Fade To Black (1980) My Eightieth Must See Pick for the Halloween Season

The late 70’s and early 80’s horror was on the cusp of something truly great and it is unfortunate that the decade got so bogged down with endless retreads of the same old characters and the same old stories that horror genre is still trying to pick up the pieces as Hollywood has now decided to remake all those money makers from the 80’s. So for today’s pick for my Must See Movies for the Halloween Season: “Fade to Black” is truly a lost classic.

Eric Binford (Dennis Christopher) is a shy, quiet person who is obsessed with movies to the point that he would rather spend his life sitting in a darken theater than deal with the real world. A fact that makes Eric look rather odd to most people, and with people like Eric they quickly become a target for people (bullies really, and one of which is a rather young, and rather normal looking Mickey Rourke) that do not understand him. And with any good obsession it turns into something more along the lines of psychosis after Eric crosses the path with a young blonde bombshell Marilyn O’Connor (Linda Kerridge) that reminds Eric of his favorite on screen legend, Marilyn Monroe.

The two hit it off after a chance meeting in a dinner, and set up to meet later that night. Unfortunately, Marilyn stands up (unintentionally) Eric who then feels that he has been duped once again by people that don’t understand him and want too. Sending Eric along a path homicidal rage and the need for revenge against all that have he believes done him wrong. But like any true cinematic nut job Eric wants to it in style and dresses up as some of his favorite characters from some of his favorite films.

Eric starts with his wheel-chair bound bitch of an aunt Stella, sending her rolling down a flight of stairs ala 1947’s “Kiss of Death” to a more glorious kill of a prostitute that once snubbed his advances (how fucking sad is that when a hooker makes fun of you?) dressed as Count Dracula. And the fun stuff is just beginning leading to an ultimate climax that is the stuff of Hollywood legend.

A real must see for Halloween.

Until next time…  

Is there a Deal in the Works For Rob Zombie's "Lords of Salem"?

Rob Zombie should be waking up in Toronto this morning a happy man.

It appears that he has a little bidding war on his hands for his newest featured film “Lords of Salem” that premiered at Midnight Madness on Monday.

So far Anchor Bay is at the top of the running with a 1.5 million dollar (guaranteed) minimum offer for distribution. Image & Millennium are also in the mix along with Lionsgate and Open Road of trying to get their greedy little hands on what is being touted as Zombie’s biggest & most mature film to date.

Yes, I said mature.

If you’re expecting of along the lines of the craziness of “House of a 1000 Corpses” or the gallons of blood spilled by Michael Meyers in “Halloween” or the handheld 70’s grittiness we saw in “Devil’s Rejects” you are going to be greatly disappointed. Zombie this time around has gone from gore to  actual scare with “Lords”.

In an interview hours before the premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival for “Lords of Salem”, Zombie said: “All the movies I have made in the past are these sort of very raw, handheld, physically violent type movies, where the violence is really in your face. And this movie [LORDS] is not violent at all, or bloody, or anything like that.”

HUH? Is Rob Zombie starting to get mellow in his age?

“I wanted to make something that was sort of slow paced, psychological mindfuck,” [Rob] Zombie went on to say.

For those who have had the pleasure of seeing “Lords” are saying that this may be his most darkest, most unnerving film yet.

Back in the day when [Rob] Zombie was more commonly known as Rob Cummings, growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts (A town not to far from Salem) his elementary school used to take the students to see the reenactments of the witch trails for field trips. (how awesome would that been? The best I ever got was a trip to the JAY’S Potato Chips & got to watch them being made) So I guess we have to blame the education system of Massachusetts for giving us the likes of Rob Zombie.

However, the story for “Lords of Salem” still reminds from something out of  1970’s big budget horror we would find with guys like Cronenberg  or even in the 80‘s with the likes of Lynch (reportedly Zombie had a 2.5 million dollar budget, incidentally Zombie’s  smallest budget thus far for a film) with the premise of a DJ named Heidi (Sharrie Moon Zombie)  receives a mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record, assuming (one should never assume…lol) that the box has come from the band “Lords” as part of their promotional package, but as Heidi plays the record to her surprise it starts to play backwards -and we all know where that leads, right?

And things just go bad from there as the next arrival (another wooden box) from the “Lords” presents Heidi and her team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon, Heidi and her cohorts are far from the rock spectacle they're expecting. The original Lords of Salem are returning and they're out for blood.

I guess will just have to wait and see when it comes to this new, kinder, gentler Rob Zombie…lol.

Up next for the horror master? A little movie about hockey & the 1970’s Philadelphia Flyers.