Meedyah Morsels #216.
-and-
Post 48 away from 3000 posts!
It's here!!!
I ordered it last week, and got it yesterday.
Hectic day what with having to go vote, and all that.
Anyway, now, review time!
Scream, Queen:
My Nightmare on Elm Street (2020)
Was it worth the wait?
Overall, yes.
Was it good?
Yes.
I'm not doing cartwheels over it, but that's my fault.
See, I think you'd get way more enjoyment out of this the less you know.
I know too much.
I'm the kinda guy who latches on to a project I'm excited about, and every year it's like "when's it coming? When's it coming?", and I find every article, interview, podcast, etc about it trying to glean details.
Well, by following it that obsessively, I kinda spoiled it.
There was very little in the documentary I didn't already know from interviews with Mark Patton along the way.
From my perspective, the documentary was a squished down version of the last ten years of them trying to get the documentary made.
Like a documentary of the making of itself.
But, if you didn't follow everything, if you only saw Nightmare 2 when you were a kid in the 80's, or you only just recently saw Nightmare 2 because of the internet chatter about it, OR best of all, if you've never seen it, and your first time is to brush up before this, you're in for a treat.
I enjoyed it more on the second viewing once I had that perspective on it.
Yep, watched it twice.
After the first time, I went back to "Never Sleep Again", and watched just the Nightmare 2 parts, including the commentary.
That refreshed my memory, and got me even more in the Freddy Krueger mood and vibe, and that also helped enhance the second viewing.
So, what's it about?
Well, if you haven't been following along, it's about Mark Patton, star of "A Nightmare On Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge", and how 80's Hollywood homophobia and AIDS phobia drove him out of showbiz.
And how the gay subtexts in "Freddy's Revenge", were a huge factor in him almost getting outed, and having to flee.
It's only 99 minutes, but they manage to cram it all in there.
Mark's life story up to and after the film, how casual and pervasive homophobia was in our culture in the 80's, how the Reagan-right exploited AIDS to fear-monger, how the "Never Sleep Again", guys found Mark in hiding, his convention experiences since then, how he's become a sort of gay mentor figure in the horror community, the whole deal.
No bonus features.
None.
Zero.
Zilch.
Not even a menu.
You just the get the doc.
But, I guess the doc says it all.
My only real gripe I guess, is how long it took to get to my collection.
Rating it against the other two Freddy documentaries...
Definitely better than "I Am Nancy".
But, "I am Nancy", is light and breezy, and "Scream, Queen", is heavy.
But, even taking that into account, it's just produced so much better.
The editing is superb.
Whatever they don't get to verbally discuss is crammed in there visually somehow, so you get it all.
And there's so much crammed in there.
Very well done.
Versus "Never Sleep Again"?
Nothing beats "Never Sleep Again".
That's just unbeatable.
But, it's up there.
A close second.
Yeah, "Never Sleep Again", "Scream, Queen", and "I Am Nancy", in that order.
I need to have a marathon of all three.
I said at the time "Never Sleep Again", was new, the only problem with it is is makes you want even more!
Maybe with "I Am Nancy", "Scream, Queen", and "Slash Of The Titans", it'll finally be enough.
We'll see...
NOW! Let's see if Robert Englund can ever get "Nightmares In The Makeup Chair", finished!!
*Googles*
Huh, some sites say it came out in 2018, but I can't find it to buy anywhere, even on streaming.
If it's out, where the fuck is it?
*Sigh*
It's "Moleman Of Belmont Avenue", all over again.
Here we go again...
Anyway, the journey is finally over for this one, and I'm a happy and lucky sumbitch.
It's an embarrassment of riches for Nightmare fans.
The only thing that could be better is Robert Englund drinking a youth potion, and doing Nightmare Part 9.
But, that's probably not gonna happen, so I'll have to make do with docs and books.
Keep 'em coming!
Yeah, this recharged my Nightmare/Freddy batteries.
I was burnt out and bummed out about the franchise, but I'm good to go for more stuff now!
More, please!
Previously with Scream Queen-
Scream Queen gets a release date!!!
Previously with MM-
Clarice casted! (MM #215)
Secret ScarJo Marvel Project Is A Series?
6 hours ago
6 comments:
Retro-linked this to the big documentary compilation.
https://dickynoo.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-great-big-geek-documentary.html
I don't think I'm going to much recommend "The Lighthouse," from last year. It has Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson and they're on an island in the 1890s going at each other's throats and losing their minds and the guy who directed "The Vvitch" directed it, it's really well photographed but Dafoe comes across like the old sea captain from "The Simpsons" and it's not really all that surprising what happens.
It doesn't explicity stink, but I'm going to go watch Todd Phillips' documentary about GG Allin next to liven myself up, so there's that.
Oh!! In "Scream, Queen", guess what they played in the montage of homophobic 80's movies!
"Once Bitten!!".
The "fag in the shower!! Fag in the shower! Fag alert!!", scene.
I'll catch "The Lighthouse", when it's free on Starz.
I think a lot of what I didn't care for with "The Lighthouse" was that the dark humor didn't really appeal to me that much. Like Robert Pattinson tries to empty a poopy chamberpot and the wind blows it back in his face Lebowski-style. Dafoe spends a lot of the movie farting. It's the kind of movie I'd probably have loved if I were still 21.
"Once Bitten" gave me nightmares once--as a very little kid I flipped to HBO and watched the scene of Jim Carrey, as a vampire, in a dream sequence, sneaking up on a sleeping woman and putting tooth marks in her neck with a little bit of blood. It scared the HELL out of me. Years later I found out it was Carrey!!
I did remember the "fags in the shower" stuff, that sort of thing's all over 80s teen movies. I think there's something like that in "Rad," too, from the same year. Maybe "River's Edge," with that loopy Crispin Glover teen drug addict performance? At any rate I think the reason the "fags in the shower!" bit is in there was because by 1986 AIDS fear was all being pinned on gay people? Did you know that in 1985 SNL had a gay cast member named Terry Sweeney and when Chevy Chase came back to host the show that year, Chase suggested that they say that Sweeney had AIDS and weigh him every week? WHACKY!!!!
Lighthouse- I'll check it out anyway.
Again, when it's free on TV.
Not in a huge rush.
I notice I only ever end up liking 1 out of every 15 awards pictures.
Once Bitten- Yeah, we talked about you having a childhood phobia of that, that's why it cracked me up it was in the Mark Patton doc.
The causal fag-bombs in "Monster Squad", and "Teen Wolf", were in there too.
Yes, homophobia was magnified by AIDS-phobia, but the media didn't help by platforming religious and Republican assholes stirring up the hate, and taking advantage of the fear.
They played news clips of "man on the street", opinions, and hate pastors, and I remembered that shit.
It was that same "balance", bullshit they plead today.
Well, they don't have the Nazi perspective on holocaust remembrance day.
They don't have the Satanist counterpoint to Christmas specials.
They don't let fecophiliacs direct diaper commercials.
They already censor shit.
Censor bigots for a fucking change, assholes.
Nope, Christian crosses and Republican elephants are like gools for some reason.
Oh, and the night I posted about "Once Bitten", being in "Scream Queen", Starz played that godawful Disney CGI "A Christmas Carol", that Jim Carrey was in.
Right now, "Batman Forever", is on.
Disney has come a long way from that shitty "A Christmas Carol", to the "Jungle Book", and "Lion King", remakes in terms of technical advancement.
11 years to go from a CD-ROM cut-scene to photo-realism isn't too bad of a turn around.
Post a Comment