Hag Horror

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Michael
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 12:09 pm

#26 Post by Michael » Tue May 30, 2006 9:09 am

Mommie Dearest or Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls - I'm so torn!!!

I'm getting both and also Cemetery Man with the younger Rupert Everett (out on the same day as BTVD).. you should do the same! And don't forget What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is out today. Oh wait a min, I forgot Valley of the Dolls.. gotta get it based on davidhare's enthusiasm.

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Michael
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#27 Post by Michael » Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:47 am

The new DVD of Baby Jane is to die for! This film never looks this luminous. It's amazing how this film still appeals to every generation without ever becoming old. It really holds up very well over 40 years.

Baby Jane is really phenomenal in every way. Its classic status is absolutely well deserved. How a studio film of its era could end on such a bleak, depressing note that I find strangely refreshing every time.

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Lino
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#28 Post by Lino » Thu Jun 08, 2006 10:55 am

Mine is on the way! In fact, I'm having a Bette Davis quadruple Hag Horror feature this month: I bought Baby Jane, Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte, Dead Ringer and The Anniversary! Can't wait for them to arrive!

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Michael
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#29 Post by Michael » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:13 am

Annie, I would love to see what your DVD collection looks like. :)

Oh you will LOVE the new Baby Jane. I wouldn't be surprised if it shoots up to the #1 position of your list of favorite films. Reading a handful of sources about Bette Davis' incredible make up for Baby Jane, it looks like she just applied a new layer of make up over the old layer every day during the production (a month long if I'm not mistaken). How effective.

The women of the 18th century used this make up technique - layering it on, without washing it off. When the resulting zit (clogged pores from the greasy make ups) popped up, the "patch box" was broken out. Notice that Bette wears a heart-shaped patch over a supposed blemish? (Beauty mark)


I've always been curious about The Anniversary and Dead Ringer. I might rent them soon. Annie, if you had to crown the queen of "hag horror", what film would that be?

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Lino
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#30 Post by Lino » Thu Jun 08, 2006 11:54 am

Michael wrote:Annie, if you had to crown the queen of "hag horror", what film would that be?
I will get back to you after I've seen them! Baby Jane I have seen many years ago and just like you said, it holds up pretty good considering the age. That DVD really sounds like the bomb! And now would be a perfect time for Fox or Warner to move their collective asses and release Davis' The Nanny.

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Michael
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#31 Post by Michael » Thu Jun 08, 2006 3:57 pm

Though I haven't seen Dead Ringer, The Nanny and The Anniversary yet, there is no question that Baby Jane is the most perfect film to be crowned as the queen of hag horror. I've seen all the titles mentioned on this thread (except for the Bette Davis trio - see above) and Baby Jane is the one that resonates with me the most. It's very beautifully made - an intoxicating, bizarre brew of intense melancholy and tragedy with a delicious lagniappe of sick humor. How can anyone forget the women's faces - the old make up dragging down the skin from Bette's glassy eyes and the California sun piercing Joan's bruised, paralyzed face. The Baby Jane ripoffs popped up throughout the 60s. William Castle was so taken with Baby Jane that he set out to make his own slice of hag horror called Strait Jacket (a film I think is terrible except for Joan Crawford of course). Hush Hush ... Sweet Charlotte is quite enjoyable (especially with the divine Agnes Moorehead) but it lacks the crazy fireworks that makes Baby Jane so much fun and fascinating to watch every time.

And we can't dismiss Baby Jane's beautifully, brilliantly bleak, chilly beach finale that is one of the greatest and most disturbing endings I've ever seen in my entire life. Plus it doesn't dwell on "camp" that soaks up most of the hag horror family.

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Michael
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#32 Post by Michael » Thu Jun 08, 2006 6:50 pm

Just came across Thomas Scalzo's review of What Ever Happened To Aunt Alice?. Pretty good.

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Michael
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#33 Post by Michael » Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:49 am

Reading this made me want to revisit Hush Hush.. Sweet Charlotte.

From Washington Blade:

[quote]Hag horror classic
New to DVD, the Southern gothic camp film ‘Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte' depicts Bette Davis at her scary, bitchy best.

