#Sid Haig age

[fearsmagazine]

ABRUPTIO - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Pending

SYNOPSIS:  “Les Hackel hates his life. He works a dead-end job, was just dumped by his high-maintenance girlfriend, and still lives with his nagging mom. One night, he discovers a fresh incision behind his neck. His friend Danny tells him it's a bomb, that someone has implanted one in his neck, too. And then the messages start coming in, forcing Les to carry out missions with deadly results. Les is partnered up with a series of oddball characters to commit heinous tasks. The violence escalating around him, Les pieces together the clues that reveal the horrific plans to breed a monstrous race of beings.”

REVIEW: Evan Marlowe’s screenplay is a nice blend of satire, science fiction and political commentary. His main character, Les Hackel is an amalgamation of J.D. Sallainger, William S. Burroughs and Hunter Thompson character who suffers from more contemporary issues.

Marlowe’s screenplay takes a classic 50’s/60’s science fiction tale and adds a bit of Lynch and Cronenberg to it, then takes it to another level with amazing life-size puppet designs that give the film a surreal and trippy feel. Enhancing all that is a fantastic vocal cast that brings these performances to life and at times allows you to forget you are watching puppets. As Hackel’s life begins to spiral out of control he contours bizarre characters that he is accepting of, unlike Dorothy in the land of Oz. Marlowe keeps Hackel grounded and easily accepting of the deadly tasks he is assigned without questioning them. When the police become involved they are aware and accepting of everything Hackel has done, but there is something lurking in his past that they are trying to get him to admit to. Marlowe seizes and engages the viewer’s attention with this wickedly delightful tale that ultimately pulls back the curtain in the final act to expose the story’s dark secret. For all its freakish elements the story builds tension and suspense to culminate in a shocking release.

With 30 credits to his name, features and shorts, the production values of the film showcase Marlowe’s talent as a director, cinematographer and editor. He obtains performances from both his voice actors and puppeteers that bring these characters to life.  I enjoyed their work as there was such a life quality to their performance, yet there was something reminiscent of the human puppets of the Jim Henson studio. Given the grotesqueness of several of the character designs, the film is still beautiful to look at. There are several scenes that are almost monologues, or where characters discuss social or philosophical issues, and the director magically edits the sequences creating energy and a nice pacing. The film took several years to complete. While he did not have to worry about his puppets aging, the film’s execution and look are cohesive and seamless. The gory special effects are intense and very lifelike, and reminded me of some of the early films of Peter Jackson. The score by Patrick Savage and Holeg Spies adds another level to the film as it accentuates the visuals, the action, and adds another dimension to Hackel.

ABRUPTIO features a first-rate cast of actors voicing these characters. Rather than going with performances that are caricatures, they create characters that have peculiar ticks that flown through the puppet designs to enchant the viewer. Some of the actors are clearly recognizable, a few become apparent when viewing the credits.  Actor Sid Haig voices Sal in one of his final film appearances.

ABRUPTIO is currently doing the festival circuit, and while I highly recommend seeing it in a theater, if there is a streaming opportunity don’t pass it up. Evan Marlowe delivers a mad-cap genre classic full of dark humor and gore. It is a ride not soon forgotten. Marlowe is a talented visionary and I am excited to see what he serves up next.

CAST (voices): James Marsters, Hana Mae Lee, Jordan Peele, Christopher McDonald, Robert Englund, Darren Darnborough, Rich Fulcher and Sid Haig. CREW: Director/Screenplay/Cinematographer/Editor - Evan Marlowe; Producers - Kerry Finlayson & Kerry Marlowe; Score - Patrick Savage & Holeg Spies; Lead Puppet Designer & Fabricator - Jeffrey S. Farley; Lead Puppeteer - Danny Montooth; Visual Effects Designer - John Sellings. OFFICIAL: www.abruptio.com FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/AbruptioFilm TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/MUGGBqrYL1A RELEASE DATE: Pending, a selection at numerous film festivals

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[howlgrowlsnarl]

Morning epiphany

I’m starting to look like Sid Haig as I age. At least I’ll never have to search for a Halloween costume…

[clemsfilmdiary]

Jackie Brown (1997, Quentin Tarantino)

11/17/18

[sidhaigofficial]

SidHaigactor Site's

Sid Haig was born Sidney Eddie Mosesian on Nov 29, 1994 in Fresno, California, a screaming ball of hair. His parents, Roxy (Mooradian) and Haig Mosesian, an electrician, were of Armenian descent. Sid's career was somewhat of an accident. He was growing so fast that he had absolutely no coordination. It was decided that he would take dancing lessons, and that's when it all began. At the age of seven, he was dancing for pay in a children's Christmas Show, then a revival of a vaudeville show… and on it went.

Hotline: 209-978-3781

Website: https://www.sidhaig.com/

City: Fresno

State: CA

Country: United States

Zip code: 93721

Address: Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.

[twistedtwinsproductions]

Today with a heavy heart we all remember the legendary Sid Haig on what would have been his 81st birthday. Anyone who was blessed enough to have met this incredibly selfless and giving man were devastated to learn of his passing last September. Sid had dedicated his life to the arts giving us countless characters that he took us on adventures with throughout the decades. When Sid teamed with Rob Zombie a whole new generation of fans fell in love with this timeless badass of the ages. However, what was truly extraordinary about Sid was his heart. He often remarked how much the fans meant to him. To have their support across decades really touched him. Sid never charged more than $25 for an autograph and never charged anyone for a photo they took on their own phone. Sid was always the last one on the convention floor because he never turned anyone away. No matter how long the days were. No matter how tired he was. Sid also selflessly gave to Scares That Care. His love knew no bounds. Often people misconceive who those working in horror are. They think they the same as the characters they portray. The nicest people make the best baddies in film. And Sid Haig was the heart of horror. People like him and Doug Jones and many others show us how we should all be living. In love. Lifting each other up. Being patient. Being present. Being kind. Sid showed us all how to live. How we could be better and be more there for our fellow man. Every act of kindness has a big impact. You never know what anyone is going through. Your one simple act of kindness could very likely be saving lives. Like Sid did. Sid was an Earth Angel and I have no doubt he’s up there now in Heaven where he belongs. I hope today we are all able to celebrate by being more like Sid. Today, do something nice for someone and say to yourself, “this one’s for you, Sid”. Thank you, Sid, for all that you gave us and the way your memory will always inspire us to follow your lead and be better. My heart goes out to everyone missing this magnificent man today, especially the wonderful woman he left behind who always protected him, Suzie. We love you, Suzie. Sending you so much love today and always. God bless you. https://www.instagram.com/p/CCobK3wF_8DGRhbi0s9x0iQi4FN6gSyEor8nWI0/?igshid=wk0mhccjzmd

[missysmadhouse]

Clowns: Causing Laughter and Terror Through the Ages

Photo: Wikipedia

Traditionally viewed as a benevolent figure, the clown has instilled both joy and fear in audiences for ages.The appearance of the clown, with it's exaggerated features and bizarre, colorful costumes could be viewed as comical or horrifying, depending of course on the eye of the beholder. There's even a term for an extreme fear or phobia of clowns, coulrophobia.

The image of the “killer” or “creepy” clown has entered public consciousness, especially in the form of Pennywise from horror writer Stephen King's "It." Demonic child-killer Pennywise has gone on to frighten audiences in two film versions of King's novel, a 1990 made for TV movie and on the big screen in 2017.

Portrayals of Pennywise: Top: Tim Curry (1990) and Bill Skarsgard (2017). Photo: Wikipedia

A strange phenomenon began in the United States in South Carolina around mid-August 2016. Police were receiving reports and sightings of people dressed as clowns engaging in a variety of bizarre and even criminal behaviors: attempting to lure children with candy, chasing people with weapons or threatening students and faculty of various schools and universities throughout the country.

There were reports of encounters with "creepy clowns" in 20 different states, from mid-August 2016 to October 2016. Some of the reports are harmless and suspected to be hoaxes or pranks. One incident, in Green Bay, Wisconsin, was part of a publicity stunt to promote a horror movie.

