Sunday, November 8th, 2009 (Short Film Sunday: The Diane Linkletter Story)

When it comes to bad taste, no one does it as well as the trash cinema king, John Waters. However, when looking over the filmography of the great Baltimorean filmmaker, possibly the most harshest, and most overlooked, is the 1970 short film The Diane Linkletter Story.

The flick was the fourth short film from Waters, and according to Wikipedia, as well as what my memory can take away from reading Waters' autobiography Shock Value, it was an accident. Waters, along with three familiar actors to aficionados of Dreamland Studios (Divine, David Lochary and Mary Vivian Pearce), was just attempting to try out a new camera that he purchased, that would be later used on the feature length Multiple Maniacs. As for the bad taste aspect, the description doesn't come at the hand of language and taboo acts depicted in the nearly ten minute short isn't comparable to what Waters would later become known for, as in the films Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living and Female Trouble, but rather the inappropriateness of the plot.

Based upon the real life suicide of Diane Linkletter, the little known 20 year old daughter of television personality Art Linkletter, the short features Diane (depicted by the one and only Divine) go on an LSD trip, get angry at her parents and jump out the window to her death below. The comedic look at the tragedy could almost play as a serious biopic it plays so closely to Art Linkletter's actual recounting of the event if not for the ingenious quips of Divine and Lochary. The film was actually shot as an ad lib for the camera the day after Diane's death. Still, if you find this a little too offensive, I would point to the first comment on the flick's IMDb page, as the author points out that it couldn't be as in bad taste as Art Linkletter releasing an album containing the Grammy Award winning "We Love You, Call Collect", exploiting the event as much as Dreamland had done.

As for the legacy of the film, it isn't very well know, having only one home video release to my knowledge and research, being on a VHS released in 1990 entitled A Divine Double Feature, coupled with a live showing of Divine's off-Broadway show The Neon Woman. It would also be the last short film Waters would do, as following Pink Flamingos, his career would take off as an auteur of depravity. It may be appropriate that the only way you can currently see Linkletter is by a rare find on eBay or from this low quality Veoh video. Still, a must watch. Please enjoy The Diane Linkletter Story.

View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Wednesday, October 28th, 2009

With Halloween drawing ever nearer, I've been researching something more in the spirit of the times to post on my blog, and I ran across a great countdown of the 28 most horrifying film scenes of all time, courtesy of Total Film. Of course, the list doesn't completely stay within the genre of horror, as the infamous Divine coprophagia scene that closes John Waters' cult filth manifesto Pink Flamingos, that is picture is among the list dwellers. Also outside of the horror genre is the American History X curb stomp, the entire duration of an incredibly nauseating Martin Scorsese short The Big Shave, the eye slice in Luis Bunuel's surreal masterpiece Un Chien Andalou, and the lashing of Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ among others. Still, there is plenty of horror fun on the list at the hands of The Last House on the Left, An American Werewolf in London and Misery. A really incredible list, with video links to every scene if you're bored, and in a rather morbid mood.

In other news today, Empire posted the nominees for the British Independent Film Awards. I'm not extremely familiar with all, or hardly any, of the flicks that garnered nods. Regardless, the film Fish Tank led the pack with eight nominations, while more importantly for this blog, Duncan Jones' Moon picked up seven, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Sam Rockwell, which will certainly build a little steam towards Rockwell getting the big Oscar nod. Also, I am currently searching through YouTube to find the trailer to one of the films nominated, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll, which was honored in the form of Best Actor for Andy Serkis. The title and Serkis is enough to have me interested.

Finally, I spoke of Scorsese's appearance on the brilliant Total Film countdown up there. It may seem kind of weird to have the famed director of Taxi Driver and The Departed on a countdown of horrifying scenes, but once you think of the brutal realism usually displayed in his films, his two places in the countdown (the other being the buried alive scene from Casino) seem right at home. So what would happen when Scorsese ventures into the realm of horror? Well, a new trailer for his latest, the upcoming Shutter Island, hit the Interwebs today and looks as creepy as one could imagine. Leonardo DiCaprio stars, and it has jumped right on top of the most anticipated films for 2010 in my mind. Enjoy.

Shutter Island - Exclusive Trailer

Saturday, September 26th, 2009

I tired and have a fear that I'm getting sick. Still, insomnia has kicked in, so I drug myself out of bed and despite the utter lack of cinema-related news today, I figured be best nausea-induced sleep deprivation antidote would be blogging. So, you made had noticed that there is three things I go to if there is nothing bitch-worthy making the blog rounds; awesome Star Wars merchandise, Werner Herzog's wacky antics, and the complete depravity of John Waters. Today, in honor of a coffee table book of exploitation film posters that I bought (edited by Tony Nourmand and Graham Marsh, which have several film poster/art books, the two I have are really great) has this incredible picture of Waters' comically corrupt sophomore trash masterpiece Desperate Living, which was released in Italy heavily edited and re-titled Punk Story.

Well, I looked for the actual poster on Amazon to no avail, so to boost the spirits, I actually found a trailer that will probably be kicked off YouTube soon due to the cavalcade of perversion (Multiple Maniacs reference) contained within, including a snippet of Jean Hill and Mink Stole's sex scene. Enjoy kiddos.

Saturday, September 5th, 2009

On a few occasions on a newsless Saturday, I've turned to pictures of John Waters' MySpace Fan Page, or some of his art, but today he actually made a bit of news, via Movieline and Monika Bartyzel's related column on Cinematical (with reference to Cecil B. DeMented). The articles report that in a recent interview with Modern Painters magazine, Waters claims that he only has two films left. One of the two films will be a children's holiday flick called Fruitcake that has been in development hell for some time. I agree with the Movieline article that if he co-writes Hairspray 2, it doesn't count as his other 50 percent. I personally would love for Waters to pump out one more golden piece of trash cinema, but if he doesn't, I think he has already done enough for the movie industry. It would be a sad day when the official retirement comes, but as of now I am taking it as good news as a possibility of seeing the king of filth in action one last time. Speaking of a new Waters movie, I just found the book, Trash Trio: Three Screenplays (Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Flamingos Forever) on Amazon for just a little over a dollar.

