Directed by John Landis
Distributed by Arrow Video
Starring John Landis, Saul Kahan, Harriet Medin
Imagine a man in a monkey costume directing actors. If you were that man, you would probably find it quite difficult to take yourself too seriously. As the old saying goes, a monkey suit changes everything.
And that, my friends, is one of the reasons why John Landis’ first feature, Schlock, works so well. It’s a funny, humble effort made with love by someone who was determined to get out into the world and make a movie.
When he went into production on Schlock in 1971, John Landis had already been in the movie industry for years, having dropped out of high school to pursue his dream. He had a lot of knowledge and experience, but no one was giving him a chance to direct a movie. So he decided to just go out and do it himself. It’s kind of hard not to admire that kind of gumption.
The film cost $60,000, which was very low budget even in the 70’s. (It’s certainly nothing to sneeze at nearly forty years later.) Still, Landis did the best with the money and the tools that he had at his disposal. Growing up reading Famous Monsters of Filmland and devouring everything that came to theaters, sometimes going into triple features without knowing anything about the movies, he decided on making a satire of the super-low-budget monster movies that he loved so much. Specifically, he saw the super-cheesy monster film Trog and realized that he could certainly do better than that. And so he came up with a farcical Trog-like monster of his own: The Banana Killer, AKA Schlock, a creature that looks surprisingly like a man in a monkey suit. (A character that Landis chose to play himself because he knew that he was guaranteed to show up on set every day.)
We open at a park and what looks like a handful of dead kids face down in the grass. Then the camera pans and we see dozens of people. It pans again and we see dozens more. The killer has attacked a meeting of the Metaphysical Bowling Society, and there are no survivors. Already on the scene is our intrepid local TV reporter, Joe Putzman (Eric Allison), who stands next to a few trash bags of severed body parts. He tells his audience that if they can correctly guess the number of people in the bags, they will win a free chicken dinner. The correct answer is guessed by housewife Mrs. Blinerman (Harriet Medin). There are four, of course.
The rest of the humor is just as weird and irreverent. It will probably remind viewers of a slightly more relaxed version of a Zucker Brothers film. This would prove fortuitous a few years later, when Landis directed their first feature-length script.
For instance, there’s a running gag in which a film called See You Next Wednesday is mentioned several times. Only, in the world of Schlock, there’s a bunch of films that share that title. Each time the title is ’70s it has a completely different synopsis and genre. And, of course, like any good slapstick comedy, the laws of physics don’t apply. Take for example the character of police detective Sgt. Wino (Saul Kahan), who, in pursuit of the ape monster, dons an ape mask in order to try to trick the animal into leaving a house he’s currently rampaging. There are at least half a dozen of his officers with him and when he puts the mask on, even though he’s still wearing a shirt and tie, the officers unload all the firepower they have on the poor schmuck, thinking it’s the actual monster. Riddled with bullet wounds, the good detective simply shakes his head in disappointment at his officers’ stupidity. And, of course, there are the many scenes where the ape kills a bunch of long-haired hippies, which is always quite satisfying. Or maybe that’s just me.
In technical terms, Schlock is very well put together. The cinematography is great. The sound is too. Really, though, if the technical stuff had been slapdash, the film definitely wouldn’t have worked as well. Anything else would have distracted from the sight gags.
It certainly takes gumption and guts to go out and make your own feature film. I mean, it’s not cheap to do now, but back in 1971, it was super not cheap. It’s almost amazing how good this thing is. No simple exercise or practice film, Schlock is a hell of a lot of fun. Horror fans will enjoy it for its gentle ribbing of common tropes and cliches, and it’s super violent, so that’s nice. Comedy fans will dig it as a prelude to Landis’ great big budget comedies like Animal House and The Blues Brothers. There’s a lot to like for everyone here.
As you might expect, the Arrow Video Blu-ray is packed with great extras: interviews, trailers, radio spots, and commentary by Landis and legendary makeup artist Rick Baker. This definitely one worth checking out.
Special Features: