It's a Horror to Know You: P. William Pinto of Bizarre Noir Theater!
My partner and I own and operate the Bizarre Noir Theatre Company. Specializing in little-known musicals, plays, and absurdity in the New York area.
1. What is the first film that ever scared you?
To this day I still get a chill from one particular scene in Superman 3 (1983). It's my earliest memory of running and hiding under the kitchen table with my fingers in my ears (even the sound of the scene scared me.) It's the scene where Annie Ross' character gets sucked into Robert Vaughn's super computer and gets assimilated into a Robot/Annie Ross Thing. I still get the shudders when I watch it.
2. What is the last film that scared you?
I really don't get all that scared any longer. I will get exhilarated or super-excited about a scene or a particularly well-executed special effect but my most recent true scare was more or less a severely disturbing. The scene in Ghost Ship (2002) where the dancing couples get sliced in half was burned into my corneas for all eternity. I will never NEVER watch that film again for that scene only, and I can never not have seen it.
3. Name three Horror movies that you believe are underrated.
Haxan (1922) Swedish silent horror documentary about witchcraft. Cleaned up by Criterion, the re-enactment scenes are beautiful to watch.
Sisters (1973) A Brian De Palma film that NO ONE knows. It's super bloody and has some amazing music by Bernard Herrmann writing his first synth score.
Theatre of Blood (1973) So many people don't know this film. And I absolutely believe it is some of Vincent Price's best work.
4. Name three horror movies that you enjoy against your better judgment.
The Watcher in the Woods (1980) I don't care what anyone says!! I actually thoroughly enjoy it. Whether with the original ending, the second ending, or the ending Disney eventually used… if it's a dark and stormy night it's a great film to have playing.
The Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) Stylish, sexy… kind of like a romance novel cover. A John Carpenter script paired with Faye Dunaway playing a role written for Barbra Streisand. Good times.
Rose Red (2002) Seriously against my better judgment! Plot holes everywhere! Shoddy special effects! But I REALLY dug the puppetry used to animate some of the corpses. I will still put it on if I have a spare 4 hours to kill!
5. Send us to five places on the Internet!
I really don't go to any other horror site but Kindertrauma, so here are five links to some scary scenes from my childhood that I cherish.
Return to Oz (1985) Mombi's Heads wake up.
Bride of Boogedy (1987) Corwin and Ari discover Mr. Boogedy.
Raggedy Ann and Andy (1977) The Greedy.
Vertigo (1958) The Dream Sequence. Enough said.
All That Jazz (1979) The Finale. Absolutely frightening and gorgeous… and then it punches you in the stomach. Brilliant.
I loved your post!! We are kindred spirits, you and I–maybe because we were both traumatized in different ways by Annie Ross? That scene in GHOST SHIP, which otherwise kind of sucked, is SUCH an underrated traumatizer! I almost forgot about it. Also, I don't know where my own memories end and EYES OF LAURA MARS begins. If I could have three wishes, one of them may very well be that I could see what EYES OF LAURA MARS would have been like with Barbra Streisand (but I am on to any genies who try to use that wish to take the version starring Faye Dunaway away, to teach me to "be careful what I wish for"!)
Great post P.W.P! Thanks for the trauma-videos. I'm surprised that nobody has brought up that Raggedy Ann & Andy scene before. It reminds me of THE THING and THE BLOB at the same time. I love SISTERS (and mostly all De Palma). In fact, I used to have this scene on my answering machine back in the day…(starting at about 1:22)…
I love Watcher in the Woods too! I do not care which ending either. I think it is a creepy good time. I also enjoyed Rose Red and would like to see it again. Awesome post!
That Superman 3 scene is classic. The timeline of the whole movie is like "Stupid movie…stupid movie……Richard Pryor skiing off of a skyscraper…stupid movie (x 1.5 hours)…TERRIFYING MOVIE…stupid movie…The End."
I totally forgot that Return to Oz starred a young Fairuza Balk! I suppose that I will have to watch it again now…..
All five clips were good stuff, BTW. Nice Post.
We have a few things in common. That very
scene from SUPERMAN III was one of my earliest kindertraumas…if you think it was bad, imagine seeing it on a big screen at the movies at about age 6 or 7. It was one of my answers in my
IAHTKY post.
One of my favourite movies is SISTERS. I also
like THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS, and THE EYES OF LAURA MARS.
@unkle lancifer I am also a Brian De Palma fan, and I've always loved that scene with the telephone lady, she's a real standout. How did people react to your answering machine messege?
@Matt, It was about 20 years ago when I had that on my answering machine. This is one of those big clunky types of machines that only exist in movies now. Looking back all I can think is that my poor mom must have thought I was seriously screwed-up but otherwise I didn't notice anybody caring too much. Mostly there was just confusion about whether the caller had the right number. Still, every time I see that scene it brings back memories in my head because I must have heard that dialogue a zillion times. Now that I think about it, I had a bizarre sound clip on the answering machine for a while from LOVE CRIMES with Sean Young that probably sounded even more disturbing! I can't find it on Youtube though! Rats.
Theatre of blood is an excellent film, very original and imaginative and with some of the best english character actors of the time… Ian Hendry, Milo O'Shea, Harry Andrews, Robert Morley, Michael Hordern, Jack Hawkins…
that part in supes 3 IS terrifying.
the fact that the woman's character was a bitch anyway… then she gets transformed against her will and you STILL feel sorry for her.
but weren't they (more or less) humorous villains?
I'm sorry I wasn't able to see all of these posts, guys!!! (This is P. William Pinto, btw) I spent almost a year being crazy with work… but now that things have calmed down I can get back to important things. Like horror films. The things on this list STILL scare the crap out of me!