Pulp Features

In the worlds of big name film people with huge budgets, small time filmmakers with tiny budgets and those in between many talented people get lost in the shuffle. When I say “Greg Arce” I am assuming the bulk of the readers here will respond with, “Who?” I am am also assuming, however, that you have some interest in the man or you wouldn’t be here, so let’s take a look at him.

Greg Arce is a stage actor turned video producer, the complete opposite of Andre Van Heerden. This man has gone the other way, so to speak, with the production of Den. Not maliciously anti-church or anti-religion, as it easily could have been, it offers some interesting points within its odd framework. It is not entirely horror, not entirely philosophical and not entirely black comedy either. When I first found out about this production (by accident), I contacted Arce and he seemed like a very pleasant fellow. When I received a copy of his video, I kept thinking to myself, “God, Jesus, Zeus, Thor, anyone up there…don’t let this guy’s work be the drizzling shits, knowing what I do about indy projects…”

Well, it wasn’t that bad.

The concept of the film has Arce as a psycho killer (He directed, wrote and produced this also, which had me really worried at first) who kidnaps a group of people, holds them hostage in his basement and torments them both mentally and physically. He encourages them to play a warped game of trivial pursuit and here is the really scary part, I knew all the answers, including things on the God-awful Shenanigans kid show I thought no one but me and evidently Arce remembers), he sets them against each other and ultimately kills them. It is at this point; just when you want to groan and call it routine indy stuff, the movie takes a twist. It is revealed the killer is a religious fanatic, wanting to save the souls of the various sinners he has captured, but the lone survivor, a loud, atheist woman, actually confronts him and tears down his arguments in favour of the Bible which could well, match some of the emails between Andre Van Heerden and myself. In the end, captive and killer effectively kill each other and the production ends…

Like you would really expect a happy ending!

Arce, by the way, looks like an insane Pavarotti and his screen image carries well. He’s also a better psycho than many counterparts in higher budget films.

Curiously, this production started out as just a play, when they all had the idea of videotaping it and marketing it as a movie. Again, the concept works for them.

As for the anti-religious sentiment in the film, Arce said in one email conversation that he was raised in a Catholic school and now is pretty much a disbeliever. It shows in the script.

For more information on this interesting newcomer, visit his webpage at www.clowntearsproductions.com which will provide more information on Den, as well as upcoming projects.

Andre Van Heerden was born in Zambia, Africa, to a Canadian mother and a South African father. His mother was a catholic, his father a protestant. With a background like this to begin with, one could imagine him turning out to be one screwed up kid. Instead, he played soccer, grew up in Canada, got a degree in English/Journalism and went to pursue one of his lifelong interests, that of working in the movies.

Van Heerden got his start making documentaries, usually centred on the debate between evolution and creationism. Then, he moved up in the world, when he started as a writer for the religious-based show, “This Week in Bible Prophecy”, headed by two Toronto-area brothers with film production ideas of their own. When these brothers started Cloud Ten Pictures, Van Heerden found his calling. He was able to land work as a writer, director and producer. He lucked out, so to speak.

Van Heerden, a practicing Christian who loves to debate evolution and creationism to this date, went on to become one of the most recognized directors in “faith-based” films, that is, movies dealing with the coming of the Antichrist and the end of the world as we know it. While his movies already had an audience within the church body, the films likewise caught on with the secular crowd. The non-believers rented the videos expecting decent horror films and frankly, they got them.

In his movies, Van Heerden introduced Franco Macalousso, a leering, annoying son-of-Satan to put Damien in the Omen series to shame. Overacted to the hilt, by long lasting actor, Nick Mancuso, this antichrist is half Hitler, half Bozo the Clown. While overwhelmingly sinister at one minute, he is charming and charismatic the next. In one scene, he resembles The Red Guy from the “Cow & Chicken” cartoons, at other times, an evil force worse than any of the Caesars of Rome. Yet no matter how evil his plans or how laid out, the good guys (played by Christians of course) always manage to outwit him at the last second, like in the Roadrunner cartoons… with the Coyote having his best-laid plans backfire. At least it has been that way until now, for a new script is said to be within initial stages, which will show Macalousso evolving into something far more powerful, far more wicked and frankly, a far more formidable enemy for his Christian counterparts.

