#Hagsploitation

[bitter69uk]

Hagsploitation truly is the horror sub-genre that keeps on giving. Sparked by the unexpected success of 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? in the 1960s and 70s, maturing female stars of golden age Hollywood extended their careers by swallowing their pride, embracing their inner scream queen and plunging into exploitation shockers: think of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, Olivia de Havilland, Agnes Moorehead and Shelley Winters starring in the likes of Strait-Jacket, Hush … Hush … Sweet Charlotte, Berserk, Lady in a Cage, Die Die My Darling, Dear Dead Delilah and especially the “question movies” Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, What’s the Matter with Helen? and What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? Roaring back from career doldrums (I last remember her playing Miley Cyrus’ mother), 61-year-old Demi Moore finds herself in a similar position in director Coralie Fargeat’s grisly and stylish satire The Substance. In a gutsy, exposed (in every sense) performance, Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a middle-aged television celebrity abruptly fired by ageist and sexist network executive Dennis Quaid (really chomping the scenery). Despondent, Elisabeth takes desperate measures to rejuvenate her “best self” with a mysterious unregulated black market scientific procedure called The Substance … and things swiftly unravel. Characterized by stunning art direction and a visceral sound design that emphasizes every repulsive squelching noise, The Substance ratchets up maximum dread and offers a goldmine of knowing movie references: Basket Case. Carrie. Death Becomes Her. Every single David Cronenberg “body horror” flick but particularly The Fly. Thematically, it reminded me of two specific b-movies from the late 1950s: The Wasp Woman and The Leech Woman, in which the anti-heroine experiments with science (or voodoo) to restore youth and beauty with monstrous consequences (and – it must be noted - these films make their point with a fraction of The Substance’s budget and two hour-and 40-minute running time). The Substance is bound to be divisive. There was multiple “walk outs” when I saw it. And has Fargeat lost control of the material by the ultra-gory splatter fest finale? However you cut it, it’s a wild ride and destined for cult status.

[devilsskettle]

The X trilogy + "psycho-biddy" influences

[horror-aesthete]

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1962, dir. Robert Aldrich

[silveragelovechild]

HBO Max has announced a reunion of Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrall in season three of “And Just Like That... the Golden Girl Years”.

[esqueletosgays]

STRAIT-JACKET (1964)

Director: William Castle Cinematography: Arthur E. Arling

[schlock-luster-video]

On November 20, 1981, Butcher Baker Nightmare Maker debuted in Salem, Oregon.

[our-reb00t-boi]

I was definitely gonna talk about Lilith

tw, mentions of, hope it's not waffling tldr

Ok for some reason the original post i wanted to makr suddenly posted when i wanted it as a draft because i wasnt done

Idk tumblr as an app is just losing it the more time i use it

But i know a too long tldr post is just gonna lose the point or accuse me of just "waffling" as the kids say these days

Anyway I always find black and white discussions about anything that's discomforting just a pet peeve

Tolerance isn't morals. But morals is complicated too. I do understand where people are cominf from. Violence that is not "Hollywood-ized" glamorized/ sanitized is just as bad as when they are as such. The way i see it, i look for intent and target audience. And even that is muddy. Anyone will pick up Barbie 2023 or Terrifier and wouldn't realize they're not the right audience, etc

I'm gonna get it out of the way that the BIGGEST issue DmC has is the fact that it's not quite as deep and searing in its political/social commentary, because it really would give us so much about the demons. Because as the story reveals, the demons have long successfully taken over the human world and leeching off of it for so long

It's their world, therefore their actions and influence had shaped this dystopia. So yes it would be so interesting to see how depraved, greedy and cruel their rule over humanity is.

And how that is a creative fictional reflection of our own very real life oppression

I'm not asking that DmC becomes a paragon of gutwrenching, revealing political, social or philosophical ripper that Ninja Theory may have wanted to do (and knowing their production process being scrutinized and under deadline, there was just no way)

But there could've been a clever efficient way about it because, yes, as fun and bold the demons' portrayal are they're mostly almost just waiting for Dante to come knocking...

We know THAT is usually the formula on the og DMC anyway. almost the lot of demon bosses are usually just waiting for the protagonist to come knocking

And i think specifically with Lilith we don't see how she operates. We don't fully see her villainy or how she is besides being a boss fight

.. and yes I'm going to talk about the Trade now......

When she does appear outside her elements, a lot of haters MISS the point that this chapter IS being depicted bleakly. Ninja Theory KNOWS that this is a very serious plot development.

Lilith's and the demon baby's deaths aren't a shock value without reason:

It's there because it shows Lilith's own human conditions and OUR ethics in handling a defeated opponent. We indeed were supposed to care.

It's also a very pivotal moment of WHO these characters are and who/what it is that they really care about.

