October 2017 Highlights Part 1 - Batman The Animated Series and Remembering Tobe Hooper

            Every year, I look for some little tweak to my own traditions of October viewing for the Halloween season. This year, I decided to compile all of my October viewing into a single Twitter thread, and my livetweeting was seemingly so thorough and lengthy that it got my account shadowbanned for the last week of October. I almost allowed it to ruin my enjoyment of Halloween at a time when I am in need of as much joy as I can get. I can’t be certain the volume of my tweeting was the cause because Twitter refuses to respond to me or anyone else about it, but this heavy livetweeting for this month in one interconnected thread was the only thing different about my Twitter behavior that I could pinpoint. In any case, it turned out to be an exhausting experience trying to keep all of it together in one place, but I kept at it, beginning a couple of weeks early with a marathon of horror-themed episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and finishing just before midnight with my annual viewing of Dr. Paul Bearer Presents The Illustrated Man.

I always immerse myself in a lot of horror and the like throughout the year, but I seem to drown myself even more in it during October and even November in the last few years since my mother passed away, hence the increase in my talkative nature on Twitter in general this past month or two. It is one little way for me to be able to watch movies and not feel completely alone in the process. A lot of this kind of talk is a defense mechanism and an outlet for some issues I deal with in my own head, making it a little tough to swallow that Twitter’s automated filters or whatever is going on there would feel the need to tell me to keep it to myself. Fortunately, I’m not that emotionally scarred to be devastated by the shadowban (and, to be frank, a lot of Twitter users are suffering greater injustices and suspensions for their Twitter speech than I am), and I didn’t back away from my thread until it was officially finished on October 31, at which point my shadowban was conveniently lifted after seven days had passed. I have to keep reminding myself of happy memories October brings me, many of which my mother helped me to attain, and I have to live, on top of that, with the memory of losing her just a day before Halloween. So here I am, listening to the score from Godzilla 1984 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade on a repeating loop as I usually do when I’m writing, and I will try to collate this bloody mess of a Twitter thread into something coherent that is, just maybe, worth reading. I am not sure why I am bothering to do it, but I could use the “assignment” for allowing my writing to slip too much lately.

Rather than to try to compile all of the tweets into a Storify or some other complicated measure, I am going to offer my personal highlights of the month here with some added detail and split it into separate entries. I could talk ad nauseum about selections such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978 and Hellraiser in lengthy reviews of their own, so I am going to try to boil down some of the material that is close to my heart as well as a top ten of the first-time viewings on my October list.

Part 1 – Batman: The Animated Series and Remembering Tobe Hooper

 Batman TAS

             It’s been too many years since I revisited Batman: The Animated Series. I don’t think I watched any of the series since the last time it was in syndicated reruns ten years ago or more. I kicked off my October viewing a couple of weeks early, and this got me into the autumn spirit a lot more than I expected. In adult hindsight, one of the main reasons I loved this series was that it was not a superhero cartoon. This was a combination of horror and detective noir disguised as a superhero cartoon. The writing, voice acting, and animation were brilliant, but I don’t think anyone needs to hear my praise of this long-beloved classic. The Bruce Timm/Paul Dini franchise of animation spoiled its audience in the best and worst of ways. It earned Emmys, and it made it hard to accept anything that came after it because it set such a high quality standard.

            The first season of Batman TAS threw bouquets of flowers at every corner of the golden age of classic horror. This was a version of Batman we never had seen before or since, and every story felt like it belonged in some 1940s black-and-white serial. There was barely a hint of the rogues gallery we were used to seeing. It was a diverse collection of stories with The Joker and a few other classic Batman villains making appearances, but most of the time, the audience was seeing a Batman version of Kolchak The Night Stalker with a big splash of Val Lewton and German expressionism. I was one of those rare kids who grew up with an appreciation for all three from an early age. I don’t want to sound over-sophisticated, but it was a little lonely around kids my own age watching Batman TAS just for the “BIFF! POW! ZAP!” experience. I think (hope) it opened up a generation of fans to an appreciation for a variety of aesthetics. The Dark Knight spent most of his time investigating and fighting monsters that stalked the night because Batman himself stalked the night, and each monster was a take on a classic. Many of my peers at the time found these installments of the series boring. Batman faced his very own Invisible Man, Dr. Moreau, Cat People, a Dr. Jeckyl who turned himself into a Man-Bat, and even a Wolf Man (written by the late Len Wein, RIP). These were not only my favorite stories of the Batman TAS series but some of my favorite animated stories of all time. And the brilliance of the voice cast goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Ed Asner, Richard Moll, Robert Costanzo, Bob Hastings, Efram Zimbalist, Jr., Melissa Gilbert, John Vernon, Adrienne Barbeau, Brock Peters, Paul Williams, Ron Perlman, David Warner, Marc Singer, Michael Ansara, John Glover, Kate Mulgrew, and we’re barely even scratching the surface of the list.

