life stings
An insect mugged me as I turned into Park Road. I never even saw it, only its sting, which I had to pull out of my face. This kind of thing happens, I am told, purely by accident, but it felt personal: I was shocked and hurt. Only the news that this was part of a general uprising of the insects against humankind would have brought me any comfort. But this did not appear to be the case.
The next day my face was swollen up and I had to wear a mask and go live in the sewers. Though when I think about it, why did I do both? Life and horror films are not always logical. I watched Brazilian horror movie Inferno Carnal (aka: Hellish Flesh) from my Coffin Joe box set. Some people on the internet have slated these DVD's because of the picture quality and the burned-in subtitles whose English translations are, shall we say, not the most elegant in the world, but the latter only add to the fun in my opinion. In this one our writer-director-star Jose Marica Marins (aka: Coffin Joe) plays a scientist who is neglecting his wife because he is too involved in his 'experiences' (I think they mean experiments). These involve, in one instance, pouring acid onto a caterpillar, which seems of doubtful value to humanity, although we are assured that he has created acids strong enough to 'destroy a big arm in seconds'.
It isn't long before his faithless wife throws one of his own acids in his face, while her lover burns his lab down with him in it. He survives - hideously disfigured, we are told - but, curiously, does not press charges. Instead he broods and smokes his pipe through his mask - or is that meant to be his face now? - and continues to feed his wife money, all the while waiting until such a time as she will voluntarily return to him and - also voluntarily - throw acid into her own face so that they can be monsters together. At which point - ha! - he rips off his mask and reveals that he isn't disfigured at all! Hmm, so why was he wearing the mask even when no-one was looking at him except the audience? Perhaps the acid got to the script.
On some level though, I believed it all.
The next day my face was swollen up and I had to wear a mask and go live in the sewers. Though when I think about it, why did I do both? Life and horror films are not always logical. I watched Brazilian horror movie Inferno Carnal (aka: Hellish Flesh) from my Coffin Joe box set. Some people on the internet have slated these DVD's because of the picture quality and the burned-in subtitles whose English translations are, shall we say, not the most elegant in the world, but the latter only add to the fun in my opinion. In this one our writer-director-star Jose Marica Marins (aka: Coffin Joe) plays a scientist who is neglecting his wife because he is too involved in his 'experiences' (I think they mean experiments). These involve, in one instance, pouring acid onto a caterpillar, which seems of doubtful value to humanity, although we are assured that he has created acids strong enough to 'destroy a big arm in seconds'.
It isn't long before his faithless wife throws one of his own acids in his face, while her lover burns his lab down with him in it. He survives - hideously disfigured, we are told - but, curiously, does not press charges. Instead he broods and smokes his pipe through his mask - or is that meant to be his face now? - and continues to feed his wife money, all the while waiting until such a time as she will voluntarily return to him and - also voluntarily - throw acid into her own face so that they can be monsters together. At which point - ha! - he rips off his mask and reveals that he isn't disfigured at all! Hmm, so why was he wearing the mask even when no-one was looking at him except the audience? Perhaps the acid got to the script.
On some level though, I believed it all.
posted by martin at 12:51 PM
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