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SKINAMARINK // (2022) dir. kyle edward ball

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BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR 1990 | dir. Brian Yuzna

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BRANDON LEE as ERIC DRAVEN THE CROW (1994) dir, Alex Proyas

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Note: These are homages to both the subject matter and R.L. Stine's amazing body of work. Share and enjoy responsibly, and stay weird!

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An American Werewolf In London Directed by John Landis (1981)

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Opera | 1987 | Dir. Dario Argento

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[Arnie] watched as Junkins, in the guise of a sincere admirer, used his sharp brown eyes to look for suspicious dents, flaked paint, maybe a spot of blood or a snarl of matted hair. Looking for signs of Moochie Welch. Arnie was suddenly sure that was just what the shitter was doing. 

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Here’s the thing of why the “okay… show me” scene is the best part of the film. The sexual overtones, the gloriously filthy use of the gloriously filthy “Harlem Nocturne,” and Keith Gordon’s bodacious lips and unparalleled performance aside, reading the book has helped me realize another layer of why this scene is so good. 

In the film, Arnie’s connection to Christine is this unspoken bond. Something about her drew him in at first sight and he’s been hypnotized ever since. He works tirelessly on her to make her as beautiful to the rest of the world as she already is to him. Now the bullies have wrecked her after all his hard work, but his love has given her the power and strength to repair herself. By this point, she trusts him completely, so she shows him what she’s capable of. He’s earned it. John Carpenter (director) and Keith Gordon (Arnie) have discussed the intention to make this scene like a striptease, which definitely adds to the idea that he has earned this reveal. 

As much as I have always loved this scene, I have grown even more appreciative now because this scene does not exist in the book. In fact, their whole relationship is different. He does not seem as inexplicably hypnotized in the book. Of course she has her magnetic pull, but he is constantly explaining that he bought the car because he believed he could fix her up. He was something of a genius at mechanics and he saw Christine as this incredible project. And whenever anyone suggests that he should get rid of her, he tells them about all the hard work he’s put into restoring her and he takes so much pride in what he’s been able to do. 

What makes that so tragic, though, is that Christine has been making her own repairs all along. The work he’s done on her has been very basic, but he doesn’t actually realize it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembers that she has been doing it on her own, but he is so disturbed and out of it that he doesn’t even remember what parts he had actually done. There is no big reveal. 

Plus, in the book, their bond is more of a love/hate relationship. Christine’s original owner is dying and Arnie is such a scrawny little pushover who has been bullied by everyone, including his own mother, that Christine sets her sights on him because he will be easy to manipulate. She essentially uses him as a host body to bring her original owner back from the dead. It’s not about Arnie at all.

The “okay.. show me” scene in this film captures a level of intimacy I don’t think these characters were capable of reaching in the book. And the reveal that she can make the repairs herself is a completely validating act for Arnie. At this point, he has been bewitched by the car beyond reason. We’re way into the supernatural now. And the whole thing I wanted to talk about is that his face during this scene barely registers any surprise. He is aroused, he is hungry, he is smug, but there is hardly any shock about what he is seeing. And now that I’ve been reading the book I have a better understanding of why: 

In the movie he doesn’t really have a reason why he bought the car. He says he bought it because, “for once I found something that’s uglier than me and I know I can fix her up,” but whenever he said that in the book, he was just rationalizing the truly mystical hold that Christine has on him. So now I’m reconsidering his explanation in the movie as well. He doesn’t really mention his efforts again, as he does in the book, though they are actually his own. He doesn’t necessarily take pride in the work he has done- he takes pride in her. He takes pride in the fact that he owns her at all, regardless of how she looks. So when she shows him how she can fix herself, it’s like she is justifying his obsession with her. She’s showing him that he was right to believe there was something unique and other-worldly about her. And he’s not surprised because deep down he has known this all along.

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“Ok, show me” - Christine (1893)

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the DORM THAT DRIPPED BLOOD (1983)

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As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish, I wish he’d go away.                Identity (2003), dir. James Mangold

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