“On Leather Wings”
            Despite air date and production date confusion, this is the first episode. This establishes the tone of the series to come. The Batman is a mysterious figure in Gotham City, striking fear into criminals and even the police, making it all-too-easy a case of mistaken identity when a bat monster begins a wave of terror. We get our first look at the tension in the Gotham City Police Department between Commissioner Gordon (Bob Hastings) and the hot-headed Lieutenant Harvey Bullock (the go-to Danny De Vito voice acting substitute and highly underrated Robert Costanzo), and this street-level human interaction is one of the things that makes the series so good. Meanwhile, Batman does his thing, investigating the truth with and without the mask to prove his innocence while evading the police, making this a great combination of mad science horror and detective drama.
            I'm reminded of my nephew at the age of four. He absolutely hated any cartoon that focused on normal human beings. If there weren't constant images of transforming robots or superheroes in costume, he would throw a fit. If he even saw a few seconds of a cartoon like King of the Hill, then he would demand you change the channel. Many of my peers in the Batman TAS days were the same way. They just wanted action and escapism, but this show had substance.

“Moon of the Wolf"

            Len Wein penned this animated tale for the series, and it stands out for Batman’s sense of humor. Although Batman has faced the likes of the Man-Bat already, he doesn’t seem like he believes that a werewolf exists. When he first fights the beast, he calls it silly names like “Hairy” and “Shaggy,” expecting, perhaps, that the fight will end with tearing off a mask and unaware that this is another case of mad science, but he doesn’t lose that humor when the hair doesn’t simply tear away. And what a unique case of mad science it is. I don’t want to spoil it, but our werewolf’s origin is wild and not what you would expect.

I don't think the mask is coming off, Bats.

“Tyger, Tyger”

            An obvious homage to The Island of Dr. Moreau and even Cat People. Mad scientist Dr. Emile Dorian abducts Catwoman (Adrienne Barbeau) and turns her into a real cat woman, giving us our first subtle glimpse at the romance between the Dark Knight and the cat burglar.

Tale as old as time...

“See No Evil”

            Truly Emmy-worthy story of a deadbeat criminal dad who just can’t do the right thing but still wants to be a part of his daughter’s life, and he uses invisibility technology to become her imaginary friend. Like the Invisible Man, he begins to succumb to the madness of acting without being seen and without consequence, and the Batman must stop him not only to prevent any more crimes but also to save the man from himself.

“Terror in the Sky”

            The sequel to “On Leather Wings.” The Man-Bat seems to have returned, but things are not what they seem.

“Feat of Clay”

            Ron Perlman delivers an amazing performance as Clayface in this two-part story when actor Matt Hagen falls victim to corporate corruption and, you guessed it, more mad science, this time in the form of an addictive and experimental chemical that can alter the human appearance without any need for make-up. When Roland Daggett (the great Ed Asner) attempts to have the actor murdered with an overdose of the chemical after a Bruce Wayne impersonation plot goes awry, the side-effects are a shapeshifting monster driven to insanity and revenge. The amorphous Clayface gives the animators their time to shine, and we get additional performances from acting greats such as Brock Peters performing the voice of Wayne Enterprises financial adviser Lucius Fox.

Pretty hardcore for an animated kids' show.

And I still have my Clayface action figure.

Honorable Mention: The Batman Adventures comic series #21 – “House of Dorian”

            I wanted to mix things up this year with a combination of movies, television, and reading material, but, sadly, this outing with Batman was the only non-movie material I covered. Maybe next year. In any case, The Batman Adventures spun off from the animated series and offered some of the best writing to come out of DC Comics in the ‘90s. Among my favorite stories was issue #21, which created a three-way House of Frankenstein Halloween sequel to “On Leather Wings,” “Tyger, Tyger,” and “Moon of the Wolf.” I wish this could have been adapted into an hour-long Halloween special because it captures the spirit of the animated series perfectly and tells us what happened to some of our monsters and mad scientists after the credits rolled. It was so enjoyable that I could have sworn that it was an episode for several years and not simply a printed story until I dug it out of a storage box and read it again.

Almost the entire first season of Batman TAS is a perfect fit for the Halloween season. It is a horror fan’s dream more than anything. It is pure magic, and I can’t wait for the series to hit Blu-Ray next year. You can get Mask of the Phantasm on Blu-Ray already, and I couldn’t recommend it more highly. One of the best Batman movies ever made, and one of the best animated series of all time. Period.

