cult Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It always amazes me how your perspective can change when you grow up with a movie, and sometimes the movie takes on a whole new meaning when you see it again with the eyes of an adult. When I was kid, I watched the 1980 cult classic Mommie Dearest and was terrified of Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford, the maniacal clean freak and abusive mom. But as an adult, I watch this movie, and it's pretty darn funny -- of course, that has a lot to do with watching the film with John Waters' commentary (and if you haven't heard it, I highly recommend picking up the Hollywood Royalty edition of Dearest on DVD).

Dearest was based on the exposé written by Crawford's daughter Christina in 1978, and the book dragged the Hollywood icon's reputation through the mud, and even inspired other celebrity tell-alls from other famous kids in the years to come. The film might have been a commercial success, but was savaged by critics upon release, and Dunaway even made claims that the film managed to ruin her career -- although Supergirl probably didn't help much either.

In Frank Perry's over the top masterpiece, Dunaway was a dead ringer for Crawford, and she is as scary as any movie monster when she gets going on one of her rages -- while chewing the scenery to shreds. So whether it was walloping little Christina with a wire hanger, or chopping down trees with an ax in a ball gown, the lady is just straight out bonkers. But even though I'm not afraid of her anymore, she does remain as one of my favorite movie villains of all time.

After the jump; Christina fights back and one of the many moments of unintentional comedy...

Film geeks lead a tough life sometimes. You can't find a movie on DVD, you're lucky enough to catch it on Turner Classic Movies ... but before the movie starts, you're subjected to a dry, dull mini-lecture about the film from some professorial type. I worry that this gives everyone, from aspiring film scholars to my mom, the idea that the most knowledgable film buffs are straight-laced older white guys, and that there's no room (or career opportunities) for the rest of us. TCM occasionally appeases the younger crowd with Ben Mankiewicz, or us women with Molly Haskell (who wrote From Reverence to Rape), but there's still a definite trend toward boring.

Finally, however, TCM is offering us a little respite. Who knew they'd hire a film host under the age of 50 with long hair and tats? Our sister site TV Squad has learned that musician/filmmaker Rob Zombie will host a new series called TCM Underground, a late-night program featuring cult horror films. If you've ever seen The Devil's Rejects or House of 1000 Corpses, both written and directed by Zombie, you can tell that he's familiar with a wide range of cinema history: the movies are stuffed with film references and in-jokes from the Marx Brothers to Bride of the Monster, Stalag 17, and Star Wars.

As colorful and fun as I find Zombie, I'm not sure I'll tune in for the premiere episode on October 13, because I can't stand the films: an Ed Wood double-feature of Plan 9 from Outer Space and Bride of the Monster. Fortunately, future episodes will air more watchable double-features like Russ Meyer's roughies Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Mudhoney, Tod Browning's Freaks and Mark of the Vampire, and George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and The Crazies. The trend seems to be to pair a director's well-known film with something a little edgier and more obscure. It's too bad TCM Underground's schedule doesn't include Halloween -- since Zombie is directing the remake, it would be fun to hear him chat about the original film.

Hopefully this will encourage TCM to hire even more diverse hosts -- maybe some non-white film historians, or more women? You might even tempt me to subscribe to the cable service that actually includes TCM, instead of bumming cable TV time off my friends.