"WE GOT ONE!!!!!"

[thehefner]

I've never known anybody who's harder to wake up than Henchgirl. When she's out, getting her to get up can sometimes take up to an hour or more. I mean, if you don't want to be an asshole. And sometimes, I do. I've awakened her by singing or playing a number of annoying songs, everything from Erasure's "Always" (blame Robot Unicorn Attack), "Surfin' Bird," and of course, "Never Gonna Give You Up." And every time, she wakes up with that look a cat gives you after you give it a bath.

Today, however, I decided to play this:

And this time, she woke up with a huge grin.

"Because," she said, "any other guy would just wake me up with the GHOSTBUSTERS theme. But you are the only guy who'd actually think to play me that one... and it's thematically appropriate!"

... it's that she got it. Upon waking. This is why she's the Henchgirlfriend.

Comments

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Oh dear.

Well, then! If you have any thoughts now or later, I anxiously await them.

Two comments:

1.) Part 3 of Blatty's trilogy is his novel LEGION, which he himself adapted in his only other directorial effort, EXORCIST III. Have you seen it? I think it's fucking brilliant up until the point where you actually feel the interference of producers taking the movie on a sharp left into shit-town. The footage from the original cut is lost, so we'll never get a proper director's cut, including even more of Brad Dourif in one of the greatest roles he's ever done, and proof positive that they need to cast him as the Joker now for DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.

2.) I met Tom Motherfuckin' Atkins at a horror convention a couple years back and shelled out fifteen bucks for an autograph, purely to see how he'd react to me handing him a copy of THE NINTH CONFIGURATION. He laughed, saying I was the first and only person to ever bring this film to him, and proceeded to tell me stories about how Blatty and Jason Miller were coked out of their brains the entire time. I wish I'd brought along a tape recorder.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

I've seen Legion. Between that, The Ninth Configuration and The Exorcist, Blatty has quite the fixation upon asylums and madmen, since both appear in all three films. Also worth noting is that, unlike the movie version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest or its many other imitators, Blatty portrayed the primary horror in his "trilogy" as coming not from the caretakers of the insane, but from the insane themselves, and how terrifying their dementia can be. Even the largely comic scenes from The Ninth Configuration makes frequent concessions to the horror of feeling like the inmates truly had taken over the asylum. When Stacy Keach first arrives, his blank face is perfect, because it allows the audience to project their own reactions of "What the fuck did I just walk into?" onto him.

That being said, between Keach's performance and a number of the tells from the script, I pretty much predicted right away what the deal was with Keach's true identity - as Scott Wilson says, "You're too human to be human." It's still compelling to watch play out, though, not in the least because of the fun cast of "Hey, it's that guy" standby actors, from black Superman Moses Gunn and country sheriff William Lucking to Richard "member of The A-Team villains club" Lynch and frequent John Carpenter cast member Atkins, not to mention future A-lister Robert Loggia doing Jolson. And even before I checked Wikipedia, I recognized not only Jason Miller, but also Ed Flanders, Scott Wilson and George DiCenzo from their roles in Legion as well (did you know DiCenzo was the voice of Hordak in She-Ra? TRUFAX). Legion is likewise an excellent exercise in atmosphere, up until Nicol Williamson appears literally out of nowhere. And in retrospect, Dourif is such a perfect casting choice for the Joker, especially in the wake of Heath Ledger's take, that I'm amazed it hasn't happened already.

The Catholic theology didn't surprise me, especially after watching Blatty and Friedkin go at it in their retrospective interviews on The Exorcist anniversary edition, and Blatty's basic premises and maudlin Christ allegory should annoy me, and yet, they really don't, perhaps in no small part because Blatty acknowledges the absurdity and inhumanity of man's existence a lot more than most proselytizers, to the point that, by the time he preaches, you almost feel like he's earned it, by virtue of not shying away from the ugliness. He certainly does a lot better by his atheist and agnostic characters than most religious storytellers.

... And I'm sorry, but I'm still hung up on your girl's horrified reaction to my earlier comments. Do I really seem that dead inside to her?

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

The novel of LEGION is littered throughout with references to Dostoevsky's THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV, which I think speaks to Blatty's take on theology which appeals to us both.

And as for Dourif, man, when I saw the first trailer for THE DARK KNIGHT, I was thinking, "Holy fuck, he's channeling Dourif as the Gemini Killer!"

As for Henchgirl, don't worry! It's not like that at all, and I apologize if I've led you to believe that was the case. I believe she's composing her own response!

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

I'm now wondering if Ledger actually used Dourif as a reference point.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

No, no, no! Don't worry! She doesn't think that at all! She just loves HOOK, because she's... well, she's a Disney Princess inside. And there's a part of her that really, still can't understand how one can hate HOOK, bad as a movie as it is.

(At this juncture, the Henchgirl snatches the computer to add, "Also, I had a Carol Ferris--er...a dirty martini--in me, so I don't remember exactly what it was about that Hook post that set me off on that hug-and-cookie track. Drinking causes the Disney Princess Personality Problem to become tenfold 'cause it robs me of all ability to hide it. I just can't grasp the mere concept of pessimism/cynicism/etc. in that state. Everyone must be happy and have hugs and cookies always! I mean, I believe that usually, but especially when I'm drinking. And...I'm not making much sense! Hooray hangovers! Ultimately, blame vodka. I don't think you're dead inside, but cookies and hugs still make everything better. Here, Boy, have the computer back.")

Thanks, girl.

Also, Box, bear in mind, I'm still catching her up on much of classic Spielberg, so that Lucasian shift in quality (not the Lucas himself was ever truly great on his own) isn't as jarring. It's a film that hits personal notes to her, and I'm increasingly noticing that she isn't the only one of our age group.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

She's a Disney princess, and yet, she's not a fan of TRON? :P

Speaking of which, her reaction (and most recent LJ post) inspired a rather interesting reaction of my own.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

She's not not a fan! She just has to see it first!