Sunday, July 5, 2009

Who doesn't love a good B flick?

I am not claiming to be a B movie buff, not by a long shot, but I do love them so. Like anyone, I have my favorites such as Empire of the Ants in which scam artist Joan Collins dooms herself and her customers to being attacked by giant ants

























Night of the Lepus wherein rabbits are injected with hormones to control population but instead creates giant carnivorous bunnies who are fought of by the townspeople including DeForest Kelley and Janet Leigh
























The Wasp Woman, a cosmetics queen who volunteers to be a test subject for youth-and-beauty restoring injections derived from wasp jelly when her beauty fades. In what film would that end well?


















The ORIGINAL Day the Earth Stood Still, a film with Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal. This is one of those 'and the moral of the story is...' movies, but it doesn't detract from the impact of the tank melting scenes. Klaatu is a simple space-man here to share a message and a gift with the people of Earth, but things go haywire when a soldier gets a bit twitchy and shoots him.



















And of course, well known B flicks like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, where(I love this phrasing)"a wave of reports of mysterious attacks involving people and pets being eaten by the traditionally docile fruit" and the saviors of the day are an unlikely bunch for sure. Besides, oversize angry food is always good entertainment.


















and The Birds, the story of a rich city girl who follows her soon-to-be boyfriend to Bodega Bay where she stays just long enough to be trapped when birds of all shapes and sizes form vicious flocks of violent predators. That's what you get for being aggressive, Missy. Don't you know the man is supposed to make the first move?






















Oh, the wonderful, joy infused memories I treasure. Nights spent sitting on the couch with my best friends, eating junk snacks that should have given us coronaries within two bites, and letting Elvira and her gravity defying bosoms in painted on clothing take us down terrible, frighting, unbelievable paths of adventure with a moral thrown in once in a while for good measure.





















I will never forget the shock and dismay I felt when two years ago, I made a reference to Night of the Lepus and my husband stared blankly at me. HORROR! Who did I marry? Further questioning revealed the sad state of his education on the matter. He'd never read Hitch Hiker's Guide.... or any of the other works of Douglas Adams. Please don't feel the need to correct me, I DO know it's a book and not a B-flick (or wasn't at the time) but it's one of my favorite books of all time.


























At an appropriate moment in conversation on day I said "Klaatu barada nikto" and he said "huh?" because he'd never watched The Day the Earth Stood Still. He also had no idea why the 50 foot woman was so tall.
I could have cried.
Tonight was another reminder of how little he has really experienced. I was watching the 1980 version of Flash Gordon and the man had NEVER HEARD OF IT. Now, I ask you, WHO hasn't heard of Flash Gordon? Max von Sydow, Topol, Timothy Dalton, Brian Blessed, and Richard O'Brien. Seriously, how could you have missed it?
































We'll work through it, we have a good marriage and love each other and love conquers many things. He's even made an effort to watch some flicks and has developed a love of Bruce Campbell's acting. There's hope!!!!!

3 comments:

Becky said...

Oooh,sweetie! Did you have another sleepless night? Hehe,just kidding. Seriously, HOW could that happen?We'll have to educate him.....poor Mike. Love ya both,see you soon,I hope
Mom

Sen said...

OK, so I am prejudiced. You already know that Night of the Lepus is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I readily admit to being a quiver at the news that they are remaking Day of the Triffids (both with excitement and fear). That said, if you don't manage to edumakate Mike soon, we will have to come down and tape his eyes open... and force him to watch at least a full 12 hours of Buckaroo Bonzai. If that doesn't seem to work we can follow up with another 12 hours of Bubba Ho-Tep. This problem WILL be fixed. ;P

You know we still love you all though, right?

Amber said...

"I'll swallow your soul, I'll swallow your soul..."

Mel, have you ever watched "Flesh Eating Mothers" (or was it Momma's)