The rash of bizarre sightings began with reports from an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina. Children reported that a group of clowns were hanging around the complex, trying to talk to them. The children described the clowns as carrying "flashing green laser lights" and said that the clowns lived in a dilapidated house in a secluded, wooded area by a small lake. When police investigated, they found an area matching the description but there was no evidence or a trace of any clowns living there.

Clown sighting in Wasco, California. Photo: The Denver Channel/turnto23.com

A South Carolina woman also reported that a clown had been standing in her backyard, but ran away when she tried to take a picture. Children also reported that a clown was trying to lure them into the woods with money and candy.

Attacks and sightings were reported across the United States, many of which were reported around schools and universities. Some teenagers were arrested for creating social media accounts as clowns threatening to harm students and faculty at schools and universities.

The attacks did not stop in America, but also began to be reported Canada, the United Kingdom and many other countries.

Art depicting clowns in Ancient Greece. Photo: Clown Bluey

Clowns are traditionally thought of as positive figures that are supposed to make us laugh. But throughout history, the clown was not always a benevolent figure.

Clowns appear in history dating back to as early as 2500 BCE., entertaining royalty from Ancient Egypt to Ancient Rome to Medieval Europe. Originally, clowns were seen as a reflection of society's more hedonistic side, of that part of humanity that over-indulges in food, drink, sex and "manic behavior."

Clowns were employed at circuses during the mid-19th century as comic relief from the death-defying stunts of trapeze artists and other performers.

Bozo, portrayed by many actors over the years, was a beloved character who entertained children. Photo: Chicago Reader

The figure of the clown still had a dark side.

French literary critic, Edmond de Garcourt, is quoted as saying, in 1876, that, "The clown's art is now rather terrifying and full of anxiety and apprehension, their suicidal feats, their monstrous gesticulations and frenzied mimicry - reminds one of a courtyard of a lunatic asylum."

Serial killer John Wayne Gacy entertained children at birthday parties as Pogo the Clown. Photo: Medium

Pagliacci (Clowns), an Italian opera written during the late 19th century, tells the story of a man who kills his domineering wife on stage during a performance.

Clowns gained a more benevolent reputation on American TV during the 1960's with the popular character "Bozo" and when the McDonald's fast food franchise introduced its non-iconic character Ronald McDonald in 1963.

The figure of the "Killer Clown," emerged after the arrest and conviction of serial killer John Wayne Gacy, who worked entering children as “Pogo the Clown” at birthday parties. Gacy was convicted of killing 33 young men in Chicago, Illinois during the 1970's. He is quoted as telling investigators that "...clowns can get away with murder." Some of the paintings he did in prison were self portraits of him as Pogo.

From l. : Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix as The Joker, The Clown Prince of Crime. Photo: Daily Movies

Sid Haig as homicidal clown Captain Spaulding. Photo: Wikipedia

Besides Pennywise, other clown-like images have appeared in horror movies. "Poltergeist" (1982) features a scene in which a clown doll drags a young boy under his bed. A clown-faced puppet appears in the "Saw" franchise. Batman's nemesis, the unrepentant anarchist, the Joker, has been portrayed in many films over the years. Rob Zombie's "House of 1,000 Corpses," "The Devil's Rejects," and "3 from Hell," feature homicidal clown Captain Spaulding.

From Ancient Egypt to modern film, whether frightening or benevolent, the image of the clown has survived throughout the ages and will last many more to come.

- Missy Dawn

Sources:

Smithsonian.com: "The History and Psychology of Clowns Being Scary," by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

USA Today: "Serious or Just a Sick Joke? What We Know About Creepy Clown Reports," Ashley May, Sept. 28, 2016

[blackkudos]

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer.

Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", she won four Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".

Early life

Vaughan's father, Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, was a carpenter by trade and played guitar and piano. Her mother, Ada Vaughan, was a laundress who sang in the church choir. The Vaughans lived in a house on Brunswick Street in Newark for Vaughan's entire childhood. Jake was deeply religious. The family was active in New Mount Zion Baptist Church at 186 Thomas Street. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir, and played piano for rehearsals and services.

She developed an early love for popular music on records and the radio. In the 1930s, she frequently saw local and touring bands at the Montgomery Street Skating Rink. By her mid-teens, she began venturing illegally into Newark's night clubs and performing as a pianist and singer at the Piccadilly Club and the Newark Airport.

Vaughan attended East Side High School, then transferred to Newark Arts High School, which opened in 1931. As her nocturnal adventures as a performer overwhelmed her academic pursuits, she dropped out of high school during her junior year to concentrate on music.

Career

1942–43: Early career

Vaughan was frequently accompanied by a friend, Doris Robinson, on her trips into New York City. In the fall of 1942, by which time she was 18 years old, Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete as a singer herself. She sang "Body and Soul", and won—although the date of this victorious performance is uncertain. The prize, as Vaughan recalled to Marian McPartland, was $10 and the promise of a week's engagement at the Apollo. On November 20, 1942, she returned to the Apollo to open for Ella Fitzgerald.

During her week of performances at the Apollo, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Hines, although the details of that introduction are disputed. Billy Eckstine, Hines' singer at the time, has been credited by Vaughan and others with hearing her at the Apollo and recommending her to Hines. Hines claimed later to have discovered her himself and offered her a job on the spot. After a brief tryout at the Apollo, Hines replaced his female singer with Vaughan on April 4, 1943.

1943–44: Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine

Vaughan spent the remainder of 1943 and part of 1944 touring the country with the Earl Hines big band, which featured Billy Eckstine. She was hired as a pianist so Hines could hire her under the jurisdiction of the musicians' union (American Federation of Musicians) rather than the singers union (American Guild of Variety Artists). But after Cliff Smalls joined the band as a trombonist and pianist, her duties were limited to singing. The Earl Hines band in this period is remembered as an incubator of bebop, as it included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Charlie Parker (playing tenor saxophone rather than alto), and trombonist Bennie Green. Gillespie arranged for the band, although the contemporary recording ban by the musicians' union meant that no commercial recordings exist.

Eckstine quit the Hines band in late 1943 and formed a big band with Gillespie, leaving Hines to become the band's musical director. Parker joined Eckstine, and over the next few years the band included Gene Ammons, Art Blakey, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Dexter Gordon, and Lucky Thompson. Vaughan accepted Eckstine's invitation to join his band in 1944, giving her the opportunity to record for the first time on December 5, 1944, on the song. "I'll Wait and Pray" for De Luxe. Critic and producer Leonard Feather asked her to record later that month for Continental with a septet that included Dizzy Gillespie and Georgie Auld. She left the Eckstine band in late 1944 to pursue a solo career, although she remained close to Eckstine and recorded with him frequently.

Pianist John Malachi is credited with giving Vaughan the moniker "Sassy", a nickname that matched her personality. She liked it, and the name and its shortened variant "Sass" stuck with colleagues and the press. In written communications, Vaughan often spelled it "Sassie".

1945–48: Early solo career

Vaughan began her solo career in 1945 by freelancing on 52nd Street in New York City at the Three Deuces, the Famous Door, the Downbeat, and the Onyx Club. She spent time at Braddock Grill next to the Apollo Theater in Harlem. On May 11, 1945, she recorded "Lover Man" for Guild with a quintet featuring Gillespie and Parker with Al Haig on piano, Curly Russell on double bass, and Sid Catlett on drums. Later that month, she went into the studio with a slightly different and larger Gillespie/Parker aggregation and recorded three more sides.

After being invited by violinist Stuff Smith to record the song "Time and Again" in October 1945, Vaughan was offered a contract to record for Musicraft by owner Albert Marx, although she would not begin recording as a leader for Musicraft until May 7, 1946. In the intervening time, she recorded for Crown and Gotham and began performing regularly at Café Society Downtown, an integrated club in New York's Sheridan Square.

While at Café Society, Vaughan became friends with trumpeter George Treadwell, who became her manager. She delegated to him most of the musical director responsibilities for her recording sessions, allowing her to concentrate on singing. Over the next few years, Treadwell made changes in Vaughan's stage appearance. Aside from a new wardrobe and hair style, she had her teeth capped, eliminating a gap between her two front teeth.

