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Sunday, March 26, 2006
In retrospect, the 90’s were a pretty cool decade. Even though I thought that music, for the most part, turned drab and uninspired, and there were a lot of cheesy big budget films being produced. It was, however, the decade of independent film.
Of course, independently produced movies are no stranger to the history of horror movies. Many, many scary (or would be scary) movies were produced way outside the studio system. Sometimes this was done by those that had an abiding love of the genre. In other instances, filmmakers thought they could pull off a decent horror movie on the cheap. Set in the woods or something. In both scenarios, good and not-so-good productions were released.
But it was in the early 90’s that the term, independent film, became kind of a buzzword that indicated a hip alternative to mainstream cinema. The magazine that I religiously read was Film Threat. This was long before FT had a website and Chris Gore got invited to all the cool Hollywood parties. A friend of mine brought me an issue of the “old” Film Threat Magazine; the one that was self-produced by Gore. I had previously been a nice, normal horror geek, but after reading it, I was changed. I read about people like Nick Zedd and Richard Kern, who were the main instigators of the then-faltering Cinema of Transgression movement. In other issues of FT (and the even more vital Film Threat Video Guide), I learned of so many diverse kinds of movies: homegrown underground films, foreign, queer, feminist and the just plain weird. It was a great time for me, a time when the word underground still carried a bit of ominous weight. Later, digital technology allowed much easier ways to get a movie made and people were putting fake fangs on strippers and calling it ‘underground’. In an age, such as now, when people are shooting ‘movies’ on their cell phones ferchristsakes, how important, how vital, how dangerous is underground/independent cinema?
But, as I say, it was a different time, but not so long ago. Quentin Tarantino, love him or hate him, was largely responsible for indie movies to become so hip. Reservoir Dogs made history and he did it on a shoestring, having written the script while working in a video store. How can any true American resist such a rise to success story? Not me.
For a few years there, just about any movie with the critical ‘independent’ aura hovering over it could get a sweet distribution deal. Cool movies were coming out on VHS all the time, and even marginally talented people like Kevin Smith and Edward Burns were hailed as maverick geniuses. Even no-talent hacks like Eric Schaeffer were getting the royal treatment.
Heck, some of the biggest and most successful directors in Hollywood were getting in on the fun. Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers was like the biggest experimental student film ever made and Tim Burton’s marvelous Ed Wood probably never would have gotten the green light had it not been for the state of the industry of the time.
Then there was the onslaught of Asian, particularly Hong Kong films. These guys were doing action, horror and fantasy of the likes that put Hollywood to shame. The biggest names were being courted by Hollywood, just as directors that made their first independent features were given that mythical three picture deal.
The world really sat up and took notice when the lofty Academy Awards began favoring indie productions over big budget studio extravaganzas. It was a cinematic utopia, right? Right?
Uh, not really. The fresh youthful directors that got those studio contracts began churning out stuff that wasn’t a lot better than the average Hollywood fluff production. Something was lost in translation as the hot Hong Kong directors made silly, ineffectual pap. Film Threat Magazine closed its doors, as Chris Gore couldn’t keep the hardcopy magazine afloat anymore. Super 8 film was getting harder and harder (if not impossible) to find and more filmmakers were using video and digital photography, as the underground got compromised.
Things change, even as they remain the same. Not all independently produced movies are good, of course. Just take a look at any Greg Araki mess of a movie. And you know what? Not all humongous studio pictures are bloated crap either. As always, the discerning viewer has to remain vigilant and sift through the bullshit of the majors and the minor movie machines.
Chris Gore, editor of the aforementioned Film Threat Magazine, had a front row seat for the whole circus of events of nineteen nineties film evolution. He took all of his observations and wrapped it up into a script called My Big Fat Independent Movie, which was distributed by Anchor Bay earlier this year. I can’t call it a great movie, but I did have a lot of nostalgic fun watching it. Now I’d like to share that fun with one of you. Yes, it’s another giveaway. If you want a copy of My Big Fat Independent Movie, signed by writer/producer Chris Gore, drop me a line. And while you’re at it, tell me what your favorite indie films of the time were. You can do it either by email or at the forum. I’ll have my wife pick a number from the amount of emails I get and the winner gets the DVD.
noclublonewolf@verizon.net
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