By MATTHEW FORKE
Aug. 26, 2005

MORE CAMP THAN a field of pink tents, director Robert Aldrich's unrestrained Southern Gothic melodrama “Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotteâ€

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Michael
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#34 Post by Michael » Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:35 pm

I want to take back every word I wrote about Hush Hush.. Sweet Charlotte. My partner and I finished watching this film just now. Holy shit! :shock: I remain speechless.

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Michael
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#35 Post by Michael » Sun Jun 11, 2006 9:40 am

Pedrito and I have been chewing up everything "hag horror" in the past week before settling on the pills and booze of the Valley of the Dolls later this week. What a marvelous way to celebrate the gay pride month.

Last night we watched Strait Jacket with Joan Crawford - first time for Pedrito, fourth time for me. I love this film mainly for Crawford's most craziest performance ever. You got to love her for acting 20-something in the early scenes when she was really in her 50s. Don't you love when Joan lights a match using the grooves of a jazz record playing on the "hi fi". And when she gets down on her daughter's boyfriend. That is one utterly priceless scene. The moment she steps off a train, smoking and heading to her home (no purse, no coat.. just a flowery dress and that expression on her face that is so pure Crawford) burnt into the eye of my mind since the first time I saw it years ago. Even though Strait Jacket is a fabulous example of "hag horror", it's so overly campy and sleazy that it's almost a joke setting itself apart from the sheer beauty and class of the Aldrich masterpieces - Baby Jane and Charlotte.

Annie, have you seen Strait Jacket?

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Lino
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#36 Post by Lino » Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:25 am

Not yet. I'm planning to do so next month alongside Die! Die! My Darling and the new edition of Mommy Dearest.

How on earth noone's bothered to write a book yet about this crazy subgenre of movies is beyond me. Just imagine the appeal it would have. BTW, I read in a review somewhere that it is also called "Grande Dame Guignol" which is pretty camp too if you think about it. Just with a touch of a finer, more expensive mascara! :wink:

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Michael
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#37 Post by Michael » Sun Jun 11, 2006 1:16 pm

How on earth noone's bothered to write a book yet about this crazy subgenre of movies is beyond me.

Smashing idea! Let me go and get started on writing. :D

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Michael
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#38 Post by Michael » Sun Jun 11, 2006 5:58 pm


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Lino
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#39 Post by Lino » Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:30 pm

Great article and very handy list at the end too with some titles that have not yet been mentioned in this thread. Dear Dead Delilah is particularly inspiring! :D

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HerrSchreck
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#40 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:16 am

Annie & Mike: beware! There are posters who not only have you guys' same usernames but avatars as well!! They're all over this page and the Mario Bava Thread.

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Michael
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#41 Post by Michael » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:07 am

You're so fucking hilarious.

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Lino
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#42 Post by Lino » Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:42 am

Michael wrote:You're so fucking hilarious.
Yeah. He even calls that having a sense of humour.

Michael, my Baby Jane DVD arrived today. Already had a quick look at the extras and my favorite by far is the one where Bette Davis sings! Beyond priceless!

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Michael
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#43 Post by Michael » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:32 am

....my favorite by far is the one where Bette Davis sings! Beyond priceless!

Absolutely! I really love that dress she was wearing while singing on the Andy Williams Show. All the extras are utterly amazing...you couldn't find a better gift for fans of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The interview with Crawford (the last extra I believe) kept me captivated throughout.

Some fun facts:

- In 1973 Joan talked about the makeup the two actresses used in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?? " I am aware of how Miss Davis felt about my makeup in Baby Jane, but my reasons for appearing somewhat glamorous were just as valid as hers, with all those layers of Rice powder she wore and that ghastly lipstick. But Miss Davis was always partial to covering up her face in motion pictures. She called it 'Art.' Others might call it camouflage- a cover-up for the absence of any real beauty. " In an interview after What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? was released, Bette referred to Joan and herself as "we two old broads." Joan sent Bette a note on her traditional blue stationery: "Dear Miss Davis. Please do not continue to refer to me as an old broad. Sincerely, Joan Crawford." On the set of Baby Jane Joan was asked about the differences between herself and Bette Davis, Joan stated: "Bette likes to rant and rave. I just sit and knit. She yelled and I knitted a scarf from Hollywood to Malibu."

- The curious teenager who lives next door to the Hudson sisters is none other than Barbara Merrill, Bette Davis's real-life daughter.