Her recordings for Musicraft included "If You Could See Me Now" (written and arranged by Tadd Dameron), "Don't Blame Me", "I've Got a Crush on You", "Everything I Have Is Yours" and "Body and Soul". With Vaughan and Treadwell's professional relationship on solid footing, the couple married on September 16, 1946.

In 1947, Vaughan performed at the third Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles which was produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. on September 7, 1947. The Valdez Orchestra, The Blenders, T-Bone Walker, Slim Gaillard, The Honeydrippers, Johnny Otis and his Orchestra, Woody Herman, and the Three Blazers also performed that same day.

Vaughan's recording success for Musicraft continued through 1947 and 1948. Her recording of "Tenderly"—she was proud to be the first to have recorded that jazz standard—became an unexpected pop hit in late 1947. Her December 27, 1947, recording of "It's Magic" (from the Doris Day film Romance on the High Seas) found chart success in early 1948. Her recording of "Nature Boy" from April 8, 1948, became a hit around the time the popular Nat King Cole version was released. Because of a second recording ban by the musicians' union, "Nature Boy" was recorded with an a cappella choir.

1948–53: Stardom and the Columbia years

The musicians' union ban pushed Musicraft to the brink of bankruptcy. Vaughan used the missed royalty payments as an opportunity to sign with the larger Columbia record label. After the settling of legal issues, her chart successes continued with "Black Coffee" in the summer of 1949. While at Columbia through 1953, she was steered almost exclusively to commercial pop ballads, several with success on the charts: "That Lucky Old Sun", "Make Believe (You Are Glad When You're Sorry)", "I'm Crazy to Love You", "Our Very Own", "I Love the Guy", "Thinking of You" (with pianist Bud Powell), "I Cried for You", "These Things I Offer You", "Vanity", "I Ran All the Way Home", "Saint or Sinner", "My Tormented Heart", and "Time".

She won Esquire magazine's New Star Award for 1947, awards from Down Beat magazine from 1947 to 1952, and from Metronome magazine from 1948 to 1953. Recording and critical success led to performing opportunities, with Vaughan singing to large crowds in clubs around the country during the late 1940s and early 1950s. In the summer of 1949, she made her first appearance with a symphony orchestra in a benefit for the Philadelphia Orchestra entitled "100 Men and a Girl." Around this time, Chicago disk jockey Dave Garroway coined a second nickname for her, "The Divine One", that would follow her throughout her career. One of her early television appearances was on DuMont's variety show Stars on Parade (1953–54) in which she sang "My Funny Valentine" and "Linger Awhile".

In 1949, with their finances improving, Vaughan and Treadwell bought a three-story house on 21 Avon Avenue in Newark, occupying the top floor during their increasingly rare off-hours at home and moving Vaughan's parents to the lower two floors. However, business pressures and personality conflicts led to a cooling in Treadwell and Vaughan's relationship. Treadwell hired a road manager to handle her touring needs and opened a management office in Manhattan so he could work with other clients.

Vaughan's relationship with Columbia soured as she became dissatisfied with the commercial material and its lackluster financial success. She made some small-group recordings in 1950 with Miles Davis and Bennie Green, but they were atypical of what she recorded for Columbia.

Radio

In 1949, Vaughan had a radio program, Songs by Sarah Vaughan, on WMGM in New York City. The 15-minute shows were broadcast in the evenings on Wednesday through Sunday from The Clique Club, described as "rendezvous of the bebop crowd." She was accompanied by George Shearing on piano, Oscar Pettiford on double bass, and Kenny Clarke on drums.

1954–59: Mercury years

In 1953, Treadwell negotiated a contract for Vaughan with Mercury in which she would record commercial material for Mercury and jazz-oriented material for its subsidiary, EmArcy. She was paired with producer Bob Shad, and their working relationship yielded commercial and artistic success. Her debut recording session at Mercury took place in February 1954. She remained with Mercury through 1959. After recording for Roulette from 1960 to 1963, she returned to Mercury from 1964 to 1967.

Her commercial success at Mercury began with the 1954 hit "Make Yourself Comfortable", recorded in the fall of 1954, and continued with "How Important Can It Be" (with Count Basie), "Whatever Lola Wants", "The Banana Boat Song", "You Ought to Have a Wife", and "Misty". Her commercial success peaked in 1959 with "Broken Hearted Melody", a song she considered "corny" which nevertheless became her first gold record, and a regular part of her concert repertoire for years to come. Vaughan was reunited with Billy Eckstine for a series of duet recordings in 1957 that yielded the hit "Passing Strangers". Her commercial recordings were handled by a number of arrangers and conductors, primarily Hugo Peretti and Hal Mooney.

The jazz "track" of her recording career proceeded apace, backed either by her working trio or combinations of jazz musicians. One of her favorite albums was a 1954 sextet date that included Clifford Brown.

In the latter half of the 1950s she followed a schedule of almost non-stop touring. She was featured at the first Newport Jazz Festival in the summer of 1954 and starred in subsequent editions of that festival at Newport and in New York City for the remainder of her life. In the fall of 1954, she performed at Carnegie Hall with the Count Basie Orchestra on a bill that also included Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Lester Young and the Modern Jazz Quartet. That fall, she again toured Europe before embarking on a "Big Show" U.S. tour, a succession of performances that included Count Basie, George Shearing, Erroll Garner and Jimmy Rushing. At the 1955 New York Jazz Festival on Randalls Island, Vaughan shared the bill with the Dave Brubeck quartet, Horace Silver, Jimmy Smith, and the Johnny Richards Orchestra.

Although the professional relationship between Vaughan and Treadwell was quite successful through the 1950s, their personal relationship finally reached a breaking point and she filed for a divorce in 1958. Vaughan had entirely delegated financial matters to Treadwell, and despite significant income figures reported through the 1950s, at the settlement Treadwell said that only $16,000 remained. The couple evenly divided the amount and their personal assets, terminating their business relationship.

1959–69: Atkins and Roulette

The exit of Treadwell from Vaughan's life was precipitated by the entry of Clyde "C.B." Atkins, a man of uncertain background whom she had met in Chicago and married on September 4, 1959. Although Atkins had no experience in artist management or music, Vaughan wished to have a mixed professional and personal relationship like the one she had with Treadwell. She made Atkins her manager, although she was still feeling the sting of the problems she had with Treadwell and initially kept a closer eye on Atkins. Vaughan and Atkins moved into a house in Englewood, New Jersey.

When Vaughan's contract with Mercury ended in late 1959, she signed on with Roulette, a small label owned by Morris Levy, who was one of the backers of Birdland, where she frequently appeared. She began recording for Roulette in April 1960, making a string of large ensemble albums arranged or conducted by Billy May, Jimmy Jones, Joe Reisman, Quincy Jones, Benny Carter, Lalo Schifrin, and Gerald Wilson. She had pop chart success in 1960 with "Serenata" on Roulette and "Eternally" and "You're My Baby", a couple of residual tracks from her Mercury contract. She recorded After Hours (1961) with guitarist Mundell Lowe and double bassist George Duvivier and Sarah + 2 (1962) with guitarist Barney Kessel and double bassist Joe Comfort.

In 1961 Vaughan and Atkins adopted a daughter, Deborah Lois Atkins, known professionally as Paris Vaughan. However, the relationship with Atkins proved difficult and violent. After several incidents, she filed for divorce in November 1963. She turned to two friends to help sort out the financial affairs of the marriage. Club owner John "Preacher" Wells, a childhood acquaintance, and Clyde "Pumpkin" Golden Jr. discovered that Atkins' gambling and spending had put Vaughan around $150,000 in debt. The Englewood house was seized by the IRS for nonpayment of taxes. Vaughan retained custody of their child and Golden took Atkins' place as Vaughan's manager and lover for the remainder of the decade.

