SCHLOCK AND AWE DOUBLE: JOHN SAXON AND THE TWO NIGHTMARES

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DOUBLE FEATURE

Wes Craven's New Nightmare Written and Directed by Wes Craven (1994)

Nightmare Beach Written and Directed by Umberto Lenzi and  Henry Kirkpatrick (1989)



It was one of the coincidences that I was watching New Nightmare when I heard the news that genre movie legend John Saxon had passed away.  Saxon was one of those rock 'n' roll solid working actors that made everything he was in better, no matter how Schlocky.  Many obituaries call him the Actor from Enter the Dragon or if you are lucky Nightmare on Elm Street.  But, John Saxon was so much more. In classic genre movies like: Black Christmas, Tenebrae, Battle Beyond the Stars, Queen of Blood and The Evil Eye.  If you are aware of these movies, all you you want to do is watch these movies again cause they are all kinda great.  I wish I had included Tenebrae in this, cause that movie rocks, it would have been the perfect excuse to watch it again. But this is a Double Feature of Schlock and Awe I am going to be looking at two movies, the first a fore mentioned New Nightmare from 1994 and Umberto's Lenzi's insane late 1980s slasher Nightmare Beach.  Two Nightmares one memorable actor.



I love New Nightmare unabashedly.  It's my favourite in the Nightmare on Elm Street series, despite and because of the fact it needs the other movies in the series to really live.  It's  a little like David Gordon David Green's Halloween, but with more to say.  New Nightmare really leans into the legacy of the Elm Street Series.  The shadow that hangs over Heather Langenkamp, Robert Englund, and of course Wes Craven; who are defined by the public consciousness by Freddy Krurger  - as Englund says to Langenkamp after an appearance together, people like to see us together, or as Langankamp replys: What like a romantic comedy.  Freddy Krueger became an 1980s icon, imagine trying to lead a normal life living in his striped shirt  shadow.  In New Nightmare everyone must play their parts one more time.  The transition from a form of reality to the movie, gives me all the tingles every single time.  This is where John Saxon really shines, he gets a couple of hero moments which are perfect and his stern solid chin fits it perfectly.  But with a stoic face, the moment her goes from Saxon to Sheriff Thompson is only a slight change in the face, but it's a great piece of acting as Saxon goes from Father figure to Father in a moment.  Making Saxon a solid center of the movie as a whole.


Now from the sublime of the Horror genre to the insane.  Umberto Lenzi, the polite looking madman of Italian cinema is responsible for many a uniquely  bonkers Italian Horror Movies.  An the Nightmare Beach is no exception, the Spring Break party town where the movie is set has a surprisingly high crime rate with what feels like an over sized Motorcycle Gang for the town of it's size with or without a murdious helmeted madman on the loose.  In some ways Nightmare Beach is a typical slasher and because it's Lenzi it's mostly not.  Yes, some one donned in leather and helmet is terrorizing and shocking the Spring Breakers.  However, then enters John Saxon, a grumpy town Sheriff, committed to hating everyone around him and doing his job, well what he thinks is his job, but he does it chin first like a pro.  This is a delightful contrast with Michael Parks playing the town doctor, who I'm still not is drunk, high or something else all together.  But it's very entertaining.  Slashers by nature by nature are structured around set pieces, Nightmare Beach feels like more like a sketch movie, it's fulled with bits, like the Spring Breaker who sets elaborate cons to sleep with older wealthy men for gifts of money.  I feel there is an easier way to do this.  Nightmare Beach is a dopey movie, from the hand full of Lenzi movies I have seen, he has a very loose anything goes style, even rumour has it Lenzi tried to walk away from the project and stayed as a consulting director, it still feels Lenzi style insane. But for me, it is Saxon that grounds it even he isn't the main event or doesn't have a pivotal moment like in New Nightmare.  But he is such as solid presence, he still gives the same impression of having a vital role, even if in Nightmare Beach he's terrible at his job.



John Saxon was a character actor who made a noticeable impact on the movies he was in, and therefore made an impact on movie buffs everywhere.  He usually played the stern hard ass, but as the above two movies display, Saxon is a calming presence in high concept movies.  John Saxon will be missed, but also remembered and celebrate because he is still so important to the movies he was in.



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