For examples of Macalousso’s creepiness, as well as Van Heerden’s capacity as a director, see “Judgment” and “Tribulation”. If you are a believer then this is the movie set for you. If you are an agnostic, then simply check the films out and view them as horror movies. Mancuso’s performances alone are worth the rental price. In more recent times, Van Heerden directed yet another “faith-based” horror thriller, called “Deceived”, with Judd Nelson, Louis Gossett Jr. and others. Signals reach an observatory and lead people to believe aliens are contacting earth. All is not as it seems and Independence Day it isn’t. Add government conspiracies, the devil, and a group of people turning on each other after hearing said signals, and you’ve got an interesting concept. Each of the listeners is affected by the signal and changes, becoming obsessed with one of the seven deadly sins the church likes to warn people about. For example, a fat, pompous pastor turns to gluttony, eating everything in sight and making a gigantic martini for himself with a bottle of booze and a bottle of olives. That’s just a warm up.

At least Franco Macalousso isn’t the culprit in “Deceived”.

On a personal note, Van Heerden lives in the Toronto suburbs, with a wife, one child and another (as of this writing, late February, 2003) on the way. Aside from his biblical beliefs, he also admires western films and some horror. One of his favourite genre films and characters, oddly enough, remains “Unforgiven” and the world-weary William Munny as played by Clint Eastwood.

While Van Heerden has no personal website, information on his projects may be found at Cloud Ten Pictures.

He is relatively young as far as directors go, still in his early 30s, an interesting concept as most directors are much older. Van Heerden sometimes has to put up with a lot because of his age as well. In Tribulation, Margot Kiddor patted him on the head and said, “Why you’re just a baby,” upon meeting him. Even worse, Judd Nelson though he was just a fan approaching to ask for an autograph, before they were introduced.

In any case, Andre Van Heerden is a bright new face on both the religious realm and the horror film realm. Look for more from him in times to come. Regardless of (or perhaps because of) your personal beliefs or philosophies, give his movies a try.

If one wants to talk about B-move hell and under-rated actors, one would have to put Bradford Dillman near the top of the list. Though he quit acting in the early 1990s, retiring to Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, Susie Parker (also an actress in the 1960s), his films remain readily seen on video, on television and among cult enthusiasts at festivals. He devotes most of his energy to writing books now, including an autobiography and works of fiction, while he follows his longstanding passion… football. If you want to remain on his good side, never say anything bad about the 49ers.

Dillman studied acting in New York and appeared in numerous stage productions before graduating to the big screen and television. Among his most crowning achievements include his seemingly unlikely presentation as St. Francis De Assisi in the film of the same name. More relevant to pulp movie enthusiasts, however, would be his actions as a psychotic killer, alongside fellow murderer Dean Stockwell, in Compulsion. The film was based on a real-life murder case where two intellectual young men killed someone just to prove they were smart enough to get away with it…which they weren’t.

Dillman’s works in horror and suspense are not always so high profile. In the past he was even called The Sir Laurence Olivier of B-Movies by various writers who marvelled at why this man would waste his talents in some projects which were God-awful. Dillman always had a blunt answer to this. “The bottom line is I had six kids to feed!”

Among the lesser films are Deliver Us from Evil, Man Outside, Lords of the Deep, Bug, Brother John and many more. In Crack in the Mirror, which isn’t even included on many of his resumes, he appears in a nonspeaking role, as a ghost in a mirror. The movie is also noteworthy for it offered a supporting role to a pre-All in the Family Carroll O’ Conner.

Among the horror films, one of the most surprisingly popular was Bug, with Dillman as a mad scientist who creates a hybrid insect with the power to start fires. Predictably, he is done in by his own creation, like a modern day Victor Frankenstein and afterward, this fire-bringing bug is released upon mankind, presumably to destroy it.

Bug, to Dillman’s surprise, became a cult classic.

Such was not true with another movie from roughly the same time span. Chosen Survivors involves a group of people locked up in a survivalist type experiment underground and terrorized by killer bats. At the end, when they are rescued, one of the other actors let everyone know what he thought of the script and the movie. As he is being helped away, you can pick him up making a masturbatory motion with his free hand. The footage was left in the picture as no one in the cutting room picked up on this. Dillman, while equally unenthused about the project but keeping the prospect of another paycheck to feed his six kids, was a bit more professional.

Another of the lesser known films which Dillman helped save was Deliver Us From Evil, in which a group of hikers discover a suitcase full of stolen money, based on a DB Cooper type villain. The people who discover the money all of course end up at each other’s throats, killing each other, and creating a predictable morality play about greed. Chalk it up as another salvation project for Dillman.

Man Outside remains one of the most interesting projects the actor was involved in, as a man who kidnaps a child, not to molest him as is generally believed, but to ”have a friend.” The film still pops up on cable now and again.

Of the most unusual roles for this actor, however, was his role as John Wilkes Booth in The Lincoln Conspiracy. While Dillman makes a suitably psychotic anti-hero in this film which suggests the real Booth got away after shooting Lincoln (a theory which still circulates among conspiracy buffs), there is one factor even this man could not overcome. Dillman is well over six feet tall, where the real John Wilkes Booth was roughly 5 feet, nine inches of sinister shortness.

