The End Of A Horror Era!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   It seems to me we have lost a lot of people, over the summer.  I am still recovering from the death of Barbara Cook, and now, I learn that, on Saturday, Tobe Hopper has died, at his home, in Sherman Oaks, CA.

                                   No one is giving out his cause of death, which is in keeping with the mysteriousness of one of Hollywood's foremost horror makers.  He was 74, so it is anybody's guess, darlings.  But no foul play, or suicide, to be sure.

                                   Who can forget the late Marilyn Burns, screaming at full velocity, as she ran through the arch of tree branches, in the original, 1974, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre?"  Leatherface and clan were horrible enough, but, to me, it is Burns' relentless screaming in that sequence that sets my teeth on edge, whenever I think about this movie.

                                     How about little Heather O'Rourke, as Carol Anne looking at the camera in genuine hysteria, before being sucked through the wall, in the original, 1982 "Poltergeist?"  Not to mention Dominique Dunne's signature scene, where she pulls up in a car, sees the house coming apart, and screams out, hysterically, "Whaaaaaaaat's haaaaaaaaapening??????????"  Who knew that what should have been the beginning of a promising career would become her legacy?

                                    And my favorite, 1981's "The Funhouse."  Kevin Conway plays a sleazy carnival owner, hence the title, and keeps hidden within it his deformed son, who he is both trying to protect and hide, due to his hatred and shame.  He is a widower, so nothing is known about what kind of creature he married to produce such a monstrosity, or if his wife left him, or....at any rate, with no education, no sunlight, and no exposure to people, what else can the kid turn out to be but some deformed monstrosity, who thinks he is helping Daddy's business by menacing visitors in the funhouse??????? But, then, the menacing turns violent, though Daddy feeds and takes care of him.

                                     If that isn't enough, the real scene stealer turns out to be Sylvia Miles--of course!!!!!!!!!!--as fortuneteller and local nymphomaniac Madame Zena.  Forget Maria Ouspenskaya, darlings!   The real horror show here must have been Tobe working with Sylvia, but he got great results from her.  The scene where she consents to have sex with the deformed son, and does, has to be seen to be believed.  Sylvia, really should have gotten an Oscar nomination for her work, here.

                                    Those are my favorite Tobe Hooper moments.  All of them came from him.  I could not, in good conscious, see his remake of the 1953 "Invaders From Mars," out of my loyalty to that classic, but at least he had the genius to pay it homage, by casting Jimmy Hunt, who played the boy, in the minor role of, I think, a police officer.

                                     Tobe Hooper was able to turn the grotesque into art.  His is a loss to horror that can never be duplicated.  Genius never can.

                                       Rest In Peace, Tobe.  The chills you gave us, will live on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!