Stephen King hates laundry: a supercut

(NOTE: a version of this essay appeared as part of KEVIN GEEKS OUT a monthly video-variety show at Nitehawk Cinema; October's theme was Stephen King.) 

Like any prolific author, Stephen King has his recurring themes: psychic children, working writers, religious fanatics, even blue overalls. But there's also the laundry. 
 
Laundry shows up in the adaptations of IT, THE STAND, THE MANGLER, STAND BY ME, DOLORES CLAIBORNE, NEEDFUL THINGS and PET SEMETARY.  (See video below)

  Stephen King Hates Laundry from Kevin Maher on Vimeo.

In each instance laundry is associated with dread. There's more than just the mundane work of cleaning clothes -- it's seeing your working life stretched out in front of you or confronting something awful between the sheets. 

The use of spooky, ghostly laundry appears in other horror series, including HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13th.

But the theme seems more personal for King. 

Historically speaking, there's something quaint about laundry lines instead of electric dryers. Clothespins belong to a yesteryear that King revisits in his stories. 

Practically, we see people taking down their laundry before the rain arrives. "A storm's a'comin!" Indeed.

Or maybe it's that the wash is being done by honest workin' folk. Good Maine residents with big back yahds for hangin' sheets. The starched white fabrics reflect their innocence or purity perhaps. 

But here's the big one: Stephen King worked at an industrial laundry and called it "the worst job he ever had." The author spent summers at the New Franklin laundry in the early 1970s. (Earning $1.60 an hour, $60 a week.) During his stint at the New Franklin King got for the idea for "The Mangler" (a short story in NIGHT SHIFT, later made into a film by Tobe Hooper.) 

The New Franklin Laundry, 125 Fern Street, Bangor Maine (no longer there)

King told Suspense Magazine:

"twice a week (in summer) we used to get the table linen from Testa's of Bar Harbor. Testa's is a famous seafood restaurant, where the elite meet. But the elite never saw those napkins and tablecloths after a hot summer day in the back of a laundry pick-up truck. They stank, which was bad, and they were squirming with maggots. But I washed em, and by God they came out clean."

Meanwhile at his home, King set up a typewriter on a desk in the laundry room. When he came home from a long day, his writing was literally closely associated with laundry. 

So when you watch these film and see people folding sheets and sorting socks, there's a deep-seated terror behind it: maybe if this writing thing doesn't work out, King will have to go back to working in laundry. 

Now here's a Weird Al song dedicated to our pal Stephen King:

 

Okay, you can't really see this building any more. (This is a 2011 photo from Google street view.) It was torn down to make way for new housing in 2012. But before it was, King worked for a stint at New Franklin Laundry, an industrial laundry in the city's "tree streets" neighborhood. He called it the worst job he ever had, but it did inspire King the writer. "The Mangler," a 1972 story that was turned into a movie in 1995, features a possessed press (Say that three times fast!) King imagined while working at the laundry.

Read More: 10 Places Every Stephen King Fan Must Stop While in Bangor, Maine | http://z1073.com/10-places-every-stephen-king-fan-must-stop-while-in-bangor/?trackback=tsmclip

 *** RELATED LINKS *** 

This video appeared in KEVIN GEEKS OUT at Nitehawk Cinema. Details on the next show -- a Christmas special.

HORROR MOVIES A-Z poem.

Blue Overalls in the works of Stephen King.

RELATED:

Trailer: KEVIN GEEKS OUT ABOUT STEPHEN KING from Nitehawk Cinema on Vimeo.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW TRIVIAL PURSUIT

I watched TEXAS CHAINSAW 3D (2013) last night. 

It's like jury-duty for fans of the original. 

Anyway, there's a scene where Leatherface (aka "Jeb Sawyer") goes to a carnival and encounters a guy in a pig-mask weilding a chainsaw. 

Was this a MOTEL HELL (1980) reference or just a coincidence? 

Either way, I wish the film had taken advantage of the carny setting and made some inside jokes about Tobe Hooper's THE FUNHOUSE (1981). 

But this movie was not made for me. 


* * * 

Bonus Fun-fact: 


I was playing a game of TRIVIAL PURSUIT with my wife and the silver-screen category asked: 

What 1980's horror movie includes a climactic chainsaw duel. 

