What Happens When a Lovecraft Fan has a Mid-Life Crisis?

I don't think I'm alone in saying this but I really miss Stuart Gordon. The B movie legend has been dead two years and it's only now starting to hit. To many (and as much as I hate even myself until recently) this director is well known for his first two movies Re Animator and From Beyond. After The Thing and Possession, Re animator is probably the greatest cinematic undertaking in visualising the work of H.P. Lovecraft. Everybody praises it for absolutely nailing the aesthetic and tone. It was my first formal introduction to Jeffrey Combs and his mischievous and unorthodox Dr West. Too insane to be the good guy but too human to be the bad guy. His unpredictability, his rascality, it never fails to get me giddie. Hence why along with Snake Plissken, he ranks among my favourite movie characters of all time. Gordon's follow up From Beyond is another Lovecraftian endeavour with a similar cast except this time with greater sex appeal. So if you ever thought how does one go about competing with Re animator, Barbara Crampton and her sexy bondage gear have you covered here. A little kink never hurt anybody.

Unfortunately, for the average cinephile that's where it ends. When the truth is this guy had a lot more to offer and having now watched all of his movies, I can't say he ever made a bad one. I'm aware some fans grew a little impatient with him in the middle of his career due to some cheesier and lighter affairs but I have a lot of love for these. No one can deny though he was really on a roll with his last three films King of the Ants, Edmond and Stuck. Suddenly, lost in the midst of a midlife crisis, he grows more political and challenging when at that point in his life he could have been relaxing. What triggered this unforeseen means streak which brought about such hard hitting transgressive works of art? Most people get older and detach themselves from the world, what drew him in to the young man's game?

To illustrate the shock of these three final films, I'm going to have to go right through the gap between From Beyond and Stuck. Ok, so in 1987 his third movie, Dolls, is released. HP put back in the fridge, he moves over to something more commercial.

In context, I can understand why this may have rattled and alienated older fans at the time. Seen from the perspective of now though, this is a belter that aged well and is sure to be adored by my fellow Gremlins fans. Back when these kinds of attacking toy/doll movies were fun and silly. Before all these Blumhouse fuckers took them too literally and went for non stop scares. Without hesitation, I'll take the loopy manic Joe Dante method over trying to mature toy figure horror with jump scares any day. Also, Start Gordon regular, Stephen Lee could be the most wholesome man I've encountered since Sean Astin. They could be brothers these guys. Well more like father/son but they've got to be related somehow.

If you thought Dolls was too kiddified, wait til you hear what his next project was, a child safety video called Kid Safe. Been putting this off but I think in a few weeks I'm going to dedicate an entire section to a piece on public safety videos. Why the fuck are you going to do that Kelly? Well, firstly, cause these were jumped on and marketed as exploitation movies. An act which is fucked up because they featured real deaths from traffic accidents and were advertised in the same way as exploitation films focusing on the lurid content. They're basically snuff films that really question the nature of what can be considered educational. Way more disturbing than anything from the mockumentary Faces of Death that mostly pretended to be death footage and was too over the top to fool anyone. All this makes public safety videos interesting as a study on people's morbid fascination with death.

However, on closer inspection, the company that were behind these videos for children and teenagers, who had such close connections with the police force were pumping porn out the back door. Even captured some of the earliest footage of homosexual hook ups and then used it to imprison them all. Their connections went all the way up to none other than mysteriously missing and legally declared dead Teamsters ex president Jimmy Hoffa. I swear to God, it's a pandora's box that one. Consider that a little flavour of more to come.

To the best of my knowledge, Gordon's public safety film was not involved in that racket or produced by the same company. Seems far too innocent to be mixed up with that crowd. He takes the opportunity to turn it into an SOV (straight on video) horror film for the children. Joe Flaherty, whom you may recognise as the heckler who says, "You jackass!" in Happy Gilmore, plays a great vampire called Count Floyd. Also, our friend Stephen Lee from Dolls gives out some tips to a kid home alone on how to stay safe. Deeming this necessary educational material and I will be organising a viewing for my son. Protect the children.

