wonder what it takes to make a video from conception to the finished product? Well, just talk to the creative nucleus behind such a project and you'll discover the nuts and bolts of  film production. Which is exactly what I, your intrepid reporter, did recently on a Saturday afternoon at a diner in Springfield, Pa.

I sat down with Jim Murray, Dan Kaminski, Fred  Pomerleau, Anthony Bruno and ventriloquist Nick Pawlow at the Springfield Diner for lunch and to gain some insight into the making of Celluloid Bath: More Prevues From Hell. Because I've known both Jim and Dan for more than a few years ,the meeting was more of a spirited conversation ranging from their latest video endeavor to our favorite films than an actual interview. At one point during our lunch, a total stranger came up to us(obviously a regular at the diner) to regale us with a joke. Such was the jovial atmosphere on that Saturday afternoon.

Since the interview, Celluloid Bloodbath has garnered both critical and commercial success. The audience response had been nothing short of tremendous. The blood, sweat and tears these guys shed to bring their idea to life  has proven to be well worth the effort. Kudos to them for a job well done. And if you haven't seen Celluloid Bloodbath yet, what in the hell are you waiting for?




JV: Let me start by asking you what was the inspiration for Celluloid Bloodbath?

Jim Murray:  The inspiration for this was money.(laughter) No, we just wanted to do a sequel and initially we were going to do one that was going to be twenty years later and the zombies were still in the theatre. The fact that they're renovating the theater(The Lansdowne) now, the theater is basically in the same condition it was when we shot the film in 1987. So we were still going to have the zombies still in there ,but we were going to have the makeup crew and guys making up zombies again. We weren't going to get the good deal that Jordu Schell( whose most recent credits include working as a designer on movies like Avatar and Cowboys and Aliens, among many other projects.) gave us in 1987,which was $400.00 to do a theatre full of zombies plus the effects. So Nick(ventriloquist/ comedian Nick Pawlow) one day came up with the idea ,"Let's get John Zacherle in the film." Then me and Danny were talking and it was like the light bulb went off in our heads," Let's get actors and people we know from conventions to introduce the trailers." And the idea was born. We put together an idea of who we were trying to get between conventions and Face book and we just started knocking them out. As soon as I got in touch with people, most of the people said they would do it. A lot of them did it for nothing, some of them did it for a ridiculously low amount of money; going up to Caroline Munro and asking her if she'll introduce Psycho's. She wanted fifty bucks.

JV:  Did this film cost more to make than Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell?

Jim Murray: Prevues from Hell cost me $13,000, this cost me $8,600. I was calling in a lot of favors. We got lucky. A lot of people did their bits for nothing and I just squeezed every dime out of the money I had to use. And we got it done. I had a lot of help, a lot of these guys helped out. Anthony  (film editor Anthony Bruno) came in and took over with the editing and then did the close captioning which we would have had to pay for if he didn't do it. So a lot of people chipped in and we were able to bring it in for a really low amount.

JV: If I may ask, how many units of the DVDs did Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell sell?

Jim Murray: I don't know. We're trying to get that info from Virgil Films, so I can't give you that info right now. The video tapes we made were a thousand. There's only a half a dozen left. So figure there's a thousand VHS's out there.

Dan Kaminski: How many bootlegs?

Jim Murray: Bootlegs I don't know. We ran into a lot of those at conventions. And it was cool because I got to the point where I was bringing my copyright papers with me to show them, with my drivers license and say," Hey you're selling my film" and I loved doing that. I'd go up to the table, I'd show the guy the paper work and they'd hand me all the disks. It's like," I feel so official".(laughter)

JV : Like George Lucas, right?

Jim Murray:( laughs)Yeah, right. Or more like Frank Sinatra. You remember the stories about him? Going to conventions and just grabbing posters off of peoples tables saying," That's my film." Because all those films he did he owned. He figured he owned the paper material, too. He didn't want anyone making money and him not getting a cut of it, I guess.

JV: Nick, tell me about the origins of your creation Happy The Zombie.

