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The Texas bayou, hard times at the Starlight Hotel, a fulsome vaudeville. Out of the frying pan into the fire for the first victim, the runaway prostitootsie (Roberta Collins) who turns down the sodomizing hayseed (Robert Englund) and is instead gobbled up by a different reptile, the scaly beast "all the way from Africa." Its owner is a limping brute (Neville Brand) with a childlike streak à la Leatherface, in his filthy room he mutters Scripture and hums ditties while a swastika hangs next to the Stars and Stripes. "L'abominable tête du crocodile," as Baudelaire would have it, is seen in flashes, its prey however each get an expressionistic turn. A characteristic showstopper has William Finley rivaling his De Palma contortions as a barmy paterfamilias, grimacing and giggling and barking and finally shrieking into a snapping maw. "Shhh, daddy's off to slay the dragon." A virtuosically grueling distillate from Tobe Hooper, civilization like rickety planks on top of an endless swamp. (Rotting wood, chicken wire and mist comprise the main composition, bathed in infernal reds and blues.) The frenzied blonde (Marilyn Burns) lies upstairs strapped to a bedpost while her daughter (Kyle Richards) crawls for her life under the porch, bent madam (Carolyn Jones) and mangy sheriff (Stuart Whitman) complete the menagerie. A certain Psycho strain, i.e., Arbogast's death reconfigured with investigating father (Mel Ferrer) and rusty scythe. "Come and go, come and go, that's all there is..." To the Möbius strip Hooper adds a remarkable soundscape, horrified screams and honky-tonk serenades and metallic screeches in continuous, assaultive play. Romero takes note (Creepshow), so does Fassbinder (Querelle). With Crystin Sinclaire, Janus Blythe, and Betty Cole.
--- Fernando F. Croce |