Niggling ARISE! clip question finally answered.

From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 5, 2004

The guy asked this question on alt.slack about 5 years ago, and no one
could answer it. "In ARISE! there's a very brief stolen clip of some
actor guy in a dark place ripping back a canvas or cloth from an
eyeball-looking mechanical thing that starts spewing out colorful wads
of odd crud, and the guy turns his face away in disgust -- WHAT MOVIE
IS THAT FROM?"

The answer has been on the TIP OF MY BRAIN ever since. I could SEE
other scenes from the movie and I even remembered the basic plot -- a
small town is mysteriously sealed off from all the rest of the world
inside a bubble-like force field.

Looking through the Sci Fi Station Store website, which carries a
TREASURE TROVE of VHS and DVD copies of movies NOT OTHERWISE
DISTRIBUTED AT ALL (in other words, probably kinda "bootlegs"), I FOUND
THE ANSWER!
Actually I found mention of a similarly strange movie which I thought
might be by the same director -- "THE TWONKY" directed by Arch Obeler.
Following a hunch I checked the imdb and looked up Obeler's other
movies -- found what I was looking for:

"THE BUBBLE" aka "FANTASTIC INVASION OF PLANET EARTH"

Originally made in a form of 3D that Obeler called "SpaceVision" which
apparently sucked majorly.

I must have taped that movie off TV in Betamax and somehow that one
clip found its way into ARISE!, probably by way of pre-ARISE Arises
that I assembled in Beta and VHS before we did the final one in 3/4".

The Sci Fi Station store also has, for $30 each:

Return of the Vampire
The Werewolf (American, 1956, filmed at Big Bear Lake, wherever that is)
Day the World Ended
Equinox
The Flesh Eaters (uncut)
It's Alive (1968, Buchanan?!?!?)
Just Imagine (1933 film about 1980)
The Lost World (1925)
Naked Witch (Dallas badfilm by Buchanan cohort)
The Neanderthal Man 1953
1984 (1956)
The Slime People
The Twonky
Zontar Thing from Venus (Larry Buchanan's badfilm masterwork)

I have been looking for these for years. They are all probably pretty
bad, but I saw them when I was 9 or 10 on TV and... well, you know how
it is. In some cases they are movies of which I only saw the TRAILER,
and would have KILLED to see the whole movie, back then.

I thought that what made certain movies stick in my head were the key
monster and violence scenes. But as I've gradually started gathering up
and re-seeing these old movies, I'm finding that what really jars loose
old memory-stashes are certain DAMES and FLOOZIES in them. For
instance, Kaltiki The Immortal Monster. When I finally saw that again,
it was the gypsy-girls CATFIGHT, and the heroine's CHEST, that I found
I had MOST fondly remembered, after all. The memories were just
half-buried, probably in my NUTS. I really NOTICED that stuff as a
little kid. Or rather, the sexy scenes affected me a lot more than I
would have given them credit for. It wasn't JUST the monster -- the
damsel in distress is the other necessary element, apparently.

I found "Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid" (early 50s?) with William Powell
the other night on alt.binaries.multimedia.vintage-films and we started
watching it -- and so far it's FUCKING GREAT! At the beginning of the
movie, the hero has belatedly realized that he's about to turn 50, and
he FREAKS OUT in a way that was pretty fucking funny to me, because
it's so familiar. I turned 50 last August, but I had the requisite main
mid-life crisis earlier, in my early 40s. And boy howdy, I must say, I
am ENJOYING watching some of my slightly younger peers undergo it,
making desperate fools of themselves in one last glorious (but way
late) stab at youth. I know how it is. You hit 40 or 50 or whatever,
and you suddenly go, "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!! I didn't expect to live
NEARLY this long -- but... now that I have... JESUS CHRIST, AT THE VERY
BEST, IT'S HALF OVER!! I might have another 40 years -- IF I'M REAL
LUCKY!! And... I haven't fucked anywere NEAR as many impregnable-aged
female bipeds of my own species as my primate imperative commands! Not
only that, but I haven't climbed Mount Everest, taken up oil painting,
or owned a Leer jet like I always said I would! FUCK! Only ONE THING
LEFT TO DO: *PRETEND*!!"

But in the case of this poor sumbitch in the movie, Mr. Peabody,
apparently he isn't pretending. I dunno... he hasn't met the mermaid
yet in the flashback. I'm hoping she's not another INVISIBLE playmate
like Harvey. Because, hey, let's face it, the whole fascination with
mermaids is the fact that they're always topless. You don't have to see
the titties at all -- just the idea is enough. (If you're a boy raised
in Fort Worth, Texas, anyway.) And there's always the dreadful question
of what happens when you're making out with a mermaid and you get to
"THIRD BASE."