Well in this case, it reveals Vergil's growing number of red flags. Vergil's impatience, selfishness and, incredibly, sudden lack of foresight. He's also an opportunistic asshat. And he even has the audacity to look at what he has done with horror, and tried to justify it. Even more so in the definitive edition. But dante chews him out for that

It also shows us that Dante keeps his word and he wouldn't harm Lilith nor the baby. He sees her impersonally and he's there for Kat's safety. It was Dante's plan to strike a deal with Mundus, but that's it. It was all to at least have the last remaining important people in their reisstance. And it was all supposed to go smoothly..

Funnily enough we see Mundus a lot more agitated. For someone who was supposedly uncaring and likely sees anyone under his disposal, Mundus cares for his heir. And to some extent then, to Lilith.

We were told by Phineas that Mundus doesn't care for anyone but for his own gains. Phineas si allso the one who relayed the idea about Lilith's pregnancy to Dante and what he should do with that information (and btw it has one of my fave close ups of Dante's eyes--he looks horrified at what Phineas is telling him about killing the demon baby😶..yeah even Dante feels something for demon babies).

This is probably lore terrirtory that Ninja Theory can't explain anymore (i think afaik). Surely, if Mundus doesn't care as much unless you're in his level of cruelty and systemic oppressor (but only as 2nd in command, he's number one), Mundus could've had anyone pregnant and have an heir.

He could've just Henry VIIIO his way with having multiple lineages... And yet he didn't. He chose Lilith. And personally we have no choice but to think he does care, in some roundabout way

It's surprising that a satire villain about capitalism, greed and cruelty, shows a smidge of humanity to us because he does care for his unborn heir. And his delusional statements aboit having brought order and prosperity to the human world, personally as years went by i can't help but feel sorry he can't see just how wrong he is. And it's so human....

... and sorry for this morbid joke but Mundus turns out to be more human than Elon Musk. Musk is being joked around as someone who's supposedly using his child as a human meat shield so Musk wouldn't be assassinatd

see this game.... It never stops giving. It's still relevant.. like Mundus extorting money from the President, and promises the politician power. ..Musk colluding financial rewards to ensure Trump becomes president... 😥😥😥

And lastly, the way both Kat and Lilith looked at one another as they're passing each other silently has got to be a very powerful moment. ..

like I don't get why people think this is them being used as trading meat like WTF

Like for someone who feels this is misogynistic their chosen words heavily implies something else about them, and misses the entire point simultaneously

Because this scene shows us the difference between these women. And how despite her power and influence, Lilith has been reduced to something that's way outside of her class.. and yeah I guess she's made to feel like cattle

And I'm not saying that to assuage the haters' perspective. This is Lilith realizing her vulnerable situation, now outside her comfortable dominion. And Ninja Theory depicting it as soberingly as much as they can

On the other end is Kat. And she literally comes from nothing. She's a freedom fighter and held as both a key instrument and deemed a terrorist. She's from the lower class. She's us (or you would be if you share Kat's motivations to help humanity..no judgement).

Lilith definitely doesn't deserve her sudden end, even if she is very much capable of exacting cruel revenge if she lived long enough for the story

If there is one thing I should add, DmC doesn't pass the Bechdel Test. The test isn't an ultimate golden law that supports feminism. But it is a very interesting social experiment. And I say this because the Trade chapter is the only time two female characters meet and they silently acknowledge each other's status.

I want to say this because they're basically from opposing forces, but for just that small moment Kat sees Lilith in an almost similar situation she is in. I'm definitely biased the way I see Kat, looking at Lilith with sympathy.

But also for the first time in Lilith's life, she acknowledges a human in a difficult situation.

It's a a very grey area. And it's a grey area that I think has been muddled for so long by haters or audiences looking in

This scene was never about anything celebratory. It is uncomfortable. It is done with a lot of emphasis towards the characters' motivations/goals and if their motivations/goals are going to be met, one way or another. It was a shocking chapter that I personally took a lot from even after all these years.

It probably helped i did kept replaying it then and each replay just keeps giving hints about how absurdly human these characters are..

I think this is too long now. Even for tumblr standard s. I think the app just .. won't work and load as it used to back then. I used to read long posts here but it looks this is long enough

It's too bad i do want to talk about how the devs CHOSE to make the human-passing demons look ugly

And in Lilith's case her uglyness reflects the plaatic surgery/vanity/superficiality that women have to take in order to be deemed important

And for that we have to connect this to Hollywood because it's a long standing micro-system that benefits and rewards looks, cruelty and money. the fact we have the film The Substance that just came out

And I think this whole beauty standard thing will always remain relevant because we're still a very much hyper image society.

especially in a lot of modernized competitive societies, such as South Korea, China and Japan, and quite like Singapore, India, Vietnam. I list these Asian countries because they ARE advancing a lot in the beauty market/field surpassing European and American standards. And the fact these Asian countries have values that are so rigid when it comes to their treatment of women. And ofc Kpop and Kculture

It stars Demi Moore. Who has undeniably had tons of plastic surgery. And she plays the lead role who's had to take drastic measures to live up to these expectations. And it's insane because Moore is playing a character that obviously is a horrific satire of her and her fellow female peers situation in Hollywood.