For those who prefer a bit of sappiness, Dillman’s greatest role and certainly one of the most often shown on the small screen, is his supporting role in The Way We Were, the epic coming-of-age/love saga starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. If you don’t know the film, I am sure you will recognize the title song, “Memories…of the way we used to be…misty, watercolour memories of the way we were…” or something like that. While this one gained him a lot of acclaim among the cultured set, it didn’t do much for the blue-collar types used to see him in westerns, horror films and spy type movies.

The problem with The Way We Were was that, for all practical purposes, Dillman not only played a good guy, but a normal person, disgustingly normal and human, so unlike most of the roles for which he was better known. Dillman the psycho sometimes overshadows Dillman the actor. As a screen nut, there are few better, including Perkins, Hopkins and Robert Englund in their respective roles and at their leering best. Such proves to be the case, even to this day, where people watch this movie and think, where’s the basket case we are used to!

On a lighter scale, Dillman is also seen in Moon of the Wolf, a made-for-television film where he plays a true monster, a werewolf. In order to hasten his own end, he has bullets blessed by a priest (nice touch, steering clear of the standard silver-bullet theory), and subtly provides them to his killer. Aside from the werewolf element, there are several social issues pertaining to the politics on the era when it was filmed, the twofaced behaviour of “old blood” in the decaying south, and changing social mores. Philosophy in a low budget horror film. Who could ask for more!

Another overlooked Dillman piece, likewise dealing with life in the very racial, changing south, is Brother John, with Dillman as a rich businessman facing strikers, colour-based tensions and a potential class war in good-old-boy country, USA. Enter John, a mysterious stranger who always shows up in town before something bad is going to happen. And happen it does. Not until the end, is it revealed John is an angel, sent down to earth to test and observe mankind, just before final judgment comes. In the end, it’s pretty much doom and gloom for the human race and Dillman, bastard that he is in the film, helps to screw mankind once again!

Robert Shlssler, an assistant director on the astoundingly bad Guyana, Cult of the Damned, was impressed with Dillman and surprised to a great actor in such a bad movie, evidently not aware of the “six kids” logic. He would later note to me how he saw Dillman sitting aside from everyone on the set, obviously in deep thought. “What a dedicated actor, so into studying his lines,” the assistant director thought. “Look how intense…”

He then realized Dillman was studying football news!

During his long career, he has worked with everyone, or so it seems. James Dean (whom he met in New York during their respective stage careers), Clint Eastwood, Raquel Welch, George Kennedy, Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell, and many more. Of James Dean, he was quoted in a letter thusly. “He was extremely talented…and extremely weird.”

Dillman also spoke with less than total love for the great Orson Welles. He told of a time where he was supposed to take the large sized actor down and Welles did not want to go along with it, due to their weight difference. As Dillman put it, “I just reverted back to my old basic training from the marines…and that ended that.” Welles, so to speak, took a bump!

In any case, Bradford Dillman was, is and will forever be remembered as a man who made it his profession to save bad films or at least make a valiant attempt at doing so. From Lords Of the Deep, where he hopelessly overacted in his death scene, to the point where Roger Corman, the producer, demanded a retake, to another film in which he decided to improvise on a horrible script, making the villain he played “gay”…then ticked off his co-star, who was homosexual and thought he was being made fun of, Dillman’s career remains repetitive. Continually, his skills saved (or at least partially saved) numerous films which would have been born dead otherwise, but caught people’s eyes because of his never-say-die enthusiasm.

Dillman is no longer as in touch with his fans as he once was, though he still receives fan mail on a frequent basis. He has said, regrettably, he is unable to comply with requests for signed photos, because he doesn’t have any left. To get a picture from him, you pretty much have to send him your own, though he remains congenial enough about it. Of all the Hollywood types I have encountered over the years and this includes several, he remains one of the most easy-going and one of the best with his fans, though sometimes he seems surprised at not being allowed to quietly fade into the shadows.

In recent years, Dillman’s wife has unfortunately encountered health problems, which have left him looking in on her. She nearly died from various ailments a few years back, but is doing better now. For a look at some of her roles, The Death of Manolete, off an old TV Playhouse presentation with Jack Palance, is circulating on video, while other movies with her involved may also be found through search mechanisms on the net. Essentially, she stayed at home to raise the kids because her husband had a stronger box office appeal and could be a projected breadwinner. Whatever professional conflict might have taken place must have been resolved, as they have been together for decades.

In all, Bradford Dillman remains a colourful and often underappreciated actor, one who has dedicated his career to saving bad films. He is indeed a B-movie icon.