Right, genuine question now, is Pacific Rim any good? You know the Guilermo Del Toro movie. Whilst much of the plot was ridiculously implausible and downright stupid, it does have its defenders who appreciate the dumb action b movie throwback of it. A rewatch could be in order. Reason why I mention it is because after Guilermo's movie was released, Stuart Gordon's 1989 movie Robot Jox was brought back in to the public consciousness and achieved cult status. Believe it actually resulted in the movie getting a Blu ray re release, which is cool. So thanks Guilermo. Many noted the similarities between the two films with monster machines. Gordon himself said it was like "DeJa'Vu" and that had there ever been a sequel he'd have gone the Pacific Rim route and it "would have been robots fighting aliens"

Exactly what separates the two is that Robot Jox is more of a competition or sport between humans. Becomes clear the script was originally meant to be more critical of US militarism and sports. If you can imagine a combination of Starship Troopers and Rollerball. Sadly, Gordon tones it right down and so it basically becomes a Kaiju version of Rocky and Top Gun. Disappointing that it dumbs it down but we're talking super cheese that goes well with a few beers. Those dirty bastards who listen to the Nine Inch Nails may recognise a sample from this on The Becoming. Rather sadistically, Trent Reznor uses the crowd screaming in pain after an accident occurs and they become crushed by a robot. Respect this from Trent though, has all the high art sci fi samples like THX 1138 and then this fucking thing. Respect that.

Openly, I'll admit to having a good time these last three projects but most people didn't at the time and our man was relegated to television for his next project. 1990's Daughter of Darkness is a TV movie about vampires in Romania. Not to be confused (as I did for ages) as a remake of the incredible 1971 lesbian vampire classic Daughters of Darkness. Gordon's vampire romp is widely considered his worst. Of course, it does have all the faults of a TV movie narratively speaking and Perkin's attempt at a Bela Lugosi accent slips consistently but I can't say I hated it. Gordon has a couple of delightfully hypnotic moments making the look and feel of it better than the immediate story. However, maybe I'm just really down bad for Sloane Peterson from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Need me an Italian baddie like Mia Sara. Do agree though with the consensus that Jeffrey Combs absence is truly felt. He would have torn up the floor with the coolest vampire you've ever seen.

1991's The Pit and the Pendulum should have been Gordon's critical comeback. A great decision to finally return to stronger literary influences to ground the work. This time replacing Lovecraft for Edgar Allen Poe. Both excellent in concept and execution but was deemed by critics to be an average addition to his catalogue. Generally, it's accepted that it is rougher and tougher than any Roger Corman adaptation but was often dismissed for not being as brutal and psychedelic as your Mark of the Devils, Witchfinder Generals and The Devils. Surprisingly, this didn't bother me because I still got heavily in the movie and the world it forged. Didn't need the violence on this occasion because you've got a solid cast tucking in to a great script. These guys know how to nail gothic atmosphere. In particular, Lance Henriksen taking it to 11 with his religious sermons. Richard Band does some of his finest work on the score. While I'm at it, respect to his brother Charles Band and Full Moon Entertainment for supporting my guy when he was supposedly down and keeping his career going.

Action afficionados may be familiar with Gordon's 1992 effort Fortress, starring the man with the weirdest accent on the planet, Christopher Lambert. They had the decency with Highlander to write it in to the plot and have it accounted for. Whenever, I see any of his other films, I just think, can we get to the bottom of that accent? Only way round it is to accept he really was Connor Macleod and Christopher Lambert was just the name of some actor he played during his time on earth. That is the only logical explanation. Fortress is a movie perfect for any Saturday morning action slot. It will cure any hangover. I'm especially partial to it as it combines the kind of futuristic dystopian prison movies I grew up with like Demolition Man and Face Off with Gordon's knowledge of body horror. So expect horror icons like Jeffrey Combs and Tom Towles to rock up. If I didn't make it clear enough, this is a very Jacob Kelly movie.

