A Press Release from the Bad Craziness Management

ATTENTION FAIR READERS!

We here at Bad Craziness International have been down for a few weeks due to renovations.
A few weeks ago, a terrible accident occurred that claimed the lives of 10,000 Bad Craziness Interns.  The Bad Craziness Central Aerospace Engineering Department built the first completely operational and inexpensive hovercraft based off of Syd Mead's spinner model in Blade Runner approximately 2 weeks ago.  Suddenly, an army of rabid mongoose busted through the door completely befuddling Bad Craziness' own Lloyd Dunn, John Lautner and Karl Benz.  Suddenly, the mongoose army let out a blood curdling war cry and destroyed everything in the room.  The sheer force of the savage mongoose rebels was too much and the jet propulsion systems erupted in a wild science fiction-y rage, destroying a solid 4% of our HQ.  It was a sad day, and we send our condolences to the families of our loyal employees.  But we are returning with a vengeance!
We would like to announce a brand new addition to our HQ.  A bigger, better department that we're surprised we've never had before.  OFFICIALLY, Bad Craziness International is now acquiring a film studio department!  We here at Bad Craziness International are proud to announce our newest addition to the Bad Craziness family: Bad Craziness International Studios.
There will be plenty of films being churned out by Bad Craziness International.  The debut film will be directed, written, and produced by our very own Dylan Merrick and his crack stock team (also employed by Bad Craziness) and we will announce the title in a few weeks once it goes into production.
Be prepared fair readers!  We hope this will be a bountiful journey but it will take your viewership which we are not afraid to gain using brute force.  Just saying.
So fare the well fair readers and welcome to Bad Craziness International Studios!

A word from our founder and creator

~Viva amigos
      ~the mgmt

Bad Craziness' Morning Coffee with Richard Pendergast: Alfred Hitchcock

A casual morning with Alfred Hitchcock

Bad Craziness' own Richard Pendergast (Dylan Merrick's twin brother, don't ask questions about their last names) sits down with newly resurrected zombie director, Alfred Hitchcock, for an exclusive interview!  You don't know Alfred Hitchcock?  Check yourself before you wreck yourself; here are a couple links.  AS ALWAYS!


~Viva amigos

 

The Shower Scene in Psycho (1960)

 

 

The ending of The Birds (1963)

 

Jimmy Stewart's nightmare in Vertigo (1958)

 

 

The Surrealist delusion sequence in Spellbound (1945)

Designed by Salvador Dali

Spring Movie Season: A Public Service Announcement from Bad Craziness

A small bit on the spring movie season.  We just installed the new Bad Craziness Central Audio/Audio Department here at the HQ, so now we're seeing how it does!  The picture is the head of the Bad Craziness Central Telepathy & Paranormal Department, Gustaav Smenhoultz.  Happy spring folks!

~Viva amigos

ROLL THE REEL: THE CINEMA DUST BOWL - 1933

Groucho Marx once said he doesn't know how the elephant got in his pajamas.  We here at Bad Craziness have no idea what that has to do with this post we were just wondering if someone could clear that up for us.  We'll confer with the Bad Craziness Central Philosophy & Ethics Department and get back to you on that one fair readers.


WAIT!  Besides the philosophical implications, I know what that quote has to do with this post.  It's a quote from a film by some of the guys in this post and it explains what 1933 was like in cinema. 1933 was one of those strange years that snuck up on everybody in the film world and left them confused as to what would happen next.


I.      ECSTASY (JANUARY 20th, 1933)

Directed by Gustav Machaty

      What good is life without a little nudity?  Maybe a couple orgasms now and again?  If you think life is better off without these things I a) recommend you never watch Ecstasy and b) stop playing World of Warcraft you strange little person.

