Kevin Conway recently passed away. He has two roles that remind me of his involvement in the fright/fantasy movie field. Conway appeared in Tobe Hooper’s The Funhouse (1981). He appears as three different barkers in a carnival (!!!). These are pretty seamy characters and lend a creepy air to the bizarre goings on at the rundown attraction. Lawnmower Man 2 (1996) saw Conway acting as an unscrupulous, corporate scumbag who is pushing the boundaries of the virtual reality world. Nice work. R.I.P., Kevin.
Tag Archives: tobe hooper
Farewell, Tobe Hooper, 2017
Iconic horror film director Tobe Hopper sadly passed away this year. Looking at his work, you see a good handful of classic horror films! Hopper’s masterpiece, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, personified the Hell of being victimized and threatened by a twisted family of cannibalistic freaks somewhere in Texas. There was the thoroughly enjoyable horror TV two-parter, “Salem’s Lot”, an atmospheric, nightmarish look at a town and its populace destroyed by a vampire plague. “Poltergeist” presented the mounting menace of a ghostly presence invading a suburban home and the dislocation and fear that ensues for the family inhabiting the now haunted house. I thought “Lifeforce” was a very entertaining pulp science fiction feature chronicling the awakening of a dormant alien species of vampire on our planet. The outcome? You guessed it. Mass destruction, death, zombie hordes and London in flames.
An entertaining storyteller who let the punches fly, Tobe Hopper produced a very engaging body of work that you must seek out.
WIll The Real Director Please Call “CUT!”
I came across an interesting article today. You may have heard this story before. There has been conjecture circulating through the years that “Poltergeist” (1982), a tale of a suburban household plagued by ghosts was NOT directed by Tobe Hooper but was in fact helmed by an on-set Steven Spielberg who otherwise was listed as the film’s producer. It was noted that certainly the end result’s film style reflected a Spielbergian touch. Well, here are some long after the fact confessions from some of the crew that Spielberg WAS the man in charge of direction. I don’t really know what the arrangement was that was worked out between the two men but apparently it suited both at the time.
This bit of trivia aside, let us always remember the huge debt we owe Tobe Hooper for his horror masterpiece, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (1974). I regard it as one of the seminal works of the horror film genre. A truly harrowing, frightening and nightmarish piece of work that will haunt you. I think unrelenting is a very appropriate term for the film. That somebody had the balls to develop and produce a film with such a vile premise is an achievement all its own.
The link for the story is below. There is also a fun slideshow attached at the end of the article celebrating some of the great movie (franchise) villains/monsters.
LIFEFORCE (1985)
Lifeforce has always been an enjoyable viewing experience for me. Directed by Tobe Hooper of Texas Chainsaw Massacre fame, this flick straddles the line between falling into either the science fiction or horror movie camps. It ends up having elements of both in its delivery. An international space crew observing Halley’s Comet become aware of an unidentified object hidden within the comet’s tail. The crew decides to investigate the object up close and then things start to get really interesting. I think the first thirty minutes of this movie are brilliantly paced. I love that portion of the movie but the subsequent pursuing of the wayward alien is less interesting to me. Judge for yourself. Nice supporting work from Frank Finlay and Steve Railsback is appropriately twitchy as the last surviving astronaut from the international space crew. A pre-Picard Patrick Stewart is also onboard for this Cosmic Horror tale. Oh. Did I mention that this movie seriously courts the notion of the end of the world?