{"id":4329,"date":"2009-09-26T07:31:46","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T20:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=4329"},"modified":"2010-01-27T06:50:28","modified_gmt":"2010-01-26T19:50:28","slug":"crustacean-the-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2009\/09\/26\/crustacean-the-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"Crustacean: The Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is, in the heart of the horror genre, an undoubted fascination for freakshow and carnival flicks, be they good stuff such as Tod Browning’s classic Freaks<\/em> (1932), the brilliant TV series Carniv\u00e0le<\/em> (2003-2005) and David Lynch’s tragic The Elephant Man<\/em> (1980), or less-than-classic but still fascinating efforts like Hideous!<\/em> (1997), Charles Band’s Full Moon tale of rival freak collectors, Tom Stern and Alex Winter’s “thinking man’s stupid comedy” Freaked<\/em> (1993), Frank Henenlotter’s always bizarre Basket Case<\/em> series (1982-1992) and Clive Barker’s unfortunately slashed-and-burnt Nightbreed<\/em> (1990).<\/p>\n

It’s hardly surprising really. So-called “freaks” are the very origin of the term “monster”, which means literally “wonder” and was once used to describe what we might call deviations from the genetic “norm” of a species, be they human or not. If the horror genre depicts threats against normality and the fear that comes from the realisation that normality itself may be an illusion, then this is where the freakshow belongs.<\/p>\n

The reality of genetic deviance is, of course, a lot different from what we see on the screen (with the exception of The Elephant Man<\/em>, perhaps), despite the presence of real “freaks” in Todd Browning’s controversial film and in the X-Files<\/em> episode “Humbug”, which featured members of a genuine freakshow (the Jim Rose Circus). Generally speaking, especially at the schlock end of the cinematic scale, the freaks are included for shock value and in a rather comedic-horror context — as well as giving the SFX make-up crew something fun to play with.<\/p>\n

A new film, Crustacean<\/strong><\/em> (US-2010; dir. L.J. Dopp), seems to fit comfortably into this sub-genre, offering a mixed bag of horror, comedy, freakish weirdness, beautiful women, circus intrigue, sexiness, blood-and-guts, bizarre narrative twists, social commentary, metaphorical undercurrents … and song — all in a freakshow carnival setting.<\/p>\n

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Synopsis<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

A lobster-clawed carnival freak escapes from a sleazy sideshow (Professor Nightwind’s Carnival of Freaks) and goes on a bloody rampage in a rural community so small, that only two families live there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\"Original<\/a><\/p>\n

Original promo “post card” front: Zenius Muleckis as the titular character,
\naka “Lobster baby,” holding Angela Berliner as Allison,
\nas Co-Ed Confidential’s Hannah Harper looks on<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

According to writer-director L.J. Dopp:<\/p>\n

This movie operates on several levels. On the surface, it’s an over-the-top, unrated horror comedy that seeks to entertain viewers of the pizza and six-pack set, who are looking for something that kicks ass in the areas of nudity, profanity, violence, and extreme gore.\u00a0 It’s also an dumb-and-dumber redneck movie for closet intellectuals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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A victim of the lobster-clawed carnival freak; gore courtesy of Synapse FX<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

“I figured as long as we’re doing all that, might as well make the whole thing a comment on American pop culture,” Dopp added, ” — from TV infomercials and the songs on the radio, to the portrayal of truly warped ‘family values’, and the downright de-sensitization<\/span> of people.”<\/p>\n

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The scene goes to colour as McDougal the Hog Farmer
\n(played by Dopp as “Lorenzo Loco”) raises the chainsaw
\nand pulls the cord, laughing maniacally
\n— right before Lobster Baby rips his throat out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dopp, who also acted as production designer, didn’t stop with writing and directing. After years of involvement in music, he decided to write ten new songs for this movie, incorporating five cast members who sing (often in character) on the soundtrack, thus making Crustacean<\/span> a sort of “subconscious musical” as well.<\/p>\n

In terms of its musical content, Crustacean<\/em> boasts the presence of Tom Saviano, a world-class sax player\/producer who recorded and co-produced all the music for Crustacean<\/span> with Dopp.\u00a0 Listed in the July-August issue of The Saxophone Journal<\/span> as one of the top 100 sax players of all time, Saviano has platinum records from playing on the last Ray Charles record, as well as on Earth, Wind & Fire and Sheena Easton albums. He performs the sax arrangement on “Even Though,” the song that closes out Crustacean<\/em>‘s trailer (see below).\u00a0 Says Dopp: “Tom is probably the most A-list person connected to this movie.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Dopp himself was the producer who raised the money to back the film (under the pseudonym “Lorenzo Loco”):<\/p>\n

Edward L. Plumb is my producing partner, and when we made The Boneyard Collection<\/em> (hosted by the late Forrest J. Ackerman) a few years back, I came up with the Lorenzo Loco name (“Crazy Larry” in Spanish) so we could be “Plumb Loco Productions.” We feel that using our (real) names over and over in the credits makes the films look cheapjack, so we make up pseudonyms after our real ones appear two or three times.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The production company behind the film is actually Irena Belle Films, owned by Edward Plumb. Plumb has a history in low-budget horror genre production, with titles such as The Vampire Hunters Club<\/em> (2001), Boogie with the Undead<\/em> (2003), The Low Budget Time Machine<\/em> [aka Spacebabes Meet the Monsters<\/em>] (2003), The Mummy’s Kiss: 2nd Dynasty<\/em> (2006) and The Dead Undead<\/em> (2009) gracing his CV — and\u00a0 in various capacities (from writing and production to acting and “miscellaneous crew”).<\/p>\n

Genre Referencing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In a manner that became popular in 1970s and 1980s horror comedy, particularly independent<\/em> horror comedy, and has remained a feature of this subgenre ever since, Crustacean<\/em> boasts the involvement of horror personalities from various fields and offers a sort of genre self-consciousness that makes it a semi-historical pastiche — all as part of the fun, of course.<\/p>\n

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For example, horror writer Peter Atkins (who penned Hellbound: Hellraiser II<\/em>, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth<\/em>, and the Wishmaster<\/em> screenplays and books) appears as Professor Nightwind the freakmaster, seen in the above picture catching up on his reading in a nighttime scene at the carnival. In the early days, Atkins worked in Grand Guignol live theatre in Liverpool with horror maestro Clive Barker.<\/p>\n

In a nicely esoteric piece of visual trivia, it should be noted that writer-director L.J. Dopp was co-nominated for a Rondo Award for the cover of Mondo Cult<\/em> #2 (as seen in the above picture) — and co-executive producer Brad Linaweaver is the magazine’s publisher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, co-executive producer, David F. Friedman, produced the first American “over-the-top” colour gore movies in 1963 and 1964, Blood Feast<\/em> and 2000 Maniacs<\/em>, both directed by his then-partner, Hershell Gordon Lewis.<\/p>\n

Trivia note<\/em>: Director L.J. Dopp was the art director of Dave Friedman’s pioneer adult video company, TVX, in the early 1980s, and directed Dave as “Captain Deal,” in Dopp’s first commercial feature, the early direct-to-video roughie, 1980’s Leather Persuasion<\/em>. (Source: Dopp)<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many other genre-referential acting roles and cameos:<\/p>\n