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#psycho biddy
annielostmarch · 5 days
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Even though I've been on Tumblr for a year now, I still feel brand new. I get so excited when someone follows me, it's such a thrill. This place is helping me become less shy about sharing myself with the world (baby steps) and I'm so happy to make new friends :)
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Savage Intruder
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If you’d like to see how many ways SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950) could have gone terribly wrong, look no further than Donald Wolfe’s SAVAGE INTRUDER (1974, aka HOLLYWOOD HORROR HOUSE). It’s actually SUNSET BOULEVARD with serial killers and a sprinkling of KIND LADY (1935, 1951). A madman is killing older women in Hollywood. Retired screen star Miriam Hopkins breaks her leg in a drunken fall, requiring the presence of a live-in nurse. Guess who turns up for the job? Before long Vic Valance (David Garfield, son of John) has seduced the cook (Virginia Wing) and alienated Hopkins’ secretary (Gale Sondergaard) and housekeeper (Florence Lake, sister of Arthur). And then the killing starts…again. The film is equal parts camp, kitsch, schlock and just plain bad. It was the last released film for Hopkins (as well as Joe Besser and Minta Durfee), and the actress who sparkled while working for Ernst Lubitsch and William Wyler is saddled with a wildly inconsistent character. She transitions from wanting to fire Garfield to adoring him with no visible motivation yet manages to play each different version of the character blissfully over the top. Garfield’s character makes even less sense (he’s traumatized from having seen his mother engaged in orgies with really ugly men). Only Lake and Sondergaard emerge with their dignity intact. At 71, with long black hair, Sondergaard also manages to look absolutely fabulous, but would expect anything less from the only woman to steal a film from Sherlock Holmes?
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barbaragenova · 2 years
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what’s wrong with Jessica
Down-home demonology comes easy in the summertime. I don’t believe in fallen angels; the Devil doesn’t exist. Limbo is a narrative device introduced in the late nineteen twenties; Hell is a washed-out metaphor — do better, Senator.
But, for the short time I was in league with Jessica, this much I can swear: evil is real. Evil’s the weed you brush against on a country road at dawn. Hate you can feel.
(read the rest here: what’s wrong with Jessica)
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anhed-nia · 5 months
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BLOGTOBER 10/6-7/2023: X, PEARL
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Ti West is so frustrating. His more successful movies have earned him enough good will that I've been willing to wait for him like some war bride while he turns out things I find unforgivable, assuming that someone with his demonstrated talent will right himself eventually. For this reason I wish I liked X more. I find it very watchable and I don't hate the premise, but I also really object to parts of it. Some of it is just half-baked; like I kind of enjoy the movie's conversation about how pornography inflates or injures people's vanity and shines a light on inner moral conflicts, but it's all kind of gestural, I don't know if any real conclusions are reached. And I really don't appreciate the take on hagsploitation here, with sexy Mia Goth under a hundred pounds of foam rubber reminding us all of how scary aging is--which connects to this questionable tradition in horror where the monster is a human who is alienated due to their looks, and we'd better learn to fear such people because being sexually undesirable is a punishment so cruel that it could make you dangerously insane. I'm really interested in this trope, where the corrupting force is just physical ugliness (and/or the inability to get laid), but in the case of X I would have found it more compelling if the villains were played by actual old people.
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The movies we think of when we hear the terms "hagsploitation" or "psycho biddie" generally star actual older actresses who bring a certain kind of thoughtful, energetic presence to their roles, and that's why they're so effective; when it's just a young person pretending to be old, it requires the viewer to really be afraid of and repulsed by the basic concept of an old person. I've heard some arguments that X is "sex positive" because of its graphic scene of the fake old people doing it, and although I'd agree that some amount of pity is elicited by that (with the husband explicitly pitying his horny, ugly wife), I think it's a big reach to suggest that that content is celebratory or elevating in any way. Again, I might change my tune if it were real old people, but in the meantime the whole production is just young people telling this story about how old people are gross and you might become a crazed killer if you stopped getting laid, and that's just not good enough for me. Maybe if the old people were more like anti-heroes and less like general monstrosities slobbering in the dark, I would have gotten more out of it.
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Meanwhile, the prequel PEARL tells a compelling story about a real monster who is complex and charismatic enough to make you sympathize with her, even though she is unambiguously villainous. I do think this movie is somewhat overhyped, but I'm not mad about it; I'm happy that this happened for Ti West, who I definitely want to make more good movies, and PEARL has a lot of cool qualities. It stretches its $1mil budget a surprising distance to make a period piece (usually inadvisable for a cheap movie) with a lot of style and class. Ti West has a talent for genre pastiche--the present movie is somehow a cross between THE WIZARD OF OZ and HUSH...HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE--but it doesn't feel like an empty fashion statement, which is the problem I usually have with modern horror productions that do a forced impression of older genre films. Despite whatever is familiar about it, PEARL feels really fresh and original. Tellingly, I don't even feel like enumerating this movie's flaws. It's a charmer and it deserves its success.
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raccoonshuffle · 4 months
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MayDecember is a modern day grande dame guignol
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portmanteaurian · 2 years
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do agree with saoirse that more people should watch hush…hush, sweet charlotte
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bitter69uk · 3 months
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Considering campy horror masterpiece Strait-Jacket turns sixty this month (it was released on 19 January 1964), it’s only fitting that it’s the first Lobotomy Room presentation of the New Year!
Call it “hagsploitation” or “psycho-biddy”, Strait-Jacket (directed by low-budget trash maestro William Castle – one of John Waters’ primary influences) is a stark, vicious little b-movie featuring a truly berserk and mesmerizing performance from bitch goddess extraordinaire (and perennial Lobotomy Room favourite) Joan Crawford as a deranged ax murderess! If you liked What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) or Hush … Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), you’ll LOVE Strait-Jacket! In fact – and I appreciate this is a controversial opinion – I’d argue Strait-Jacket is the superior film. Join us at Fontaine’s on Thursday 18 January and I’ll explain why over cocktails! But take note – as the original poster exclaimed, “Warning! Strait-Jacket vividly depicts ax murders!” Spaces are limited, so reserve your seat via the venue now! (Phone 07718000546 or email [email protected]). Full putrid details.
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theehorsepusssy · 4 months
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Despite all the redundant themes,characters, plots, totems, etc. that once made the show clever, this new Fargo is still pretty fun.
Jennifer Jason Leigh enters her Old Hollywood Psycho Biddie era!
Mad Man guy is getting thick in the middle and sports nipple rings!
Albino Dave Foley wears an eyepatch!
Strange Things douche douches harder!
Its fun to watch the main character mom kick ass!
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goddessactuality · 6 days
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vibes today were so uggghhhhh. went negative on sales (thank u returns) the waiter I had wouldn't stop rushing me I can't STAND the eastern half of the united states people need to calm tf down here hate the disrespect and terror in everyone's hearts. midwestern psycho biddies driving me cashews ate a yuzu tart for no reason spent too much money took a nap didn't watch the sunset couldn't find my sunscreen ordered it on amazon . don't like complainign either really i'm grateful for like looking at fishing lures and grocery stores and menial tasks
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Okay so I just watched Pearl and tbh loved. Really into it being set during WWI (movie theaters were very important [news, escapism, propaganda]) and really enjoyed how purposeful the movie was designed (the technicolor and almost Dorothy-esque costume Pearl wears [Wizard of Oz was released as WWII was unfolding], the callbacks to different film eras [old Hollywood, Hagsploitation/psycho-biddy, early slasher films], and the finale monologue reminiscent of something from a Bergman film), but one of my old coworkers who went to school for film gave it a one star on Letterboxd and his revie said, “¯\_(ツ)_/¯”.
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dykesynthezoid · 1 year
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The fact that Terry Silver in tkk3 is just prime camp gay villain but in CK they’re like what if he also existed at the intersection of the byronic hero and the psycho biddy. And didn’t wait for an answer
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michaelvarrati · 2 months
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From Baby Jane to Auntie Roo and beyond! This week, Peaches and Michael unveil a special episode dissecting one of horror’s most “Sainted Subgenres” – HAGSPLOITATION (aka “Psycho Biddies”)! In addition to discussing the many luminous women who brought these movies to life, our hosts tackle the oft problematic labeling of this particular avenue of fright. Joining the conversation is award-winning historian/author/host David Del Valle, who provides insight and personal stories about the era of Hollywood that birthed these films. Additionally, David digs into why these deliciously devilish dames connect with a whole generation of queer folks. Bette! Joan! Olivia! Oh my! This episode has it all! Go! 
