Editorials
[It Came From the ’80s] Elmer Causes ‘Brain Damage’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
Frank Henenlotter’s follow up to Basket Case brought a much more effective anti-drug campaign than that of first lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No,” in the form of pint-sized parasitic Elmer. Or Aylmer, for the initiated. When an older couple loses their ancient parasite in their apartment complex, it finds a home in Brian (Rick Hearst). More specifically, it attaches itself to Brian’s brain stem and injects its addictive blue liquid, sending Brian into a euphoria that he can’t get enough of. The only problem is that Elmer demands to be fed human brains in return.
Set in the same seedy underbelly of New York as Basket Case (Kevin Van Hentenryck even cameos with the basket during a scene set in the subway, and Beverly Bonner plays a neighbor), Brian’s relationship with Elmer mirrors the journey of an addict. The bright colors of his highs and the ecstasy he feels quickly erases the bloody, violent way in which he first meets Elmer. Before long, he’s sleeping all day and disassociating with everyone around him. He ventures out all night, tripping on Elmer’s blue liquid while Elmer takes over to kill victims for their brains. None of their deaths are pleasant, and one in particular proved to be very controversial. When Brian finally realizes the bad outweighs the good, he tries to let his girlfriend in on his dark secret, but Elmer refuses, inducing nightmarish hallucinations and shooting pain. Further cementing the heavy addiction metaphor is the extreme withdrawal to those who no longer receive regular injections from Elmer.
The phallic blue Elmer, with his cartoonish eyes and sharp hooked mouth came from creature designer Gabe Bartalos (Leprechaun) and the animatronics of Elmer by David Kindlon (The Blob, DeepStar Six). With a fiberglass skeleton underneath a foam rubber skin, the animatronic Elmer puppet contributed to most of the appearances in the film, with visual effects supervisor Al Magliochetti’s work overlapping the animation and visual effects of Elmer. Bartalos also sculpted a much larger version of Elmer for close ups, where Elmer’s mouth unhinges and his hooks protrude to latch on and inject his addictive venom.
Later revealed to be Aylmer, though still pronounced Elmer, the phallic little parasite stems from Faustian legend, handled in a darkly humorous way that only Henenlotter can relay. If the creature’s design wasn’t indicative enough of the humor, then Elmer’s unique voice does. Elmer is a wily charmer, with a comedic voice that doesn’t seem to quite match the short stature. He’s voiced by John Zacherle, a singer, radio personality, and voice actor. Zacherle was most known, however, for his lengthy stint as television horror host Roland for WCAU’s Shock Theater in the late ‘50s.
Like most of Henenlotter’s work, Brain Damage doesn’t exactly have a mainstream appeal. While it was given a limited theatrical release 30 years ago, on April 15, 1988, the film was mostly ignored or disliked until building an eventual cult following on home release. It wasn’t until Synapse Films’ DVD release around 2007, where a lot of the gore was put back in, that it really started to find its audience. The quirky design by Bartalos and Henenlotter’s equally quirky sense of humor meant another memorable horror comedy that was ahead of its time.
There’s been a lot of talk about how Christopher Nolan snuck in some horror elements into his epic adaptation of The Odyssey. However, even before the Cyclops began to eat Ithican soldiers and Circe subjected them to magical body-horror, cinemagoers were already witnessing supernatural terror through a certain trailer that was attached to most IMAX screenings of Nolan’s film.
It turns out that this trailer was for Rob Savage’s Other Mommy, an adaptation of Bird Box author Josh Malerman’s horror novel, Incidents Around the House. With the teaser now available online and revealing that the award-winning Jessica Chastain is playing the titular antagonist (as well as her ill-fated human counterpart), not to mention the fact that the picture is being helmed by the director of hits like Host and The Boogeyman, genre fans are understandably hyped for this upcoming thriller.
That’s why I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer and share four things we learned from this sneak peek at Other Mommy!
4. Rob Savage is Going Back to His Supernatural Horror Roots
I know I’m in the minority when I admit that Dashcam is my favorite Rob Savage movie, but even I understand why the filmmakers’ fans have been waiting a while for the director to get back to telling more grounded paranormal stories as he did with 2020’s Host.
Other Mommy obviously isn’t a found footage movie, but moments like the poltergeist activity on the kitchen table combined with the nature of the source material, which actually features a full-on exorcism, indicate that this adaptation is more than a simple creature feature. That’s why I think Savage is once again going to borrow from the same ghostly narratives that made his debut film such a viral hit.
3. Other Mommy is a More Convincing Doppelganger in the Adaptation
Part of the horror from Malerman’s original novel came from the fact that the entity taking on the form of Bela’s (Arabella Olivia Clark) mother wasn’t very good at passing itself off as human. This resulted in several uncanny moments where other characters began to notice that there was something visibly wrong with the family and decided to keep their distance.
Savage’s film appears to be taking a different route, with the trailer showing a version of the entity that can, at least physically, imitate Chastain’s character perfectly. This change is likely the result of the filmmakers wanting to incorporate more paranoid scenes where Bela and her father, played by Jay Duplass, are confused about which Mommy is safe to interact with.
2. The Family is Also Better Off This Time Around
Incidents Around the House featured some interesting subtext about how poverty can negatively affect American family dynamics. After all, the main characters were already feeling scared and isolated before the entity emerged from Bela’s closet and began scratching at their emotional wounds. The trailer for the movie, however, depicts the family as being relatively well off before these incidents begin to occur.
I can only imagine that this part of the story was changed so that the family’s fall from grace can be even more dramatic as the mom and dad’s pasts are revealed and Bela falls further into the clutches of the demonic antagonist.
1. Jessica Chastain is Embodying Evil Dead Rise’s Alyssa Sutherland
Mothers turning against their children is one of the most disturbing horror tropes out there (just check out classics like Hereditary and Carrie if you need proof), but it takes a remarkably skilled actress to pull off such a monstrous transformation. This is especially true when both a regular, loving mother and the Other share the screen in the same film.
That’s why I appreciate how Chastain appears to be channeling another evil redhead mother that recently traumatized audiences with her performance. It’s too early to be sure, but I’m fairly confident that Chastain’s character has at least some amount of Ellie in her cinematic DNA – Ellie being the iconic deadite brought to life by Australian actress Alyssa Sutherland in 2023’s Evil Dead Rise.
Let us know in the comments if you think we missed any important details from the trailer, and don’t forget to check out Other Mommy when it hits theaters on October 9!
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