When her contract with Roulette ended in 1963, Vaughan returned to the more familiar confines of Mercury. In the summer of 1963, she went to Denmark with producer Quincy Jones to record Sassy Swings the Tivoli, an album of live performances with her trio. During the next year, she made her first appearance at White House for President Lyndon Johnson. The Tivoli recording would be the brightest moment of her second stint with Mercury. Changing demographics and tastes in the 1960s left jazz musicians with shrinking audiences and inappropriate material. Although she retained a following large and loyal enough to maintain her career, the quality and quantity of her recorded output dwindled as her voice darkened and her skill remained undiminished. At the conclusion of her Mercury deal in 1967, she lacked a recording contract for the remainder of the decade.

1970–82: Fisher and Mainstream

In 1971, at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Marshall Fisher was a concession stand employee and fan when he was introduced to Sarah Vaughan. They were attracted to each other immediately. Fisher moved in with her in Los Angeles. Although he was white and seven years older, he got along with her friends and family. Although he had no experience in the music business, he became her road manager, then personal manager. But unlike other men and managers, Fisher was devoted to her and meticulously managed her career and treated her well. He wrote love poems to her.

In 1971, Bob Shad, who had worked with her as producer at Mercury, asked her to record for his label, Mainstream, which he had founded after leaving Mercury. Breaking a four-year hiatus, Vaughan signed a contract with Mainstream and returned to the studio for A Time in My Life, a step away from jazz into pop music with songs by Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Marvin Gaye arranged by Ernie Wilkins. She didn't complain about this eclectic change in direction, but she chose the material for her next album after admiring the work of Michel Legrand. He conducted an orchestra of over one hundred musicians for Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand, an album of compositions by Legrand with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The songs brought some of the musicians to tears during the sessions. But Shad wanted a hit, and the album yielded none. She sang a version of the pop hit "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters for Feelin' Good. This was followed by Live in Japan, her first live album since 1963. Sarah Vaughan and the Jimmy Rowles Quintet (1974) was more experimental, containing free improvisation and some unconventional scatting.

Send in the Clowns was another attempt to increase sales by breaking into the pop music market. Vaughan disliked the songs and hated the album cover depicting a clown with an afro. She filed a lawsuit against Shad in 1975 on the belief that the cover was inconsistent with the formal, sophisticated image she projected on stage. She also contended that the album Sarah Vaughan: Live at the Holiday Inn Lesotho had an incorrect title and that Shad had been harming her career. Although she disliked the album, she liked the song "Send in the Clowns" written by Steven Sondheim for the musical A Little Night Music. She learned it on piano, made many changes with the help of pianist Carl Schroeder, and it became her signature song.

In 1974, she performed music by George Gershwin at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The orchestra was conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, who was a fan of Vaughan and invited her to perform. Thomas and Vaughan repeated the performance with Thomas' home orchestra in Buffalo, New York, followed by appearances in 1975 and 1976 with other symphony orchestras in the United States.

After leaving Mainstream, she signed with Atlantic and worked on an album of songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney that were arranged by Marty Paich and his son, David Paich of the rock band Toto. She was enthusiastic to be more involved in the making of an album, but Atlantic rejected it on the claim that it contained no hits. "I don't know how they can recognize hits in advance", she said. Atlantic canceled her contract. She said, "I don't give a damn about record companies any more".

Rio and Norman Granz

In 1977, filmmaker Thomas Guy followed Vaughan on tour to film the documentary Listen to the Sun. She traveled throughout South America: Argentina, Columbia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru. She was enamored of Brazil, as this was her third tour of Brazil in six years. In the documentary she called the city of Rio "the greatest place I think I've ever been on earth". Audiences were so enthusiastic that she said, "I don't believe they like me that much." After rejection by Atlantic, she wanted to try producing her own album of Brazilian music. She asked Aloísio de Oliveira to run the sessions and recorded I Love Brazil! with Milton Nascimento, Jose Roberto Bertrami, Dorival Caymmi, and Antonio Carlos Jobim.

She had an album but no label to release it, so she signed to Pablo run by Norman Granz. She had known Granz since 1948 when she performed on one of his Jazz at the Philharmonic tours. He was the record producer and manager for Ella Fitzgerald and the owner of Verve. After selling Verve, he started Pablo. He was dedicated to acoustic, mainstream jazz and had recorded Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Clark Terry. In 1978 he recorded Vaughan's How Long Has This Been Going On?, a set of jazz standards with veteran jazz musicians Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Ray Brown, and Louis Bellson. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award. Pablo released I Love Brazil! and it, too, was nominated for a Grammy.

1982–89: Late career

In the summer of 1980 she received a plaque on 52nd Street outside the CBS Building (Black Rock) commemorating the jazz clubs she had once frequented on "Swing Street" and which had long since been replaced with office buildings. A performance of her symphonic Gershwin program with the New Jersey Symphony in 1980 was broadcast on PBS and won her an Emmy Award the next year for Individual Achievement, Special Class. She was reunited in 1982 with Tilson Thomas for a modified version of the Gershwin program, played again by the Los Angeles Philharmonic but this time in its home hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion; the CBS recording of the concert Gershwin Live! won a Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female.

After the end of her contract with Pablo in 1982, she committed to a limited number of studio recordings. She made a guest appearance in 1984 on Barry Manilow's 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe, an album of pastiche compositions with established jazz musicians. In 1984, she participated in The Planet is Alive, Let It Live a symphonic piece composed by Tito Fontana and Sante Palumbo on Italian translations of Polish poems by Karol Wojtyla, better known as Pope John Paul II. The recording was made in Germany with an English translation by writer Gene Lees and was released by Lees on his private label after the recording was rejected by the major labels.

In 1985 Vaughan reconnected with her longstanding, continually growing European audience during a celebratory concert at the Chatelet Theater in Paris. Released posthumously on the Justin Time label, In the City of Lights is a two-disc recording of the concert, which covers the highlights of Vaughan's career while capturing a beloved singer at the height of her powers. Thanks in part to the hard-swinging telepathic support of pianist Frank Collett (who answers each of her challenges then coaxes the same from her), Sarah reprises Tad Dameron's "If You Could See Me Now" with uncommon power, her breathstream effecting a seamless connection between chorus and bridge. For the Gershwin Medley, drummer Harold Jones swaps his brushes for sticks to match energy and forcefulness that does not let up until the last of many encores.

In 1986, Vaughan sang "Happy Talk" and "Bali Ha'i" in the role of Bloody Mary on a studio recording by Kiri Te Kanawa and José Carreras of the score of the Broadway musical South Pacific, while sitting on the studio floor. Vaughan's final album was Brazilian Romance, produced by Sérgio Mendes with songs by Milton Nascimento and Dori Caymmi. It was recorded primarily in the early part of 1987 in New York and Detroit. In 1988, she contributed vocals to an album of Christmas carols recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and sold in Hallmark Cards stores. In 1989, Quincy Jones' album Back on the Block included Vaughan in a brief scatting duet with Ella Fitzgerald. This was her final studio recording. It was her only studio recording with Fitzgerald in a career that had begun 46 years earlier opening for Fitzgerald at the Apollo.

The video Sarah Vaughan Live from Monterey was taped in 1983 or 1984 with her trio and guest soloists. Sass and Brass was taped in 1986 in New Orleans with guests Dizzy Gillespie and Maynard Ferguson. Sarah Vaughan: The Divine One was part of the American Masters series on PBS. Also in 1986, on Independence Day in a program nationally televised on PBS she performed with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, in a medley of songs composed by George Gershwin.

Death

In 1989, Vaughan's health began to decline, although she rarely revealed any hints of this in her performances. She canceled a series of engagements in Europe in 1989, citing the need to seek treatment for arthritis of the hand, although she was able to complete a series of performances in Japan. During a run at New York's Blue Note Jazz Club in 1989, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and was too ill to finish the last day of what would turn out to be her final series of public performances.

Vaughan returned to her home in California to begin chemotherapy and spent her final months alternating stays in the hospital and at home. She grew weary of the struggle and demanded to be taken home, where at the age of 66 she died on the evening of April 3, 1990, while watching a television movie featuring her daughter.

Her funeral was held at Mount Zion Baptist Church, 208 Broadway in Newark, New Jersey. Following the ceremony, a horse-drawn carriage transported her body to Glendale Cemetery, Bloomfield in New Jersey.