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fullmusicbardsquared · 6 months
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why the fuck is it even called hasbeen hotel. yes i know they spell it with ExTreme cool letters but thats how it is pronounced. why. why is it named that. i watched the pilot for this no one there is a "has-been" that's the name for like some show focused around psycho biddies or something. hwy is it called that
my angelic grandson: grand-pau pau lets get thee to bed
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moonbeam-dreamer · 9 months
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The Storm (Continued from part 1. Ending)
I made sure to keep it at the speed limit and safe for the animals, while tending what I could to my wounds. Blood streaked down my head and into my shirt, thankfully of black material. My hand dripped and soaked into the fabric of my jeans. Moose, the poor sweet lab/German shepherd mix, was beside himself with anxiety, panting whining, and trying to muzzle me to claim my attention. He’d always come to me when shit hit the fan and this was worse than anything he’d been through. The cats were crying, which aggravated the pain, but I couldn’t bring myself to yell at them. It wasn’t their fault they were afraid and put in this situation by a psycho. Besides, I was scared too, and it made my already high blood pressure soar. There was nausea, dizziness, and I couldn’t get myself to stop shaking from the tension in my nerves. The highway out of town was a straight path, and it made concentration an effort. I turned on the radio to metal to keep me awake and somehow made it to town without further incident.   
Inside the city, however, I sent a prayer to the Goddess Brigid, asking her to keep the eyes of the townsfolk away from my vicinity. I didn’t need anyone playing hero and involving themselves, least of all the nosey biddies at the salon. They had a way of spreading gossip that would put the women on ‘The View’ to shame. It wouldn’t matter once I got home and secured the animals. I could bandage myself up and hide until the wounds healed. Li told me to call if I had issues or needed help, but he was better off keeping to his own affairs. I’d have to message my father about this and I was already dreading his reaction. Maybe I just Wouldn’t call him, and let the incident pass? It wasn’t like I was going there again. She’d just have to find her own ride to QT for smokes and a way to charge her phone. Her friend and drug dealer could order her an Uber to the laundromat every day for all I cared. The days of being her enabler were at an end.  
By some miracle, I pulled into the drive and killed the engine. The rush of quiet sent my nerves into a frenzy. Moose was finally relaxed in the passenger seat and the cats had stopped howling. I was thankful to have made it home, but the eventual call to my father made me anxious. I was going to need a reason for my decision, but I wasn’t going to revisit the events. Better they stay between two than play out for the world to see. It could wait until tomorrow, however. The animals needed to be made comfortable after that hellish journey, then I had to see about myself. I wasn’t looking forward to the cleanup process, specifically running a washcloth over the gashes, then using alcohol to disinfect. There would be pain enough to make the dizziness worsen, and I hadn’t been able to stand up yet.  
Before I could take hold of the doorhandle it was ripped away and an imposing figure in black kneeled at my side. The sun on the drive over had been blinding, but the shade from my trees perfectly shielded the rays and after a moment of fuzziness incomprehension, Li’s face appeared before me. Those beautiful pastel silver/blue eyes surveyed the damage, assessing the best way to move forward, while his jaw tightened to keep his anger under a tight lid. If he blew up now it was going to make it worse for both of us. There was much that I wanted to say, explanations, the entire backstory that involved childhood trauma, abuse, drugs, and narcissism, but nothing would come out. It was scary how normal that was becoming. After every fight and argument, I internalized and disassociated. I was a commendable zombie. It seemed that the time I spent out of her grasp hadn’t truly changed anything.  
In the end, he was the one to break the silence.  
“I’m going to take them inside. Then, you’re going to a hospital”. His tone was gentle, yet firm. From this point on, he was taking over and I had no choice but to follow his lead. My body was past the point of taking my own orders, and it let me know.  
The last thing I remember was the world tilting and darkness rushing in. There was a feeling of warmth, safety, then nothing but the blessed silence.  
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fruitchouli · 2 years
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in honor of hagsploitation horror back in the mainstream with ‘X’ starring mia goth, i think we should all revisit the iconic m night shyamalan film ‘the visit’. let us not forget the long lineage of these films that go back decades to psycho biddy thrillers like ‘whatever happened to baby jane’. long live the hags.
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groupieculture · 1 year
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girls really dont know the term psycho biddy and its torturing them. hagsploitation is catchy too
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