Here's a project that has no explanation as to how it came about, in 1994 Gordon directed the short film to be played before going on the Disneyland theme park Aliens ride. For the life of me, I couldn't tell you how or why he got this gig. Although, given the same sets as Cameron it's not that same level and is probably a taste of what it could have been like in Roger Corman's hands. Unfair though to really Gordon's capabilities on this as everyone is blatantly phoning it in and having a blast. Hilariously, Gordon hijacks Aliens and slots in his man Jeffrey Combs in a move comparable to Sam Raimi with Bruce Campbell on Marvel movies.

You may wonder how does one go about turning Aliens in to a ride. I'm fuming that either I never experienced this or was too young to appreciate it (unsure when they got rid of this ride) but they turned it into a giant bug hunt from the looks of this short film. You don't even want to know giddie the line, "We're going on the biggest bug hunt of all time" got me. Considering I'm under the impression that Michael Rosen's children's book 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' is the greatest piece of literature ever conceived, this big bug hunt was met with none other than great approval by myself. Aliens: Ride at the Speed of Fright is a fantastic film but as far as pre ride films go there's no beating the king of this genre, which is of course hands the Twister one, featuring Bill Paxton's stunning phoned in performance.

In 1995, Stuart Gordon gave us his biggest clue and only indicator as to how his last three features would be. Castle Freak is easily his best film since Re Animator and From Beyond. Interestingly, it marks his long awaited return back to Lovecraftian territory. Cue the big cheers from me and my Lovecraft boys. HP back on the plate. Except this time he isn't spraying the sauce neatly out the tube. This time he's going at a sachet with a rusty razor. Castle Freak resembles the kind of worn out VHS you might find at your Granddad's house and wonder, "what the fuck is that?". A '90s SOV release that is so raw you may even fail to recognise its Lovecraft elements. On this occasion, Gordon opts for a darker and grittier tone than his previous Lovecraft meddlings and I'm not joking but he turns this in to some '70s eurosleaze. From cheese to eurosleaze What a journey.

It's The Shining meets a certain horror film that was recently released and will be talked about in the next issue (in the words of Pusha T, 'If you know, you know'). Combs plays an alcoholic Dad who caused his own son's death due to dangerous driving. Crampton his wife, refusing to have sex with him whilst maintaining family stability. They inherit a castle in Italy and have to deal with a Castle Freak roaming the corridors at night causing havoc.

Unsure as to what a Castle Freak is? Have a look at your own ma for starters. We're talking ugly. A hideous monster that comes with the package. An unfortunate product of sexual relations that didn't quite go right. And they just didn't know what to do with him. Normally, he's chained in the basement but he has habit of breaking out. You gotta watch that. So stay on your guard. Gordon's film serves as cautionary tale to first of all be a good father but also if you do ever inherit a castle from a distant relative and that castle happens to have a Castle Freak, this is how you deal with the problem.

Going for an SOV release was always going to be a gamble. Meant a limited release but the move granted Gordon greater freedoms because Full Moon weren't aiming for a specific age rating. Therefore, allowing it to be gnarlier and include more nudity than some of his previous films. My favourite section is when Comb's characters falls off the wagon, picks up a prostitute from the local boozer and takes her back to the basement bar in his castle. Infidelity under the same roof as your wife but banking on the size of the castle to mask your insubordination. What a naughty boy! Apparently, Crampton (who is not adverse to nudity normally) was meant to have a few more revealing scenes but refused on the grounds that the castle was too cold. Any worries about the limited release were overcome when the film was met with great acclaim, winning the Fangoria Chainsaw Award for Best Independent/Low Budget horror film and went on to achieve cult status.

Despite the raw brilliance and gritty horror of Castle Freak, Gordon falls back on his cheesy action outings like Robot Jox and Fortress for his next film, Space Truckers. This is another situation like Dolls where I can see why this pissed people off at the time but taken away from that context it is the kind of campy fun movie you would have loved to see as a kid. Genuinely couldn't hate this movie if I tried. It continues a tradition of the low budget B movie rip off, so if you wanted to see this '90s Cormanesque version of The Fifth Element, the opportunity is here. I'm just glad the model survives in a '90s package.

