The Music of the Fright

It may have been suggested, at least once or twice, that I’m something of a musical theater fan. Perhaps it’s the stack of Playbills hung on my childhood bedroom wall, the pile of VHS tapes my pals and I used to make in high school featuring us performing Broadway showtunes, or the fact that the best energy boost I’ve ever had in a half marathon is hearing Defying Gravity blasting just half a mile before the finish line.

Yes, I love musicals. I’d probably sell my soul or at the very least, a cat in return for a good singing voice but as I’ve yet to find the right market, I instead comfort myself listening to others. When the world is great--I mean, REALLY great--I find that in a horror movie.

Quick Plot: After a rousing opening night of a new Broadway musical called The Haunting of the Opera (sound familiar?), the leading lady (Minnie Driver, who might have had something to do with that thing that sounds familiar) is brutally slaughtered by a mystery man wearing her co-star’s mask. 

Ten years later, her twin children have grown into attractive cooks at Center Stage, a theater camp run by their mother’s boyfriend and former producer Roger (also, Meat Loaf). Camilla has grown into a beautiful and talented soprano who dreams of following in her late mother’s footsteps, while brother Buddy is still embittered by the entire musical community. 

As a last ditch effort to find some profit, Roger decides to revive The Haunting of the Opera as the summer’s big showcase. Surely nothing can go wrong with such a controversial decision, right?

Written and directed by newcomer Jerome Sable, Stage Fright is pretty much everything I could ask for in a movie, missing only a few evil children and plate of nachos. From the opening text informing us that the movie is sort of based on true events (just like Return of the Living Dead) to the followup that "the musical numbers will be performed exactly as they occurred," I squealed with glee.

(not THAT kind of glee)

This movie was made for me. 

Was it the fact that one song lyric involved a kid getting bullied for singing Sondheim? That the totem poles at this summer camp featured the drama/comedy masks? That one song had the faintest touch of a Jesus Christ Superstar salute? 

I don't know that Stage Fright will appeal to hardcore horror fans or those who prefer, well, another theater-set slasher called Stage Fright. But this film delighted me, and as much as I'd like to think Jerome Sable Inception'ed his way into my dreams to give me exactly what I want, I'll still say that I think this will please you too.

High Points

As someone who has worked backstage in a fair amount of college theater performances, believe me when I say that nothing is more annoying than hearing the actors practice their vocal warmups. Hence, the fact that Stage Fright uses that moment to give us such a juicy murder made me far more happier than it probably should have

The end credits song includes lyrics thanking the audience for staying so late. Then they break into a lecture about piracy. ALL IN ROCK OPERA FORMAT

Did I mention how happy this movie made me?

Low Points

I'm a stickler for detail, so it bothered me slightly that we were never informed who took over for a key actor in the big show. Understudies need to rehearse, you know

Lessons Learned

Altos just don’t understand

The first rule of theater camp: abandon all ye cell phones

You can't change the past, but you can make a musical

Rent/Bury/Buy

Look, I understand that a horror musical with original showtunes might not be for everybody, but good golly was this the film for me. I adored Stage Fright and would eagerly donate to kickstart a sequel. Give me more I say! 

Cruisin (not like thaaaaat)

Summer may be ending (thank goobers) but those lightening bugs are in full swing as one of my favorite bloggers and I get our recommend on. This month, I assigned T.L. Bugg of The Lightening Bugg’s Lair  the early ‘90s, pre-Scream meta-ish slasher Popcorn while I sat down with some lower cased popcorn and 1991’s Motorama. Did it beat the grease off Hot Wax Zombies On Wheels ? Read on...

Quick Plot: 10 year old Gus (Jordan Christopher Michael) ditches his seemingly monstrous parents (heard offscreen in a fight that would make Edward Albee blush) to drive across the country in search of eight “Motorama” cards collected at select gas stations. Like those McDonald’s summer cash-in games (I was always partial to the Dick Tracy one myself), Motorama offers an elusive grand cash prize for the savvy driver who completes his set. Despite being underage and under five feet tall, Gus gets off to a quick start cruising in a gorgeously vintage cherry red Mustang and a clever contraption to reach the pedals.

But what kind of road would let a child cruise by through six states? One that isn’t quite the America we know. Motorama takes place in a mildly alternate universe, one with slightly surreal leanings that fall somewhere between the brunch plate of David Lynch and Tim Burton. Like other tried and true road movies, it’s filled with elegant landscape shots and quirky locals that pop in for brief and odd episodes with our young and wise-beyond-his-years (maybe) hero. 

But rest assured, this ain’t North.

Although Gus has the makings of a precocious elementary schooler, he’s actually something of an adult jerk, never really endearing himself to the audience for any reason aside from his pluck and age. He steals from strangers, takes advantage of the stupid, and until the final scene, fails to make a single friend in his quest for the not-quite-American dream. It’s an interesting choice that makes Motorama both unusual and slightly cold. We like Gus because he’s ten going on fifty, but putting aside his smarts, there’s no real joy to the kid.

...Which is also pretty neat. It’s refreshing to not have the tried and true father figure waiting to be discovered or quirky sidekick tagging along. Gus has plenty of wacky adventures with impressive cameos--House of the Devil ’s Mary Woronov and Seinfeld’s Sandy Baron as unforgiving motorists, Garrett Morris as a good-natured mechanic, Drew Barrymore as a one-scene dreamgirl--but this isn’t a film about relationships. It’s a film about...well I don’t quite know yet. America, greed, futility, wasted youth, stamp collecting. It’s not clear, but that’s part of its charm.

High Points

The sheer detail in taking everything familiar and twisting it a few degrees is just impressive. Once you get past the Monopoly-like money and ridiculousness of Gus’s east at acting like a grownup, the universe of Motorama feels comfortable, interesting, and still believable

Low Points

While I'm extremely glad that Motorama doesn't go for the easy tricks, like narration or a token tell-me-your-story character meet, the lack of a real central voice does prevent the film from truly bringing us into the fate of Gus. We’re not really sure what he learns or if we should even care

Lessons Learned

Never accept an arm wrestling challenge from Meat Loaf. Especially if you’re 10

Likewise, use caution when gambling on horseshoe tosses, unless, of course, you’ve been looking for a way to get out of parenting

Cooks carry cash

Rent/Bury/Buy

It’s a shame that the DVD is so barebones, as this is a film that I’d love to hear discussed by all parties involved. Motorama is a bizarre little piece of light surrealism peppered by an odd dose of black comedy. I like it so far, but after just one viewing, I’m already itching to revisit Motorama and see how it plays again. It’s whimsical without being wishy washy, kooky yet fairly grounded in its own sense of alternate reality. A recommend for those days when you want to watch something you haven’t quite seen anything like before.


And speaking of recommendations, head over (probably this afternoon) to The Lightening Bug's Lair  for some buttery talk about Popcorn. Also, wish him a happy birthday as his blog forges into the terrible (but probably not actually terrible) twos!