''Eegah'' (sometimes stylized as ''Eegah!'' and also known as ''Eegah: The Name Written in Blood'') is a 1962 American
horror film directed by
Arch Hall Sr. (as Nicholas Merriwether) and starring
Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning and
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing tall, he was known for portraying Jaws in '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) and '' Moonraker'' (1979). Kiel's next-most-recognized role is the t ...
.
It was listed in the 1978 book ''
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
,'' and was featured in a 1993 episode of ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and a 2010 episode of ''
Elvira's Movie Macabre
''Elvira's Movie Macabre'' (titled on-screen as ''Movie Macabre with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark'' in its original run), or simply ''Movie Macabre'', is an American hosted horror movie television program that originally aired locally from 1981 ...
''. ''Eegah'' is often considered to be among the
worst films ever made.
Plot
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
caveman
The caveman is a stock character representative of primitive humans in the Paleolithic. The popularization of the type dates to the early 20th century, when Neanderthals were influentially described as "simian" or " ape-like" by Marcellin Bo ...
. 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 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 a 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, a final confrontation ensues, and Eegah is killed.
Cast
*
Arch Hall Jr. as Tom Nelson
* Marilyn Manning as Roxy Miller
*
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel (September 13, 1939 – September 10, 2014) was an American actor. Standing tall, he was known for portraying Jaws in '' The Spy Who Loved Me'' (1977) and '' Moonraker'' (1979). Kiel's next-most-recognized role is the t ...
as Eegah
*
Arch Hall Sr. as Robert Miller
* Clay Stearns as Band Member
* Bob Davis as George
*
as Band Member
* Ron Shane as Detective
* Addalyn Pollitt as George's Wife
* Lloyd Williams as Mr. Kruger, Helicopter Pilot
*
Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler (January 25, 1938 – January 7, 2009), also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as ''The Incredibly St ...
as Mr. Fishman
* Bill Rice as Chef
* Carolyn Brandt as Fishman's Girl
Production
![Eegah-ArchHallJr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Eegah-ArchHallJr.jpg)
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
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...
/
surf rock scene in Los Angeles. Hall Sr. 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
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
-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"). The film attempts elements of traditional schlock-horror and youth-comedy genres and contains echoes of the 1960s "
beach party
''Beach Party'' is a 1963 American film and the first of seven beach party films from American International Pictures (AIP) aimed at a teen audience.Smith, Gary A. Smith (2009) ''The American International Pictures Video Guide'', McFarland p.2 ...
" genre. One of the members of the rock and roll band shown in the film was Deke Lussier, who, as
, later became a highly respected songwriter and
record producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...
at
Motown Records.
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
Ray Dennis Steckler (January 25, 1938 – January 7, 2009), also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as ''The Incredibly St ...
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!!?'', was later distributed by Fairway-International.
Reception and legacy
Often considered to be
one of the worst films ever made, the film has a rare
approval rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, with 8 critical reviews. The first real notoriety the film had past its initial release was being included in the 1978 book ''The Fifty Worst Films of All Time''. In his ''Classic Movie Guide'', film critic
Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...
awarded the film a "bomb", his lowest rating possible, calling it "A staple at 'All-Time Worst Film' festivals".
Writing in
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
, critic Ian Jane described the film as "terrible in all the right ways" and "about as bottom of the barrel as they come".
The film is listed in
Golden Raspberry Award
The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
founder
John Wilson's book ''
The Official Razzie Movie Guide
''The Official Razzie Movie Guide: Enjoying the Best of Hollywood's Worst'' is a book about the booby prize award show the Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies), written by John Wilson, founder of the awards ceremony. The book was published in 2005 ...
'' as one of the "100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made."
![Eegah-RichardShaving](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Eegah-RichardShaving.jpg)
In 1993, ''Eegah!'' was featured on
Comedy Central's cult television series ''
Mystery Science Theater 3000'' and became a fan favorite. In the published episode guide to the series, ''The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide'' (), 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 have 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. 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.
In 2009, ''Eegah!'' was featured in a season five episode of the television series ''
Cinema Insomnia
''Cinema Insomnia'' is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo.
Format
Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic (such as ''Creatu ...
''.
Home media
The film is in the public domain and has been released on home video a number of times, both as stand-alone versions and as part of multi-film collections.
The ''MST3K'' version of the movie was released on DVD in March 2000 by
Rhino Home Video
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus.
History
Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...
. As of January 2010, the DVD was out of print, and as of July 2011, it was no longer available on the official ''MST3K'' website. It was reissued on DVD by
Shout Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
on May 22, 2018, as part of ''The Singles Collection''. MST3K launched "The Gizmoplex" to the public on May 8, 2022, a new headquarters for all things
Mystery Science Theater 3000 related, and "Eegah" is available for purchase in digital streaming form directly from their new website at gizmoplex.com.
The ''Cinema Insomnia'' episode featuring the film was released on DVD by
Apprehensive Films on April 13, 2009.
On November 1, 2019, The Film Detective announced a new 4K restoration of ''Eegah'' would be released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 26, 2019, with the Blu-ray being a limited edition of only 1,500 copies in collaboration with Shout! Factory, Something Weird Video, and Cinema Preservation Alliance. Special features included the complete MST3K version of the movie, an interview with MST3K creator
Joel Hodgson
Joel Hodgson (born February 20, 1960) is an American writer, comedian and television actor. He is best known for creating '' Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (''MST3K'') and starring in it as the character Joel Robinson. In 2007, ''MST3K'' was list ...
, and an interview with star Arch Hall Jr.
Trailers From Hell
/ref>
See also
* List of American films of 1962
A list of American films released in 1962.
'' Lawrence of Arabia'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
__TOC__
Top-grossing films (U.S.)
source: https://web.archive.org/web/20080907071824/http://www.boxofficereport.com/database/1962.shtml
...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
* {{Internet Archive film, id=Eegah, name=Eegah
1962 films
1962 horror films
1962 independent films
1960s English-language films
Films shot in Los Angeles
American independent films
1960s monster movies
Films about cavemen
1960s rediscovered films
Rediscovered American films
Films about father–daughter relationships
1960s American films