Comments about her voice

Parallels have been drawn between Vaughan's voice and that of opera singers. Jazz singer Betty Carter said that with training Vaughan could have "...gone as far as Leontyne Price." Bob James, Vaughan's musical director in the 1960s said that "...the instrument was there. But the knowledge, the legitimacy of that whole world were not for her ... But if the aria were in Sarah's range she could bring something to it that a classically trained singer could not."

In a chapter devoted to Vaughan in his book Visions of Jazz (2000), critic Gary Giddins described her as the "...ageless voice of modern jazz – of giddy postwar virtuosity, biting wit and fearless caprice". He concluded by saying that "No matter how closely we dissect the particulars of her talent ... we must inevitably end up contemplating in silent awe the most phenomenal of her attributes, the one she was handed at birth, the voice that happens once in a lifetime, perhaps once in several lifetimes."

Her obituary in The New York Times described her as a "singer who brought an operatic splendor to her performances of popular standards and jazz." Jazz singer Mel Tormé said that she had "...the single best vocal instrument of any singer working in the popular field." Her ability was envied by Frank Sinatra who said, "Sassy is so good now that when I listen to her I want to cut my wrists with a dull razor." New York Times critic John S. Wilson said in 1957 that she possessed "what may well be the finest voice ever applied to jazz." It was close to its peak until shortly before her death at the age of 66. Late in life she retained a "youthful suppleness and remarkably luscious timbre" and was capable of the projection of coloratura passages described as "delicate and ringingly high".

Vaughan had a large vocal range of soprano through a female baritone, exceptional body, volume, a variety of vocal textures, and superb and highly personal vocal control. Her ear and sense of pitch were almost perfect, and there were no difficult intervals.

In her later years her voice was described as a "burnished contralto" and as her voice deepened with age her lower register was described as having "shades from a gruff baritone into a rich, juicy contralto". Her use of her contralto register was likened to "dipping into a deep, mysterious well to scoop up a trove of buried riches." Musicologist Henry Pleasants noted, "Vaughan who sings easily down to a contralto low D, ascends to a pure and accurate [soprano] high C."

Vaughan's vibrato was described as "an ornament of uniquely flexible size, shape and duration," a vibrato described as "voluptuous" and "heavy" Vaughan was accomplished in her ability to "fray" or "bend" notes at the extremities of her vocal range. It was noted in a 1972 performance of Leslie Bricusse and Lionel Bart's "Where Is Love?" that "In mid-tune she began twisting the song, swinging from the incredible cello tones of her bottom register, skyrocketing to the wispy pianissimos of her top."

She held a microphone in live performance, using its placement as part of her performance. Her placings of the microphone allowed her to complement her volume and vocal texture, often holding the microphone at arm's length and moving it to alter her volume.

She frequently used the song "Send in the Clowns" to demonstrate her vocal abilities in live performance. The performance was called a "three-octave tour de force of semi-improvisational pyrotechnics in which the jazz, pop and operatic sides of her musical personality came together and found complete expression" by The New York Times.

Singers influenced by Vaughan include Phoebe Snow, Anita Baker, Sade, and Rickie Lee Jones. Singers Carmen McRae and Dianne Reeves both recorded tribute albums to Vaughan following her death; Sarah: Dedicated to You (1991) and The Calling: Celebrating Sarah Vaughan (2001) respectively.

Though usually considered a jazz singer, Vaughan avoided classifying herself as one. She discussed the term in a 1982 interview for Down Beat:

I don't know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back. I'm not putting jazz down, but I'm not a jazz singer ... I've recorded all kinds of music, but (to them) I'm either a jazz singer or a blues singer. I can't sing a blues – just a right-out blues – but I can put the blues in whatever I sing. I might sing 'Send In the Clowns' and I might stick a little bluesy part in it, or any song. What I want to do, music-wise, is all kinds of music that I like, and I like all kinds of music.

Personal life

Vaughan was married three times: to George Treadwell (1946–1958), to Clyde Atkins (1958–1961), and to Waymon Reed (1978–1981). Unable to bear children, Vaughan adopted a baby girl (Debra Lois) in 1961. Debra worked in the 1980s and 1990s as an actress under the name Paris Vaughan.

In 1977, Vaughan ended her personal and professional relationship with Marshall Fisher. Although Fisher is occasionally referenced as Vaughan's third husband, they were never legally married. Vaughan began a relationship with Waymon Reed, a trumpet player 16 years her junior who was playing with the Count Basie band. Reed joined her working trio as a musical director and trumpet player, and became her third husband in 1978.

She was a member of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority.

Awards and honors

The album Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown and the single "If You Could See Me Now" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, an award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and have "qualitative or historical significance." In 1985 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 1988 she was inducted into the American Jazz Hall of Fame.

In 1978, she was given an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Berklee College of Music.

In 2012, she was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. In 2004–2006, New Jersey Transit paid tribute to Vaughan in the design of its Newark Light Rail stations. Passengers stopping at any station on this line can read the lyrics to "Body and Soul" along the edge of the station platform.

She was given the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement, UCLA Spring Sing.

San Francisco and Berkeley, California, made March 27 Sarah Lois Vaughan Day.

[alvadee]

Sid Haig passed away today at the age of eighty. 

Thanks to his looks he was typecast as bad guy throughout his screen career. 1966 he worked together with Victor, he played one of King Tut’s henchmen in “The Spell Of Tut” of the Batman series. At one comic con he apparently shared a little anecdote with one fan: “He and Victor were to start filming on a set, so Sid drove to the lot and said he had a parking pass. The guard said they didn’t have parking passes here and told him to pull off to the side and to park there. Victor was in the car behind him and Sid told him what was going on. Victor told him to park his car and get into his, he drove up to the same guard, who said the same to Victor as he had to Sid. Victor replied that when the director is ready to film their scenes to have him send a limousine to his house and pick both of them up. The guard didn’t work on that lot again.”

[tinalbion]

I literally came so close to crying in this bar downtown because of your answer on Robert's hugs. I love him so much and I feel so bad for dwelling this sometimes but ever since what happened with Sid Haig, I've been determined to find a time/date where Robert will come to my state so I can meet him and just have that chance to tell him how happy he's made me before life takes its course. I know he takes care of himself, looks well for his age and all, but I'm still hoping I'll have that chance.

I'm not gonna lie, I fucking ugly cried in line and after I met him. I was dry heaving, I swear on my life lol. It'll happen, trust me.

That's exactly why I took the step I needed and said 'I need to do this before I don't have the chance anymore'. It sucks that we have to feel this way, but it's true and we can't help that.

It would be a great idea to just take the step and meet him before hes unable to travel anymore, though he loves doing conventions. He loves his fans. I remember that he even cut his dinner short because he wanted to sign more stuff and talk with us all, it's incredible how selfless he is sometimes.

You're gonna love talking to him, hes always up for telling you something new. ♡

[mst3kproject]

1111: Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2

You know how Joel said the part of the movie that was ‘spilled’, the bit with David Carradine fighting the monster called the Protector, could have saved the whole film?  He lied. It’s just as dumb as the rest of the movie.  In fact, this whole film is so stupid and predictable that I’m going to have a very hard time filling two pages with my thoughts on it.  Apparently even Joel himself wished he’d found a different movie to use.

An age of darkness has fallen, and Caedmon of Nogg is the world’s last hope.  The ghost of his father, I think, or maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi, appears in a bucket of coffee and charges him with finding the Chosen One, whose pure heart will re-unite the Three Powers. The Chosen One is a skinny, hormone-suffused teenage boy named Tyor who works on a stick farm somewhere, and Caedmon trains him in wizardry while seeking out three powerful warriors: the Dark One of Eedok, Prince Ermine of Valdar, and Amathea of Fennir.  One by one, they defeat the evil wizards and gather the magical sword, chalice, and amulet that will bring peace to the world.

So, yeah, it’s less a ‘movie’ than it is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, thrown together in five minutes after the original GM called from the side of the road with a flat tire.

