I just got this one in the mail from the fine folks at Atomic Records in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (buy a shirt!). This is a compilation of Michael Perilstein's work from Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, Deadly Spawn, Muhammad Ali: A Twilight Portrait, Vent Man and The Willies.For those of you not familiar with Fred Olen Ray's Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers, HCH is, what many consider, to be the second best hooker movie of all time (2nd behind Frankenhooker of course). It features Gunnar Hansen as the leader/pimp(?) of a chainsaw worshipping hooker cult and has Jay Richardson (who has been in a whole shit-ton of low rent movies) giving a hilarious performance as wiseass detective Jack Chandler. The film is full of naked women, chainsaw dismemberments and buckets of Ocean Spray blood. And it's pretty damn funny, too. What more could you ask for?
There are ony two tracks from the The Willies but I wanted to talk a bit about it since it's actually a pretty interesting little movie. It was directed by Brian Peck, probably most famous for his portrayal of Scuz in Return of the Living Dead. In his sole directorial effort Peck brought along a few friends from the various ROTLD films. We get James Karen and Clu Gulagher from the first film (and part II for Karen) and Dana Ashbrook from Part II. In addition to those fine individuals, a young Sean Astin is here, on the receiving end of a hilarious Goonies reference early in the movie. And if that wasn't enough, you even get an appearance from Micheal Bower, the legendary Donkeylips from Salute Your Shorts. Granted, in the end The Willies is a pretty mediocre kid's horror film, but it does have a pretty good little cast.
Somehow I have never seen The Deadly Spawn, so I've got nothing to really say about that one. Probably a good thing, I've rambled on for quite a while now anyway. Here's the tracklist. Be sure to read the titles, some of them are quite funny.
I'd stumbled into the middle of an evil, insidious cult of chainsaw worshipping maniacs.
Speaking of funny, here's a little description of the films that was included in the booklet.
Another amazing find - thanks so much! I watched "The Willies" when I was extremely young (so young I could only watch PG-13 horror films, which was why I chose it), and the first story scared the shit out of me. I was checking bathroom ventillation grates for years. The presence of DonkeyLips was also a highlight, and certainly did not go unappreciated by a child of the 90s. Years later, a very close friend of mine started describing, in very vague terms, his hazy recollection of a kid's horror movie he had seen in his youth. I'm sure I don't have to tell you where this is going, but yeah, it was "The Willies," and we ended up watching it together and had a blast.
ReplyDeleteAlso, you absolutely owe it to yourself to see "The Deadly Spawn," particularly since Synapse's DVD is so amazing. The film itself is loads of fun: low-budget but very inventive special effects, an obvious love of horror and sci-fi, and it perfectly captures that eerie rainy-day atmosphere. Basically, it's like the monster movies you would imagine with your friends when you were little (if you did that sort of thing), and I can't stress enough how much fun that makes it. It's really a creative, inventive delight.
Sorry to go on so long, but you touched on two films really close to my heart. And it's glad to see some love for The Willies...no one ever talks about *that*.
Thanks again for the scores!
Wowzers! The Willies and Deadly Spawn in one upload! Two of my all time favorites. I remember seeing The Deadly Spawn in the movie theaters when it first came out and like John said it really captures that rainy day feeling and living in a wooded environment. The ending is one of the best of all time I have yet to see topped.
ReplyDeleteThe Willies I saw the first time in the 1990s on VHS. It was a real treat to see this movie and know they were still making them like this considering at the time the only thing that was out were those tame SCREAM movies and their spin offs.
Thanks for the audio delights!
This is definitely an amazing find (hooray Atomic, are you from Milwaukee?), and I'm grabbing this. I am incredibly glad to find this blog - I feel like I've been missing out forever. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteGreat find! I have the Godzilla vs Your Mother soundtrack on Ralph Records and that was fun!
ReplyDeleteDonut Duck
re up plz
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