There's also the archetype/stereotype of the Good = Beautiful & Bad = Ugly

And it extends to current online discourse about "hagsploitation" but also like ... Would it matter if the characters appeared conventionally attractive or not? What does that say about our assigning of morals when it comes to appearances? Not tomention the continued villainization of old women, of vain women, etc.

Like if people really wanted to pin Ninja Theory for supposed misogyny why would they make her look ugly? But then again, wouldn't the problem be there still if a villain is attractive? So why villainize creators for making an ugly villain, but not when there's an attractive villain? And of course the fact i have to highlight this can be seen as a problem. Because both Barbas and Mundus aren't conventionally attractive either. But I point out Lilith... But hey, i point her out because this whole thing is about her character, her potential &the shortcomings...

And there is the fact that Lilith transforms and shifts herself to USE her demon child in the boss fight. So technically YES we're fighting a demon baby

And to me this is the best Show & Tell example of a character,and one of the few good things of Lilith's villainy: she's basically an abusive parent and using her child as leverage, both in her social status and favor from Mundus, and literally as a boss fight

I know it's messed up and Ninja Theory knows it's messed up. They have Combichrist singing What The Fuck Is Wrong With You and it is meta And i also speak of this as a new dad like... To me, more and more that song is just more so pointing at Lilith

Personally I love how it revels in taboo and dark topics to show us the irl abuse/negativity that certain people will do in order to maintain their power. I applaud creators who don't sanitize stuff.

I mean, and someone will probably point out it's a bad comparison but like... I'm showing my era/age,.. it also doesn't help DmC is in the right time frame of the Kardashian-Jenner empire's rise to fame and fortune.

And by now, we should know these women have done a lot and have done damage to maintain their power. And whether or not as enablers, followers or actual doers of continuous patriarchy, they've done it.

.so yeah that's all I'll say. It's actually too long now.. like disagree even further if u want but i wanna say my piece as a alternative thougt because I've been a fan of DmC. And personally I'm. A fan of dark media a lot of times because i think the more we talk about & present the dark stuff, the more we won't deny & erase the bad stuff happening.. ✌️

[gimlilithegreat]

New Chapter posted on Harry Potter and the Hunt for Happiness!

On a roll with this one but can’t promise the updates will continue to be this frequent..

Really keen to find out what people think of this one. Feels a bit risky!

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/6-7/2023: X, PEARL

Ti West is so frustrating. His more successful movies have earned him enough good will that I've been willing to wait for him like some war bride while he turns out things I find unforgivable, assuming that someone with his demonstrated talent will right himself eventually. For this reason I wish I liked X more. I find it very watchable and I don't hate the premise, but I also really object to parts of it. Some of it is just half-baked; like I kind of enjoy the movie's conversation about how pornography inflates or injures people's vanity and shines a light on inner moral conflicts, but it's all kind of gestural, I don't know if any real conclusions are reached. And I really don't appreciate the take on hagsploitation here, with sexy Mia Goth under a hundred pounds of foam rubber reminding us all of how scary aging is--which connects to this questionable tradition in horror where the monster is a human who is alienated due to their looks, and we'd better learn to fear such people because being sexually undesirable is a punishment so cruel that it could make you dangerously insane. I'm really interested in this trope, where the corrupting force is just physical ugliness (and/or the inability to get laid), but in the case of X I would have found it more compelling if the villains were played by actual old people.

The movies we think of when we hear the terms "hagsploitation" or "psycho biddie" generally star actual older actresses who bring a certain kind of thoughtful, energetic presence to their roles, and that's why they're so effective; when it's just a young person pretending to be old, it requires the viewer to really be afraid of and repulsed by the basic concept of an old person. I've heard some arguments that X is "sex positive" because of its graphic scene of the fake old people doing it, and although I'd agree that some amount of pity is elicited by that (with the husband explicitly pitying his horny, ugly wife), I think it's a big reach to suggest that that content is celebratory or elevating in any way. Again, I might change my tune if it were real old people, but in the meantime the whole production is just young people telling this story about how old people are gross and you might become a crazed killer if you stopped getting laid, and that's just not good enough for me. Maybe if the old people were more like anti-heroes and less like general monstrosities slobbering in the dark, I would have gotten more out of it.

