The Bad Movie Report

NOWFF 12- American Style!

Special Thanks to everyone from whom I stole pictures.
You know who you are.
Now tell your lawyers to stop calling me.

THE DAY BEFORE

There was no way, I had decided, that this year's NOWFF could be as jinxed as last year's. No way. The bizarre confluence of belligerent and persistent tropical storms, military duty and injuries, and heart bypass operations was, as we say in the lab, non-repeatable. This one had to be an easier time.

Hardy har har.

The first problem involved my wife, Lisa, having to undergo cryo-surgery the day before (she's fine, thank you). It is an outpatient procedure, but it was unlikely that she would be up to a six and a half hour drive followed by twelve solid hours in the hardwood hell of the Benjamin Franklin High School auditorium. Long drives by myself don't bother me, but that's the sort of thing that drives wives bonkers (well, that and hubby going off unchaperoned to the Sin Capitol of the South), so she suggested that longtime associate Dr. Weasel accompany me to the Big Easy.

Andrew Borntreger of Badmovies.org would also be a no-show, as he would be teaching his fellow Marines the four basic ways to crack skulls apart with their bare hands. Joe Bannerman of Opposable Thumbs would likewise be absent, as he was in France researching the origin of the haunting phrase "Vive le Hoff!". Rob and Alan, of course, had long ago been exiled to the Phantom Zone by their enemies. So the B-Masters would have a much-reduced showing. The one ray of light was that Andrew With A Blazer (as one sage as put it, "Jabootu's Chewbacca to Ken Begg's Han Solo")(oh, okay, it was me) would make the trip. Just barely, as it turns out, but he made it.

The drive this time was at least easier, by which I mean that it only rained a quarter of the time, instead of the entire damned trip. A long drive with your pal is much different from a long drive with your wife – the most obvious difference being that you do not have to explain why the opening chords of The Who's "Baba O'Riley" is a signal to see how loud the radio can be turned up. It is simply accepted as a given.

Seven hours, three rainstorms and two complete and inexplicable traffic stoppages later, we arrived at this year's unofficial B-Masters hotel, the Clarion on Canal. We pulled into the Clarion's parking garage just in time to see the traditional First Rat of NOWFF – which was much smaller than last year's opossum-sized beast, thankfully (a good omen, perhaps?). A bit discomfiting was the fact that the Clarion shares its garage with a hospital. Dr. Weasel, however, found this to also be a Good Omen, deducing that we could get "puke-ass drunk" with no worries, as medical aid would be just around the corner.

I want to remind everyone at this point that Dr. Weasel's involvement was my wife's idea.

Child labor laws in New Orleans?  Nonexistant.Another surprise came in the form of the recovered Apostic and his wife Jo the Kiwi. The word "irrepressible" was originally coined by some one thinking of Jo, whether he knew it or not. The only problem here is that we had planned meticulously , like a bad movie Ocean's Eleven (redundant, no?) and had transportation only for eight portly B-Master types. We prepared to improvise, and we Stomp Tokyo people – myself, Dr. Weasel, Chris and Scott, Chris' wife Christina, and their friend Niki - met the Apostics at the Red Fish Grill for dinner, where I had a sandwich with legs and eyes. Creeeepy.

The Chrisses split for Pat O'Brien's while the rest of us journeyed to the Clarion to greet Ken and Andrew With A Blazer. Eventually Jo and Apostic left to join the Chrisses, and we retired to our room, where Dr. Weasel had disassembled the TV set and, employing some chewing gum, a soldering iron and his native ferret cunning, had managed to wire his Playstation 2 into it. The Spider-Man movie game is pretty cool, especially when Bruce Campbell gives you hints in his best Smartass-ese accent. Then we watched a History Channel documentary on some Monks who managed to mummify themselves. Creeeeepy.

Life was good.

THE DAY

The thing I hate about getting older is that I can't sleep as long as I used to. I beat the wake up call by an hour.