Nick Pawlow: I started doing stand up comedy about 1985 and I was doing an act where I was doing impressions, working with props; it was pretty much of a scatter brain act. It had no beginning, it had no end and I wanted to stand out from the other comics in the crowd,so I decided, "Well, wouldn't it be fun to  just have a ventriloquist act?" So I had an old rubber zombie head that I made years ago, made a body for it, went to the library, got a couple books on ventriloquism, a couple of weeks later there I am on stage with a zombie puppet. It was kind of crude; a really, really bad act actually. One of the effects I had was one of the eyes would pop out and the act scored big. The owner of the club said," Get rid of your regular act with the props, focus on this because it's unique and original" and that's how Happy The Zombie got started. What happened, I did that act for about a year and a half or so when Jim contacted me about working on Prevues from Hell. Jim and I both agreed that the Happy puppet I that had was kind of  tacky looking, not really scary, so we decided if we're going to do this video to maybe get Happy redone for more like a polished look, more of a scary look, more of a professional look. When we started putting everything together luckily we found Jodu Schell and he's the one who designed the puppet. The one that you see in both Prevues from Hell and Celluloid Bloodbath is what a call The Green Happy. The character's remained the same, the voice has remained the same; it's just that the puppet has a different look to it. When I do my regular stand up act it's the old style puppet. The green puppet didn't really score well with audiences. It was too scary actually.

JV: How does one go about finding trailers, especially the trailer to a film like Alabama's Ghost, which is a pretty obscure movie?

Jim Murray: Trailers were difficult. We started out with Fred's collection( associate producer Fred Pomerleau) and his collection was basically TV spots which would have been 60 second and 30 second spots. What did that run ,like about thirty five minutes?

Fred Pomerleau: Yeah, like a half hour; around there.

Jim Murray: A little bit better than a half an hour and it wasn't enough. We could've padded out a lot of interviews, but there wouldn't have been enough trailers. So I was wracking my brain trying to figure out who still had trailers left; all the collectors I've known over the years. And apparently there was nobody. The only guy I know that physically had the trailers was Mad Ron and since he's not part of this project, it wasn't an option. I had to use my brain a little bit and decided to contact George Stover to see if he still had the film from the trailers I knew he was selling on VHS and he said no he had sold them all. But, he still had the three quarter inch master tapes. So I'm like," It'll probably work with those." He sent me a few and we tried it. He sent us the mini DV tapes made off of a quarter inch and they looked like shit.

Dan Kaminski: Actually, they weren't bad, but it was the digital part. They were so digitized that you could see all the lines and things like that. But it I guess everyone that buys it from him doesn't care,they just want the trailers. We wanted something maybe a little bit better. We just didn't want to use 'em. That's when you went to get the three quarter inch tapes.

Jim Murray: So,we ended up getting the whole collection of tapes which was twenty five. Anthony and I went through them all, pulled out the ones I wanted to use and got 'em transferred. And then in the editing process, Anthony, do you want to take over as far as the color correction?

Anthony Bruno: After Jim chose which ones we were going to use, I was using Avid and Danny was using Final Cut. I used Avid to color correct all the trailers. Actually most of the film was color corrected through Avid Media Composer. We tried our best to get a lot of the scratches out of it and tried to clean them up a little bit. I mean, it was quite a tedious process ,but I think we did a pretty good job of cleaning the trailers up. I mean, we're happy with it.

JV: If someone else wanted to do a similar trailer compilation tape would you recommend it as a money maker?

Jim Murray: That's a touchy question. There are a lot of compilations out there like 42nd Street Forever and of course our original film. It's just a matter of whether or not you can come up a decent enough selection of trailers that might not have been used before. That's why we were going through stuff in ours that anybody else has like Psycho from Texas, which is Linea Quigley's first film,  Alabama's Ghost which virtually nobody's ever heard of and things along that line. So actually coming up with enough trailers to do a third one would be difficult.

Dan Kaminsky: But you know on top of that, it's coming up with the stuff in between. That's the key. It's the storyline in between that makes it. Because without that it's just some trailers.

