Runner-up for: Favorite movie-going experience.....Seeing
Scream 2 with Jennifer at the Orpheum in Madison, during the year we were both incredibly depressed. That was also the year I grew my hair out to hippie-length proportions and sported a mustache and goatee, hence making me look "smarmy" as well as some warped version of a pimp daddy who was way too fond of bright Hawaiian silk shirts. Jennifer, thanks for coming in at #2!!!! I had such a blast with you--waiting in that long line for the advance screening, the wild and reckless audience, the workers there dressed in costume, the laughter and applause and, yes, screams....
Now, on to our show....
I wish I could give lots of specifics about that day, but it's more a
feeling that Mom and I captured when we went to see
The Lost Boys during my fifth grade year. I believe it was an overcast day (I don't think it actually rained, though) and Mom and I drove to this theatre right outside of Lemont....Was it called the Watchtower Cinemas? Something like that. A.J. and I used to pay for PG movies and then sneak into R movies there all the time (ahh....
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers,
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,
Pet Sematary....so many more....And total tangent here: I just finished the first season of
Life Goes On, and Corky has the
ANOES4: Dream Master poster on his wall AND the same Alyssa Milano poster I had on my wall during my orientation-confused days. Mom used to say: "Can't they airbrush Alyssa's pleasure trail off the poster? You'd think she'd want them to do that....") From the opening moments of
The Lost Boys, Mom and I were swept away into this haunted universe with gypsy veils, Star-crossed lovers, amazing Jason Patrick '80s hair, both Corey's, Diane Wiest (love you!), a goth-punk-magical reimagining of the vampire mythology, and a kick-ass soundtrack. Who could forget “Cry Little Sister (Theme from
The Lost Boys)”, by Gerald McMann? The way the song swept over you as the camera swept over the Pacific Ocean during the opening credits? And one of Mom's favorite moments is when Tim Cappello's “I Still Believe” plays on the boardwalk in that first hectic night in Santa Cruz, and that hottie saxophone player with the bulging muscles and great braid starts busting out. Is that actually Tim Cappello playing the part, or did they loop his voice over an actor's?....Hmm....Just curious....I think I truly fell in love with vampires that day in the theatre. There was just this mystic magic hanging in the air, and really, who would have minded being bitten by a bleached-blonde pre-
24 Keifer Sutherland? I love consuming vampire movies, vampire fiction, vampire anything. At Our House of Portland last week, one of the residents--after reading some of my poetry--asked me jokingly if I was a "lesbian vampire." This may be the most strange and wonderful compliment that anyone's given me! (Besides that one about a year ago when someone asked if I was a senior in high school. That person is, like, my best friend of all time.)
Reliving our favorite movie memories on VHS and DVD may not be the same, but it sure feels good to wrap ourselves up in Comfort Food, right? I can't tell you how happy I am to have my collection of
Nightmare on Elm Streets, my
Friday the 13ths, heck, even my
JEM videos! They bring me back in such a good way.
You know, I don't know if it's my subconscious working and thus my reason for this post, but I just started watching the first season of
Gilmore Girls (amazingly witty banter, by the way, makes your heart chuckle in all the right places). And who is one of the stars of
GG, but Edward Herrmann, who plays Max in
The Lost Boys! Finally, I just have to mention Jami Gertz, who I think I had a "crush" on in the same way I had a "crush" on Elisabeth Shue. (Scratching your head? Look two posts back.) Damn. Jami got lusted after by Jason and Keifer, as well as by Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr. in
Less Than Zero. (I am purposefully leaving out a certain actor in
Listen to Me that she starred with; love the film, but man, I sure don't live up to the Bible enough to please his demands now that he's gone all freaky-religious on us. Jesus, you get such a bad rap....You probably just sat around smoking pot, preaching love, and getting your groove on with Mary M., and folks like a Certain Actor have to make some of us shake our heads at their Throwing Stones version of Christianity.) In any case, Jami, you've still got it. You'll always be Star to me. Sometimes I wish I was the gypsy-witch-lovechild of Star and Stevie Nicks. Maybe in a parallel universe?....
Excuse my ramblings....I have a touch of the flu, and my mind and body feel like we're floating (maybe above those opening credits in
The Lost Boys). Movies. Mom. Memories. The tagline for
The Lost Boys is:
Sleep All Day. Party All Night. Never Grow Old. Never Die. It's Fun to Be a Vampire.
I think I'd add:
It's Fun to Have a Mother That Loves to Watch Blood and Guts Get Spewed on the Big Screen as Much as I Do.