Meanwhile, the prequel PEARL tells a compelling story about a real monster who is complex and charismatic enough to make you sympathize with her, even though she is unambiguously villainous. I do think this movie is somewhat overhyped, but I'm not mad about it; I'm happy that this happened for Ti West, who I definitely want to make more good movies, and PEARL has a lot of cool qualities. It stretches its $1mil budget a surprising distance to make a period piece (usually inadvisable for a cheap movie) with a lot of style and class. Ti West has a talent for genre pastiche--the present movie is somehow a cross between THE WIZARD OF OZ and HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE--but it doesn't feel like an empty fashion statement, which is the problem I usually have with modern horror productions that do a forced impression of older genre films. Despite whatever is familiar about it, PEARL feels really fresh and original. Tellingly, I don't even feel like enumerating this movie's flaws. It's a charmer and it deserves its success.

[bitter69uk]

“He made his film debut in Freddie Francis's fondly remembered trash-horror flick Dr Terror's House of Horrors and in his fellow Canadian Silvio Narizzano's Die! Die! My Darling! alongside Tallulah Bankhead, whose last movie it was, and who made a lasting impression on Sutherland. "I loved her. She was wonderful. But poor Yootha Joyce [her co-star] couldn't run fast enough. Tallulah had this wild crush on her. I'd just left the theatre at this time and once I was downstairs putting on make-up. My character was supposed to be an albino and I didn't think he was white enough, so I was down in the basement, putting layers on. And I heard a noise behind me. I turned around and Tallulah was standing there naked, with dugs hanging down like that and this HUGE thatch of blond pubic hair and she looked at me and said, "What's the matter, darling? Never seen a blonde before?" I couldn't speak. And she ran out of there laughing madly, her bum swinging back and forth."

Donald Sutherland reminiscing about his experience working with the debauched 62-year-old wild woman Tallulah Bankhead in the 1965 hagsploitation movie Die! Die! My Darling! in The Guardian in 2005. Sutherland would go on, of course, to become one of the preeminent actors of “New Hollywood” cinema in the 1970s, starring in the likes of M*A*S*H*, Klute, Don’t Look Now, Day of the Locust and Fellini’s Casanova. Character actress Yootha Joyce, meanwhile, would go onto star in classic British 1970s sitcom George and Mildred! Reading Sutherland’s reflections on Bankhead’s antics, you can appreciate why the director concluded, “No words can express my relief that the picture is over. She is magnificent but impossible.” See Bankhead, Sutherland and Joyce onscreen when the FREE monthly Lobotomy Room cinema club presents Die! Die! on Thursday 16 May at Fontaine’s bar in Dalston. I have no idea about seat availability, so contact the venue on bookings@fontaines.bar!

[michaelvarrati]

From Baby Jane to Auntie Roo and beyond! This week, Peaches and Michael unveil a special episode dissecting one of horror’s most “Sainted Subgenres” – HAGSPLOITATION (aka “Psycho Biddies”)! In addition to discussing the many luminous women who brought these movies to life, our hosts tackle the oft problematic labeling of this particular avenue of fright. Joining the conversation is award-winning historian/author/host David Del Valle, who provides insight and personal stories about the era of Hollywood that birthed these films. Additionally, David digs into why these deliciously devilish dames connect with a whole generation of queer folks. Bette! Joan! Olivia! Oh my! This episode has it all! Go! 

[horror-aesthete]

Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte, 1964, dir. Robert Aldrich

[schlock-luster-video]

On January 26, 2002, Sunset Boulevard was released on DVD in the United States.

Here's a new Post-It note portrait of Gloria Swanson!

[thegoregoregirls]

The Front Room

Regia – Max & Sam Eggers (2024) Se ne è parlato talmente poco (e talmente male) che ero sicura ci avrei preso una fregatura, e infatti ho procrastinato la visione dell’esordio dei due fratelli di Robert Eggers fino a pochissimi giorni fa. Ne sono uscita con le ossa rotte e un paio di perplessità, ma non è affatto un brutto film, anzi. Credo sia stato penalizzato da un trailer abbastanza…

[moderatelyquicksilversposts]

Space Hagsploitation

From the Microcosmicon, 32:

“I didn’t know Wild Rose had a sister,” he said, his eyes wandering to the dark space outside. “She didn’t talk much about me,” the pudgy old woman conceded. “Why didn’t you give news of her passing?” “She wished to… keep her legend alive.”

“I’ll have to tell the Empress her ally is dead.” He got up and made for his capsule. Then a thud came. A muffled voice. “Help!”

“You bitch! Forever ruining everything!” Wild Rose’s sister screeched chidishly at the spaceship’s walls. “Couldn’t keep quiet! Always the center of attention! It’s your fault he has to die now!”