Jim Murray: A lot of these, like 42 Street Forever, that's all they are, are trailers and in no sequential order; they're just thrown together. The only thing that those guys got going for them is good box art.

Dan Kaminsky: We've got great box art, too.

JV: You said great. Okey, I'll quote you one that one. (laughter) Now let's talk to Associate Producer Fred Pomerleau. What was your job on Celluloid Bloodbath?

Fred Pomerleau: Anything they asked me to do. I took pictures. When Nick wasn't around I watched Happy, took care of Happy and operated Happy once or twice. If Nick had to work Happy and we were going to use another puppet, I'd do that. Whatever they asked me to do.

JV: Is this your first movie?

Fred Pomerleau: I'm in Prevues from Hell. I get my throat cut in Prevues. I just hang out with these guys. I haven't worked on anything else much.

JV: Now Dan, what did you do on this film?

Dan Kaminski: Nothing. (laughter) No, I'm producing it. The pre- production, the shooting, the sound, the set up, editing, getting some of the celebrities and just basically doing all the stuff producers do. Getting it all together.

JV:  One question I have to ask you guys is, what was the toughest interview that you did?

Jim Murray: Without question Conrad Brooks. We only wanted to pay him a hundred dollars to do the bit. He introduces the section called Really Bad Movie Prevues. I figured Conrad introducing that was perfect. So he's like," No ,I want two hundred dollars." Danny was the one talking to him and Danny was like," No Conrad, we have a hundred dollars for you and that's all you're going to get." He says, "Alright, well, one seventy five." Danny's like," No, no, a hundred dollars." He comes down to one fifty, so that's when I cut in and I said, 'Dan, let's just go middle ground between one hundred and one fifty and give him a hundred and a quarter. I said, "Conrad, we can give you one and a quarter." And he said," No, no, I want one fifty." So we pulled the money out.

Dan Kaminsky: And I said no again. (laughs)

Jim Murray: And Danny's still saying no 'cause he didn't want to have to give him the one and a quarter and I'm telling him," Yeah ,give him the one and a quarter."  Conrad plucks the money out of Danny's hand and puts it in his pocket. And I immediately thought," If he doesn't give us this interview, I gonna leap across that table and get that money out of his pocket."

Dan Kaminsky: I thought he did it for one twenty five.

Jim Murray: Yeah, he did end up taking the one twenty five. I had cue cards made. The camera was here, the cue card was here and he's sitting where Fred is, so all he had to do was look at the cue card and the camera was right there. He's looking all around and wouldn't get the line right. When he reads the title his moniker in this thing is," I'm Conrad Brooks, I starred in Ed Wood's sci-fi classic Plan Nine(pause)From Outer Space.", like he's got to read the title. He doesn't know the title after fifty years?

Dan Kaminsky: A lot of that was dramatic pause. (laughter)

JV: Dramatic pause. I'll put that in the interview.

Jim Murray: No, he was a pain in the butt.

Dan Kaminsky: I was taking video behind the scenes and it was funny, because there was a lot of it,all the tension between Jim getting frustrated and Conrad just saying," I'm trying my best."

JV: Are we ever going to see the behind the scenes stuff?

Dan Kaminsky: It's on the DVD.

Jim Murray: There's a bit where I'm yelling at Conrad. I'm telling Conrad, "All you gotta do is read the cue card." I'm off camera and you see my hand. I'm like, "Read the cue card, 'cause the camera's right here." He go's," Oh, okay." and you hear Jim Monaco in the background," Take four."

Dan Kaminsky: Tell him about William Forsythe.