The Stompers had to be at NOWFF at 10:30 or so to arrange sponsor-type things. For one thing, they had a number of pre-street release copies of their book, Reel Shame (leaves teeth whiter – ask for it by name!) to sell, with a portion of the proceeds going to NOWFF's charity, the Second Harvester Food Bank. They had a leisurely (perhaps too leisurely, if you catch my drift - tips were perforce small) breakfast while the rest of us were waiting for Ken, who had misplaced his Visa card and was trying to cancel it. We sat in the lobby, supplying the other side of the phone conversation to entertain ourselves. "Did you check the sofa cushions, Mr. Begg?" "Perhaps if you pulled up the carpet in your room, Mr. Begg…" "Did you have the cracker-eating dream again, Mr. Begg? Have you had your stomach pumped yet?" Oh, but we are bastards.

After our breakfast, we piled into the Freexmobile – Dr. Weasel shouting "Shotgun!" although he is a small stoat and easily half the size of the healthier B-Masters – but that is part of his charm. We began our epic journey to NOWFF, made a bit more epic by the absence of the helpful little signs that usually litter Elysian Fields pointing the way - but it is a rather simple place to find, after all, and we arrived without incident. I faked a very convincing angina attack until Andrew With A Blazer and Dr. Weasel carried in the two boxes of groceries I had purchased for everyone's admissions ($7 and some groceries for the Food Bank). This was my third NOWFF, and though I had last year attempted to insure the comfort of my ass by bringing seat cushions – and these sacred seat And verily, Alfred did get jiggy with it.cushions again accompanied me – this year, I was even better prepared.

If there is one thing my time in show business has taught me, that is when you see something that works, you steal it. At B-Fest 2002, Ken had shown up with a couple of folding camp chairs with arms and cup holders. Damn, I thought, that's brilliant. Thus I had stashed in the trunk two similar devices, which Dr. Weasel and I proceeded to set up, while Andrew With A Blazer (no fool he) and yes, even Iron Butt himself, employed the seat cushions (the latter protesting that he did not really need it, but surely this was the best way to keep it from being stolen).

But enough of this light-hearted shilly-shally. NOWFF 12 was underway, termed "NOWFF American Style". It was a tender nostalgic valentine to a simpler time - I guess the 70s - when, like other places across America, the TV stations would play wincingly bad movies late at nights instead of hour-long ads for NADS. In keeping with this theme, Festval President Alfred Richard would don a staggering (and often retina-searing) variety of 70s clothing throughout the day. The movies were interspersed with vintage commercials, like the classic Stan Freberg ad for Jeno's Pizza Rolls. I think I frightened Niki and Weasel by belting out the jingle for Crispy Critters cereal, though it has been unavailable for nearly thirty years.

EVIL BRAIN FROM OUTER SPACE

You wouldn't like me before my morning coffee.As all faithful readers know, the indestructible brain of the evil intergalactic villain Balazar comes to Earth to take over and start a nuclear war. Because he is, like, an evil brain. And he comes from outer space. Starman, aka Space Giant, is sent to stop him, because he is made of steel and can pass for human. Those who do not read The Bad Movie Report, however, were baffled beyond belief by this assembly of episodes from a black and white Japanese TV show.

Contains two of the best lines ever: "So you're a policeman, right? Hunting for mutants?" and "Stay back, or I will throw this nuclear grenade!" Not one Kenny, but two, each with a sister. Even Scott, who had stated that anything put together from Japanese TV eps was okay by him, was driven to rage by the cheating fight scenes. The title character doesn't even show up until the last five minutes, at which point it is killed by pouring some chemicals over it. Screams of dismay rock the theater.

Aaaaaaah… good times!

THE X FROM OUTER SPACE

Yes, in a festival themed "American Style", it was the second Japanese movie in a row. It was the nostalgia thing, of course. These were movies that used to be shown in heavy rotation on old New Orleans TV stations.

Guilala's high school yearbook photo.The frequent disappearance of ships headed for Mars prompts the launching of one more spaceship, the musically named AAB Gamma. It encounters a flying saucer which sprays them with glowing spores. The one spore taken back to Earth grows into the giant space chicken Guilala (what government agency is in charge of naming these things? Is this my tax dollars at work?). There is also a thoroughly boring love triangle, but a refreshing lack of Kennys. Finally, I get to yell "SHUT UP!!!!" at the Odious Comic Relief in an appreciative crowded theater.

