Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1986)
Thursday, November 13, 1986 D iversions ie iviiciiae Weldon Interview By Dave Meile Christmas Eve 1983. A friend gives me a copy of Michael Weldon's "Psychotronic En cyclopeida of Film," 800 pages of film reviews, original posters and movie ads. It casts a pall over the holidays. Family relationships are frosty. I scoff at eggnog. I eschew Mom's succulent cream-cheese, date and maraschino-cherry treats. I be come withdrawn and downright surly. Retiring to my room, I pore over the book for two days, emerging only for an occasional box of Scream ing Yellow Zonkers. Weldon's term "psychotronic" applies to a wide range of films. He is first and foremost a horrorsci-fi movie fan. But the phrase is more: low-budget exploitation, sexploita tion, teen films, rock 'n' roll, big budget flops, bikers, cavemen and, thank God, "Zonter, Thing from Venus." He started out with a Xerox ed, handwritten guide to little-covered films on local New York TV. It's -1986. Weldon is a minor celebrity. Newspapers and maga zines like Films in Review, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, People, Rolling Stone and Heavy Metal call the book "inventive," "informative" and "eccentric." The book has such a powerful, mesmer izing effect on me that I write Wel don frequently. He is always gra cious, answering questions and in forming me of new literature on the world of psychotronic films. I decided to meet this fellow face to face. I wheeze up 2,000 flights of stairs to get to his apartment in New York's Lower East Side. His pad is adorned with original movie posters and stills, among them a still from the 1961 classic "The Killer Shrews." I drool. We discuss his concern about the intentions of New Yotk planners to bulldoze psychotronic-type theatres on 42nd Street between Eighth Avenue and Broadway. "It was sup posed to have happened already, but one of the main guys was III indicted for racketeering." The plan is to put up office buildings, high rises, hotels and mini-marts. But Weldon senses some classism going on. "These people get publicity not by saying, 'We want to put up tall buildings and make money.' They take a moral stance . . . they say by tearing down these theaters they'll rid the area of drug trafficking and prostitution in New York, which is absurd. I'm not against trying to improve conditions of neighbor hoods, but this looked like a scam from day one, and a lot of people have been against it. AH the changes in the city have to do with money. And movie theaters, specifically the ones on 42nd Street, are entertain ment for poor people, and that kind of entertainment is being wiped out." These 42nd Street theaters show a variety of flicks, ranging from porn and Kung-Fu shops to a staple of the psychotronic diet: "gore" or "splat ter" movies. My bleeding-heart lib eral conscience tells me to be offend ed by the violence. Weldon makes few apologies: "I think it's been really overdone, and I think there are a lot of movies that have no reason to exist except for the gore and they're getting really boring. I like gore movies if the gore is so shocking that it shocks me and I can't see how obviously the special effects were done, then I'm impressed, even if it's a dumb movie. If it's a good movie and also has gore in it, then that's great." Being one of the country's lead ing champions of offbeat, bizarre cinema has its drawbacks. He runs psychotronic film festivals in Chi cago, Cleveland, Boston and, this particular weekend, New York. He has shown entertaining obsurities like "Carnival of Souls," "Daughter of Horror," "She Demons" and "Fas ter Pussycat, Kill! Kill!". Not all of it is dreck, despite the restrictive low budgets these films were made on. The writers and publicity folks Daily Nebraskan r , . ) ""-' 'v-.i' i I f' Y: ' ' V V .Y i!J If '- V : Mi' .1.. O -... J ';" ': si' if X"T7 ""y ' iJlQ . ' ) y r-i-mi i..ninin I - J call them bad film festivals. "It's a media expression. Media simplifies it. They use the term even when it doesn't apply. Some of the films I show are bad, but not all of them are, and that's too much for people to deal with. I'd get this kind of publicity in Boston, mostly because I showed some Ed Wood films ("Plan Nine from Outer Space," "Night of the Ghouls") along with the other ones. It got labeled a 'bad film festi val.' In a way, I can't complain. More people will probably show up if they think it's bad. But on the side I'm saying, 'I think these movies are really good, and I think you'll think they're really good too.' " Still, Weldon is genuinely flat tered by the