AAHHHHH! I just managed to kill half an hour daydreaming about monster
movies!! AAAhhhhhhhhh!

--
4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected (Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
PRABOB

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Zapanas <http://joecosby.com/code/mail.pl>

"Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com> wrote:
>I thought that what made certain movies stick in my head were the key
>monster and violence scenes. But as I've gradually started gathering up
>and re-seeing these old movies, I'm finding that what really jars loose
>old memory-stashes are certain DAMES and FLOOZIES in them. For
>instance, Kaltiki The Immortal Monster. When I finally saw that again,
>it was the gypsy-girls CATFIGHT, and the heroine's CHEST, that I found
>I had MOST fondly remembered, after all. The memories were just
>half-buried, probably in my NUTS. I really NOTICED that stuff as a
>little kid. Or rather, the sexy scenes affected me a lot more than I
>would have given them credit for. It wasn't JUST the monster -- the
>damsel in distress is the other necessary element, apparently.

Now that porn is readily available for kids over the Internet, kids
will no longer need to go to movies with vaguely erotic flashes in
them and they will never make that association between sex and
monsters from outer space again.

I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but it can't be
good for a flying saucer cult.

>But in the case of this poor sumbitch in the movie, Mr. Peabody,
>apparently he isn't pretending. I dunno... he hasn't met the mermaid
>yet in the flashback. I'm hoping she's not another INVISIBLE playmate
>like Harvey. Because, hey, let's face it, the whole fascination with
>mermaids is the fact that they're always topless. You don't have to see
>the titties at all -- just the idea is enough. (If you're a boy raised
>in Fort Worth, Texas, anyway.) And there's always the dreadful question
>of what happens when you're making out with a mermaid and you get to
>"THIRD BASE."

Damn what is that movie ... there is a half-way good Spanish version
of an HP Lovecraft story, I am too lazy to look it up. It is the best
attempt at a Lovecraft story on film ever. Part of it is the main
character gets involved sort of with a part-fish Lovecraftian monster
and they wind up trying to consummate their relationship, and she
winds up being kind of squid/fish from the waist down.

It's the closest to third base with a mermaid you will probably ever
find.

--
Zapanas
Grand Master of the Satanic Conspiracy
http://joecosby.com/
If God dropped acid, would he see people?

- kate

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Cardinal Vertigo <vertigo@alexandria.cc>

Zapanas wrote:
[snip]
> Now that porn is readily available for kids over the Internet, kids
> will no longer need to go to movies with vaguely erotic flashes in
> them and they will never make that association between sex and
> monsters from outer space again.
>
> I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing but it can't be
> good for a flying saucer cult.

A flying saucer SEX cult, no less.

--
"Every time man makes a new experiment he always learns more. He
cannot learn less."
- Buckminster Fuller

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>

"Zapanas" <http://joecosby.com/code/mail.pl> wrote:
(snip)
> Damn what is that movie ... there is a half-way good Spanish version
> of an HP Lovecraft story, I am too lazy to look it up. It is the best
> attempt at a Lovecraft story on film ever. Part of it is the main
> character gets involved sort of with a part-fish Lovecraftian monster
> and they wind up trying to consummate their relationship, and she
> winds up being kind of squid/fish from the waist down.
>
> It's the closest to third base with a mermaid you will probably ever
> find.

"Dagon"... made-for-SciFi-Channel-quality movie.

Only the last 10 minutes or so are what you remember as good.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Zapanas <http://joecosby.com/code/mail.pl>

Well -I- thought it was half-way good. I mean, vastly better than the
usual crap of HP Lovecraft movies.

--
Zapanas
Grand Master of the Satanic Conspiracy
http://joecosby.com/
The old shaman said carefully, "You didn't just see two men go through upside down
on a broomstick, shouting and screaming at each other, did you?" The boy looked at
him levelly. "Certainly not," he said. The old man heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness
for that," he said. "Neither did I."

-- (Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Zapanas <http://joecosby.com/code/mail.pl>

ps

I just finally saw "Hellboy", that has some GREAT HP Lovecraft
monsters in it!

That was a damned cool movie actually. I mean it was dumb,
intentionally dumb, but really fucking cool.

--
Zapanas
Grand Master of the Satanic Conspiracy
http://joecosby.com/
> what's the capital of Maine?
>

Steven King.