Jim Murray: Getting William Forsythe was really cool. He was at Cinema Wasteland and I didn't know what we were going to have him say. I went up and told him what we were doing, this thing about horror movie prevues and he said," Yeah I'll do it. Just come back when my table isn't crowded.", because he had people and was signing autographs. So we came back and went up to him and said," Okay, we'll do it." He just started talking. Fortunately the guys had the camera and the mike on him. He didn't give us a chance to set up or anything. So he just started talking saying how much he doesn't like horror films. Which I had no idea how I was going to use that. But anyway, at the end of the interview I said, "  Mr. Forsythe, can I compensate you for your time?" And he just paused and looked at me, and I was like, "Oh, here it comes." He had the release, ready to sign  it and I figured he probably wasn't going to sign it. So he goes," You guys couldn't afford me." He signs it and hands it to me and says," Here". That was very, very cool. The other thing was, I didn't know how I was going to use the bit because everybody else's bit introduces either a section or a trailer. In his, he talks about he doesn't like horror movies. Well, when we interviewed Kyra Schon, she did the same thing only she talks about how much she loves horror movies. So in the the film it's a great contrast. William Forsythe, he's facing this way talking about how he doesn't like horror films and we cut right to her facing this way; it's like they're talking to each other and she's saying how she loves horror films. So in the film it worked great. It's right near the end, so I'm curious to know what you think of it.

JV: Any last thoughts, Jim?

Jim Murray: What was the coolest thing for me putting  this film together was making friends with some of the people I made friends with because of the film like Johnny Legend who calls me occasionally. He's a really super guy. And other people like Debra Lamb, who became a close, personal friend of mine and I'm ecstatic about that. Other people that I talked to who I thought were just awesome like April Burril, Chainsaw Sally, she was just so cool. I mean, she let us come into her house and shoot her whole bit in her bedroom while the husband, her daughter and her father were out in the living room watching cartoons. And then going to all the conventions was a lot of fun. It was work for all of us, but it was cool kind of work.

Get Out And Vote Tomorrow! Your Country Needs You!

Although I'm currently working on an interview with the people behind the film Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues from Hell, I've decided to take a breather from the world of film and fantasy to talk about something I feel very passionate about: The Electoral Process. Now, I don't care whether you vote Democrat or Republican,although I feel the Republican Party is where the smart money is, I just want you to get off your hind rump quarter(commonly known as your ass)and drag yourself kicking and screaming, if need be, to your local voting booth to vote for the person you think will best represent our country.

Now I, can almost hear a cacophony of lazy whiners out there saying," But my vote doesn't count ."  Yes it does! Your vote is your voice. Use it! Otherwise, don't cry, bitch and moan after the election when you're paying higher taxes, watching the jobless rate soar to disturbing new highs and seeing the value of your dollar diminish when you go to the store to purchase food or goods. You didn't bother to vote, so keep your pie hole shut! You didn't earn the right to complain.

If you want a say in how this country is run, then take a few minutes from your otherwise precious day, go to your local polling place and cast your ballot. It's quick ,easy and painless. Much less painless than getting hit in the head with a bowling ball and you've let the people in the Government know where you stand on important issues.  But if you'd rather sit in front of the boob tube and drool over mindless talk and entertainment TV shows, then maybe it's best if you don't go out to vote. You probably wouldn't make an intelligent choice anyway.

It's your country. It's your future. Vote on Tuesday!

Celluloid Bloodbath:More Prevues from Hell; A Ghoulishly Gory Good Time.

In 1987, two movie maniacs, James F.Murray and Jim Monaco, released on video Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell,their affectionate salute to the horror/exploitation films of the 1960's and '70's that populated the various drive ins and grind houses. The video was chockful of trailers from films like "2000 Maniacs", "Bloody Pit of Horror", "Flesh Feast" and "I Drink You Blood" while a zombie named Happy Goldsplatt acted as a sort of undead Greek chorus commenting about the various goings on as his fellow zombies enjoyed the coming attractions at an abandoned movie theatre called the Lansdowne. It was a maiden voyage for the two filmmakers and at times their inexperience showed in the final product. However, the film remains to this day as entertaining and fairly well made.

Now twenty five years later, with video technology having improved by leaps and bounds, Murray and Monaco have outdone themselves with Celluloid Bloodbath: More Prevues from Hell. Not only did they unearth another clutch of gory,sensationalistic horror trailers, but the film has a more polished and professional look to it than their previous outing. As with Mad Ron's Prevues from Hell, grind house fanatics can once again feast their bloodshot eyes on trailers from an era before low budget horror films made by independent companies were relegated to the video market by the major studios.