     Most of the films that challenged the censors in the U.S. were crime films.  Back in the '30s, sex was REALLY taboo.  Besides drugs, sex was so taboo the censors felt the need to make an entire film about it.  Ecstasy challenged the Hayes censors and lost a battle it knew it couldn't win.  If it's 1933 and your film contains a naked Hedy Lamarr having an orgasm, consider yourself dead in the water compadre.  The film faced an extremely limited release in a few art houses in major cities and the word of mouth grew from there.

    Ecstasy's legacy is undisputed as one of the most controversial films to hit the silver screen.  Along with the being the first non-pornographic films to show full frontal nudity, it's also one of the first films to be condemned by the Legion of Decency.  Ecstasy's tale of a suicidal love triangle, divorce, and sexual frustration rocked the Breen Office and the general population like they were the goddamn Casbah and is still pretty risque for the modern day.

II.     DUCK SOUP (NOVEMBER 17th, 1933)

Directed by Leo McCarey

      Here at Bad Craziness International, these zany gentlemen reign supreme.  Outside our main headquarters (as well as a few of our thousands of satellite grounds scattered about the globe/solar system) there is a 30 foot, solid gold statue of the "mirror scene" that was made famous by this film.  This film is by far the finest piece the Marx Brothers ever did, and it brought stream of consciousness/political satire to the forefront back in the '30s.

      Duck Soup revolves around the life and times of the citizens of "Freedonia" (which on a side note was the name of America directly following the American Revolution), namely the new ruler Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx), Chicolini (Chico Marx), and Pinky (Harpo Marx).  Firefly is a cunning but absent-minded autocrat who doesn't care for the citizenry at all but instead cares about his own affairs.  Needless to say, the film's anarchic style of comedy became renowned for its fast-pace, quirky delivery, and ridiculous quality.  A joke could range from anywhere between a joke about Mrs. Teasdale's (Margaret Dumont, a Marx Brothers staple) taste in men to serious jabs and discourses at the nature of fascism and totalitarian states.  This sparked controversy back in 1933 when 4 Jewish guys were cracking jokes about Hitler and Mussolini, who, as you may not know folks, were in fact vehement anti-semites.

      Duck Soup has influenced every great comedian and comedy group that you can think of (and believe me, Bad Craziness knows EXACTLY what you're thinking, even before you do).  Woody Allen, Monty Python, Benny Hill, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, Chris Rock, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Lenny Bruce, Dave Chappelle, Mel Brooks, the writer of this blog, etc.  The Marx Brothers have a hand in almost every bit of comedy that's come out since their ferocious reign as the kings of comedy, especially in terms of political humor.  They were able to make political humor extremely dangerous because even when they didn't mean to make political comedy (like Charlie Chaplin), they managed to do it.

III.      KING KONG (MARCH 2nd, 1933)

Directed by Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack

      "It was Beauty killed the Beast".  King Kong is easily the most messed up love story ever told.  Not only does it argue in favor of bestiality, it caused riots outside of theaters for its gruesome and extremely sexual content.  This piece of cinema history from RKO Radio Pictures shook the world with its innovative special effects (done by Willis O'Brien who also worked on The Lost World and I don't mean Jurassic Park although Jeff Goldblum does everything justice) and subversive subtext.

      America loves itself some religion.  Every Sunday, a vast majority of people head on down to the local steeple and cook them up a heaping helping of Jesus Stew.  What's one thing that pisses off these Bible-thumping patriots more than gay marriage?  Sex.  Weird sex.  Homosexuality isn't weird.  Sex with animals is weird.  At least to the highly religious of all denominations and variations, not just Christians.  We here at Bad Craziness don't care what you do in the bedroom or barnyard (or couch or public bathroom or what have you), but religious people care where your pants lance does the dirtiest dirty dance.  Aside from the violence in King Kong that originally involved a decapitation and graphic depictions of people being crushed, there is a sexual subtext in the film that disturbed many in the audience: bestiality.  In one controversial, legendary scene, it is implied that King Kong gives a virtually naked Fay Wray a little "tickle" off screen that makes her giggle and moan.  So if the blood and vicious sound effects weren't going to bother the faint of heart with more religious conviction than the Grand Rabbinate and Pope Urban VI combined, then the implied interracial gangbangs, overt bestiality, and idea that women have sex for reasons other than childbearing might.