Obviously, the plot and characters is a mess but there is an attempt to engage with O'Bannon's sense of class politics in space. I find it utterly charming in the way it takes working class trucker culture previously seen in films like Over the Top and Road Games and then applies it to the galaxy. Dennis Hopper's hot dog eating trucker becoming the hero of a Star Trekkian adventure. Absolutely charming. Debi Mazar looks very sexy too and due to overheating on the ship is regularly given an excuse to remove a few items of clothing. Lessons learnt from Castle Freak?

Charles Dance plays a human lawnmower having a few issues with his reproductive organs. Watching him awkwardly trying to rev up his engine (literally with a string, not a euphemism) was the weirdest equipment malfunction moment I've seen since Tarantino's melting member in Planet Terror. There is a strange relationship with sex in this movie as Gordon grapples with the limitations of the 12 certificate and leans in to the absurd. Commando and Mad Max's Vernon Wells appearing as a space pirate was the icing on the cake.

Only a fool would declare Space Truckers a masterpiece but I was won over by its redeeming qualities. Hollywood has a tendency to remake classics needlessly, purely to sell on an already established brand. Personally though, I think a genuine remake should come from weaker efforts and near masterpieces. Where most probably wouldn't, I see great potential in material like Space Truckers. Take that central character and really do something with it. Plenty of adventures he could be having in space, he's a great character. An everyday man who loves hot dogs being the hero, I've got time for it! Goes without saying that any remake would need to include Deep Purple's 'Space Truckin' as the theme song, a missed opportunity by Gordon, presumably for budgetary reasons.

Those looking for another Castle Freak, I can imagine nearly lost all hope when it was announced his next film in '98 would be a live action Disney film. After a lousy musical opening credits, I won't lie, I was seconds away from turning it off, hunting down every adult Disney loving freak and subjecting them to the acupuncture kung fu demonstrated by Wen Ting in The Clan of the White Lotus. These weirdos live to see another day though because this gets a whole lot better. The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit is light easy fun aiming to do for the Hispanic community what Cool Runnings did for Jamaicans. Just dudes having a good time, trying to pick up women looking suave. The titular suit allows these guys to realise their deepest desires, which was actually adorable. Becomes a social commentary in places and given the structure, it's clear how it was able to be adapted in to a popular play. This even has Gaff from Blade Runner, I maintain the belief that if he's happy, I'm happy. It's no El Mariachi but it's too much of a pleasant time to hate.

Finally in 2001, Gordon really tests my patience. Odd because Dagon is well regarded by his fans. To me though, now more than ever this seems like a director past his prime. A 'Game Over' in many ways with Castle Freak over half a decade previously and 15 years since Re Animator/From Beyond. All that prior success feels like lifetimes ago. Still scarred from the abysmal opening act that showcases some of the worst special effects committed to cinema. I was like, "Come on Stuart, what the fuck is going on?". Dude must have heard me cause once it abandons the shaky survivalist thriller and gets Lovecraft it picks up. Subpar but that kind of standard you can forgive in a late career stage. Glad just to have a filmmaker you adore still in the game.

Ezra Gooden with his nerdish looks is meant to be a stand in for Jeffrey Combs but he's not even fit to tie the King's damn laces! None of the same quirks or sense of mischief that made Dr West such an enduring character. Like the film itself, Gooden grows on you and somewhat tries and to redeem himself. Once he's setting fires, threatening to shank people, hot wiring cars and picking up honies, I was left thinking, "I might have misjudged you"

Only towards the end of act two does this movie illustrate what makes Gordon great. There's this flashback exposing the truth of what happened to the locals of this small town and Gordon comes in armed with that surreal atmosphere. There may have been 'pirates' and I may have been tempted to dial Balthazar Marie and just scream down the phone, "Shiver my timbers, Shiver my soul!". As soon as you embrace that spirit of the picture, it becomes a lot more enjoyable like Carpenter's The Fog. Unfortunately, more so than say Space Truckers, the tone seems at odds here. It's as though Gordon had changed too much and couldn't make a single one more of his earlier kiddified movies from years back. He's ended up putting one of the goriest face lifts you've ever seen in a movie that at first glance looks to be for the children. All I wanted after this was him to forget the cheese and camp (which I'd admired and forgiven on numerous previous occasions) and just explode with this grittier style he'd suggested back in '95 with Castle Freak. You know like tackling his first two movies with this new found anger, disillusionment and cynicism.