It’s not at all apparent how this is a sequel to Wizards of the Lost Kingdom.  Not only are the storylines unconnected, the whole aesthetic is totally different. Where the first movie was all bright colours and friendly forest creatures, this one is brown and gray, starving peasants and grubby heroes.  It’s kind of the difference between Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Game of Thrones, although infinitely worse than either.  Still, if there’s any sort of connection to be found, I should be able to figure it out. After all, one of my running gags on this blog is The Movies Are All Coming Together, in which I find connections between unrelated films to assemble them into a single, great, incomprehensible movie.

For starters, Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 is definitely a sequel to The Undead.  After Pendragon skooered Lydia the Witch, her insanity curse on Smolken wore off and he remembered he was actually Caedmon the Wizard.  He was forced to run off to this distant land to escape all the medieval punk kids wanting him to autograph their copies of Digger Smolken’s Rottenest Hits.  As for how this relates to Wizards of the Lost Kingdom, though? I don’t think this is a sequel at all. It’s actually a prequel.  See if you can follow me here:

Remember, Tyor was not supposed to kill Zarz… by running him through at the end, he gave in to evil.  So after a few years of putting up with Caedmon’s incompetence as a pupil, he got sick of him, turned him into a sparkly crab hat, and embraced the dark side. Meanwhile, Amathea was getting tired of Ermine’s philandering, so she and Tyor teamed up to kill him and seize the throne.  The Dark One’s restaurant went under after he was caught selling chicken that turned back into stone when you bit into it.  He tried to get money to pay off his small business loans by ditching Stripper Wife and wooing a wealthy cyclops so he could take her dowry and run.  To avoid his jilted bride’s vengeful brother, he went on the run and returned to using his real name, Kor.  Presto, you’ve got Wizards of the Lost Kingdom!

I have to take a break now.  My brain hurts.

This movie wants so badly to be epic.  The narration sounds like Achronus from Cave Dwellers telling us another story about Ator: and so, Cademon of Nogg set out across the land of Syn in search of the boy Tyor.  And yet, every time something happens that should be epic, it’s just people standing around.  The finale is a showdown between callow young Tyor and the two dark wizards Zarz and Donar, and they all just kind of mill around and bicker.  The fight between the Dark One and the Protector is much closer to being a climactic battle than this is, but it’s just more obvious fake swordplay and disappointment, and David Carradine looks downright embarrassed about it. I’m not convinced that scene was actually intended for this movie, by the way.  David Carradine made another stupid fantasy movie called The Warrior and the Sorceress, which I have not seen, and it might be from that.

One thing I can say for Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2, though, is that the middle of the story has substantially more to do with the beginning and end than in its predecessor.  Caedmon is given his task, which is to find Tyor and then help him get the sword, amulet, and chalice so he can overthrow the evil wizards and unite the three kingdoms.  And the middle of the movie is spent doing exactly that.  This does divide the whole narrative into three separate plots that are only barely related to each other, and because of the limited running time all three of them feel truncated.  Tyor confronts Loki and turns him to stone and we’re like, that’s it?  He hears the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi and pulls a knife on Freyja, who agrees to take him to the sword and… that’s it?  It feels like the movie ought to be twice as long as it is, except that we really wouldn’t want that.

In particular, the audience has no idea what the sword, the amulet, and the chalice really do.  The fact that Tyor is able to overcome the amulet’s supposedly supreme power with some nonsense words really deflates the whole enterprise.  The sword is supposed to be magical but all it gets used for is stabbing people.  The chalice shows the truth except that Zarz can make it lie?  And at the end Obi-Wan takes all three away instead of letting Ermine and Amathea use them to rule the three kingdoms?  The three artefacts could not be more obviously plot contrivances, even if they were just boxes with the word macguffin written on them.

The Protector beast really ought to have been set up earlier, too, if it were going to deserve a setpiece fight.  As it is, MST3K excised it with no plot consequences.  Why didn’t we get to see Zarz feeding people to it?

Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 is grittier and less silly than its predecessor, which does allow the actors to escape with some tatters of their dignity, but in a way this is itself a weakness.  The first movie kept me interested mostly by throwing random episodes of what the fuck at me.  This one plods through its plotline without any lion-centaur beasts or random tricksy mermaids, although the impossibly bad werewolf-versus-pigwoman fight did make me look twice.  At the same time, paradoxically enough, I think it’s fair to say that Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 also takes itself less seriously.  The first movie did have a full-on wizards’ battle at the end, even if it sucked.  The second one here has a whole lot of talking and Tyor turning the crystal ball into a roast chicken, which apparently incapacitates Zarz in some way but I’m damned if I know how.  The roast chickens in the movie are clearly the ones you get out of the little warmer at the grocery store deli.

You know what?  This movie should have ended with Tyor turning Zarz into a chicken!  That would have allowed Tyor to win without killing anyone, and given a purpose to the weird ‘chicken’ motif that keeps happening.  Why was I able to come up with that, and the movie wasn’t?  The writers seem to think that chickens are somehow inherently funny, when really everybody knows that’s only true when they’re trying to cross the street.

These are not movies that really lend themselves to analysis but I guess there’s kind of a hint of theme, in that the Dark One would rather live quietly, running his pub with his wife, and only goes out to fight when he’s forced to do so?  Although I’m not sure how we’re meant to interpret that.  Is it about the benefits of a peaceful lifestyle (insofar as stabbing people when they don’t tip qualifies as ‘peaceful’)?  Or are we supposed to think the Dark One should have gotten off his ass and answered the call of duty before it came to that?  Maybe the chicken thing was meant to suggest that even a coward can save the world?  I don’t know. I just work here.

So that’s my marathon of lame-ass wizard movies that made it to MST3K.  Of the three, I think the first Wizards of the Lost Kingdom was easily my favourite.  It was light and silly and it made no sense, but it kept me giggling, sometimes just out of sheer surprise.  And I guess that means Quest of the Delta Knights would come in second, because Wizards of the Lost Kingdom 2 was definitely the worst.  The other two movies at least looked like people were having a good time making them, while this one feels like it was probably as much a chore to be in as it is to watch.  Even Sid Haig as Donar looks like he’d rather be anywhere else, and considering some of the crap Sid Haig seemed to have been enjoying himself in, that’s really saying something.

All the monster fights in the world couldn’t have saved this one.  What it really needed was the Dark One fighting a giant chicken.

[chanbien]

We loss an amazing actor in the horror community. Sid Haig passed away on September 21, 2019 at the age of 80 years old. He played as Captain Spaulding in the movie House Of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects and the new movie 3 From Hell. I love his funny humor and he’s a very kind soul. He will be missed by a lot of fans within the horror community. #RIPSidHaig

[rivetgoth]

Okay, the verdict is out, I finally got to watch THREE FROM HELL after anticipating it for ages and I got some thoughtz.

First, some full disclosure, so y’all know where my biases are:

1. I genuinely adore House of 1000 Corpses and I consider The Devil’s Rejects one of my favorite movies of all time. In general I really adore a lot of Rob Zombie’s work — I also loved 31. That being said, he’s been hit or miss in the past and there’s some stuff of his I really detested too, but overall he’s not only impressed me but stood out as the creator of some of my absolutely favorite films. I wanna clarify this because I’ve seen a lot of people write up scathing reviews for this film that literally start with “I HATE ROB ZOMBIE’S MOVIES!!!!!” and that just seems like a really unfair way to approach a review specifically for a sequel. Idk what you’re expecting to get out of it.

2. Speaking of that, I love good horror sequels and some of my favorite movies of all time are specifically sequels. I fall in love with characters and concepts and I love seeing them expanded on in fun ways. I have no inherent negative feelings towards sequels at all.

I say all this to point out that I was genuinely looking forward to this movie without any unfair biases, it didn’t have to change my mind on anything larger than itself, like “convince me that Rob Zombie is a capable film director after all” or “convince me that sequels have artistic merit” or anything like that.

My overall thought, before I explain anything else, is pretty much that I feel like the first half of the film is extremely promising and fun, and the second half of the movie is so bad that I more or less wish I’d just turned it off halfway through and pretended that was the whole film. And, given the fact that so many of the developmental issues with the film that led to its shakiness came from Sid Haig’s declining health, I almost feel like this wasn’t a movie that had to be made at all — at least in this form.

