TV MEMORIES # 17 - BBC2'S MOVIEDROME (THE ALEX COX YEARS)

 

Moviedrome was a late night slot on BBC2 dedicated to showing cult films. Initially it was presented by Alex Cox - himself a director of cult movies (most notedly Repo Man and the Sid Vicious bio-pic Sid And Nancy) and ran on BBC2 on Sunday nights from 1988 though to 2000. 

From 1997 onwards the show was presented by film critic Mark Cousins but we're not really going to be talking about his run here, not because Cousins was bad or anything - it's just that his run is slightly less remembered than the Cox led series. Also by the time Cousins took the helm I'd pretty much stopped watching the show, so as a result I don't have enough memories of it to do it justice in an article.

The show's basic format was this - every week Alex Cox would introduce a cult movie (if we where especially lucky we'd get a double bill), these films would range from horror to sci-fi to westerns to comedies (basically any genre you can think of) the one thing they would all have in common was that they fell into the category of "cult movies". In the very first episode Cox defined cult films as "having a passionate following" but not "appealing to everyone" citing James Bond films as NOT being cult whilst "chainsaw movies" ARE.

Cox then goes on to say that cult films vary in quality - some being bad whilst others are good. Cox further states that cult movies tend to mainly be genre films but can also be "genre-fluid" - ie a Western having elements of horror to it. Cox closes out his definition by saying that most cult films are cheaply made but usually have some element that makes them worth watching all the same.

Cox's enthusiasm used to really shine through in these introductions and his insightful knowledge bought a new element to watching these films. Cox himself was a compelling presence - outwardly he's quite an odd looking chap, he was usually equally eccentrically dressed as well, coming over as a cross between a vaguely Punk looking geeky mature student mixed with the "cool" lecturer that every university or college seems to have on campus.

In fact that was all part of Cox's charm - he was an utter film geek through and through - back in the days before "geek culture" was a marketable and commonplace commodity like it is today. Cox was the friendly approachable lecturer that every student would like to have teaching them (if he hadn't have become a filmmaker I'm sure he could have earned a decent living being a film studies tutor and been a fondly remembered character by generations of students). In fact, its fairly safe to say that Cox (and Moviedrome) opened a generation's eyes to the existence of films that existed beyond the realms of the mainstream - he certainly did mine.

OK, so we've talked about the man. Now lets take a look at some of my memories of the movies he curated...

One of my earliest memories of Moviedrome was the 26th June 1988 showing of the Jane Fonda led sci-fi adventure film Barbarella. I can vividly remember sitting down to watch this with my Dad (who wasn't that impressed with Cox as I remember, he seemed to find him a bit irritating for some reason).

I can certainly remember watching the famous zero gravity strip scene and the part where Barbarella blows up the "Orgasmatron" machine (she's literally too hot for the machine to handle). I also found it amusing that the main villian was called Duran Duran - said villian being an evil scientist bent on galactic domination and NOT (surprisingly) a 1980's synth-pop group after all. I was certainly at just the right age for Jane Fonda's various sexy outfits to (ahem) "peak" my interest. By this point in the 80's Jane Fonda was mainly known to kids of my generation for releasing a series of straight to VHS exercise workout videos, so it was certainly fun to watch her play a sexy and camp sci-fi heroine.

The thing I probably remember the most about this film though is the scene where our heroine is attacked by a small army of robot dolls. The way thier razor sharp metallic teeth chomped menacingly towards the camera lingered in my memories for many years after, if nothing else it proved Cox's theory of the genre fluidity of cult movies to be absolutely on the money - here we see a comic book sci-fi adventure veer sharply into the realms of pure horror. Its a great moment.

My next memory of the show comes from it's second season in 1989 when there was a showing of Night Of The Comet. This was yet another "multi-genre" movie telling the tale of a comet that flies by Earth and wipes out most of the population by turning them into steaming piles of radioactive dust and (for some reason) turning the rest of the population into ravening zombies. Only a handful of clueless teenagers survive to fight off these creatures. It was a fun Sci-Fi/Horror/80's teen comedy mash-up and was perfect late night fare.

