Grizzly (1976) - Billups Allen

There should be a new word for low-budget films that play out like an episode of “Happy Days” until the death scenes come in. Grizzly could be a made for TV movie until the bear attacks. When the claws flare up, we are treated to an unexpected amount of blood and disfigurement. The death scenes in Grizzly are on par with Monty Python violence. Arms fly into the woods while a swinging claw fills the screen from the camera’s point of view. In true nature-gone-wrong fashion, we are meant to fear the sublime and don’t get a good look at the bear until later in the movie. The aftermath, however, is curiously bloody.

The movie should win an award for the monster film that most miscalculates the instinct of its subject. I guess it can’t top Jaws: The Revenge, but Grizzly is worth seeing for the ridiculous lengths the filmmaker goes to explain why a bear is going around attacking people. Bears just don’t do the things that this bear does. At least not with the discipline this bear displays. The filmmakers would have done just as well making this some sort of nuclear bear; it would have sped up the slow parts.

Most of the budget for this movie seems to have gone into a hilariously overactive soundtrack and a helicopter. The helicopter gets a lot of screen time. It should have handled more of the dialogue. The characters are innocuous until they push the envelope and become endlessly stupid. I do not know much about nature, but I imagine in real life a trained team of park rangers could at least triangulate where a bear is rampaging and close the area off to tourists. These guys just casually search for it, discussing life, love, and bears along the way. There is no contest; you will find yourself rooting for the bear.

GRIZZLY - Monday, May 31st at 8:00 p.m.

It's MONDO MONDAYS at The Loft, celebrating weird, wild and wonderful flicks from the Mondo side of the silver screen! Admission is only $2.00, and don't forget to check out our yummy "Mondo Munchies" snack bucket ... fill a cup for a buck!

Billups Allen's interest in writing began composing lyrics for the band Shoutbus and later for the band Corn on Macabre. Lyrical duties led to writing poetry and short stories. Several of his short stories were published in a book entitled Unfurnished published by Florida’s now defunct Schematics Records. Allen currently lives in Tucson, Arizona where he writes Cramhole comic zine, writes reviews for Razorcake Magazine and the Tucson Citizen. www.billupsallen.com

Virgins from Hell (1987) - Billups Allen

This movie opens on a curious premise. The leader of a female motorcycle gang infiltrates a casino by seducing the owner. She gets him alone; naturally, he is expecting something. She fights him off, kicks his ass, and then the rest of the gang drives a jeep through the front door and robs the place. Why didn’t they just drive a jeep through the door in the first place? Such is logic not to be questioned in the Indonesian women-in-prison epic Virgins from Hell.  If logic were applied, you might ask if the leader of an international drug ring would really wear such a wide variety of cummerbunds. I have not been exposed to very much Indonesian culture; perhaps their drug lords do look like they have raided Prince’s Goodwill donation pile. As curious as his choice in wardrobe is the fact that he changes clothes often throughout the film. I tried hard to determine if this was just a continuity problem, but it really seems to be on purpose.

Eventually, the drug lord captures the gang and holds them hostage in a dungeon underneath a laboratory where he is developing an ecstasy-type drug that makes women want to have sex. There is nothing subtle about the plot. I am not a huge fan of the women-in-prison genre, but this one is interesting for its naiveté. Most of the scenes seem improvised, until the action sequences, which are meticulously staged and still relatively incompetent. The exploitation aspects of the film are hard to take seriously which removes some of the power from the prison situations. For me, it works. Loaded with low budget spectacle, Virgins from Hell comes across as a sort of primary color version of Rambo II. 

VIRGINS FROM HELL - Monday, May 24th at 8:00 p.m.

It's MONDO MONDAYS at The Loft, celebrating weird, wild and wonderful flicks from the Mondo side of the silver screen! Admission is only $2.00, and don't forget to check out our yummy "Mondo Munchies" snack bucket ... fill a cup for a buck!

Billups Allen's interest in writing began composing lyrics for the band Shoutbus and later for the band Corn on Macabre. Lyrical duties led to writing poetry and short stories. Several of his short stories were published in a book entitled Unfurnished published by Florida’s now defunct Schematics Records. Allen currently lives in Tucson, Arizona where he writes Cramhole comic zine, writes reviews for Razorcake Magazine and the Tucson Citizen. www.billupsallen.com

LOFT STAFF SPOTLIGHT - Dave

Name: Dave Paiz

LOFT Staff position: Facilities Manager

I have worked at THE LOFT since: After holding down gigs in everything from soldiering to college reporting and archaeological field work, I finally landed here in October 2006.

I grew up in: I'm an honorably discharged veteran of the Cochise County Psychic Wars - Sierra Vista (1977-1987).

My birthday is: Halloween - 1966.

When I am not at THE LOFT I: I'm out in the wash with my dogs, wasting time on the Interwebs, hosting Bat Country Radio from 2-4 a.m. Saturdays on 91.3 FM KXCI, watching D-Backs baseball, VJ'ing for the Mission Creeps, planning the 2010 All Souls International Film Festival.

I work at THE LOFT because: I'm too beat up for circus work, I'm one of the biggest movie geeks I know, and because I'm unflinchingly passionate about our mission and our role within the community.