I read one review that pretty much said that for Rob Zombie to revive this series he needed a damn good reason, and he never managed to make that reason clear. And I feel like that’s exactly what my overall takeaway was here. The ending of Devil’s Rejects is pretty much perfect. In order for that to be retconned and expanded upon, something really mind blowing had to happen. In general, even when you’re not taking the risk of retconning an ending of such epic proportions, if a sequel is made to something I want to see it do something new and uniquely memorable in its own right. Devil’s Rejects itself is a perfect example of this; one of the things I completely adore about it is the fact that it expanded upon the very classic retro slasher feel of 1000 Corpses to center the attention on the killers and recreate them as antiheroes with an entirely different tone. Similarly, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 stands out to me as one of the great horror sequels, partly in the way it so fearlessly completely shifts it’s tone away from the total frenzied isolation horror of TCM 1 and does something entirely different. Other series try less for “perspective/atmosphere shift” and more for “just go bigger” and that can work too — I think the increasing extremity of gore and complexity of the traps in the Saw series (which I love) is a good example, especially through the first three films which are by far the best as a coherent trilogy.

The WEIRD thing about Three From Hell is that Rob Zombie has clearly proven that he 1) understands the idea of sequels that build upon original films in unique new ways 2) has no qualms being increasingly and shamelessly extreme and shocking and horrific. But instead, I felt like Three From Hell is... jarringly tame, actually, compared to what we got from Rejects. And I mean, in some ways that’s fine, I didn’t necessarily miss the way-too-long graphic rape scene in Rejects, which is a miserable chore to get through in just how sickening it is. But there’s no moment where I felt that we get anything more extreme or intense than what’s seen in Rejects. It all feels like it’s been toned way down, which is bizarre to me. The victims aren’t people we’re sympathetic towards like the traveling musicians we meet in Rejects, and their deaths aren’t particularly gruesome - The majority of the deaths in this movie are “shot in the head” or “stabbed.” That’s it. The climax of the film is extremely similar to the opening shootout of Rejects, with significantly lower stakes and less memorable artistic direction, meaning that one film’s introductory scene is able to create a more intense moment than this one’s entire two hour duration.

The thing is, I feel like the first half of the movie really has potential. There are things I could nitpick — for example I love Richard Brake and I feel like Foxy is fun but flat — but the majority of my complaints would be things that, if the movie had a stronger second half, could easily have been further developed and solved. In fact, the first half of the movie feels like it’s gearing up to pretty much be exactly what I’d want out of a Rejects sequel. It’s weird and engaging and markedly different from its predecessors. It focuses on Otis, Spaulding, and Baby’s survival and arrest after the ending of Rejects, the subsequent trial, and then Otis’ escape and attempt to save Baby (after Spaulding is given the death penalty; more on that later). There’s a ton I love here, mostly Otis and Baby’s relationship being given more time in a really interesting way. The stakes are high and Otis clearly cares about his sister to a degree that feels like a fitting continuation of Rejects’ attempts at showing sympathetic or relatable aspects to these characters that makes them very three dimensional and complex. Bill Moseley is the fucking greatest and his ability to make Otis so completely depraved and unrestrained while also clearly caring about his family is one of my favorite things about the series and this played it up really well. You get the feeling that Otis is genuinely concerned for Baby, even after she’s freed, although it mostly comes out in yelling and deadpan snarking. Baby, meanwhile, gets the beginning of a completely fascinating character arc that included my favorite dialogue and scenes through the entire film as we’re shown that after a decade in prison she’s gone completely off the deep end. She rambles on about being Snow White and saving kittens and cries while hallucinating ballerinas with cat heads. By the time she’s free even Otis is expressing vocal concern for her. We get to meet the first half of the film’s main antagonist, Warden Virgil Harper, who was memorable and fun and felt right at home in the Rejects canon. We got the chance to see him developed into a character you almost start to feel sorry for; he’s cocky, but he clearly has no idea how in over his head he really is. On top of this, the scene when the clown shows up at Harper’s house while Otis and Foxy are torturing him and his friends and family is the best torture scene in the film in the complete absurd awfulness of the clown trying to put on a funny show while everyone is sobbing and a man is bleeding out.

At this point, the movie is going in a direction I totally dig. By the time Baby is finally free and able to reunite with Otis and he’s picking up on how fucked up she’s become, I’m genuinely excited to see how things will develop. It feels like Rob Zombie was setting up a film where we get to explore the siblings’ dynamic in a way that’s new and intriguing but developing from the things people loved in Rejects, which is that perfect blend of “utterly irredeemably despicable people” and “genuinely likable, oddly human characters.” Baby and Otis only really have each other at this point (Foxy is there, but even in the movie itself they allude to the fact that he really barely matters — a bit of a copout of a running gag, but whatever), and Baby actually voices this. It hit me at that moment how all of their family has died, and considering how much family has been a driving force for these characters, they were literally initially introduced in 1000 Corpses as the classic murder family and that’s all been taken from them, it’s genuinely sad. Spaulding’s death feels like it could be the final catalyst for... something to come from this, as that was Baby’s father and such a hugely important member of the Firefly family. We have Otis and Baby, alone (well, accompanied by Foxy) in the late 1980s (also a COMPLETELY not utilized detail), on the run as the country’s most wanted serial killers and trying to cope with the weird scenario of being merciless murderers who’ve had their entire family taken from them.

But we don’t get any of that in the second half. At all. Instead, we have Baby suggesting they all run away to Mexico. They do, winding up in a little hotel in the middle of nowhere full of prostitutes and alcohol. Baby wins a knife throwing contest against some big misogynistic guys. Then Danny Trejo’s character’s unmentioned son shows up (oh yeah; Danny Trejo was here for about 5 seconds, he died early on), has about 3 lines of dialogue, sends in 20 masked luchadors to kill Baby and Otis, they have an extremely long low stakes shootout, and with the help of the second half’s most interesting but still underdeveloped and shockingly unironically sympathetic character they burn Danny Trejo’s son alive and the movie ends. And that’s it. The characters regress even further backwards than their Rejects counterparts. They don’t really do... anything, actually. Otis fucks some women and then lays in bed flirting with them until the luchadors show up with their machine guns. My favorite moment was Otis’ attempts at saving Baby’s life by telling Aquarius (Danny Trejo’s character’s son) to let her go because he was the only one responsible for his father’s death, and they share a brief exchange about family. But that was one interesting moment amidst an extremely stale and low stakes plot separate from anything I care about after the intensity and high stakes present in the previous movie’s climax, and even this movie’s first half. A lot of things are recycled here, like the revenge plot driving the antagonist, but Sheriff Wydell’s descent into righteous insanity in Rejects was given way more time to develop, or a character betraying the Fireflys’ trust, but instead of the extremely memorably shocking, selfish betrayal from Charlie who was a longtime acquaintance clearly considered family (plus he actually attempts to “redeem” himself in the end), this is betrayal from a random hotel owner we do not know or care about. When the credits roll and we see Otis and Baby and Foxy driving away to... somewhere, I don’t even know where they’re going, I’m not even really sure what I’m supposed to feel. I chuckled a little at Baby being allowed to drive after an earlier argument where Otis asserted she shouldn’t, but that was it.

I hadn’t read anything about this movie before watching it, because I didn’t want anything to be spoiled for me. I was really excited for it! I learned that Sid Haig, who of course passed on only very recently (RIP), was dealing with very serious health issues that made him unable to film the movie, when originally the film had been written with the original infamous three - Otis, Baby, Spaulding - as the leads for the whole thing. Rob Zombie wanted to honor him with at least a cameo, knowing that the movie wouldn’t be the same without the Captain, but aside from a brief few minutes of screen time he had to rewrite the whole rest of the film with Spaulding removed. I feel like that’s where a majority of the problems with the movie lie. It’s why Foxy is as flat as he is and it’s why there’s an awkward uncertainty in how to deal with the loss of the Captain as the patriarch and why the whole idea of Otis and Baby’s aloneness is so awkwardly glossed over, like Mr. Zombie noticed the elephant in the room enough to address the turmoil but didn’t want to rewrite the entire movie from scratch to account for one of the most important characters in the franchise (maybe THE most important) being unexpectedly killed off.

