Body Bags

Directed and starring John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper and written by Dan Angel and Billy Brown, Body Bags is an anthology film where a coroner and two morgue attendees tell three different stories relating to the bodies they’re analyzing. The first entitled The Gas Station is about a serial killer stalking a gas station attendee while the second entitled The Hair is about a botched hair transplant involving an alien parasite as both segments are directed by John Carpenter. The third entitled Eye is about a baseball player who receives an eye transplant unaware that it belonged to a killer that is trying to possess him as it is helmed by Tobe Hooper. Also starring Robert Carradine, Stacy Keach, David Warner, Twiggy, Sheena Easton, Mark Hamill, Tom Arnold, and Debbie Harry. Body Bags is a riveting and enjoyable film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.

The film is essentially a trilogy of tales told by a coroner (John Carpenter) as it play to the bodies he is examining in one scary night. The first entitled The Gas Station is about a college student who works on her very first night as a gas station attendee as she deals with strange customers as well as the presence of a serial killer on the loose. The second story entitled The Hair is about a middle-aged man dealing with baldness as he goes to a mysterious doctor about a hair transplant where everything seems to go well until he discover alien parasites in his hair. The third and final story entitled Eye is about a baseball player who loses his right eye in a car accident where he goes into surgery to get a new one as he starts to see strange things involving dead bodies and such. All of it is told in different styles where screenwriters Dan Angel and Billy Brown play up some of the suspense where The Gas Station is about an unusual first day at work while Hair is about insecurities and vanities that eventually catches up to a man. Eye is about a man desperate to go back to baseball unaware of the horror he is seeing with his new eye.

Since the first two segments and inserts are directed by John Carpenter and Eye is helmed by Tobe Hooper with Larry Sulkin providing additional work on the insert scenes. Each segment is given a different feel as both Carpenter and Hooper both provide their own idea to their segments while the inserts where Carpenter plays the coroner are presented in a comedic manner. For The Gas Station, Carpenter creates something that is more of a suspense film as it is about a college student’s first day as a gas station attendant where there are bits of humor but also moments where Carpenter plays with the suspense. Much of his compositions in that segment and The Hair are quite simple where the latter is a bit more playful as Carpenter goes for something straightforward rather than make it a big-time horror piece. The scariest segment is definitely Eye where Hooper creates something that is more conventional in terms of the horror genre but prefers to play it out slowly as it also has some more stylistic compositions including surreal moments that play into the terror. Overall, Carpenter and Hooper create a fun and thrilling anthology film about terror.

Cinematographer Gary Kibbe does excellent work with the cinematography from the colorful look of the interiors at the morgue as well as the nighttime exterior scenes for The Gas Station and Eye. Editor Edward A. Warschilka does nice work with the editing as it is stylish with its rhythmic cuts to play into the suspense for all of the segments. Production designer Daniel A. Lomino and set decorator Cloudia Rebar do fantastic work with the look of the morgue as well as the gas station interiors for The Gas Station as well as the more straightforward look of the other segments.

The makeup work of Rick Baker and Greg LaCava, with hair stylist Carolyn Elias, do amazing work for the look of the mortician as well as the look of the new eye in Eye as well as the hair in The Hair. The special effects work of Howard Jensen is terrific as it play into the look of the parasites for The Hair. Sound editor Anthony Milch does superb work with the sound as it help create some of the chilling moments of suspense in The Gas Station and Eye. The film’s music by John Carpenter and Jim Lang is wonderful with Carpenter providing some unique electronic-based pieces for The Gas Station while going for kitsch-based jazz in The Hair while Lang provides a more symphonic score for Eye.

The film’s cast is great as it features an array of cameos from horror film icons as well as pop culture icons. For the scenes set in the morgue, John Carpenter is hilarious as the mortician while Tobe Hooper and Tom Arnold are terrific in their brief roles as the morgue attendees. In The Gas Station, the cameo appearances from Wes Craven as a customer, George Buck Flower as a homeless guy, and Sam Raimi as a dead guy are fun yet the short is largely focused on Robert Carradine in a superb role as the gas station attendant who shows the new girl what to do while Alex Datcher is wonderful as the new girl Anne who is stalked by a crazed serial killer. In The Hair, the appearances of model Kim Alexis and special makeup effects creator Gregory Nicotero as people with good hair are fun to watch while Debbie Harry is a hoot as a nurse trying to help the protagonist find the right look.

David Warner is excellent as Dr. Lock as the man who can help the character Richard find new hair while Sheena Easton is fantastic as Richard’s girlfriend Megan who tries to assure him that he looks fine. Stacy Keach is brilliant as Richard as a man who becomes insecure over his bald hair as he is eager to have a new look and feel happy only for things to go wrong. In Eye, the cameo appearances of Charles Napier as a baseball coach, Roger Corman as a doctor, and John Agar as the surgeon are just amazing to watch while Twiggy is terrific as Brent’s wife Cathy who becomes worried about her husband’s troubled behavior. Mark Hamill is marvelous as Brent Matthews as baseball player who loses his eye in a car accident as he gets a new eye but becomes unhinged by what he is seeing as Hamill definitely camps it up for the performance.

Body Bags is a remarkable film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper. It’s a fun anthology film that feature a trilogy of stories created by two masters of horror as it’s a film that is about terror at its most chilling. In the end, Body Bags is an exhilarating and fun film from John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper.