Remembering Tobe Hooper

             Losing both George Romero and Tobe Hooper stung me pretty hard as a horror fan. I was familiar with Romero primarily through Night of the Living Dead and Creepshow, and I still remember seeing the broadcast television premiere of Day of the Dead on the USA Network. Despite being on a basic cable network, Day did not skimp on its gore (I had experience with Lucio Fulci and Bruno Mattei already, but it still delivered). Dawn of the Dead came to me out of order some years later and was an instant favorite. Most of Tobe Hooper’s horror catalog, however, had greater impact on me as a young horror fan. I cut my teeth on Poltergeist, Salem’s Lot, The Funhouse, Lifeforce, and Invaders From Mars. Tobe Hooper was one of my introductions to grit and gore, and Salem’s Lot may very well have been the first horror movie I ever saw. I still have a vague early childhood memory of the vampire burned into my brain, and I could have been as young as three years old when I first saw it. Incidentally, I first saw The Empire Strikes Back in 1980 at age one, according to my mother, but I have no memory of it whatsoever prior to a re-release in 1983. I saw a theatrical re-release of Star Wars in 1981 at age three and never forgot it. But I digress. Although I had tasted some of Lucio Fulci’s dirtiest tap water by the age of five with The Gates of Hell, Hooper produced a lot of the visual spectacles and practical effects I loved the most. I hate to admit that I am not well versed in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I have seen it perhaps once or twice and admired it as a fan of 1970s exploitation movies, but I need to give it another look. I have, however, seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 a few times and loved it. Although it was made in 1986, it felt like it was made in the ‘70s with the likes of Eaten Alive, which was perhaps the grimiest movie Hooper ever made and a classic in itself. Tobe Hooper had a knack for making his horror films feel like they were nestled in the decade of the grindhouse, and his work will be remembered in horror history forever.

            The Funhouse was one of the top VHS covers in the 80s and 90s that always jumped out at me at the video store, almost literally as it featured a spooky-looking Jack-in-the-Box clown lunging forward. I still remember the tagline on the box: “Pay to get in. Pray to get out.” I think I rented it once, but I do remember seeing it on television a time or two. I had seen The Elephant Man at the age of four or five, and The Funhouse was like seeing John Merrick in a distorted mirror. What if he hadn’t been rescued from his plight? What if he’d been subjected to even greater dysfunction and abuse to taint his innocent soul? The result was The Funhouse. You have some early sympathy for the “monster,” but he’s too far gone as a product of his environment. He may not have become what he was if his family weren’t so screwed up to begin with, but our female lead proves exactly what his father expected from the world: she said he wasn’t human. This wasn’t a Beauty and the Beast story with anyone trying to see what was on the inside. The last time I saw The Funhouse was in a censored TV edit on TNT MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs, and it was well worth visiting the unedited version again. I’ll talk more about Joe Bob later when I do a section on horror hosts.

The deformed killer was bad, but the dancing duck joke was, by far, the real trauma of the night.

            I first saw Invaders From Mars 1986 one Sunday afternoon as part of the standard local network weekend afternoon movie around 1990 or 1991. At the time, you still had a chance to catch the original 1953 version in reruns, and I had seen it a few times already. Tobe Hooper created one of my first experiences with remakes (next to Carpenter’s The Thing and Cronenberg’s superb vision of The Fly), and it’s an easy favorite. This is a perfect “kids’ horror movie” with a “world of grown-ups against you” plot from a child’s point of view as well as a bounty of practical effects and men-in-suit monsters. Everything seems to play out just perfectly and in a naïve sort of way, as if it’s all perhaps a dream. But is it?

            Lifeforce. What can I say about this masterpiece? Like Invaders From Mars, this had the distinction of being a Golan-Globus production, but, frankly, neither of them feels like something that came from Cannon Films. Tobe Hooper brought quality to Cannon, and if his movies weren’t the best thing that ever came out of their studios, then I don’t know what was. There are two ways to see Lifeforce but only one way to appreciate it. The obvious hype that surrounds the film is the stunningly gorgeous Mathilda May, who appears completely nude for almost the entire uncut version of the film. From head to toe, she is a living and breathing work of art that any rational human being would want to admire all day, but I’m both a nerd and a gentleman and would like to focus on the plot and the special effects. She’s one flawless component of a great sci-fi/horror movie, “the most overwhelmingly feminine presence I’ve ever encountered” as one man says in the script (which should be followed up by Bugs Bunny saying, “Ain’t it the truth”), but we also have some Tobe Hooper horror mastery going on here. Although it’s an important plot point that the vampires look like perfect physical specimens, I’d suggest going over to Ain’t It Cool News if you’re looking for a six-page article on how good Mathilda May looks without her clothes on. I’m sure there’s one there somewhere amidst their hard-hitting journalism pondering the anatomy of underage superhero cheerleaders. Not that it’s beneath me to chuckle when an astronaut talks about going back to the “tug bay” after they discover a chamber of perfectly-sculpted naked people on an alien spacecraft, and I won't deny I made a few riffs about the effect she has...