Now, I LOVE some films that have been to developmental hell and back and came out as solid movies. In fact, there’s an extremely special place in my heart for films that fought tooth and nail to be made. It inspires me as a creator myself and it’s why indie low budget horror is my favorite genre of movie. I absolutely love seeing creators fight to bring their artistic visions to life against the odds. There are fantastic sequels out there where major actors either died or refused to/were unable to return and the stories were reworked or the actors replaced. I feel like something went wrong here. The moment he realized that Sid Haig would be unable to return, Rob Zombie should have set the whole thing aside and done a total rewrite. Right now, the knowledge of what was going on with Sid Haig behind the scenes makes the movie’s shortcomings go from “poor writing and storytelling decisions” to “genuinely extremely sad.”

One of the things I totally love about the writing of Devil’s Rejects is the way Rob Zombie inserts seemingly random moments that do nothing but add to the overall atmosphere and tone of his world. Random arguments, random character quirks, random shots of random things that simultaneously add a gritty “anything goes” realism as well as a surreal absurd humor. I’m also ALL for disjointed, nonlinear, or otherwise experimental and strange plots with a lot going on in them, I don’t think a big genre shift halfway through a movie is inherently bad. In the past, it’s been Rob Zombie’s fearlessness with experimenting with strange, often shameless storytelling decisions that have made his films so memorable and enjoyable and even inspiring to me. But in Three From Hell, there’s just a sense that everything feels kind of... disconnected and unfinished. It feels like two different movies were trying to be made and neither were fully developed. It just ends up sort of feeling like a kind of sad mess.

[imran16829]

Sid Haig Biography, Wiki, Net Worth, Age, Family, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Sid Haig Biography, Wiki, Net Worth, Age, Family, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook

Sid Haig Biography, Wiki

Мауbе уоu knоw аbоut Sidney Eddie Mosesian vеrу wеll Вut dо уоu knоw hоw оld аnd tаll іѕ hе, аnd whаt іѕ hіѕ nеt wоrth іn 2020? Іf уоu dо nоt knоw, Wе hаvе рrераrеd thіѕ аrtісlе аbоut dеtаіlѕ оf Sid Haig’ѕ Social media activities, ѕhоrt bіоgrарhу-wіkі, саrееr, рrоfеѕѕіоnаl lіfе, реrѕоnаl lіfе, tоdау’ѕ nеt wоrth, аgе, hеіght, wеіght, аnd mоrе fасtѕ. Wеll, іf уоu’rе rеаdу,…

[itsbiography]

Sid Haig Bio, Wiki, Age, Death Cause, Wife, Net Worth

Sid Haig Bio, Wiki, Age, Death Cause, Wife, Net Worth

Sid Haig Bio

Sid Haig was the legendary horror American actor. Haig is best known to horror fans for his roles in “3 From Hell” and “The Devil’s Rejects.”

View this post on Instagram

There will be fuckin' ice cream in your fuckin' future! Announcement coming Monday or Tuesday. Time to head out to the airport for @daysofthedeadhorrorcon.

A post shared by Sid Haig

[bahereviews]

3 From Hell - 6 out of 10

Rob Zombie as a filmmaker has been an interesting thing to witness. From his debut film “House of 1000 Corpses” to his third entry to the Firefly Family series “3 From Hell.” There have been some stinkers and some winners depending on who you ask. Some may despise something others may cherish. Me personally? I sort of sit in the center. While I can certainly enjoy the insanity that Rob Zombie brings to his films, I can also spot the bad things about his films. Especially with “3 From Hell.” Crazed killers Baby Firefly, Captain Spaulding and Otis Driftwood unleash bloody mayhem after escaping from prison. Let’s jump in shall we?

SPOILERS AHEAD

From the moment the film ended, I felt that “3 From Hell” was a wholly unnecessary

sequel. Their violent demise in the finale of “The Devil’s Rejects” was a fitting end to the Firefly Family. More so now considering how they handled the death of Sid Haig’s popular Captain Spaulding. He is killed by means of lethal injection. Off screen might I add. There is only a brief interview between him and a hippie TV reporter in the beginning of the film where he’s able to spew off some of his incessant candor that we’ve come to love. But ultimately, his time on screen on this entry is limited to less than two minutes. Hell, maybe less. Compared to his valiant end in “The Devil’s Rejects,” I much prefer his character to have died there than on death row.

Replacing Captain Spaulding in the Firefly trio line up is the half brother of Otis and Baby. While his character is as sadistic and crazed and his extended family is, there is a noticeable absence; a void that could never be filled; once occupied by the legendary Captain Spaulding. But in real life, actor Sid Haig is getting up there in age. Hell, in the film he looks emaciated as hell. So perhaps it was for the best that his character die so early on in the film. Regardless, the characters of Otis and Baby do a fine job of keeping up the familial carnage on the road to Mexico.

Baby has somehow slipped further into insanity while Otis maintains his cool headedness. If you can call it that. He still enjoys torturing his poor victims both physically and mentally. Ultimately though, Baby takes the cake and steals the whole show. Despite the offensive visage of a white woman donning a Native American head dress during the bloody finale, you can’t help but cheer for our favorite psychotic antiheroes as they leave a bloody trail of carnage behind them. I found myself laughing at all of their maniacal antics.

The one thing that really stood out to me with this film was its color palette. It’s as if the editor turned the saturation up to 100% and then duplicated the effect to really sell it. The effect is so glaring that even the redness of people’s face are painfully and obviously exaggerated. Another thing I noticed was that the plot line of this film follows the plot line to “The Devil’s Rejects” to a certain degree. Especially the last half where a trio of main characters find sanctuary in a place they think is safe only to find that it isn’t safe, at which point they have to fend for themselves and fight their way out.

I feel Rob Zombie was trying to make a trilogy of different genres with each entry in his Firefly Trilogy. “House of 1000 Corpses” embraced the horror genre, “The Devil’s Rejects” embraced the thriller/killers-on-the-road genre, and “3 From Hell” embraced the western genre. Because that’s what this film feels like, a western. There’s a jail break, a shanty western town, and even a Mexican standoff that end brutality. Hell, Baby even dons a Native American head dress and takes down a few baddies with a bow and arrow. In the end though, “3 From Hell” is a totally unnecessary entry into a series that had its proper ending in the second film. But that doesn’t mean we won’t welcome our favorite psycho killers back to the big screen for more mindless violence. Mega fans will go see this film in theaters, casual movie goers will wait for its home video release. Which are you? :)

[scareaffair-blog]

Bon Voyage, Captain

Horror actor and icon Sid Haig passed away after weeks of being hospitalized on September 21. Sidney Eddie Mosesian, known professionally as Sid Haig was hospitalized after falling in his home, and during his recovery developed a lung infection that caused him to pass at age 80. Haig is well known for his appearances in horror films, most famously his role as Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie’s films “House of 1000 Corpses and “The Devils Rejects”. Shortly before his death, he completed filming of a third Rob Zombie film titled “3 from Hell”, which was his last project. In a recent interview with Kerrang! magazine, Rob Zombie told interviewers that Haig knew that this would probably be his last performance. “Sid knew that this was going to be his last thing. I mean we talked about it, how ill he was. He put on a brave face, but he knew that was probably, you never know for sure, but he was pretty sure that would be his last appearance in a movie.” Haig and his character Captain Spaulding are considered icons in the horror community, and he will be missed by thousands of fans all over the world. One of my favorite and also one of his most notable lines comes from “The Devils Rejects”, when Captain Spaulding gets into a vehicle with a reasonably scared child in the back. He turns to him and smiles with his worn out clown makeup and dirty teeth and asks the kid “Whats the matter kid, don’t you like clowns? Don’t we make you laugh? Aren’t we f***ing funny?”, and I wanted to take a moment to say yes, I do love clowns, and you just may have been my favorite. 

(Pictured above: Sid Haig both as himself and as his Captain Spaulding character)