Reaction Shots

“The movie was called “Devil Girl from Mars” and I saw it when I was about twelve years old, and it changed my life.”  - Octavia Butler, “Devil Girl from Mars”: Why I Write Science Fiction” It’s difficult to make the case that the Danzigers’ Devil Girl form Mars is a good film. They rarely produced movies that are considered more than middling and some that are just plain bad, as in our current selection. However, I happen to love this movie! Supposedly a U.K. response to the science fiction works coining out of Hollywood, Devil Girl from Mars boasted special effects a little better than Ed Wood’s Plan 9 from Outer Space , acting by genuine pros from the British stage (and HAZEL COURT!!!) but some of the most preposterous characterizations and completely silly attempt as sci-fi exposition ever committed to screen. Michael Carter: Mrs. Jamieson, may I introduce your latest guest. Miss Nyah. She comes from Mars. Mrs. Jamieson: Oh, well, that’ll mean another bed. Our masterpiece has one

When did you start getting into film seriously? I think I was practically born a movie nerd. My mother introduced me to James Whale’s   Frankenstein   when I was five. Before that, among my earliest memories was the rerelease of   Pinocchio ,   Jason and the Argonauts   (both at the Village Theater in Houston). And I remember the utter terror of those goddamn flying monkeys in   The Wizard of Oz   as it played on a small black and white set on our enclosed back porch. As a kidding the single digits, I came to be in awe of these giant dreams projected on screens or in the little box where I’d also see   Johnny Quest ,   The Flinstones ,   I Love Lucy   and the   Ed Sullivan Show . But movies were special. They were long-form stories and far more engaging. I had to pay attention. Cartoons were usually short and to the point. Variety shows allowed for zoning out or dialing in as the situation merited. But movies? This was a different world, a different way of telling stories. Horror, or r