My prayers were answered with the first time watch of the week, King of the Ants. Stop what you're doing and check this shit out! Gordon loses his freaking mind and reinvents himself based on what was teased in Castle Freak. Exactly the explosion, I was waiting for. Rian Johnson's Brick is rightly regarded as one of the most creative low budget indie neo noirs of the 2000s, relocating the genre in to a high school setting. However, if you ever felt whilst Brick was admirably imaginative, the by product was at times that it came off too teeny, wait til you see King of the Ants. This is noir for dads going insane.

Opens as your typical noir following all the familiar beats of working class man in need of money and going to desperate lengths in the pursuit of wealth. Strap yourselves in because once this gets that out the system and deviates from the genre expectations, all bets are off and you've got a fucking movie on your hands. Where does this go? Straight in to '80s grindhouse exploitation sicko mode. Even borders on torture porn that was soon to really catch on post 9/11. In my day, I have witnessed a lot of beatings in crime and noir films but I cannot recall ever seeing one where the protagonist takes a beating and hallucinates seeing Lovecraftian monsters. If that shit has you intrigued, you know what to do, WATCH THE MOVIE.

Film noirs have a history of flawed, challenging and unpredictable characters from Sam Spade to Lou Bloom. However, not since Travis Bickle has one of these wackos kept me so on my toes morally speaking. Our protagonist, Sean Crawley is a borderline psychopath and in his chasing of the dollar, ends up killing a few innocent people who didn't deserve it along the way. Yet, against my very core, I had this undying respect for him and so still I rooted for the guy. So the story goes, another Baldwin brother (this time Daniel) hires our guy Crawley to kill someone for a fee. After the job is complete, a beefy henchmen named Duke Wayne (played by George Wendt) takes Crawley to the local zoo, informs him he's as insignificant as the ants, they won't be paying him and he needs to get the fuck out of town.

What would you do? I know what you'd do, you'd be checking Trainline for the next trip on out of here. I bet you wouldn't even pack a bag, you'd be straight on out with the clothes on your back wouldn't you, you little wimp. If that’s you, maybe you could learn something here, coward. My man Crawley just goes naaaaa and stays put. Worse than that, he asks around for his money. Game on.

Gordon teaches us that the moral of the story here is don't put the little guy down. Don't underestimate him. And above all absolutely do not take him to the zoo and tell him his spirit animal is an ant. That shit will go to his head. My man earns his title of King of the Ants, flipping the original disrespectful connotations on their head. You want to tell this guy he's a worker, then he's gonna work. HARD. The grind(house). Those dumb gangsters created a monster. The analogy is so strong here that I couldn't help but support this utter mad man through even his most depraved acts. What would Karl Marx make of all this? In that sense, I just couldn't abandon my guy Crawley. Couldn't say a bad word against him. You gotta root for the little guy. Always. Even if some of his revenge plot accidentally causes a few unfair deaths. The road to freedom isn't clean. Anyone who steps up to a bunch of rich bullying gangsters and wages a full on one man war like a mad man has my eternal respect. That's why we go the pictures. "He who dares, my son!". Qui Audet and all that. Rule number one: Don't take any shit. Anyone who steps up to my man, gets what they get. Anyone else, it's collateral damage. We'll go with the "greater good" as those fellas in Hot Fuzz love to say.

Many critics compared King of the Ants favourably with Korean and Japanese movies from Takashi Miike and Chan Wook Park. Reckon that just extends to the more insane arthouse directors around the world. Personally, I saw a lot of British directors Shane Meadows and Ben Wheatley in it. Mainly in the scenes where the gangster henchmen interact with each other and passed the time like daft boys mucking about. Reminded me of Dead Man's Shoes and Down Terrace. Half expected them to start cracking out Pot Noodles and cups of tea. Did I mention one of henchmen is played by Vernon Wells?