So, what else could I possibly have to say on Labor Day Weekend when most of the bloggers are barbequing, raving or whatever the hell people actually do on Labor Day other than watch the Dirty Jobs marathon tomorrow and possibly schedule out a time to eventually see Inglourious Basterds after a very late debut at the local Carmike (if you have another cinema in your town, please don't go to a Carmike) and in my unforunate case, attend a funeral? Well, a few random thoughts... A great countdown of the worst 80's film posters is up at 11Points. Enjoy it.

Adult Swim is currently showing Bleach: Memories of Nobody, the film from the popular anime series. The trailer that has been showing on the programming block over the past few weeks looks absolutely incredible, so it will more than likely be the way I spend the rest of my insomnia-ridden night.

Lastly, I spent most of the day in a mind-numbing seven hour, note-intensive lecture class on substance abuse, a topic that is most off-putting filled with countless stories of people senselessly ruining their lives. Fortunately though, I lucked up and got one of the better professors of my rather long student career thus far. The guy wrote his dissertation on horror films and works about as many movie references into the class as possible, even fitting in to a story about how bitchin' Re-Animator would be under the influence of a hallucinogen. Anyhow, I thought I would share the only decent story of my long fourteen hour day of the dreaded school/work combination by showing a clip of the H.P. Lovecraft adapted 80's horror flick's goriest scenes. The video is obviously NSFW and will probably be taken off of YouTube eventually after somebody with more dignity than I watches, although it does skip over the decapitated oral part. Enjoy.

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

One of the few things I do involving social networking on the daily basis is check on the John Waters MySpace Fan Page to make sure the iconic cult filmmaker isn't doing something I'm missing. Since I've been blogging, I've yet to record any actual news regarding Waters working on a new project, but occasionally, I do get a self-portrait or some artwork that he is doing, the featured picture being from the Albert Merola Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts. If you're bored, check out the site, see some of Waters' non-cinematic artwork, and also check out a new CD of live recordings from one of his most infamous leading ladies, the late Edith Massey.

Into actual news, I was shocked to hear today, via Deadline Hollywood Daily, that Martin Scorsese's upcoming, highly anticipated thriller Shutter Island, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, has been pushed back to a February 19th release date. Really, just the pairing of Scorsese and DiCaprio (other pairings being Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed) has gained attention as being an early contender for Oscar gold. Paramount Pictures gave the reasoning that they just didn't have the money to spend to push and promote the movie as an award contender in the late part of the year, giving it just a general release with hope for award contention in 2010. One promising note the article leaves us with, is that the release date the film now has set, is the exact date another popular thriller, the Academy Award winning The Silence of the Lambs was released in 1991. I personally hate the politics involved in securing the Oscar nomination anyhow, and award season or no, I'm still pretty stoked for this movie, and it gives me a reason to look forward to what would probably be a rather bland February in a cinephile's life.

On the topic of Leonardo DiCaprio, his production company Appian Way has announced, via Variety, who will helm the new feature film adaptation of the Little Red Riding Hood folktale, Catherine Hardwicke of Twilight fame. The brief article also gives us an official title of the movie, The Girl with the Red Riding Hood.

Variety also reports that Bryan Singer and Warner Brothers are set to remake John Boorman's 1981 version of the Excalibur story. Some of the special effects may be dated, but this is actually a fantasy film that I feel stands the test of time. I don't really see a need to reboot this thing, but with this past week's news of possible remakes of Dirty Dancing and Yellow Submarine, this would be a mild argument to take up.

Finally, all the web troubles with the trailer for James Cameron's Avatar seems to be resolved, so here it is. Enjoy.

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

I was looking about the John Waters Fan Page on MySpace a minute ago after they added new pictures, and ran across this gem, and decided that there is no possible way I could actually get on here and talk about movies without sharing it with whomever happens upon this page.

Now, on to some of the tidbits I've uncovered today. First off, the most mind boggling thing, MovieWeb posted that Chris Casamassa, better known to the public as Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, has stated that he will return to the role of the hell-spawned ninja revenant in a third film for the franchise. I have to admit, that as horrible of a film as the first one was, I hold it as a guilty pleasure. But, even after admitting that, I've yet to see the 1997 sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and will be happy one day when I die without doing so. I seriously wonder if anybody will read this and be excited.

TheSuperficial reports that Michael Bay had Megan Fox wash his car to gain her breakthrough role in Transformers, and actually filmed it. This isn't quite news yet, but I've been calling Transformers the most exploitative film since Boss Nigger (a blaxploitation film, I've dubbed Transformers a cashploitation film for the constant effects with no substance), and if it comes to fruition that Bay actually played out the whole casting couch porn scenario, how much easier would it be for me to assert my classification up there.

Cinematical has an interesting article, taken from the New York Times, reporting that the pornographic film industry is losing plot and dialogue, and focusing on adding more sex scenes. So, porn used to have a plot?

Finally, District 9 released the full international trailer today. Up until now, the spots for the Peter Jackson produced film haven't gave us much insight to the story or the feel of the film. This trailer doesn't really make us understand anything more clearly, but does make it a slightly higher priority on the must-see list. Enjoy.



P.S.... Work sucks, and because some jack ass injured himself, I have to fill in for the late shift, and I may be going on a little spontaneous trip tomorrow night, so the next few days I may not be able to post. If not, I'll try to find something special to post for the weekend.