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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 11h

RIP Diane Ladd, star of Carnosaur, in which she gave a performance every bit as committed as her Oscar-nominated turn in Wild At Heart three years earlier.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 12h

Fair! 😄

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 12h

I get what you mean, but they both look like attractive people who the script labels as Frankensteins rather than like constructed Creatures. For me at least, "sexy Frankenstein" needs to be someone you can dress as for Halloween and people can tell you're a horror character.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 12h

(I don't subscribe to the idea that the Creature is not named Frankenstein; the child of a solo parent traditionally takes their surname.)

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 12h

From what I've seen people generally mean Jacob Elordi as sexiest Creature. Rosabla Neri might be the sexiest Doctor (and actually a Doctor, rather than a med school dropout), but you'd need very specific tastes to be into that movie's Creature.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 13h

People are saying Guillermo Del Toro has made the sexiest Frankenstein movie yet, but I don't see a lot of discourse on what earlier movie has now been relegated to Second Sexiest Frankenstein.

pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 14h

Who could possibly have predicted that John Tamihere could turn out to be a problem?

:(

pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 14h

This movie fucking rules. Maybe the best of the first run of Universal Monsters.

Matt Baume 🏳️‍🌈 @mattbaume.bsky.social · 14h

A lesser director would've made the big reveal in THE INVISIBLE MAN scary. James Whale saw it as his opportunity to invent the Benny Hill routine. More about Whale & this film in my latest video: youtu.be/2hU9jiUTFLo

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 1d

Are there children's shows that nightmarish today? I hope so, would hate modern kids to miss out on the opportunities we had to be too terrified to sleep because of a tv programme.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 1d

Oh yeah, absolutely! The Wilberforces were the stuff of childhood nightmares.

pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 1d

Oh yeah, absolutely! The Wilberforces were the stuff.of childhood nightmares.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

Oh man you were on W3? Outstanding. I probably saw you.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

Something that amazed me as a teenager was going to a taping of Sale of the Century and discovering some of the answers were retakes.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

Let me throw in one very late recommendation, well outside of the '80s - Loop Track (2023). A very twitchy inexperienced tramper (writer/director/star Tom Sainsbury, usually a comedian) becomes even more paranoid than usual in the bush. Best to know nothing more about this one. Very very low budget.

Poster for Loop Track (2023) shows Tom Sainsbury wearing a backpack and looking rather nervous. The ad line is, "Trust Your Fear."

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

I've got an old Fangoria that has an interview with the director - will try to find it to see if he says how she was cast. Apparently the NZ casting director looked at her performance and asked "where did you find this actor I've never heard of," her accent was so good they assumed she was local.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

All of these movies are at least a little wonky, Kiwi cinema was very home-made for a long time. Another thing I'd recommend is Sam Neill's documentary Cinema of Unease, about how he believes our movies are all a bit twisted.

youtu.be/ovtj1BdAr7o

Sam Neill on 'New Zealand Cinema'

YouTube video by filmSCHOOLarchive

youtu.be

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

6. Jack Be Nimble (1993). This is unique. Alexis Arquette stars, with a flawless Kiwi accent. It's a wild Kiwi Gothic tale of abuse in foster care, weird gore, a genuinely frightening set of four spooky sisters, weird sibling relationships. Bruno Lawrence pops up again in a very different role.

Poster for Jack be Nimble (+993), my favourite Kiwi horror movie.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

I'm out of '80s recommendations that aren't cheats! Next of Kin (1982) was made in Australia when the Kiwi writer/director teams couldn't get it funded here, and Dead Kids (1981) is Auckland standing in for Galesburg, IL with an American cast & crew. They're both good but not very Kiwi.

Poster for Next of Kin (1982) shows a spooky little girl on the lawn in front of a Gothic aged care home.

Poster for Dead Kids (1981, aka Strange Behaviour) shows a spooky old house, a scared face and a hand wielding a syringe.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

5. Mr. Wrong (1986) A woman buys a car haunted by a murder victim, and is also menaced by a stalker. This one is as much about how some men make life terrible for women as it is conventional horror. The director sells & rents it on her Vimeo page.

vimeo.com/271792174

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

4. The Lost Tribe (1984) - this one isn't really a recommendation but if you liked the isolated, atmospheric bush element of Bridge To Nowhere, this has lots more of that. But it's way too long and nowhere near eventful enough.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

3. Bridge To Nowhere (1986). I gather you've already seen this, in which bushman Bruno Lawrence (definitely THE 1980s Kiwi actor) wants revenge on some kids. This one really sells the isolation of being lost in the bush.

The poster for Bridge To Nowhere (1986) showing Bruno Lawrence with a rifle and some worried-looking kids on the titular bridge (which is a real place).

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

2. Death Warmed Up (1984). Truly weird movie combining mad science, revenge killings, zombie mutants, a post-apocalyptic vibe, plenty of gore, etc. I canyon say it's good, but it's unique.

A VHS cover for Death Warmed Up (1984) showing a skeleton dressed as a doctor, about to operate on a woman.

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

1. The Scarecrow (1982), based on a Kiwi Gothic novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson, this is the closest we get to Ray Bradbury with a rural coming-of-age tale that has a razor killer lurking. The storytelling is a bit wonky but there are some good atmospheric parts. Not quite a slasher.

The poster for The Scarecrow (1982), which features an ad line taken from the incredible first line of the source novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson: "The same week our fowls were stolen Daphne Moran had her throat cut."

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 2d

Hi! Unfortunately there aren't a huge number of horror movies from Aotearoa, let alone slashers, but I'll give you what I can. Might swing slightly outside of the '80s at the end just to get my personal favourite in there...

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pearce @pearced.bsky.social · 5d

MPs own 2.2 homes on average (as at 2024, might have increased since then), they are literally the landlord class. Only one National MP is not currently a landlord, James Meager.

Bruce Buckman @brucebuckman.bsky.social · 5d

Politicians opposed to any and every form of CGT reliably claim their opposition is about “ordinary kiwis” when it is in fact about protecting a form of wealth generation that has a high entry cost, excludes an increasing number of ordinary kiwis & benefits from an unfair tax advantage.

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