The X makes you sit through a lot of thrilling space footage before dishing up the title character. Long enough for us to fear this would be this years unconscious theme – no-show title characters.

Dr. Weasel and I had ducked out during Count Gore de Vol's taped intro, and thus missed his suggestion that the audience clap every time they hear the name of the ship, AAB Gamma. As it was repeated every thirty seconds or so, Weasel and I were mystified by the near-constant bouts of applause. But at least our fingers weren't bleeding by the end of the movie.

INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN

Looks like a great movie, doesn't it?Prompting the question "Are they all space films?" and the answer, "Well, at least it not Japanese…"

Actually a fairly witty little movie. Hard-drinking grifter Frank Gorshin runs afoul of little green (so we’re told – the movie’s in black and white) men who inject him with even more alcohol via needles from their fingers ("Woooo!" shrieked Dr. Weasel, "he’s getting puke-ass drunk!"), which kills him. Actually part of a very well thought-out plot on the part of the titular creatures to cover up their presence. Too bad the Air Force has already discovered their ship and accidentally blown it up. Consarned teenage smoochers find out the invaders’ weakness (bright light disintegrates them, sort of a stupid weakness for a starfaring race) and save the world. And smooch. The end.

I believe it was Andrew With A Blazer who later pointed out that had the Saucer Men not had this strange allergy to photons, they could have settled in and made a quite lucrative business of their expertise in faking car accidents. At least the Saucermen are pretty much a constant presence, unlike the last two monsters, who had been, like, total teases.

At some point around here (maybe I should start keeping notes at these shindigs) a fellow with the fest staff approached and asked if I was Stomp Tokyo. Of course, I answered in the negative and pointed out Scott and Chris, nearby. He informed them that he had a surprise for them, something he had found out about on their site. Why cool, we thought, and waited. And there it was. Super President.

Lesson learned: in the future, I will simply give up, and when asked if I am Stomp Tokyo, I will answer, "Yes. Speak to me and the Borg Mind will hear." It will be like the "I am Tiger Woods" campaign, except with giant monsters, lava motion lamps, and Tor Johnson. In the words of Christopher Lloyd in Who Framed Roger Rabbit: "My God… it will be beautiful!!!"

THE GIANT GILA MONSTER

Does this guy ever get eaten? HELL, no!No outer space to be seen or alluded to here, but there is a Gila monster terrorizing some miniature sets. Apparently set in Hicksville (as opposed to Hicksburg, which is where Saucermen was set), a town which has one sheriff; one French female exchange student; one teenage mechanic who is not only competent and capable in a way normally only reserved for Heinlein protagonists, but is also a gifted rock-and-roll singer; and one bald dickweed who is always clad in either a bathrobe or a cashmere coat. This is another place that has never seen a modern telephone. The only thing to do in town is race hot rods and put one leg up on any available flat surface in a manly pose, which Ken and I emulated.

It's never really made clear what made the Gila monster grow to enormous size (if indeed it had; Dr. Weasel kept sneering that it was obviously a normal-sized Gila monster. "No, look," I'd say helpfully, "there's a tree! He's huge!" "That's a stick." "It's a tree!" "It's a stick!" "It's a tree! He's huge!" and so on.). Cigarette lighters were held aloft during one particularly irksome song, and Alfred got off a good "VH-1 Behind the Music" joke. Not to mention mine and Weasel's cries of "Woooo! Freebird! Play Freebird!"

Again, the monster shows up often enough to remind us he is the title character, so maybe the whole no-show thing wasn't the theme after all.

INVISIBLE INVADERS

Senator!  Senator!  Over here!Unreeled after a heartfelt tribute to the recently departed King of the B's, John Agar. A not-bad little 50's sci-fi film about – guess what? – invisible invaders possessing the bodies of the recently dead and making them walk around and freak people out . At least, that's what I remember it being about, as we split for the China Rose for our annual dose of yum. Surprisingly, we were seated at the exact table at which we had dined the two years previous, though no such arrangement had been made. Believe It – Or Not!