I told my wife: The answer on the card will be "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre Part 2" but the REAL answer is "Motel Hell." 

I was right. You gotta know the limits of the questionnaire. 

Kevin Geeks Out about EATEN ALIVE

The latest installment of Kevin Maher & Rusty Ward's web-series looks at EATEN ALIVE (1977)  a.k.a. Death Trap, a.k.a Horror Hotel, a.k.a. Starlight Slaughter, a.k.a. Legend of the Bayou, a.k.a. Brutes & Savages.

Director Tobe Hooper is probably best know for two films: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1975) and POLTERGIEST  (1982).  But in the years between those two classics, he directed a handful of other films, including: VENOM (1981),  THE FUNHOUSE (1981) and the made-for-TV movie of SALEM'S LOT (1979). 

But the most stylistic and bizarre offering from that period has got to be EATEN ALIVE. The movie plays like a Carol Burnett Show parody of CHAINSAW, complete with hokey sets, colorful costumes and lots of wigs.  Storywise, the film's first act has a lot in common with PSYCHO, where a young girl escapes a Cathouse and seeks shelter in a run-down motel, where she is murdered. But instead of being hacked to pieces by a transvestite with Mommy issues, she's beaten by a long-haired war veteran and fed to a giant alligator (or maybe it's a crocodile.  This detail is never made clear.  Motel-owner Judd claims it's a crocodile from Africa, but he proves to be an unreliable narrator.) 

Previously I'd included EATEN ALIVE as part of the post-JAWS knock-offs that feature other aquatic monsters. (Like many of those titles, it had a trailer that compared it to JAWS.)  But watching the movie it seems to belong to a different sub-genre entirely: Fear of the South.  Certainly this genre (which was popular in the late 60's and 70's) includes TEXAS CHAINSAW, but it has roots in EASY RIDER and maybe even the Zapruder film.  On the surface, there's obvious differences, like Yankees do not know how to deal with a 'gator the way Floridians might.  But on a deeper level, I wonder if the real horror comes from Northern liberals who fear the Americans that elected Nixon. (This genre can be summed-up beautifully by an old National Lampoon comic book parody "Tales From the South", see below.)  

CHAINSAW has the advantage of a Texas filmmaker portraying the villains as monstrous Texans, EATEN ALIVE never really pinpoints a geography.  It's just "the South", it could be Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, we never know... 

Part of the reason CHAINSAW is so powerful is that it has the look of a documentary.  But with EATEN ALIVE, Hooper goes 180, embracing every form of artifice, with a broad location, corny wigs, and a hokey sound-stage swamp.  I don't know what exactly he's going for, but somehow it all works and makes for a good time. Adding to the madness, are the over-the-top performances from Neville Brand and William Finley. Plus horror fans will delight in seeing Robert Englund (in one of his first roles) as "Buck", a horny young man who is repeatedly seen trying to convince women to engage in anal sex. He's like the Trix Rabbit of Sodomy. 

Genre fans will also be delighted to see Marilyn Burns (Sally from T.C.M.) appearing as a morose housewife.  It's like seeing an old friend!  I wish she'd made more movies.  EATEN ALIVE is so star-studded that the film's poster actually puts a box around all six actors.  They're that impressive! 

I also like that the poster (see right) refers to Judd and the 'gator as friends. 

While researching the film, I came across this odd poster for the version titled LEGEND OF THE BAYOU.  Apparently, back in the day, you could build a movie's Ad-campaign around creepy teeth. (again, I credit JAWS.  It always comes back to JAWS.) 

Watch the trailer for EATEN ALIVE

Buy the DVD (single disc, widescreen)

Or purchase the Special Edition 2 DVD set (with featurettes on Tobe Hooper, Marilyn Bruns, and the real-life story of Joe Ball)

warning: Netflix is streaming EATEN ALIVE, but the movie is only 31 minutes long. This isn't a "reader's digest" cut-down, it's simply the first act of the film, and then it stops. Don't bother.

Family Photos

When Tobe Hooper revisited the Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the 1986 sequel, he said the movie was  the anti-John Hughes movie.  I don't know what the hell that means, but he proved the point with this poster, huh?  

Return of Return of the Living Dead

ROTLD is one of my favorites.