#Luana Anders

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The Outer Limits | S1.E26 | The Guests | 1964

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The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

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DEMENTIA 13 (1963)

Director: Francis Ford Coppola Cinematography: Charles Hannawalt

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That Cold Day in the Park (1969) | dir. Robert Altman

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That Cold Day in the Park (1969) Robert Altman

July 22nd 2024

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Greaser's Palace (1972)

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The Killing Kind

Of the films he made after NIGHT TIDE (1961), Curtis Harrington’s THE KILLING KIND (1973, Plex) may be the closest in spirit to the experimental shorts he shot in the 1940s and 1950s. It’s not just the dream sequence in which ex-convict John Savage imagines himself in a crib, pampered by the old women living in mother Ann Sothern’s rooming house. It’s also the strange scenes between mother and son, paralleled by the strained relationship of their neighbors, father Peter Brocco and daughter Luana Anders. More absurdist queer psychodrama than horror film, THE KILLING KIND has moments that echo Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams.

In the opening scene, Savage is forced to participate in a gang rape. When the girl (Susan Bernard) turns him in to the police, he spends two years in prison before returning home to mama. He then embarks on a revenge tour, setting his sights on Bernard and his inept lawyer (Ruth Roman), though it’s clear the real source of his problems is Sothern’s particular brand of smother love.

I don’t know how much input Harrington had on Tony Crechales and George Edwards’ script (they later recycled Brocco and Anders’ characters in another film, 1980’s THE ATTIC), but the parent-child scenes are strongly reminiscent of similar elements in Harrington’s experimental shorts. Savage and Sothern sometimes speak at cross-purposes, as if each were delivering a monolog without listening to the other. She infantilizes him with recurring offers of chocolate milk but also sexualizes the relationship, insisting he rub her neck and kiss her on the mouth. And even though Savage spies on new tenant Cindy Williams (who made the film between workdays on THE CONVERSATION), it’s pretty obvious he’s a deeply closeted gay man. When he attempts to masturbate to images of bare breasts, he can’t finish, and his relations to women seem to be based in hatred.

Sothern and Savage have a marvelous rapport on screen. Their scenes demand complete trust, which is obvious throughout. And Sothern, who started studying The Method with Jeff Corey in the 1960s, is totally in command of her instrument. She can switch from bullying to morose to comic in a heartbeat, and it all makes sense. Anders is very effective as the put-upon daughter next door, who switches from flirtatious to abrasive when Savage rebuffs her advances (she’s lucky; he tends to kill the women who come on to him). The wonderful character actress Marjorie Eaton also turns up as one of the tenants. Watching her descend regally in a chair lift is one of the film’s most sublime images.

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Dementia 13 | Francis Ford Coppola | 1963

Luana Anders, William Campbell, Eithne Dunne, Bart Patton

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The Pit and the Pendulum

directed by Roger Corman, 1961

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The Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

promo art by Jack Manning

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Night Tide (1961, Curtis Harrington)

3/20/23