Back at the movie - needless to say, the monsters are pretty much a no-show, owing to their, you know, invisible status. When they finally do show up, they turn out to be It! The Terror from Beyond Space! painted white. And then they turn into wads of chewing gum.

The end.

VIVA KNIEVEL!

VIVA!!!!Can it be? A movie I actually haven't seen yet? The monster shows up right at the beginning here – Evel Knievel, playing himself, distributing little toy Knievals to an orphanage in the dead of night. Creeeepy.

There's a plot in there somewhere about drug smugglers using Evel's jump in Mexico to smuggle cocaine back into the good ol' USA… but it's the astounding cast that keeps you enthralled. Gene Kelly as Evel's alcoholic mentor/mechanic! Red Buttons as a sleazy promoter who's ripping off Evel! Leslie Nielsen as the evil drug lord! Marjoe Gortner as Evel's former partner, now a lackey of the drug lord! Cameron Mitchell as the evil drug lord's enforcer! Lauren Hutton as a totally unrealistic love interest for ol' Evel. All we needed were John Saxon and maybe Jim Kelly. Or OJ!

Weasel and I had much fun shouting "VIVA!!!" whenever somebody fell off a bike, which was often.

MEGAFORCE

Being of a sagelike demeanor, I am frequently asked for advice. Chris wrote asking my opinion which movie Stomp Tokyo should sponsor this year, and I advised him that the likely choice would be Megaforce, as it involved maximum pain. What I did not tell him was that it also involved maximum gayness. Yes, if you think Road to El Dorado is the gayest film ever made, you have not seen Megaforce.

You don't want to know.  No, you don't.Megaforce, you see, is an international fighting force of volunteer hooligans who ride around in tricked out dirt bikes and dune buggies, righting wrongs and blowing stuff up, not necessarily in that order. Persis Khambatta – with hair – enlists Megaforce's aid against military strongman Henry Silva, but due to some political skullduggery cooked up at the last minute, Megaforce is not allowed to drive to their agreed-upon extraction point, so this is just like The Wild Geese, only not good.

None of this actually matters, as the true star of the movie is Megaforce leader Barry Bostwick's spandex-clad girly butt, which is featured in nineteen out of twenty shots. Niki became enraged that Bostwick's butt was getting so much screen time, but not co-star Michael Beck's. Weasel and I were distraught that Khambatta's butt wasn't getting even that much play, but we consoled ourselves by yelling "VIVA!" whenever somebody fell off a bike, which was often.

A legendary flop, Megaforce cost $20 million to make, an extraordinary amount in 1982. We figured the budget was $12 million for pyro, $7 million for spandex, $1 million for blowdryers, and a $1.98 for script. You can point to it as a sort of inspiration for the GI Joe cartoon, as it tries to present a bloodless sort of battlefield violence that would appeal to five year-olds. The trouble being, five year-olds have a better grasp of battlefield tactics than anyone involved in this movie. There are any number of cool elements in this movie, that somehow manage, like some dreadful anti-Voltron, to combine to form a large piece of crap.

After the traditional showing of Duck Dodgers in the 24 ½ Century, we cleaned up our mess and left. Everyone gathered in our room, mainly because of Weasel's PS2, which can also play DVDs. There was no need to let the bad movie buzz die down, and we watched my new DVD of Sting of Death. Crikeys, that was bad. Hideously bad. Puke-ass bad. And it was still better than Megaforce.

One small glitch in the evening: a local merchant, PJ's Coffee, was giving away free coffee in the lobby of BF High School, for those whose bad movie stamina was faltering. Mine wasn't but I was a coffee achiever when most you were only studying to become zygotes. Their iced mocha was particularly delicious (I want one right now) and I had several – thus, when 4:00am rolled around, I was still wired. I took two pills and called myself in the morning.