This time around, zombie Happy Goldsplatt(the creation of comedian/ventriloquist Nick Pawlow) isn't central to the storyline. Instead, the trailers are introduced by B film veterans and horror hosts. They range from a bubbly and vivacious Debra Lamb to a rather stiff, slow talking Conrad Brooks (most famous for his role in Plan Nine From Outer Space) who is obviously reading from a cue card. The film even has an interview with former porn star Seka who makes a fascinating comment about the hypocrisy of the film industry in that main stream movies can depict scenes of sex and violence, but that X rated productions are forbidden to show those same scenes in their films.

Toward the end of Celluloid Bloodbath, the filmmakers show actor Wiliiam Forsythe (The Devils Rejects) admitting to not being a fan of the genre in direct contrast to Kyra Schon(the little girl in the original Night of Living Dead) describing certain horror films as being "comfort food" to her. An interesting dichotomy to say the least.

I only wish the interviews were a bit longer. Jim Murray told me he felt long interviews (at least to him) were boring, so he whittled down each interview to two minutes per celebrity.The problem here is, just as the viewer is getting involved in what the person has to say,the interview ends abruptly and it's on to the next celebrity, effectively turning the actor or actress into a sound bite. Perhaps Jim Murray,unlike some of us, has the attention span of a house fly. In spite of this minor flaw, Celluloid Bloodbath succeeds in entertaining the viewer with the antics of Happy Goldsplatt, interesting, if brief, interviews and terrific trailers of gore.

As the end credits roll the song "Sleeping Like The Dead (written by Billy Marshall and Chad Moxley) plays over a drawing of a graveyard;a fitting end to a terrific Halloween party film. And here's an interesting fact: James Murray told me that "Sleeping Like The Dead" inspired Celluloid Bloodbath and that he acquired the song before shooting began!

To cap things off, there is a scene at the end where George Kosana (another Night of The Living Dead alumni) says to Happy The Zombie," Happy,you're dead.You're all messed up.",echoing his most memorable line from that classic movie.So if you're wondering what video to show to your guests at your upcoming Halloween Bash,Celluloid Bloodbath:More Prevues from Hell is just the ticket. You and your audience won't be disappointed.

Part 3 Of My Interview With Victoria Vetri

Before presenting you with the conclusion of my interview with former Playboy Playmate and actress Victoria Vetri, I'd like to take a moment to tell you about Bill George,author of EROTICISM IN THE FANTASY CINEMA,that oily,insincere liar of the lowest common denominator. Now,there are some of you out there thinking," Joe must really enjoy writing about Bill George because of the things he's said about him in previous posts".

Well, not really. But since George has screwed me over a number of times I think he deserves to be singled out and shown to all as the smarmy,unctuous asshole that he is. In the case of EROTICISM IN THE FANTASY CINEMA I got the shit end of the stick in two ways:

My interview with Victoria Vetri was published without a byline;in other words my name was not featured next to the interview. Instead, I was dumped in acknowledgement section along with those who had provided George with a graphic or a press release. He claimed that the publishers did this without his knowledge,but being far too familiar with his penchant for lying I didn't believe him. He went so far as to offer to sign my copy of the book with an inscription praising me for the work I did. I felt like he was offering to autograph it for me! The nerve of that ego dripping turd!

Then came the other gratuitous kick in the ass when I noticed that in the interview all references to me were expunged. Yet whenever George's interviews were featured,his name was always front and center. When I complained about this, George said," I did that so that the reader would feel as if she were speaking to them." Nah. Un uh. No way. He edited out all references to me because The King of Selfish wanted the limelight all to himself. It was the Bill George Show and I was playing a small,insignificant part. And to this very day he probably scratches his balding head wondering why I don't want to have anything to do with him anymore. As the saying goes: He who is self serving ends up with himself.


JV: Do you feel that horror films exploit women in a negative fashion? I mean, relating to the ones you've been in?