Also broadcast in the 89 season was the sci-fi time travelling Blade Runner rip-off Trancers. I've already reviewed Trancers on this site, this Moviedrome showing was my first exposure to this film and I greatly enjoyed it at the time (still do in fact).

As you can probably tell theres a definite pattern forming here regarding my memories of Moviedrome - I mainly used to only tune in for the sci-fi and horror films but come the 1990 season that started to change a bit as my tastes started to expand to include films from wider genres. One such film I remember watching was the showing of Get Carter broadcast on 20th May 1990. 

Mike Hodges' grim and gritty gangster revenge thriller certainly made an impression on me. Michael Caine played Jack Carter - an Eastend hitman who travels down to Newcastle to investigate/avenge his brothers death. I think the thing that struck me at the time was just how incredibly bleak the whole film was. The violence comes in short, sharp, brutal bursts. The sex is cheap and sleazy. Literally EVERYTHING is covered in that sheen of grime that seemed to be unique to 70's Britain. Nobody - and I mean NOBODY - comes out of this film looking good.

Even our "hero" Jack Carter is not shown to be an aspirational figure for the audience - he's utterly consumed by hatred and violence. Just when you think he's "won" by killing all his enemies and avenging his brother's death he's casually picked off by a sniper. Jack Carter dies on a bleak cold looking North East England shingle beach, his brains perforated by an assassin's bullet. He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword indeed...

Imagine my surprise when I was to later find out that this gritty crime saga was directed by the same guy who went on to make Flash Gordon. I don't think it would be a case of "Gordon's alive" for very long if Flash wandered into this movie...literally EVERYONE dies in this film.

A few weeks later it was back to the sci-fi when The Terminator was shown on 24th June 1990. This was probably the most well-known and "mainstream" film that had been shown on the series to date but I still tuned in and watched it regardless. I can remember a friend of mine taped it off the TV and this off-air copy was our "go to" version of the film for several months afterwards (even if it was cut for violence and swearing - spoilsports that they where).

The following week (1st July 1990) saw the showing of The Honeymoon Killers (which I reviewed on this blog a few weeks ago). As with Get Carter, this showing was my first exposure to this film and it also made an impression upon me.

Another horror favourite was shown a few weeks later (22nd July 1990) when Moviedrome broadcast An American Werewolf In London (complete with an Alex Cox intro where he's "menaced" by stock Werewolf sound effects). As with The Terminator a few weeks previously I'd already seen this film several times before, but I was more than happy to watch it again. Once again my friend taped this showing, and once more this taped version was viewed several times by us when we where round his house - it livened up many a rainy Saturday afternoon.

Thankfully BBC2 didnt cut out the amazing Werewolf transformation scene (or the bit where Jenny Agutter gets banged in the shower)...

The 1991 season bought Something Wild (broadcast on 9th June 1991). Jonathan  Demme's comedy road movie is not a film I've watched since (to be honest it probably wouldn't interest me much these days) but I certainly remember watching it at the time. I can remember being quite enamoured by Melanie Griffith's character. Back then in my post-adolescent days a pretty face and a nice figure where enough to keep me watching a film I would otherwise have no interest in. Enough said...

The following week (23rd June) was my first encounter with another film that I have since watched many more times over the years - Herk Harvey's B-movie horror classic Carnival Of Souls.

I can remember loving absolutely everything about this one - the creepy atmosphere, the black and white photography, the weird organ/fairground soundtrack, the abandoned spooky carnival where the movie's climax plays out, the white faced ghouls that haunt the film's heroine. It was everything that a cult B-horror film should be and was a perfect fit for Moviedrome's remit.

Carnival Of Souls was one of those films that I just wouldn't have encountered without the help of Moviedrome, and for that reason I am eternally greatful to the show.