Tobe Hooper Films: (Eggshells) - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - (Eaten Alive) - (Salem’s Lot) - (The Funhouse) - (Poltergeist) - Lifeforce - (Invaders from Mars) - (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2) - (Spontaneous Combustion) - (I’m Dangerous Tonight) - (Night Terrors) - (The Mangler) - (The Apartment Complex) - (Crocodile (2000 film)) - (Toolbox Murders) - (Mortuary) - (Djinn)

John Carpenter Films: Dark Star - Assault on Precinct 13 - Someone's Watching Me! - Halloween - Elvis - The Fog - Escape from New York - The Thing - Christine - Starman - Big Trouble in Little China - Prince of Darkness - They Live - Memoirs of an Invisible Man - In the Mouth of Madness - Village of the Damned - Escape from L.A. - Vampires - Ghosts of Mars - The Ward

The Auteurs #60: John Carpenter Part 1 - Part 2

© thevoid99 2016

Dementia 13

Written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Dementia 13 is the story about a woman who tries to put herself in her mother-in-law’s will after the death of her husband only to deal with an axe-wielding maniac. Produced by Roger Corman, the film marks Francis Ford Coppola’s first directorial feature in the form of a B-movie slasher film that features a lot of the attributes of horror. Starring William Campbell, Luana Anders, and Patrick Magee. Dementia 13 is a pretty good whodunit from Francis Ford Coppola.

The film is a simple whodunit in which a widow arrives to her late husband’s home in Ireland to attend an annual memorial service for her late sister-in-law that had died several years ago. Her intention to go to Ireland is to gain access to her mother-in-law’s will which she wants to be in where an axe-murderer is happening killing off many people as the family doctor Justin Caleb (Patrick Magee) investigates what is going on. It’s a simple premise that doesn’t have much plot as Francis Ford Coppola creates a story that has the typical schematics of a suspenseful-thriller. Yet, he also explores the dynamic of this family where one of them is getting married as everyone is a suspect into these mysterious murders. While there’s a playfulness in Coppola’s script, it is sometimes hampered by these elements where it doesn’t do enough to make the story more engaging than it should be.

Coppola’s direction is quite simple in terms of compositions and such while he is able to use the low-budget presentation to create some unique images. Notably in some montages and flashbacks to play into the idea that something isn’t right in these flashbacks. While Coppola does a good job in building up a lot of the suspense, some of it isn’t presented very well probably because of the low budget. One scene involves a minor character getting his head cut off and the presentation itself ends up being unintentionally hilarious. The cheese factor does still manage to keep the film interesting while its reveal of who the killer is does manage to pay off. Overall, Coppola creates a pretty decent and enjoyable whodunit.

Cinematographer Charles Hannawalt does nice work with the film‘s black-and-white photography where some of it looks grainy while does have some nice use of lights for the exterior scenes set at night. Editors Stuart O’Brien and Morton Tubor do terrific work with the editing as it‘s stylized to play with its suspense as well as it‘s use of flashbacks and montages. Art director Al Locatelli and set decorator Eleanor Coppola do excellent work with the interior look of the Irish castle and the rooms the characters live in. The sound work of Joseph Gross and Liam Saurin is superb for the atmosphere it creates. The film’s music by Ronald Stein is brilliant for its use of orchestral music to play into its suspense as well as themes that help maintain that sense of horror.

The film’s cast is amazing as it features some notable small performances from Derry O’Donovan as the family maid, Karl Schnazer as a poacher who lurks nearby, Peter Read as John Haloran who dies early in the film, and Barbara Dowling as the late Kathleen Haloran who is only seen in the flashback scenes. Mary Mitchell is terrific as the young woman Kane who is marrying Richard Haloran as she becomes frightened by what is happening while Bart Patton is pretty good as the youngest member of the Haloran family in Billy as a young man who is still traumatized by his sister’s death.

Luana Anders is excellent as John’s wife Louise who arrives to Ireland to try to get herself in her mother-in-law’s will while Eithne Dunne is wonderful as Lady Haloran who is still mourning her late daughter. William Campbell is fantastic as Richard Haloran as a man disturbed by what’s happening as he becomes a major suspect. Finally, there’s Patrick Magee in a brilliant performance as Dr. Justin Caleb who tries to figure out what is happening while doing odd things in his investigation.

Dementia 13 is a terrific mainstream debut film from Francis Ford Coppola. Though it’s really more of a cheap knock-off of other slasher films of the times that features some of the cheesy elements of producer Roger Corman. It is still an interesting film to see where Coppola started and how he would evolve in the years too come. In the end, Dementia 13 is a worthwhile and fun film from Francis Ford Coppola.

Francis Ford Coppola Films: (Tonight for Sure) - (The Bellboy and the Playgirls) - (You’re a Big Boy Now) - (Finian’s Rainbow) - (The Rain People) - The Godfather - The Conversation - The Godfather Pt. II - Apocalypse Now/Apocalypse Now Redux - One from the Heart - The Outsiders - Rumble Fish - The Cotton Club - (Peggy Sue Got Married) - (Captain EO) - (Heart of Stone) - (Tucker: The Man and His Dreams) - New York Stories: Life Without Zoe - The Godfather Part III - Bram Stoker's Dracula - (Jack) - (The Rainmaker) - (Youth Without Youth) - Tetro - (Twixt)

© thevoid99 2013