attention he has re-, ceived; simplified or otherwise. "These films are sort of forgotten gems that were thrown in with the bad ones, and threw them in with the bad ones so I guess I'm to blame, too. I'm just trying to get these films exposed. I'm trying to have some fun and hopefully make a little money on the side." We discuss Weldon's dismay over the modern audience's trend to stay home and watch films on video rather than opting for the commu nal experience of viewing in a theater. The psychotronic exper ience is best when indulged in by hordes. Weldon wants lot s of patrons for his psychotronic film festival Saturday night at the Theater for , the Living Cinema, in fact, he de fiantly tells a Jersey radio pro grammer that "we expect to out draw the World Series." On the agenda are "Killers from Space" (1954), wherein Peter Graves is terrorized by aliens in hooded sweatshirts with ping pong eyes, and one of my favorite, "The Hide ous Sun Demon" (1959), starring Robert Clarke as a scientist who mixes whiskey and science instead of whiskey and soda and becomes a radiation-poisoned creature who Weldon turns "scaly and lizardlike" when ever the sun comes out. Also nota ble is fourth-rate Peggy Lee lip synching a clinker called "Strange Pursuit" while the scientist sali vates. "I've shown 'Killers from Space' before and people really get into the humor of it and pretty much laugh all the way through. 'Hideous Sun Demon' has some laughs, but it's a lot more serious and better done. Hopefully the audience will be more quiet during that one." "Hideous Sun Demon" was made by director-producer-star Clarke for $60,000 or $70,000 and lost a bundle. Any advice for low-budget film makers today, be they hacks or geniuses? Weldon pauses and grins. "I think they should be encouraged. Sure, some are hacks. I'm glad they're still around because it's get ting harder for them, too. Keep that hackwork coming it entertains us." I inquire about good new psycho tronic and low-budget horror. "When I go to a movie theater to see a movie that I don't know much about, which is the best way to see a movie, and it turns out to be a little- known, low-budget movie by un known people and it's good, I'm thrilled. 'Evil Dead' was a real low budget project that came out great. Even 'reAnimator' was a relatively low-budget movie that was great and really caught on with the audi ence. One that didn't catch on that I really liked was 'Eyes of Fire,' which was made in Missouri. All these films were made by first-time, young directors. That's real encouraging." Although Weldon lives quite modestly, his "Psychotronic Encyc lopedia of Film" has sold almost 30,000 copies, and his, second book, tentatively titled "The Psychotronic Star Atlas," is due out next summer. "It's going to be a guide to actors, actresses and some directors, with filmographies, brief biographies, and Page 5 Dave MeileDtversions dealing with work these people did only after 1950. I'm not gonna deal with the "Golden Age of Hollywood" which many of the other books deal with." Will he include Les Tremayne ("Creature of Destruction", "War of the Worlds," "Monolith Monsters")? "Sure, 1 have him written up." Whit Bissell ("I was a Teenage Werewolf," "Monster on the Cam pus")? "Whit Bissell definitely. He's a good actor who's in all kinds of movies and worked constantly. A lot of TV. People remember him for his science-fiction and horror roles, but he did a lot of other films. It'll be a book about actors and actresses who don't normally get written about much. Somebody like John Hoyt, who occasionally got starring roles. He was in 'Attack of the Puppet People' and still does TV. There's some people who worked so much I wonder if I'll have room to run all their work. People like Klaus Kinski or John Carradine. It's ridiculous." The next evening I begin the long walk to the Theater for the Living Cinema on White Street. Right by -the Baby Doll Lounge . Topless Go-Go Nightly. The Cinema is" a struggling little joint sandwiched between old textile warehouses. Weldon arrives and is greeted by enthusiastic applause. He gives some interesting background information on the films and positions himself near the projection room to make sure every thing goes OK.' I glance around the room at the patrons; Of the millions of potential psycho tronic film fans in New York, only about a hundred are there. Con quering the world can be a slow process. ....... Michael Weldon's second book, "The Psychotronic Star Atlas," will be published by Ballentine Books this summer. He will have articles published in High Times and a monthly feature in Video Review.