- The wig Bette Davis wears throughout the film had been worn by Joan Crawford in an earlier MGM movie. Because it had been re-groomed, Miss Crawford didn't recognize it.

- The clips of films starring Jane are actually from Bette Davis's Warner Brothers films Ex-Lady (1933) and Parachute Jumper (1933) while the clips of films starring Blanche are actually from Joan Crawford's MGM film, Sadie McKee (1934).

- During production, Bette Davis had a Coke machine installed on the set to anger Joan Crawford, whose late husband Alfred Steele was an executive at Pepsi.

- During the kicking scene, Bette Davis actually landed a blow to Joan Crawford's head, and the resulting wound required stitches. In retaliation, Miss Crawford put weights in her pockets so that when Miss Davis had to drag Joan's near-lifeless body, she severely strained her back.

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devlinnn
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#44 Post by devlinnn » Thu Jun 15, 2006 3:48 am

Oh dear, maybe some films should be left to the hazy memory of boozy midnight screenings with friends who once sparkled like a Human League b-side. Many years since catching up with Baby Jane, but did it always look so cheap and come over so dull? Yes, the performances by Bette and especially Joan are gruesomely wonderful, but I'm amazed and disappointed at how low the production standards now look with very poor sets and dressings (compared with Sunset Boulevard for example). I'm aware Warner put no money into the production, but Aldrich must have had some change after make-up and gin bills. At least the DVD set makes up for it by including the sublime Bette performance on the Andy Williams show. Worth every cent.

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Michael
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#45 Post by Michael » Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:46 am

devlinnn, I'm trying to understand what you mean by "very poor sets and dressings". Aren't they supposed to be that way? Baby Jane is basically a horror-soaked drama about the ugly relationship of two sisters (both fallen stars), taking place mostly inside their house. Jane takes care of the house because she is the one who can walk. Jane is a slob and everything around her mirrors that. How can Baby Jane be dull if Bette and Joan consume almost every scene? And that weirdly beautiful, gutwrenching beach scene ending!

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devlinnn
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#46 Post by devlinnn » Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:59 pm

Michael, my own memories of the film was that of a much darker, gothic horror. The performances still shine (especially Joan), but where once the rooms and walls would smell of rot, dust and decay, all I can see know is thrift-shop garb dressing last weeks yet to be cleaned up dinner party. Where I had memories of a savage, satirical screenplay, all I can see now is TV-Movie of the Week dramatics. I guess there's just more owing to William Castle here than I remembered (not a bad thing I know - but just not what I was expecting).

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Lino
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#47 Post by Lino » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:09 pm

Michael, about Bette singing? Well, you might want to check this out. And forgive me for sinning but after watching Hush (...) last week, Baby Jane lost all the fun (well, almost anyway). Isn't Hush (...) the better movie? :shock: Ok, so Baby Jane has the better acting but Hush (...) is so good! I couldn't believe it!

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Michael
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#48 Post by Michael » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:26 pm

And forgive me for sinning but after watching Hush (...) last week, Baby Jane lost all the fun (well, almost anyway). Isn't Hush (...) the better movie? Ok, so Baby Jane has the better acting but Hush (...) is so good! I couldn't believe it!

Yes Sweet Charlotte is a better film. It's obvious that Aldrich learned plenty from directing Baby Jane and took the next step up with Sweet Charlotte. A very wonderful director I must say. But we all have to agree that nothing beats Bette Davis' Baby Jane. Whenever she steps outside the house to cash the checks or picks up her costumes, her face with the forced smile and the terrible desperation in her eyes (occasional close-ups) never fails to hit me so hard with deep sorrow.
Last edited by Michael on Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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tryavna
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#49 Post by tryavna » Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:37 pm

Myra Breckinridge wrote:Michael, about Bette singing? Well, you might want to check this out.
Oh, dear God! Have any of you listened to the clips provided?

viciousliar
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#50 Post by viciousliar » Sat Jun 24, 2006 11:15 am

tryavna wrote:Oh, dear God! Have any of you listened to the clips provided?
Here you go, lovey. A reasonably entertaining spoof where "Blanche" clearly is the better actor. Finally, for good measure - the real thing loaded in 1968.

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