THE DAY AFTER

Beat the wake-up call by an hour and a half. We met for our annual pilgrimage to The Court of Two Sisters, where the assembled might of the B-Masters attempts to eat the establishment out of house and home. We have not succeeded yet, but it is not for lack of trying. Dr. Weasel, for instance, came back from one trip to the buffet line with a wheelbarrow full of crawdads. Mudbugs are one of those labor-intensive foods like celery, where surely more calories must be burned in the eating than is gained.


L-to-R: Ken, Jo, Chris, Christina, Scott, Niki. Another potent argument for letterboxing: in a regular pan-and-scan photo, you would only see Chris and part of Christina.

I also had to endure Weasel's constant imitations of me in my caffeine-buzzed state, which went something like "Oh boy theCartoonNetworkIlovetheCartoonNetworkLooktheHerculoidsSomebodywasonacidwhentheycameupwiththeHerculoidsHaHaHa!
Ofcoursethe60sVersionwasbetterHey!Birdman!Andlook!It'sBirdgirl!YoualmostneverseeBirdgirl!Hey!Whatareyoudoing?Whyareyou
goingtobed?TheymayshownaotherBirdgirlcartoon!Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!"

I swore the stoat would get his. But for right now, I had to be satisfied with the multiple lacerations he received while cracking open the chitinous carapaces of the crawdads.

After brunch, we began our walking tour of the French Quarter. Weasel and I quickly became separated from the rest of the herd when he became entranced by a street performer's dog, which was wearing sunglasses. When we finally rejoined them, we had missed the departure of Ken and Andrew With A Blazer, who wanted to visit the D-Day Museum before catching their shuttle to the airport. Sorry, guys. I'll say bye to you twice at the next B-Fest.

We were informed that the others were going to catch a trolley to a casino. It was Weasel's first time in the Quarter, though, so we continued walking. Once in the French Market, however, who should we run into but Chris, Scott, and Mark, all of whom had been abandoned in the Hot Sauce section with orders to "Stay! Stay!" by the womenfolk, doubtless followed by a sharp slap across the nose with a newspaper. Weasel and I laughed at them, exulting in our freedom, that we were living the high bachelor life, unencumbered by wimmin.

Then we quickly went into the market to buy presents for our wives.

Eventually we started wandering back toward the hotel, to unencumber ourselves and prepare for an evening in the Quarter. I set my Phibesian revenge plot in motion by insisting that we stop at Pat O'Briens, so I could rest and get a drink – and I introduced Weasel to the Hurricane.

The Hurricane has been the downfall of many a strong man. A potent combination of fruit punch, rum, and several ingredients known only to the Priest Kings of Gor, it goes down very smoothly and possesses something of a kick. Dr. Weasel really liked his. As I had planned. Mwoo hah ha.

Perhaps an hour and a handful of ibuprofen later, we received a phone call from the Apostics, pointing out that we were in New Orleans, after all, and we should do something about it. My sweat-drenched clothing had finally dried out, and Weasel was whining about "finding some tunes! Some tunes!" so we met on Bourbon Street, ate at the Original Papa Joe's (where Dr. Weasel wowed the waitstaff by doing his famous Exploding Catsup Bottle trick) and returned to Pat O'Brien's.

This is an important scientific experiment, dammit!Dr. Weasel was, I must admit, approaching things in a scientific manner. He felt that by staying with the Hurricane – or perhaps, as Jo suggested, by staying within the Rum Family – he would be safe. Jo and I, however, kept being impressed with each other's drink choices, and I began my smorgasbord of alcohol for the evening. Mainly I stuck to the lemonade drinks, as they came in beakers, and at Pat's you get to keep the glass. As my esteemed colleague, Professor Mojo Jojo once pointed out, "How quickly we forget the importance of beakers!" I was going home with extras. All I need now is some colored liquids and a supply of dry ice, and I am in business.

After packing away three drinks each, we trundled off in search of Weasel's "Tunes! Tunes!" Not much in the way of decisions were being reached, so I bullied everyone into the Maison Bourbon club, where a jazz quintet was playing. Weasel had his fourth Hurricane in a row, I had Irish coffee. I have no idea what Jo and Apostic ordered, as we were sitting right in front of the band. Any conversation required subtitles.

