saturday night double feature

rollercoaster [1977] 

the other day a friend at work and i were talking about obscure bands and musicians.  he asked if i ever heard of spark who performed 'eaten by the monster of love' on the valley girl [1983] soundtrack.  sparks, i said.  the band.  who are still performing and are critical darlings.  i then mentioned this flick where sparks is performing during the climax.  timothy bottoms plays a character billed only as young man who likes to blow up rides at amusement parks.  george segal is an amusement park inspector who the young man takes a shine to.  released the same year as star wars the movie was marketed as a disaster movie.  it is not.  the film is an excellent psycho drama.  the roller coaster sequences are filmed with sensurround to amp the feelings of riding a coaster at top speed.  bottoms is a magnificent little creep.  segal is his perfect foil.

the baby [1973]

this sick little flick was on right after the above named title on Turner Classic Movies Underground.  i've read about this movie years ago but until last night i hadn't seen it.  now i can't un-see it.  the eponymous character is a full-grown man who mewls like an infant, is dressed in the clothes of a baby and crawls on all fours like an infant.  his physical and emotional development was/is retarded by his psycho mother and sisters.  the dude doesn't even have a name.  he's simply called, baby.  whoa.  wrap your mind around that.  and when the baby cries his voice is dubbed by actual baby cries and the effect will make your sphincter pucker.  all the characters, including baby, look like they smell of viceroy cigarettes and cheap bourbon.  this pic is a grubby little exploitation gem that is a product of its era.  films from the 1970s were some of the most radical experiments in sleaze and expression.  taboos were broken and social mores were crumpled and redefined.  the baby has a champion of sorts, a social worker, who fights against his weirdo family for his safety and development.  but the ending will make you give up on humanity.