      King Kong in many ways is the first slasher film with its subversive themes and grisly presentation, and its legacy will live on forever.  From the classic Claymation to Fay Wray's legendary screams, this is one of our favorite movies and one of the most important films to come out of the cinema dust bowl.

1933 was in a way the last straw to the censors before they signed the Hayes & Breen Code of 1934 and these three movies tell you why, folks.  Next time we're hitting up the "greatest year in cinema history"

1939!

For a better look at 1933 check out these bad muthas:
The Private Life of Henry VIII

42nd Street

Flying Down to Rio

She Done Him Wrong

The Devil's Brother

Follow me on Twitter (DylanMerrick6) and like the Bad Craziness Facebook Page to learn so much about movies, you'll never need to speak to your friends again!  Happy Thursday hombres and as always!

~Viva amigos,

      ~D. Merrick

FOR THE LADIES

In honor of International Women's Day, we here at Bad Craziness wanted to make a post to recognize some of the coolest ladies in cinema.  Some of them you know, some of them you may not know, others are obscure/foreign because some people on our staff listen to Bright Eyes and Dan Auerbach's solo album.  ROLL THE REEL, JOHNNY!

BAD CRAZINESS' ROUGHENEST, TOUGHENEST, LADIENEST, LADY ACTRESS

BETTE DAVIS
 Bette Davis did for the world and art of the actress what Brando did for actors.  She added a new element to what a female could do on screen.  As opposed to being an object of sex, a weak, fragile creature who needs a man to keep her afloat, or a a weak, fragile object of sex who needs a man to keep her afloat, Bette Davis decided she would be smacking guys and running off on her own.  If a producer told her to tone down her "radical feminist" approach to acting, she'd just tell him that she wouldn't do the part.  She used her power as an actress to be one of the first real strong business ladies in Hollywood and got her parts by her own accord when people were still slaves to the Hollywood System.  Davis took care of herself and that's why we here at Bad Craziness think she's one of the roughenest, toughenest, ladienest ladies in the history or cinema.

BAD CRAZINESS' ROUGHENEST, TOUGHENEST, LADIENEST LADY OF DIRECTING

AGNES VARDA
 In a time where women were still trying not to go completely insane from being locked in a house 24/7, Agnes Varda decided "Nah, I'm gonna be one of the biggest names of the French New Wave Movement instead".  Of course, she said it French because she's French.  This stone cold wild woman is still making movies and although she claims The Beaches of Agnes would be her last movie, we hope she keeps on making movies forever.  She was one of the only filmmakers along with Robert J. Flaherty and Mira Nair who has been able to successfully combine elements of Documentary and experimental narrative film in a way that doesn't seem like The Devil Inside.  Keep on keeping on Ms. Varda, the real Queen of France.

BAD CRAZINESS' ROUGHENEST, TOUGHENEST, LADIENEST LADY OF WRITING

KRISTEN WIIG
 That's right.  Bad Craziness loves Bridesmaids.  It was one of the best written films of last year PLUS it gave a new legitimacy to comedy that has been lost since the days of SOB, Fritz the Cat, Annie Hall, and Clerks.  Kristen Wiig is not only one of the funniest ladies alive, she's one of the funniest people alive.  Our Surveillance Department overhears a lot of conversations about Wiig being "like the new Tina Fey".  We've sent out contract hits on those people because they are dead wrong.  Kristen Wiig is a monster all her own and she's venturing into the grounds of comedy screenplay writing where no lady has gone before and nobody has been able to do consistently for a while.  No one expected that Oscar nomination but we all know they deserved it just the same.  Kudos, Ms. Wiig!

Happy International Women's Month everyone!  And from all of us here at Bad Craziness, happy Monday and as always,

~Viva amigos,
      ~D. Merrick