As the phrase goes, darlings, this is epic. Three weeks from Saturday, which would be May 16, The Sven Squad is hosting. Nothing wrong with that, but what they are going to host is a screening of what many arguably consider the greatest horror film ever made--Roman Polanski's 1968 classic "Rosemary's Baby."
"Svengoolie" was overreaching when he hosted "The Bad Seed." To his credit, he began the show an hour earlier, so that the film would be shown in its entirety. Good for him. But his constant warning about how disturbing the film would be to sensitive viewers got to be annoying, because more sensitive viewers likely would not get all the cinematic qualities of "The Bad Seed," including its camp theatricality. An "A" list film on "Svengoolie?" It was a nice try, but it did not work.
But turning The Sven Squad over to something as iconic as "Rosemary's Baby?" This is a mistake, and a disaster in the making. There are people out there, like me, who take this film seriously, and so the squad will show no respect for us. Their jokes will be annoying, surrounding the film, and commercials will probably be inserted during or right before iconic moments.
Showing "Rosemary's Baby", this way is questionable. The film runs two hours and sixteen minutes, so will the show start an hour earlier, as it did with "The Bad Seed.?" Will it still cut out iconic moments? Because if so, those like me will know every single one, and will resent it.
I just found out about a 1995 horror film called "Ice Cream Man," with a cast including Clint Howard, Jan Michael Vincent, David Warner, and David Naughton. This is exactly the kind of film The Sven Squad should show, something we can all have fun with and laugh at. But to show "Rosemary's Baby" this way is to disrespect it.
The Devil will get you, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg the casting alone makes me want to see “Ice Cream Man”!
ReplyDeleteOlivia Hussey, Lee Majors,
Steve Garvey??!!!
Its a terrible idea, yes, but my reasons for thinking so are perhaps different from yours, RQ. I believe it will backfire on Svengoolie because it has dated so horribly, and not in a fun way, either. To any audience under the age of 50, Rosemary's Baby is an unbearably tedious slog to sit thru. It is steeped in 60s style but unfolds in the deadly dull 50s Dore Schary narrative manner. Plus it drags the story out a good half hour longer than it needs to be: by the time the payoff comes, most Sven fans will have changed the channel or fallen asleep.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong: like you, I personally consider Rosemary's Baby an iconic classic of horror and camp. But its a definite case of "you had to be there" when it made its first splash to appreciate it today. The story is packed with old-school bloat, we took it for granted then because that was how prestige movies operated until the 80s. But a new viewer today would be screaming "OMG, would you just GET ON WITH IT already!!!" And you, know they wouldn't be wrong: last time I saw it at Film Forum I had to keep slapping myself to stay awake.
Goofing and riffing on a 65 minute B-movie snoozefest like"Monolith Monsters" is one thing, but 2+ hours of RB is another. First, how do you cut it to fit the timeslot without butchering it? Uncut its dull but at least coherent, chopped down to 90 mins its going to be hard to follow esp with the Sven interruptions. And you can't really appreciate the style, the menace or the camp without enduring the unbroken slog of it all, so Catch-22 for the uninitiated.
The biggest drawback might be the lack of a simple easy hook for the Sven staff to goof on. Even The Bad Seed at least provided the obvious hook of Patty McCormacks gleefully psychopathic child murdereress. RB, all ya got is the big reveal at the end, which is itself underwhelming (too bad a William Castle edit doesn't exist showing the clawed infant: now THAT would have been proper Svengoolie fodder!)
Methinks this is a one-time stunt that won't be repeated. Glossy, classy, serious, turgid fare like RB just doesn't make for fun mockery.
Victoria, I did not know that they were in it too. This is a MUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteVideolaman, No, it does not make for mockery and should not be mocked, because it is what it is, and as you said, you had to be there at the time to get it,
ReplyDeletewhich I was. This was a bad decision on Sven's part. I was not happy with
the way "The Bad Seed" was handled, but they are overstepping themselves
with "Rosemary's Baby."