- chaos israel

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "alliekatt" <pogmothon@myarse.com>

"Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com> wrote:
> The Sci Fi Station store also has, for $30 each:
>
> Return of the Vampire
> The Werewolf (American, 1956, filmed at Big Bear Lake, wherever that is)
> Day the World Ended
> Equinox
> The Flesh Eaters (uncut)
> It's Alive (1968, Buchanan?!?!?)
> Just Imagine (1933 film about 1980)
> The Lost World (1925)
> Naked Witch (Dallas badfilm by Buchanan cohort)
> The Neanderthal Man 1953
> 1984 (1956)
> The Slime People
> The Twonky
> Zontar Thing from Venus (Larry Buchanan's badfilm masterwork)

DON'T BUY THEM FOR THAT PRICE!!!!!

I JUST saw a MAGNIFICENT badfilm selection of DVD's at, of all places,
Suncoast Video, in the "Under $10" section. Now this is the place at
Century 3 Mall outside Pittsburgh, but I saw at least a hundred B titles I
had NEVER seen before, many of them compilations that contained 3 and 4
monster badfilms, DVDs that were down to $4 and $5. Russ Meyer would be
mainstream in comparison to most of them. I was flabbergasted and
heartbroken that I was personally broke at the time and holding a 10%
discount card.

Not only did they have the oldies and most of the list you have above and
many more, but they have a lot of later gore from the 70s and 80s as well.

At a Conspiracy outlet, super cheap...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com>

alliekatt <pogmothon@myarse.com> wrote:
> "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com> wrote:
> > The Sci Fi Station store also has, for $30 each:
> >
> > Return of the Vampire
> > The Werewolf (American, 1956, filmed at Big Bear Lake, wherever that is)
> > Day the World Ended
> > Equinox
> > The Flesh Eaters (uncut)
> > It's Alive (1968, Buchanan?!?!?)
> > Just Imagine (1933 film about 1980)
> > The Lost World (1925)
> > Naked Witch (Dallas badfilm by Buchanan cohort)
> > The Neanderthal Man 1953
> > 1984 (1956)
> > The Slime People
> > The Twonky
> > Zontar Thing from Venus (Larry Buchanan's badfilm masterwork)
>
> DON'T BUY THEM FOR THAT PRICE!!!!!

Oh, I ain't buying ANY of them at ANY price. They will all come to me
again someday just as they came to me as a child -- over the magic TV
waves. Or the magic Internet waves. Or the magic Tape-Trading waves. I
think I already fully leached the magic Nu-Monet waves.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Rev. Ivan Stang" <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com>

Rev. Ivan Stang <stang@subgeniusNOSPUM.com> wrote:
> But in the case of this poor sumbitch in the movie, Mr. Peabody,
> apparently he isn't pretending. I dunno... he hasn't met the mermaid
> yet in the flashback. I'm hoping she's not another INVISIBLE playmate
> like Harvey. Because, hey, let's face it, the whole fascination with
> mermaids is the fact that they're always topless. You don't have to see
> the titties at all -- just the idea is enough. (If you're a boy raised
> in Fort Worth, Texas, anyway.) And there's always the dreadful question
> of what happens when you're making out with a mermaid and you get to
> "THIRD BASE."

Saw the rest of the movie. It got pretty dumb in the middle. By
scriptwriter's coincidence, nobody besides Mr. Peabody ever actually
saw the mermaid. But the ending was tricky. His love affair with the
mermaid was forced to a heartbreaking climax. After everyone decided he
was crazy for believing in mermaids, he went to a shrink... who says at
the end, "yeah, it happens to all us men when we turn 50... no point in
trying to explain it to younger folks... you had a mermaid, in my case
it was a gorgeous ice skater, who skated on air right in through my
window."

So, as it turns out, the mermaid WAS real, it's just that things like
mermaids and Space Princesses only happen to guys going through a
mid-life crisis, and only other guys 50 and over would ever understand.

"I dreamed I saw a naked cowgirl... she was floating across the
ceiling." -- ZZ Top

They never did show the mermaid's titties, of course. But then, the
titties you can't see are always just a little sexier. "The dicks they
can't see are always longer." -- "Bob," 1956, moping in his cups at a
bar after a fight with Connie

And the monster in Alien was the scariest looking monster of all...
until you SAW him.

Hey, I saw that movie DAGON... it did have a DISGUSTING mermaid at the
end. You could practically SMELL it. Oddly enough that movie was one of
the more fauthful Lovecraft adaptations (from Shadow Over Innsmouth) --
which isn't saying very much at ALL.


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