CHRISTOPHER COPPOLA's new film "BLOODHEAD" at the newly-instituted San Francisco Horror Film Festival

from V. VALE's RE/SEARCH NEWSLETTER #30, APRIL, 2004.

Saturday, March 20, 8:45pm: We went to the top floor of the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco and there, unexpectedly, in the back row was SRL's Mark Pauline with wife Amy and three "crew" artists, Karen Marcelo, Eddie Codel and Marc Powell from indyvoter.org. Onstage Christopher Coppola, 200 pounds in a black leather jacket, shaven head/goatee, did a brief Q&A at the beginning: "I've been working in film for 20 years, and have made 8 features. I went to the San Francisco Art Institute and studied under legendary underground filmmaker George Kuchar" (George stood up, to applause). In making BLOODHEAD it's been a privilege to work with actors I admired from the '70s. Sometimes the temperature was 120 degrees where we filmed, way out in a small town in the desert. My wife Adrienne Coppola wrote the screenplay and had a small part in the film as the town movie-theater projectionist at the drive-in (aren't old drive-ins great?). We did go over budget, but I don't exactly know by how much--all I know is: we finished it. I don't like to start projects and not finish--it's very important to finish projects. [amen] This particular film features some real men as actors--265-pound men, bigger than me. And this is definitely an anti-racist film, too. In fact there were some skinheads living in the town where we filmed it--we had some problems with them because we had people of all races working on our film, and we didn't want to get shot. [tells story] But don't be afraid to laugh; this is a funny film. Even though it's got some horror in it, it's actually funny in a lot of places. So please laugh!"

Christopher was right. The film was genuinely funny in a lot of places. It had great dialogue that was perfect. It was our kind of Outsider Film, too (formerly known as B Movies). First of all, it appeared to be set in that exact same Southern California desert where Russ Meyer filmed Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill! and other underrated Meyer mega-achievements. Some beautiful sets had been designed--especially the ritual earthworks area, complete with ancient simulated cave drawings, and the poignant, authentically-preserved drive-in movie theater--how many of those are left in America? It featured some great character actors from 70s television who could really act..real characters. We got the feeling they could improvise and make their lines more personally idiosyncratic. And the film had something very rare--a completely original plot (as far as we can determine). The two main protagonists are 100% masculine he-men ex-wrestlers who will learn some very surprising things about themselves...they will actually evolve. And the town siren must be at least 45-50 years old, but extremely well preserved--a kind of archetype, like Martha Stewart beckoning from a huge hot tub in a tree-shaded back yard...but in the middle of the desert.

With this film Christopher Coppola must certainly have found his unique voice. Maybe he can bring back the Great American Male, long absent from the Western Hemisphere. (We're honestly not trying to be ironic here; perhaps our unconscious dredged up the memory of Tom Wesselmann's Pop Art painting "The Great American Nude"). The two earlier Christopher Coppola films we'd seen featured some great vintage Americana Naive Architecture sets, like the Teepee Motel you can still stay at, with giant dinosaur replicas nearby. But the characters didn't emblazon themselves in your memory as in BLOODHEAD--which incidentally may possibly be retitled The Creature from the Sunrise Trailer Park. (sic). This film is definitely an antidote to all the past 20 years' worth of wimpy, p.c., diffident, confused, gender-questioning, shoe-gazing, passive, passive-aggressive, alterna-male "movie stars" that have been foisted upon us. Think of those actors and models who all look far too permanently boyish. They just don't act or look like MEN. Who today remotely compares with Clark Gable in The Misfits or Cary Grant in To Catch a Thief or North by Northwest, or even more recently, Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson in our favorite Western, Once Upon a Time in the West (well, we like Johnny Guitar, too). These are men--not stick-figure masculinist Marlboro-smoking cardboard cutouts either, but men with character and depth as well as humor and charm...but definitely, unmistakably MEN. And not f--in' "Metrosexuals," either....

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