Shudder Saturday: Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)

Sometimes you want art and sometimes you want entertainment. Then there are the times when you want something so enjoyably bonkers that you can't quite believe what you just watched. Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker definitely lands in the latter caterory for me.

Things begin with a major car accident worthy of the Final Destination films, and it's genuinely up there with the best of these things I have seen onscreen (involving people tangling with a large truck full of huge logs and not winning out). We then move forward a number of years. Billy (Jimmy McNichol) lives with his Aunt Cheryl (Susan Tyrrell), the woman who has raised him for many years since the day of that tragic car accident. The two are very close, which is why Cheryl is worried about Billy getting a good scholarship and leaving her for his years of further education. Cheryl starts to unravel, first killing a TV repairman who she accuses of trying to rape her, and then drugging and/or killing anyone she thinks can help to separate her from her Billy.

Directed by William Asher, who has a background stuffed full of great TV work (many episodes of I Love Lucy and Bewitched among them) and various beach party movies, as well as some other fare, this is enjoyably camp stuff that doesn't take long to show the real insanity of the killer. It then spirals quickly, leading to a third act that is anything but dull.

The screenplay has three names credited to it, although it is perhaps unsurprising to see that neither Steve Breimer, Boon Collins, or Alan Jay Glueckman have many screenplays to their name. Breimer just wrote this, Glueckman seems to be more a story idea kind of guy, and Collins has an even dozen to his credit, half of those also putting him in the director's chair.

Tyrrell is a lot of fun here, in all the right ways. Her performance is generally unrestrained and wild, turning her more and more into a complete maniac with each passing minute of the runtime. McNichol does what is asked of him, simply acting like a teen who doesn't suspect too much is horribly wrong until it's too late. Julia Duffy is nice enough, playing Julia AKA the threatening presence that will help Billy to leave his Aunt Cheryl. Britt Leach plays the slow and steady Sergeant Cook, his logical and calm approach juxtaposed nicely alongside Bo Svenson's bigoted asshole Detective Carlson. Other cast members worth mentioning are Marcia Lewis, who plays a neighbour named Margie, Steve Eastin, as a gay coach depicted in a surprisingly straightforward way for the early '80s, and Bill Paxton, billed as William Paxton for his role as a bully named Eddie.

There's nothing technically brilliant here, that opening car death sequence aside, but everything is done competently enough, considering the material and the tone. Everyone, both in front of and behind the camera, knows what kind of movie they are making, and they all do their bit to ensure it's a fun 96 minutes. I'd happily rewatch this, even if others may roll their eyes and dismiss it as being far too ridiculous.

7/10

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Mubi Monday: Cry-Baby (1990)

Johnny Depp plays Wade "Cry-Baby" Walker, a young, rocking rebel who tries to do something that will make him shed one tear a day in memory of his dead parents. He's the leader of a gang of delinquent youths, although they aren't really too bad once you get to know them, and things get all shook up when he falls in live with a "square" named Allison (Amy Locane). This sets in motion a chain of events that will lead to fights, character smears, and even prison. All set to a fantastic soundtrack of classic songs and new toe-tappers in the style of the era it is set (1950s).

Coming along immediately after Hairspray, Cry-Baby has a similar formula, but perhaps didn't work so well with audiences because of the much less significant subject matter. Whereas the former movie lightheartedly depicted teens helping to fight against racism in their world, this film just shows that being a square isn't the best way to live your life.

Waters unsurprisingly sides with those that society views with wariness, and often disdain, and he provides the usual entertaining selection. Alongside Depp you get Rikki Lake as a horny teen (two kids already, one on the way), Traci Lords, Darren E. Burrows, and Kim McGuire as "Hatchet-Face".

What is more surprising, although it shouldn't be to those familiar with Hairspray, is the absolutely perfect way in which the song and dance numbers feel authentic to the period. I already enjoyed the tunes that I was familiar with ("SH-Boom" and "Mr. Sandman") but also immediately loved all of the new songs, even with their added cheese and over the top outpouring of emotions.

Depp is superb in his role, playing it just in the sweet spot between melodrama and ridiculous. The script is as hilarious as you would expect, made all the better by Depp and co. playing it all quite straight. Locane also does well as the lady who captures his heart, and as a wild spirit trapped in the form of a square. Lake, Lords, Burrows, and McGuire are all a lot of fun, especially the first and the last, and you get more fun turns from Susan Tyrrell and Iggy Pop (as the family of Depp and Lake's character), Polly Bergen is the protective relative of Locane's character, and Stephen Mailer is hilarious as the main square, also in love with the leading lady (of course).

Perhaps not quite as funny as his best work, and perhaps just hewing so close to the form that he's emulating that it's only an inch away from being a straightforward '50s drama transplanted to the cinema screens of the 1990s, Cry-Baby holds up as well today as almost every other film that Waters has bestowed upon us over the past few decades. It's not quite up there with Hairspray and Serial Mom but few films are.

8/10

You can see some tears being shed here.
Americans can cry over the movie here.

Poison Ivy: The New Seduction (1997)

The third Poison Ivy movie is fantastic, it's on a par with the first movie, and that's thanks to two main contributing factors. First of all, the presence of the gorgeous Jaime Pressly and the fact that she began her career not worrying about getting any "no nudity" clause in her contract (thank the lord). Secondly, the movie just takes the trashy core of the material and runs with it. Plausibility and drama are thrown out of the window, only to be replaced by the vicarious thrill provided by Violet (played by Pressly) getting all of the pieces in place for her grand revenge.

We begin with a bit of infidelity which leads to a woman leaving her place of work with her two young daughters, Ivy and Violet. We know how Ivy turned out but this story focuses on Violet. She returns to the household many years later to reconnect with her friend, Joy (played by Megan Edwards), but the audience is well aware from the very beginning that Violet just wants to get herself in a position where she can destroy the household. Joy has a chance to be recognised as a very capable tennis player - that needs ruined. Joy has a decent boyfriend - that needs ruined. Joy has a father who may end up finding happiness once again, long after the passing of his wife - that needs ruined. You see the pattern? Yep, everything needs ruined and Violet is not averse to using her obvious charms and sexuality to get what she wants.

Directed by Kurt Voss, and written by Karen Kelly, Poison Ivy: The New Seduction takes many familiar elements of the erotic thriller and throws them in the mix with a healthy sense of fun and plenty of onscreen time for the enormously appealing Jaime Pressly (can you tell that I've had a crush on her for a long time yet?). It's silly but it doesn't claim to be serious. It's also sexy when it needs to be and it's entertaining from start to finish.

The cast are all just fine. Pressly, of course, is the centre of attention, and deservedly so, but Megan Edwards is okay in her role, Michael Des Barres is fine as her father, Greg Vaughan is acceptable boyfriend material and Susan Tyrrell is very entertaining as the housekeeper who smells a rat before anyone else.

Fun, occasionally funny, sexy and twisted. And did I mention that Jaime Pressly was always worth watching?

7/10.

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