I don't have many memories of the 1992 season (which isn't to say I didn't watch it, just that nothing has particularly stuck in my mind from that year...I must be getting old...).

I do remember them screening Q - The Winged Serpent and my Dad saying what a slimy little creep Michael Moriarty's character - Jimmy - was (he wasn't wrong). I also remember greatly enjoying the stop motion effects. Q is a fun little monster horror.

The other noteable thing about that season was that 1992 was the year they showed one of Alex Cox's own films - Walker. Obviously Cox couldn't review his own film, so in typical quirky style he read out a magazine review of the film which utterly slagged it off. You have to admire someone who can laugh at themselves like that.

Two showings stand out in my memories from the '93 season. The first was on 4th July 1993 when the Phillip Kaufman remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was aired. I'd first seen this over on ITV when I was about 8 years old, so it was good to see it again as an adult. It was every bit as good as I remembered it being.

Theres a review of it on this site somewhere if you're interested (sorry,  I still haven't figured out how to post links to old reviews yet - I'm such an amateur with computers that you're lucky I can even type my name in, let alone write reviews...).

The other film I have vivid memories of watching that year was of Grim Prairie Tales. I can remember that my parents where away that weekend and I'd just got back from the pub after having a date (the date hadn't gone well, hence why I was back at home watching weird movies instead of having an actual life).

I switched over to BBC2 and was confronted with this strange western which basically involved two men in the old West sitting around a campfire telling each other ghost stories. It's atmosphere really struck me and drew me in. Its one of those really obscure films that I don't think was ever released on DVD or Blu-Ray (it may have been around on VHS), but its well worth a look if you can find some way of watching it on the Internet.

The final movie I can remember seeing in the Cox era was Wes Craven's The People Under The Stairs (broadcast 3rd July 1994). Again, it was a Sunday night when I was home alone (my parents used to go away in thier caravan a lot back then). Once more I appreciated being given the chance to watch this strange horror/black comedy hybrid. I'd read good things about it in the horror movie magazines I used to buy back then so was eager to see it. It didn't disappoint and its still a film I go back to regularly.

I can remember Alex Cox criticising the casting of Wendy Robie and Everett McGill in this film. He argued that they where only in the film so that it could cash in on the sucess of Twin Peaks (which they both starred in) and thought thier casting was a bit of a cop out. 

I have to say I MASSIVELY disagree with Cox on this point. Robie and McGill are great as the pair of incestuous psychopathic serial killers. Afterall, why not cast actors from a popular TV show in your film if it helps get bums on seats - especially if they're as good and so perfectly suited to the roles as these two ?

Moviedrome failed to materialise on BBC2 the following year. Apparently Cox had grown frustrated that the BBC didn't let him show more foreign language films and also felt that the BBC wanted to shoehorn in some more "big name" mainstream films for the sake of ratings. So he walked and the show lay dormant for a few years.

Moviedrome returned in 1997 - revamped and with a new presenter - Mark Cousins. I never took to Cousins like I did with Alex Cox. He came over as being more serious, less quirky and slightly pretentious. The show's style seemed to reflect this. Gone where the creative homages to classic films in the opening credits, gone where the atmospheric sets and locations where Cox used to film his introductions. It all seemed a lot less fun and accessible somehow. Which is not to say Cousins was bad - far from it - he was very knowledgeable and passionate about the films he introduced, its just...I dunno...it just felt like something was missing that's all.

I do quite regret not sticking with the show for Cousins' run - they still showed some great films during his tenure - but I was firmly living out my University days at this point and alas the lure of the Student Union bar proved too strong. 

Moviedrome's final season aired in 2000. During it's run a grand total of 207 films were shown. It's the sort of show that you just don't get on TV these days, theres no call for it now that we can download all kinds of weird and wonderful films from all over the world at the touch of a button. It is - and was - completely of it's time but - for those of us who are old enough to remember it - it remains a fascinating entrypoint to the wonderful world of cult movies.