A few of my favorite films are: Blade Runner, Synecdoche N.Y., Lost Highway, Jaws, Fandango, Dead Man, Nightbreed

My favorite directors are: David Lynch, The Coen Brothers, Stanley Kubrick, David Cronenberg, Guillermo del Toro

My favorite LOFT experience was: Meeting Catherine Coulson a few weeks after I started working here...either that, or having a beer and talking baseball with Gordy Hoffman at The Red Garter prior to one of his film premieres.

My favorite thing about the Loft is: Hands down - the people - our customers and our staff.
Make up your own question here: If you could be a dog, what kind of dog would you be? Probably a wolf hybrid.

To get in touch with me send me an email at: batradio1@gmail.com

Golden Gong Awards – Interview with Grand Prize Winner Alex Italics by R.J. Cavender

So, how does it feel to win the 5th Annual Golden Gong Awards?
Significantly better than losing the last four.

What are you going to do with the $1000 prize winnings?
I’m not seeing anywhere near that much money after I give Max his cut.

Where did you get your inspiration for “A Ballpoint Story”?
Sometime last year I attended a risk management insurance seminar at a local hotel’s conference room. The place sat about two hundred people, and they “generously” left a ballpoint pen at each desk seat to better serve our note taking. Just before the seminar began, I had to jot something down. Not only did the pen at my desk fail to function, but literally about two dozen other pens I tried were all duds. After my ensuing period of suicidal ideation, I decided to tell my harrowing story on film.

How long did it take to create your film?
“A Ballpoint Story” was shot in one evening and edited intermittently over the course of the following week.

How long have you been making short films?
Although “A Ballpoint Story” was my directorial debut, I’ve tried to weasel my way into the production of other local short films for years.

Plans for the future?
I plan on holding a fundraising event in the near future. The cost to enter will be two cans of food. Inside we will be selling raffle tickets for five dollars each. The grand prize will be all the cans of food we collect at the door.

Any advice for other filmmakers on how to avoid the dreaded gong at First Friday Shorts? Any advice for those who’ve been gonged already?
Like Mike Sterner, I give ten words of free advice.

In your opinion, what makes a great short film?
Penis jokes, Star Wars parodies, homosexual stereotypes, gratuitous gun battles, and poop humor.

Will you be entering any other shorts in the near future for First Friday?
Yes. Stay tuned for “A Ballpoint Story 2: Electric Boogaloo.”

Anything else you’ve got going on?
Well, I’ve still got about 30 hours of court-ordered community service to get cracking on. Speaking of which, can you initial this and send it back to me?

Scum of the Earth (1963) - Billups Allen

You know a movie is bad when Herschell Gordon Lewis doesn’t want his name on it. It was Lewis H. Gordon who directed this early-60s exploitation flick. I looked for information on Gordon’s pseudonyms and found no indication as to why he used them. Evidence suggests that he produced under a variety of names, including: H.G. Lewis, Georges Parades, Armand Parys, Sheldon S. Seymore, and R.L. Smith. It could be for reasons that the plot of Scum of the Earth explores; Lewis was involved in a lot of potentially sketchy pictures. There was some inherent danger in showing nudity in films and photography in the 50s and 60s. Scum of the Earth is an exploitation meta-narrative exploring the process that led to women taking off their tops in front of unscrupulous “art” photographers. 

The movie plays out naively, in the style of a pseudo after school special. I’m sure all of these photo sessions didn’t take place after someone uttered the phrase “what kind of modeling is this?” According to the film, it was a slippery slope from “come around here and let me see your legs” to “ok, ok, off with the sweater.” The presumption is that you can make anyone do anything you want by threatening to call the police and implicate him or her in a nudie picture consortium. However, this element of the film may be somewhat steeped in reality. The film takes place during a time when pornography was well underground. The biopic The Notorious Betty Page (2005) makes it out to seem as if the girls in her circles were often willing participants, but presented the danger of arrest as a solid obstacle. Scum of the Earth pretends to be informative, showing the dark side of the industry. In the process, it exposes a lot of bare chests. It is genius in that it is what it is protesting: it is exploitive. The acting is terrible, but the elaborate system of blackmail is intriguing, if not somewhat unrealistic. I am starting to sound like one of those people who read Playboy for the articles. Scum of the Earth is fun to watch as a fan of Herschell Gordon Lewis films. Exploitation films from this era seem as if they are describing the lives of people who survived teenage delinquency films of the 50s like Blackboard Jungle. Obviously, nude photography is not the scourge of the land the movie makes it out to be. If you have to see one exploitation flick, it might as well be the one that tries to explain its industry. 

SCUM OF THE EARTH - Monday, May 3rd at 8:00 p.m.

It's MONDO MONDAYS at The Loft, celebrating weird, wild and wonderful flicks from the Mondo side of the silver screen! Admission is only $2.00, and don't forget to check out our yummy "Mondo Munchies" snack bucket ... fill a cup for a buck!

Billups Allen's interest in writing began composing lyrics for the band Shoutbus and later for the band Corn on Macabre. Lyrical duties led to writing poetry and short stories. Several of his short stories were published in a book entitled Unfurnished published by Florida’s now defunct Schematics Records. Allen currently lives in Tucson, Arizona where he writes Cramhole comic zine, writes reviews for Razorcake Magazine and the Tucson Citizen and hosts a radio show called The Groove Tomb. www.billupsallen.com