It
is past time the Library of Congress added Plan
9 from Outer Space to the National Film Registry—not due to artistic merit,
but because it is culturally significant. Arguably, no film is more responsible
for the Midnight Movie phenomenon. Indirectly, the Rifftrax/MST3K guys probably
owe their careers to Ed Wood. While they probably remain the gold standard of
sarcastic talking back to the screen, Tim Kirk raises the stakes for ironic
genre commentary by creating a wild meta-fictional backstory for a very real
film. Director Gavin Merrill and his estranged screenwriter will reveal the
whole sordid truth behind the production of their ill-fated Marry Shelly
adaptation in Director’s Commentary:
Terror of Frankenstein (trailer here), which screens tonight during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.
Merrill’s
Swedish-Irish co-production Terror of
Frankenstein is an actual film—and its not terrible. For years, it had a
bit of cache as the Frankenstein film most faithful to the original Shelly, but
according to Merrill’s newly recorded DVD commentary track we will be listening
to, it has recently become quite infamous due to a related criminal case. After
years of legal wrangling, a prominent cast-member has finally been executed, so
Merrill is scrambling to cash-in.
If
that sounds somewhat crass, screenwriter David Falks agrees. In case you are looking
at its imdb page, Merrill and Falks supposedly used their “Calvin & Yvonne
Floyd” pseudonym, dating back to their experimental theater days. In any event,
Falks is only participating in order to correct certain misconceptions propagated
by the tabloid media.
The
way Kirk constructs a strangely disturbing narrative out of their bickering and
bitter reminiscences is quite a feat of storytelling. He doles out revelations
slowly, sometimes almost casually, but we quickly get a sense that there was a
higher body count behind-the-scenes than on the screen.
Frankly,
it is almost shocking that Commentary has
not generated any angry protests, because in several instances it creates less
than flattering alternate histories for prominent cast-members, most notably
including Nicholas Clay (Patrick Redfern in Evil
Under the Sun) and Per Oscarsson (seen in the Swedish Lisbeth Salander
trilogy). However, Leon Vitali (best known as a Kubrick crony and co-star of Barry Lyndon) is quite the good sport
playing himself.
Sometimes
Commentary is blackly comical, but it
is aiming more for uncomfortable insights into human nature than big belly
laughs. In some ways, it is an experience not unlike listening to Orson Welles
lose his cool while recording that notorious frozen peas radio commercial.
Having produced Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 and
The Nightmare, Kirk has keen handle
on directing faceless voices for the big screen. (In a bit of a role reversal,
Ascher takes on the producing and editing duties this time around.) They also
get some first class voice acting from Clu Gulager (no stranger to genre fans)
and Zack Norman (Danny Devito’s cousin in Romancing
the Stone), as Merrill and Falks, respectively.
