Almost twenty years after I first saw this on HBO, I found a copy for a buck in a bookstore, without a slipcase, and figured it was worth checking out to see if the scene with Maren Jensen in the tub with the snake was as thoroughly dumb*ss as I remembered.
Kind of a shock. Most of it was so good that it became irritating that Wes Craven blew the chance to make a true minor classic by cheaping out on the script. Run down the list: There's SIX of the hottest women ever to grace the screen (oh, please DO include Colleen Riley-rrrowwwf!) AND Jeff East, so good-looking you want to punch him in the nose. There's some absolutely gorgeous photography of the Texas countryside. There's some of Wes Craven's trademark completely original set-pieces. And, also as usual, he does a terrific job of somehow shamelessly exploiting the women while letting them keep their dignity-only David Lynch gets away with this to the extent that Wes Craven does.
But, boy, is that script messed up. Censer-swinging, hymn-singing Amish? OK, not Amish, "Hittites," supposedly up-tighter than Amish-and they burn incense? Storylines that go absolutely nowhere-***SPOILER****Faith is a WHAT???? Uh, yeah, and actually, so what? Ernest Borgnine keeps ranting about the "incubus"-ultimately, what does this have to do with the Hittites? Did they bring it on themselves, or are they the only ones who can deal with it, because they're sufficiently righteous? And, oh, yeah, by the way, did anyone actually look up "incubus" in the dictionary before they used the term?
Then there's that big near-the-end scene that others have commented on. Guns go off, knives are waved about, women in jeans, women in nightgowns, guys in women's clothing, hot babes in designer clothes are all running around to no real purpose, and eventually several end up dead. The End. Or not, if you got the longer version where a demon rises up through the floorboards for no reason anybody can figure out.
And it's really irritating, because there's flashes here of serious talent that Wes Craven apparently stifled because this movie didn't make a nickel. A couple of the countryside shots started looking a whole lot like "Days of Heaven."
Oh. More spoiler. The bathtub scene was, in fact, as dumb*ss as remembered. Maren Jensen shucks her clothes and climbs in, clearly and unequivocally buck nekkid. When the snake climbs in with her and she starts to jump around in the tub, she's magically donned a black bikini bottom. Come ON, Wes. This is your money shot. Either pay Maren the extra bucks for the full frontal or cut this thing better to keep her pelvis out of the shot.
Kind of a shock. Most of it was so good that it became irritating that Wes Craven blew the chance to make a true minor classic by cheaping out on the script. Run down the list: There's SIX of the hottest women ever to grace the screen (oh, please DO include Colleen Riley-rrrowwwf!) AND Jeff East, so good-looking you want to punch him in the nose. There's some absolutely gorgeous photography of the Texas countryside. There's some of Wes Craven's trademark completely original set-pieces. And, also as usual, he does a terrific job of somehow shamelessly exploiting the women while letting them keep their dignity-only David Lynch gets away with this to the extent that Wes Craven does.
But, boy, is that script messed up. Censer-swinging, hymn-singing Amish? OK, not Amish, "Hittites," supposedly up-tighter than Amish-and they burn incense? Storylines that go absolutely nowhere-***SPOILER****Faith is a WHAT???? Uh, yeah, and actually, so what? Ernest Borgnine keeps ranting about the "incubus"-ultimately, what does this have to do with the Hittites? Did they bring it on themselves, or are they the only ones who can deal with it, because they're sufficiently righteous? And, oh, yeah, by the way, did anyone actually look up "incubus" in the dictionary before they used the term?
Then there's that big near-the-end scene that others have commented on. Guns go off, knives are waved about, women in jeans, women in nightgowns, guys in women's clothing, hot babes in designer clothes are all running around to no real purpose, and eventually several end up dead. The End. Or not, if you got the longer version where a demon rises up through the floorboards for no reason anybody can figure out.
And it's really irritating, because there's flashes here of serious talent that Wes Craven apparently stifled because this movie didn't make a nickel. A couple of the countryside shots started looking a whole lot like "Days of Heaven."
Oh. More spoiler. The bathtub scene was, in fact, as dumb*ss as remembered. Maren Jensen shucks her clothes and climbs in, clearly and unequivocally buck nekkid. When the snake climbs in with her and she starts to jump around in the tub, she's magically donned a black bikini bottom. Come ON, Wes. This is your money shot. Either pay Maren the extra bucks for the full frontal or cut this thing better to keep her pelvis out of the shot.