What struck me about King of the Ants was its bleak and cynical view of the world diving in to nihilism. The hero of the story is totally unhinged but that doesn't matter because an injustice was done to him and his status is generally lower than everyone else. So the understanding here is, who cares if he tries to even the scores a little? An everyone is dirty, so may as well roll up the sleeves and get your hands covered too belief. If everyone else is doing it, may as well do it yourself logic. You're a cog in the machine, a worker ant, they're expecting you to play along and adhere to your role like the millions of others, not to fight back or challenge the established order and that's why they don't see it coming. Time to become the king. What a fucking movie!

Brings me back to my original question, what caused this midlife crisis and sudden turn in to such a mean streak? Since I don't know enough about Gordon's personal life I can only guess two possibilities, which may be linked. Firstly, becoming a father and becoming fearful of the outside world he was bringing a child in to. My other theory would be along the same lines of how Roger Watkins horror classic Last House on Dead End Street could have only come from the mind of someone sick of shooting pornography. Did all those cheesy campy flicks Gordon had to make to sustain his career finally have an impact on him? If I had to sum up what's so cool about Gordon's final three films it's how he moves away from fantasy and in to the real. Important thing to be aware of is that he doesn't abandon fantasy, he just filters it through the real. Results in a mind blowing hybrid touching on the absurd.

In 2005, Gordon comes out with Edmond, the most disturbing film of his catalogue, as he simply refuses to take it easy with age. Starring William H. Macy in pure "My wife has an ass in her cock" mode. Blacks, women, anyone in his way is getting carved up by his knife after splitting up with his wife. Forget Warner Bros decline of the character study reflected in Joker, which is possibly the worst attempt at transgressive art I have ever witnessed. Edmond will shake you up well and truly, being brave on a level that hasn't been seen since Falling Down.

Mamet's script targets everyone including you, the audience. Our own racism and misogyny is addressed in its short run time and the existential detours are just hilarious. Following a mad night out on the town it ends in the most weirdly beautiful way as Edmond climbs in to bed with his cell mate after a discussion about the mysteries of the universe and simply says, "Good night".

Damn, this makes me sad, we reach Gordon's final feature film Stuck, a movie that is sure to go down well with anyone whoever liked Fargo or Bernie. A story which comes from a genuine newspaper headline and plays out in a documentary like recording of the events. Ride this one out, as a stupid white woman drives in to a homeless person, gets him stuck in the windshield and out of fear of getting in to trouble, drives home and keeps him trapped there in the garage. It's too real and believable to even be real and believable. Gave me a headache in contemplating the sheer stupidity on display. At one point, I kid you not, the protagonist, despite being fully to blame, attacks the captive homeless man and says "why are you doing this to me?". Gives me the shakes to think there are people this dumb and dangerous walking around.

Subtly, the clever part of the story is how nobody acts sooner to save the homeless individual because of class status. For example, a Mexican family fear if they go to the police to report the incident, they will be deported. Our dumb blonde becomes mentally unstable as her nurse job becomes threatened. This thickos actually up for promotion. Yeah maybe if this is set in the same world as Halloween 2 (1981). Most baffling. Her partner wants no part of it and is nervous of being involved due to racial prejudices. All this together makes for some kind of farcical piece of theatre. A comedic tragedy.

All ears for finding out what triggered Gordon's abrupt taste for the real, I can only go off the developments of each individual film. A final possibility to explain his actions might have been the aftermath of 911 and Abu Ghraib. This ties up dates wise and would explain why the protagonists on the last three are hardly likeable and completely untrustworthy. Moreover, why they engage in such violent questionable acts such as torture and graphic murder. Although likely, this seems too easy to say and we must remember, Gordon has been interested in antiheroes since day one with Dr West. The simple fact is I just don't know where all that late ferocity came from. Made for some fucking good movies though.

If there's anything to take from this it's Re Animator and From Beyond are unquestionable classics. In horror and Lovecraft departments. Although, it would have been greater for his darker period to come sooner, his lighter movies in the meantime were always fun B movies. The Pit and the Pendulum is highly underrated. Once we did get the transformation in to a grittier filmmaker, we got some really great movies that deserve greater attention. I have selected King of the Ants as my favourite of this stage of his career and demand you watch it immediately. You need to see HP Lovecraft from the lens of the real. From this side, let's just say, it's quite something.