| Eegah | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Nicholas Merriweather |
| Produced by | Nicholas Merriweather |
| Written by | Nicholas Merriweather |
| Starring | Richard Kiel Marilyn Manning Arch Hall, Jr. Arch Hall Sr. |
| Music by | André Brummer |
| Cinematography | Vilis Lapenieks |
| Editing by | Don Schneider |
| Distributed by | Fairway International |
| Release date(s) | June 8, 1962 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000 |
| Box office | $3,274 |
Eegah! (also known as Eegah! The Name Written in Blood) is a 1962 horror film starring Arch Hall, Jr., Arch Hall, Sr., Marilyn Manning and Richard Kiel in the titular role.
The film's notoriety was enhanced as a result of being featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, and was one of the films listed in Michael Medved's book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
Contents |
One night after shopping, Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning) is driving to a party through the California desert when she nearly runs her car into Eegah (Richard Kiel), a giant cave man. She tells her boyfriend Tom Nelson (Arch Hall, Jr.), and her father Robert Miller (Arch Hall, Sr.) about the giant. Her father, a writer of adventure books, decides to go into the desert to look for the creature and possibly take a photograph of it. When his helicopter ride fails to show up at his designated pickup time, Tom and Roxy go into the desert looking for him.
Roxy is soon kidnapped by Eegah and taken back to his cave while Tom searches for her. In Eegah's cave, Roxy is reunited with her father, who tells her that he has begun to communicate with the caveman and has developed a theory as to the creature's astounding longevity. When a frisky Eegah expresses what seems to be romantic interest in Roxy, her father, fearful that the creature may kill them both if he is rebuffed, suggests she put up with as much of it as she can bear. Eegah never tries anything too explicit, though, and Roxy even ends up giving him a shave before Tom arrives and helps the Millers escape. Crushed, Eegah follows them back to civilization, and a final confrontation ensues.
In the city, Eegah breaks into a restaurant and hotel, attracting the attention of the authorities. Eegah then makes his way to a pool where Roxy and Tom are partying. There the police catch up with him as he catches Roxy, and shoot him dead. The film ends with Eegah lying dead in the swimming pool.
Following the financial success of his first venture into the drive-in/juvenile delinquency genre, The Choppers, Arch Hall Sr. was able to fund Eegah!, a starring vehicle for his son, Arch Hall Jr., who had some success with songwriter Alan O'Day on the rock and roll/surf rock scene in Los Angeles. Hall, Sr. both co-wrote the film with Bob Wehling, directed the picture under the pseudonym Nicholas Merriweather, and co-starred opposite his son under the name William Watters. While the library music used to underscore the picture was supplied by André Brummer (under the name Henri Price), an uncredited O'Day ended up being the music editor on Eegah!
Hall Sr. looked to create an Elvis Presley-style screen persona for his son, and made sure that Eegah! was peppered with various rock and roll songs, (including two songs he wrote called "Vicky and "Valerie") and flattering close-ups of his son, later mocked by MST3K because of Hall Jr.'s distinctly odd facial features. The film attempts elements of traditional schlock-horror and youth-comedy genres. It also contains echoes of the 1960s "beach party" genre.
Hall Sr.'s company, "Fairway-International Pictures", located in Burbank, California, was also Hall's place of residence and doubled for a number of locations in the picture, including the Millers' apartment.
Assistant cameraman Ray Dennis Steckler appears in the picture as Mr. Fischer, the man at the hotel who is thrown at the pool near the end of the picture. Steckler, who had previously moved to Hollywood to become a cameraman, made his directing debut the next year in the Arch Hall Jr. vehicle, Wild Guitar. Steckler's first independent feature, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (which MST3K also riffed in a later season) was later distributed by Fairway-International.
It is considered one of the worst films ever. The first real notoriety the film had past its initial release was being included in the Michael Medved book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time.
In 1993, Eegah! was featured on Comedy Central's cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 and became a fan favorite.
One of the film's more inept moments became a running joke on the show: Hall, Sr.'s line "Watch out for snakes!" is blurted out despite a lack of any visual source for the dialog. The line became a running gag, both on other episodes of the show and in a limited fashion as a pop-culture meme, appearing on The Office and as the closing line of The Rick Emerson Show.
In the published episode guide to the series, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide (ISBN 0-553-37783-3), the cast considers the shaving scene from Eegah, in which Eegah lolls his tongue around and laps up shaving cream, to be one of the most disgusting things they've witnessed during their time on the show. The writers also speculate that some kind of romantic relationship existed between Arch Hall, Sr. and his on-screen daughter Marilyn Manning, due to the uncomfortably non-familial chemistry in their scenes together.
Eegah! also appeared on an episode of Movie Macabre, featuring Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.
In 2009, Eegah! was shown on horror hosted television series Cinema Insomnia.[1] Apprehensive Films later released the Cinema Insomnia episode onto DVD.[2]
The MST3K version of the movie was released on DVD in March 2000 by Rhino Home Video. As of January 2010, the DVD is now out-of-print on their official website, and as of July 2011, it is no longer available on MST3K's official website.