"Three bodies, perfectly preserved." *radio cuts off* "We didn't get that last part. What did you say?" "I said, 'Homina homina homina,' over."

... but it’s not impossible to be the wolf in a Tex Avery cartoon and hold on to your manners at the same time. That’s what being a gentleman is. It would be wrong of me not to mention that I sought out one of May's other features, La teta y la luna, specifically to see more of her work, but I don't even know where to begin to review or explain that one. I dare Harry Knowles to try to explain it. Strictly clinically and thematically.

The other way to see Lifeforce is the way I first saw it as a kid: the censored version on local television, and that is where I learned to love it. The nudity was, of course, censored and replaced with alternate scenes, but the rest of the movie, for the most part, kept everything that made it stand out as pure Tobe Hooper. The special and practical effects give us a unique new view of the origins of vampires, and this feels, in a way, like a modern take on the Hammer Studios horror movies of the 1960s. There is so much going on throughout the course of this movie as the city is plunged into chaos, and we get only a taste of most of it from a distance while our main characters try to track down its source, the queen vampire Mathilda May. The finale is like a fireworks show, and I love it. And Patrick Stewart!

            Last, but a million miles from least, there’s Poltergeist. If this isn’t on the list of my top five favorite movies of all time, then it’s in the top six. You can argue all you want about whether or not this is Hooper or Spielberg, but I consider it the perfect combination of both. The summer of 1982 was one of the most influential times of my movie life. I saw E.T. five times in almost as many different theaters, and it probably had the most impact on me at that age overall. I only saw Poltergeist in theater once, twice if you count the time I was at a drive-in and kept glancing over at three other drive-in movie screens instead of paying attention to whatever movie it was we were there to see. I think it might have been the fifth time I saw E.T., but what I remember most was watching The Empire Strikes Back, Poltergeist, and Psycho simultaneously and with no sound. I didn’t need sound. I was in heaven. The drive-in was the original picture-in-picture, but that’s a long story for another time. My childhood memories of E.T. and Poltergeist are some of the most vivid memories I have. Without E.T. available on VHS until years later, I listened to Michael Jackson narrate the movie on vinyl a hundred times easily, but Poltergeist got plenty of broadcast television play for me to enjoy it. Of the two, it’s Poltergeist that I pull out again and again as a comfort movie or when I’m in a certain mood and need something familiar droning in the background. I threw Poltergeist on early this October for that noise, but I came back to it for a dedicated look on the day of its 35^th anniversary. I watched it both in its regular format as well as from a broadcast on TNT MonsterVision with Joe Bob Briggs in my horror host collection, following that up with the substandard-but-still-fun Poltergeist II hosted by Dr. Paul Bearer.

            Poltergeist is one of the prime examples of yuppie horror. On that score, I would count Adventures in Babysitting in the same category (feel free to argue amongst yourselves, but I stand by it as a horror movie). An upper middle-class, conservative, and more than a little hypocritical family gets a lesson when they try to build a future without remembering the soil of the past upon which they want to build. They are not directly responsible for the suffering they receive, but they are nevertheless guilty of believing that they can disregard history. Angry spirits don't discriminate. It also doesn’t help their case that they are stoned for about the first half of the movie, but things start to sober them up quickly. Looking back at the movie today, as I take a knee during the National Anthem in the opening credits, I can hope that this family’s traumatic experience would have steered them away from a vote for Donald Trump in 2016.

Nothing illustrates the suburban Freleng family better than this image.

            The only nitpick I have about Poltergeist is that Robbie and Tangina never had a scene together. As a little boy myself in 1982, I identified with Robbie perhaps most of all, and he seems to be the one trying the hardest to process what is going on in this house, taking much of it in stride even after he is almost eaten by a tree. He has an active imagination, but he is not lacking in rationality. He might have been a distraction to the rescue scene, but I think that he should have been there to witness it and to seek some more answers from Tangina. It was a rare act of good parenting in the movie to send him to stay with his grandmother, but it was a bit late. He might have annoyed Tangina with an endless stream of questions because he wasn't as "connected" to the other side as his mother and sister were revealed to be, or maybe she would have had more respect for his nature than she did for anyone else in the family. We’ll never know.

Coming up next: October 2017 Part Two – Thoughts on A Few Classics, in which I will talk about some of my favorites covered in this year’s thread such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, Teeth, I Walked With a Zombie, Troll, Fallen, Diary of a Madman, and more.