I want to offer a heartfelt apology to the band – I never caught their name. Like Apostic, jazz is not my favorite flavor of music, but we really enjoyed these guys, whose repertoire ran to extended versions of standards like St. James Infirmary Blues and Caledonia. They were good showmen, great musicians, and dealt quite well with the inebriated stoat in the front row screaming "Woooooo! Play Freebird! Wooooooo!" "Sir, we play jazz."

Pause. "VIVA!!!"

When it came time for the mandatory part where the front man asks folks in the audience from whence they came, he had the smarts to ask Weasel first. "Houston! Woooooooo!"

"Really? We're going to Houston soon."

"You can stay at my place! My sofa folds out! VIVA!!!"

When asked if the rest of the table was also from Houston, the Apostics answered in the negative. I claimed to be from Sweden, and had no idea who the fried ferret was.

We left after a half hour of grooving, and the Apostics went their merry way, after Jo stopped in some place that was selling a kaleidoscope of daquiris. (Jo, I love you like the sister I never had, but you weren't fooling anyone by claiming it was a Smoothie). Weasel, on the other hand, had to stop at the R&B Club for "Rock! Rock!" Hurricane #5, and a bourbon and coke for me, thanks. Four songs later, Weasel consented to be led back to the hotel.

It turns out that the experience of fatherhood does have advantages in other parts of your life. Trying to get a staggering stoat that keeps yelling "Wooooooooo!" at passing cars to a safe place without getting either of our butts kicked required near-constant use of the Daddy Voice and a firm resolve usually only employed when refusing to buy Another Damned Power Ranger. We made it (with only one near butt-kicking), just in time for Weasel to get his wish and become "puke-ass drunk". I, on the other hand, had a sandwich because I was hungry. I did not remind Dr. Weasel of his earlier "puke-ass drunk" statements, because, frankly, I needed the karma. I left the doctor to his sink and misery, and went to sleep.

THE DAY AFTER THE DAY AFTER

That night, Weasel regurgitated everything he had eaten in the previous 24 hours, and apparently everything I had eaten, too, because I was ravenously hungry. I had slept in, only beating the wake-up call by forty-five minutes.

To give the devil his due, although he obviously felt like The Incredible Melting Man in the last 30 seconds of that movie, Weasel rewired the TV set as best he could and did his part of the packing and lugging for checkout. I met Jo and Apostic for the traditional last cup of coffee and fried dough at Café du Monde, but had to cut it short because I had left a comatose Weasel in the back seat of the Freexmobile. Always good to see you guys. Really, I hope to bring Lisa next time. She doesn't puke near as much.

The first attempt at leaving the Quarter was abortive, because rolling down the cobblestone streets had rekindled Weasel's technicolor yawn mechanism, requiring a quick stop while he laughed at the ground, as the Eskimos say. Passers-by seemed unaffected, as it was, after all, New Orleans. There is a reason the morning hours are filled by people hosing off sidewalks.

Weasel finally curled up in the back seat and slept (given the size of the Freexmobile, no easy task) and finally awoke about the middle of Louisiana, sober and possibly ready to eat. Five hours later, I deposited him at his doorstep, somewhat the worse for wear, abandoning him to the tender mercies of his wife. I have seen him since, and he was not in traction, so he must have lied like a politician with an attractive intern.

That's alright. I have pictures.

Overall it was a very good weekend. I always enjoy time spent with my fellow B-movie fans, NOWFF – and we were here to talk about NOWFF, right? – NOWFF was run with its usual efficiency, and zero mishaps – and there's always the Quarter. Good friends, good times, and – I finally get to use the phrase – all that jazz.

Now it's time to put this baby to bed and journey over to Dr. Weasel's with a bottle of hurricane mix and see if that jazz quintet has arrived yet. VIVA!!!!!

TRAVELING COMPANIONS

Wooo! Stomp Tokyo! Wooooo!

 

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RATING:

Zombi 3, Viewers 0

- June 11, 2004