Yeti Hideout

This article on The Freakmaker (1974) originally appeared on tcm.com and is reprinted with permission. Someone (or some-THING!) is kidnapping the young (and incredibly stylish) students from the local university. A few days later, the visiting carnival showcases some "new additions" to their "Freak Show" attraction. What's the connection? This 1970s oddball curiosity stars horror icon Donald Pleasance as the creepy and super-serious Professor Nolter, a teacher who has bizarre theories of combining plant and animal life through mutation and metamorphosis. He's so serious about his teaching that when a snarky student makes some jokes during one of his lectures, he deadpans in his weird accent, "We are interested in cloning...not in clowning." Sheesh. Now enter, Mr. Lynch (played by an unrecognizable Tom Baker, made famous to cult audiences as the most popular incarnation of Dr. Who and, most recently, as the wry narrator...

This article on Private Parts (1972) originally appeared on tcm.com and is reprinted with permission. Years ago while thumbing through the Leonard Maltin Movie & Video Guide , I came across this review: "If Andy Warhol's Chelsea Girls had been co-directed by Alfred Hitchcock and John Waters it would come close to this directorial debut by Bartel."   Whoa. I stopped dead in my tracks and thought, "I have GOT to see this movie!" As a connoisseur of cult and trash films, this sounded like a long-lost gem that I needed to find. The name of the film? Paul Bartel's  Private Parts  from 1972. Boy, was I not disappointed! A few words to describe it? Creepy. Kinky. Gross. All of the things I look for in a film! Ann Ruymen (whose other memorable acting credit is the 1973 TV movie,  Go Ask Alice ) plays Cheryl, a young, bored and curious teenager who has run away from home and decides to stay with her mysterious Aunt...

I was going through some old journals/diaries I used to keep in middle school and high school and came across some pretty strange profiles for a few of the teachers I had at the time. I blacked out the names to protect the (not so) innocent. I had no idea I was so judgemental back then. "Air head"? "Clothes clash & wears wig"? I love that I note the "hard tests she gives". I'm a tad upset by my use of language in this set of profiles and the attack on a teacher for apparently acting "like a gay". I was probably just jealous. At least I had one person I liked, my counselor, Mrs. BLANK . Pretty! Kids are so cruel. I do like the Poltergeist II reference in this, though.

From Premiere magazine: A Paul Bartel article AND a Kathy Baker section? There once was a time when I could open any magazine and find photos, articles or news about a wide variety of my favorite celebrities. From the period of 1991 until about 1997, magazines were an absolute treasure trove for someone like me. It seemed that almost every issue I laid my hands on had all sorts of wonderful photographs and stories about so many of the people I adored. Premiere , Entertainment Weekly , Vogue , Vanity Fair , Details , People and even the local newspapers would be chock full of articles about an amazing assortment of personalities that ranged from RuPaul to Roseanne, Divine to Debi Mazar and Cathy Moriarty to Kathy Baker. You could pick up a magazine and see an interview with directors Paul Bartel or John Waters. Or read an interview with Patty Hearst or glance through a Q&A with Mink Stole. I could always rely on the issues from the early days of Premiere magazine, for ...

Part four of my series on unforgettable actors and actresses. A Cornucopia of Character: Strother Martin, Borgnine and Jack Elam in Hannie Caulder (1971) Ernest Borgnine is an important example of a character actor who had the opportunity to play not just supporting parts but also leading roles. In  Marty (1955), a film that won him an Oscar for Best Actor, you had a film where the “character actor” was promoted to a leading role. Here was an actor who looked like a typical, everyday guy and he was the star of a major Hollywood film.  Borgnine has had a wildly varied career that ranged to all points of the spectrum – from starring on television series like "McHale’s Navy" and "Airwolf" to voice over work on animated films like All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 and Joe Dante’s Small Soldiers (a film in which he voiced an action figure alongside his Dirty Dozen co-stars George Kennedy, Jim Brown and Clint Walker) to classics like Johnny Guitar , Ice Station Zebra ...

Part three of my series devoted to memorable and favorite character actors from over the years. Greenwood in a photo from Picture Show Annual, 1952 This is an actress I first noticed on the British sitcom, “Girls on Top” (1985-1986) - a sort of all-female version of "The Young Ones" which was created by and starred Jennifer Saunders and Dawn French. Joan played Lady Chloe Carlton, the bizarre landlady to the four main female characters. Lady Carlton was a romance novelist who appeared to live in her own world and was kept company by her beloved and stuffed pet dog. The thing that struck me the most about her was her smoky voice and slow articulation - very reminiscent of Carrie Nye (who, in my opinion, has The Greatest Voice of All Time). I did some further research on Joan and discovered that she was in a film that I absolutely adored; Ealing Studios’ 1949 revenge comedy, Kind Hearts and Coronets . I rewatched the film specifically to see her and was captivated b...

Continuing my series on character actor appreciation, here are a couple of additional people I would like to showcase. Ottiano with Lionel Barrymore in The Devil-Doll (1936) The second I saw this actress appear in Tod Browning's impressive The Devil-Doll , I fell hopelessly in love. Playing Malita, the damaged assistant to Lionel Barrymore's revenge-seeking, escaped convict Paul Lavond (who, in his effort to elude the authorities, disguises himself as an old woman), Ottiano's first appearance is a bit startling. Sporting a shock of unruly hair that includes an artistically arranged white streak (perhaps inspired by the Bride of Frankenstein?) and hobbling around on one crutch, I was reminded of two current actresses that I also admired - Grace Zabriskie and Diane Salinger. Perhaps a bit too stylized in an attempt to let the viewer know that she was the villain of the piece, her performance is fun and her facial reactions and wild eyes are put to great effect in ...