VV: Well, let me think now. I mean, we're all victims. I think I've mentioned this before,but somebody has to play the role. It depends on the film really.

JV: For example,in INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS didn't you think that the attempted rape scene was a bit gratuitous?

VV: Yes,I thought they could've done without that. But,they write the attempted rape scene and I do it. This is funny,I guess I don't feel exploited because it's just acting to me. I mean,I've seen a million dramas where women are being exploited and they aren't horror movies. Women have been in that role for years. Just because all of the sudden the Eighties come and women are going to start being independent doesn't mean they're going to change the rules.Because we are the weaker sex and there's nothing you can do about that, really. I don't care how much iron you can pump or how macho you are.

JV: Do you think the Women's Movement has a right to complain about these issues and say to the movie producers," Hey, you shouldn't show this because it's not a very positive image?" A lot of them are also afraid that some strange guy is going to see this kind of film and get ideas.

VV: But, guys get ideas from everywhere,not from film. There's influences even in soap commercials for God's sake. The Women's Movement bugs me, I guess. Let 'em move. The big BM. I guess I'm just not on that side. Most of my friends are men. I get along better with men. I feel sorry for women. Now, I'm going to sound like a female chauvinist. I 'm not into the Women's Movement. They can complain about this,complain about that, but people are going to be influenced no matter what. To me,it's just an acting job. And if I really felt like I was endangering the female species by doing scenes that I do in films, then I would not do them.I mean, it's a fantasy,it's a trip. People take film so seriously, I can't believe it.

JV: After you did the Playboy spread and became Playmate of The Year, what was the reaction of your family and friends?

VV: My family wasn't too upset about it. My father being from Sicily and kind of old fashioned, was still an ass pincher.So he was kind of proud of it.He had different parts of the magazine that he framed and put in his restaurant.You know,head shots and all. He'd say," Hey, that's my daughter. Say anything about it and I'll kill you." My mom did pinups when she was in Rome.She was quite a sexy dish and also an actress. She told me she did calendars in her day and that if I did it modestly,she explained to me that it's like the face is a diamond and the body's a setting and,"You've got a good setting so show it off,girl. Go for it".(laughter) So I did. My parents weren't upset about it or prudish,no.

JV: Do you find that Hollywood,located in the Los Angeles area,has a more lenient attitude towards this type of thing than if you lived somewhwere else?

VV: Of course. The Midwest,let's face it,that could never happen there.I think it's the weather here. I really do. (laughs) The warm,hot climate hits the sun, makes us all crazed and then we have to drink beer and stuff to cool off. It's a very perverse place, Hollywood. But, I was born and raised here and I love it and it's my town. There's perversity all over, just more people hide it in the closet. They don't display it all. Here we let it all hang out.

JV: Knowing what you know now,after all of the things you've gone through,if you could go back, what would you change?

VV: Nothing. I would do it all again. The highs,the lows,the ups, the downs and believe me there's been a few lulls in my life, too. But right now I'm up and I wouldn't change a thing. I know that sounds very egotisical. I used to complain about Playboy. If you had asked me that a couple of years ago I would've said," I wouldn't do Playboy. That's the one thing I wouldn't do again." But now I've changed my whole attitude about that. So now I've narrowed it down to nothing.

Victoria Vetri Interview Part 2.

Prior to interviewing Victoria Vetri,she told me an amusing story concerning the making of WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH: When it came time to do the scene where she comes out of the water with a fish in her mouth(see picture above left),the director,Val Guest,had Tory put an actual dead fish in her mouth. To add insult to injury, the director did a number of takes,as Tory emerged from the water with the dead fish clenched between her teeth.Ever the trouper, Tory did the retakes without complaining. As you can see, being an actress isn't all,glitz, glamour and adulation.

JV: I was surprised when you told me that INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS was made by Warner Brothers. I always thought it was the product of an independent company.

VV: I think an independent company got a hold of it. But Saul Weintraub,who worked for Warner,wanted me to fullfill my obligation since I couldn't do ENTER THE DRAGON. Now, I'm thinking about this carefully because my agent who handled this is now retired. Warner and Hammer did WHEN DINOSAURS RULED THE EARTH together. This was a Warner Brothers and independent production and I think they finally released it to the independent company. And from what you told me,someone else has bought it now and released it under another title.But my paycheck said Warners on it.

JV: For Television and Video Tape the title INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS is still used. But it was re released as GRAVEYARD TRAMPS.

VV:(laughs)GRAVEYARD TRAMPS! Oh my God! I liked the shooting title THE HONEY FACTOR. It sounded more sci-fi.

JV: I didn't see INVASION OF THE BEE GIRLS when it was first released, but saw it at a drive-in under the new title and thought it was a fun film.

VV: I think it's kind of fun. I mean, it's so ridiculous it's funny. I had fun making it. Unless something really spectacular comes up in my career to make me do another horror movie, I have to be honest,I don't want to end up being a horror queen in films. I'd like to branch off. I'm trying to get a rock group together and get a video out,pursue my singing and maybe do some serious acting. I'm not saying that one cannot do serious acting in horror films. I saw a short today on cable. It was about Tobe Hooper who did THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE,now he's done POLTERGEIST. When TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE came out, people thought that without even showing too much,it was the most terrifying film ever and then he got money behind POLTERGEIST. But I for one do not go out of my way to see horror movies. If FRIDAY THE 13TH is on cable,I will turn it on.But I won't go pay five fifty to see it at a theatre. The one I loved,I saw it three times,is Alien. Is that considered a horror movie? That I would've done in a minute. If they'd come to me and said," Hey,you want to play any part? Do you want to play the Alien?". I would've said," Sure"!(imitates an alien screech). I'd come bursting out(does another Alien screech). That I would've enjoyed.

JV: When you did the recent "PLAYMATES FOREVER" spread in PLAYBOY,did you do it because,going back to one of my first questions, you'd be working again with the much touted "PLAYBOY FAMILY"?

VV: No. What happened was, I was a waitress and bartender at the time and a lady came in and said," Are you Victoria Vetri?" I said," Yes." She said," We have been looking all over for you." She handed me her card from Playboy and said," We're doing a reshoot of "Playmates Forever". Would you be interested?" I said," First of all,how much?" She said," Well, a thousand dollars for half a days work." I said," I'll think about it",playing real hard to get because at this point I had already established that I hated Playboy and everything it stood for. And then my agent said," Well,it can't hurt." I said," Okey,on one condition. I did Playboy B.P,before pubic. I'm not going to show any frontal nudity. I want it as modest as I can have it and I refuse to pose as if I'm visiting my gynecologist like those other girls." So they said," Okey,fine." I got what I wanted. I really don't have the hostilities that I used to have about Playboy.

JV: What in your opinion qualifies as the most erotic moment in any movie that you've seen?

VV: WIFEMISTRESS with Marcello Mastroianni. I changed my mind from last night. SWEPT AWAY came off the top of my head. WIFEMISTRESS has everything in it voyeurism,eroticism,emotional,sexy;it's done in good taste. It's Italian,of course, and I think you can relate to that.

JV: You did a hair oil commercial in which you sang a song with the line," I like it long." Was this commercial banned from TV because it was considered too provocative?

VV: That was for Groom and Clean. It was a double entendre. They didn't take it off the air. It kind of wore it's way off the air and I was the first girl on TV to wear hotpants and boots. At first, I got it for my voice over, because I sing. The song was something like: (sings)" Ooh, I love it long. Just as long as you spray on Groom and Clean.Yeah, I love it long." That's what the little jingle was. We did different variations of it,like,he was going to get a haircut and I walk in and say," You cut off one lock of his hair and I'll melt your scissors." Then I go into this little song and dance. Then we did one where he's driving away in a XKE and I put my foot on the bumper and I say," Cut off one lock of that hair and I'll strip your gears." I did about three of those commercials. They got good airplay and they were supposedly racy for TV commercials. They're very liberal now,but that was the start of TV commercials being liberal. If it was banned I never knew about it,because it was a a long,long time.



To be continued...........