Rob Zombie was on the Stern show yesterday and mentioned that he is working with TCM on a new series called UNDERGROUND which will feature, as Rob says " movies Robert Osborne won't touch ".
The only director he mentioned was Russ Meyer! He went into no detail, and just mentioned it in passing as to new projects he had going. Anyone have any more info?

Here's a press release:

Um...ahhhhhhhh...wahhhhhhhhhhh!

Hey, his new project sounds interesting; it's always good to see animation for grown-ups being made (every once in a blue moon). You can't deny his passion even if his skills haven't caught up with it yet.

i think this is a great idea...

but isn't it time to get joe bob briggs back on the air somewhere? i'd prefer to see him host something like this...

Um...ahhhhhhhh...wahhhhhhhhhhh!
Why doesn't Travolta go remake his last dozen films instead?

Salma Hayek plays...Martha Beck?

Oh, my...my head just went 'splodey.

If they're going to air DEMENTIA 13, I hope that they restore the long-lost D-13 Test, which I haven't seen since the early sixties. Someone here once said that the sequence was shown at a UCLA revival screening in the nineties, so perhaps that was a 35mm print, possibly belonging to Francis Ford Coppola.

John Travolta should play Martha Beck. I think they're about the same cup size.

Variety quite liked LONELY HEARTS, putting it right up there with THE HONEYMOON KILLERS and the Mexican DARK CRIMSON (which I wasn't so thrilled with), including Hayek as an admittedly unlikely Beck. The director is the grandson of the detective who nabbed Beck and Fernandez (played by Jared Leto), portrayed by Travolta in the film. It might make a nice fall pairing with THE BLACK DAHLIA.

I was. I think it's superior to THE HONEYMOON KILLERS, which stripped a lot of context from the historical figures of Beck and Fernandez. In THE HONEYMOON KILLERS, you had a fair sense of the codependency driving the con artists to kill but in DEEP CRIMSON you have this wonderful tapestry of Catholic guilt and sexual repression driving the swindlers (as well as their common desperation, as culturally and traditionally worshipful people, to be worshipped) and the victims together for what can only result in murder. There are some wonderful setpieces here (the wedding in the cemetery, the murder in the bathroom) and a surprising denoument that swings wide of the facts but is nonetheless satisfying.

"...as Rob says " movies Robert Osborne won't touch "."

Therefore. Osborne plays the movies that Rob won't touch. There is something more brave in rating George Cukor or Herbert Ross over Ed Wood.

I also suspect Osborne's list would have more films you might want to see (like, say, obscure Hollywood stuff not necessarily on tape or DVD) than Zombie's, which is no doubt composed of movies you've either seen a thousand times (TWO THOUSAND MANIACS, EATEN ALIVE) or wouldn't go near (and would TCM even show those?).

Rob Zombie...oh boy. Yeah, there's a real cult film authority.

Paging Joe Bob Briggs...

I don't want to see TCM go the way of AMC. As it is, I blanch when I tune into a broadcast introduced by that Mankiewicz guy and not Osborne.

Now now, let's look at this. Briggs is great of course, but more people will tune into a Rob Zombie program, which could lead to a cult-movie revivial.


marc

Somewhat OT, but do cult movies need a revival? Seems to me the enthusiasm for cult cinema, like so many other niche interests, simply migrated to the web (where it seems like every movie, no matter how good or bad, has a band of worshippers). The "midnight movies" craze, where people came together as a cinematic community, was very much of its time and place; that community no longer congregates like it used to, but it's alive and well and living right here.

Bob echoes my thoughts precisely. Cult movies revive themselves; if they don't revive, there's no cult. A "cult movie revival" will either accentuate a pre-existing cult or try to create one where there is none.

I don't begrudge TCM for attempting this but I really wonder how it's going to fly with the channel's followers, who would rather see Fred Astaire tripping the light fantastic with Ginger Rogers than Bill Moseley sticking the barrel of a .45 up Priscilla Barnes' joy trail.

Forgive me for being ignorant, Richard, but in just which film does this happen in? :huh:

I too am a little dubious about Mr. Zombie's show meshing with the rest of the TCM programming. Though I don't know that I would prefer Mr. Briggs that much more. As it is, TCM has been plugging anime marathons (of the same few films, it seems) into some of their Saturday night slots. I fear an AMC or Bravo transformation could follow...

I am a "cult movie aficionado," whatever that means, but I do feel that like a lot of things it's been altered (sometimes cheapened) by the internet. This show just seems to be riding on the coattails of something--it, unfortunately, doesn't seem fresh or exciting to me. I'd like to see Rosenbaum and Hoberman revive MIDNIGHT MOVIES one more time with a new afterward, reflecting the changes since the early '90s when they last discussed the midnight movie phenomenon and its offshoots.

That would I believe be Zombie's THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, which I don't think TCM will be showing anytime soon. :)

Fellow TCM fans of my acquaintance get riled when more contemporary pics like GLORY and PARENTHOOD slip into the schedule--for them, anything after about 1965 is suspect, which may be an elitist attitude of sorts. I don't want to debate their merits, except to say that they still get plenty of play on other cable stations, and their TCM scheduling seems a little bit like the station testing the waters beyond its particular, much beloved niche. On the other hand, TCM's Hayao Miyazaki fests did allow me to sample that filmmaker's work. I just want somewhere where I know I can find an LTXed GUNS OF NAVARONE in a pinch.

Maybe it's time to break up the channel: TCM Really Classic (1900-1950), TCM A Little Less Classic, But Not Bad (1950-1970), TCM Goodbye Hawks, Hello Spielberg and Lucas (1970-1985), TCM Contemporary, Not Too Classic (1985-Rob Zombie).

I don't think cult films are in need of a revival, but a little exposure to the masses can never hurt.
I find very little cult / underground titles on cable these days so I welcome this. No doubt this will air late nite and as TCM is working on a West Coast feed this should not ruffle too many feathers on the collective backs of the TCM faithful.
Jonathan, the scene with the .45 and the joy trail is from Zombie's own DEVIL'S REJECTS

Get ready for more anger, as HOOSIERS, HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS and WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT are on June's TCM schedule. On the other hand, they're bringing back the wonderfully daffy obscurity SH! THE OCTOPUS for the first time in many years, so record it while you can!