Not long ago while flipping through channels I stumbled upon my second favorite Bob Balaban-directed film on the subject of people-eating, “My Boyfriend’s Back.” I found myself watching it, even though I could have watched my own DVD copy to avoid commercials. (I have a habit of getting sucked into watching movies I own; sometimes I like letting the TV gods choose my viewing fate.)
If you are unfamiliar with the film, it’s a(n underrated) zombie rom-com about a boy, Johnny Dingle, who dies trying to impress/defend his crush (I’m being vague to avoid spoilers), and comes back as one of the walking dead. High school is tough, but it’s even tougher when you’re a flesh-craving, rotting, reanimated corpse and your potential prom date’s parents don’t approve of her dating outside her mortality status. Fortunately, Johnny’s parents are very supportive—almost too supportive. His mother even brings him home a “snack.”
It sounds silly, and in a way it is, but it’s not played silly, and that’s what makes this film work. Balaban, an actor known for his deadpan performances, transferred that tone into directing this film and its terrific cast. Johnny’s parents are played by Edward Herrmann and Mary Beth Hurt, and the movie even features a young Philip Seymour Hoffman as one of Johnny’s classmates, and Matthew McConaughey as “Guy #2”–like I said, terrific cast even down to the background performers. Although it appeared to take place in present day (1993), it had very suburban mid-century feel, which helped create a world that was recognizable, but just slightly off.
Despite the munching of human flesh, decomposition of body parts and an occasional axe to the head, I would definitely categorize this film as comedy. Yet interestingly, the film’s producer is Sean Cunningham, who is known for horror—”The Last House on the Left,” “Friday the 13th,”and, personal favorites of mine, “House” and “House II.”
If “My Boyfriend’s Back”(MBB) was only my second fave, then what, you may ask, is my favorite Balaban film about people who meet their demise in other people’s bellies? That would be Balaban’s directorial debut, “Parents,” which differs from MBB in that it is about (alleged) cannibals as opposed to zombies. And where MBB just had a ’50s vibe, this film actually takes place in 1950s suburbia.
About a young boy who suspects his folks are feeding him meat of human origin, “Parents” lacks the lightheartedness of MBB and plays it very straight. I like my humor subtle and dark, and that’s how Balaban serves it in this cult classic horror film, which has an almost David Lynch-like vibe. Again, we see Mary Beth Hurt as the mother, and this time, Randy Quaid as the father. Told from the point of view of a young boy, this unreliable narrator perspective and Balaban’s careful direction constantly keep you wondering what is really going on. Plus, the music in this movie is killer, which makes me wish they released a soundtrack. I start craving leftovers whenever I hear “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.”
My parents were not cannibals (although my father liked to eat liver and onions, and he never specified what mammal the liver came from…), but I could still relate to the main character. The feelings of fear and helplessness we experience as children are universal. At their mercy, we must consume what they feed us, both literally and figuratively. And while I could start digging into the film and its possible subtext (social commentary, metaphors, blah blah blah…) that’s not what I’m here to do; I’m just here to tell you it’s a film worth checking out. All I WILL say is that one line in particular really stands out to me. Michael, the boy, is hesitant to go to bed because his room is dark, his father responds with:
“Michael, the cellar’s dark. Your room’s dark. Everything’s dark at night. Pretty soon, we’ll turn off all the lights and then it’ll be dark everywhere. You really like the dark, don’t you, Michael? You can be yourself in the dark. But, you know? There’s one dark place that we have to be very careful in. Do you know where that is?”
The father then slowly points to his head, bears a creepy grin, and lets out an equally creepy laugh.
A fine first feature film for Balaban the director, if you ask me. Up until that point as an actor, he did have experience working with some great directors, including Steven Spielberg, Mike Nichols and Ken Russell.
So, yes, the man who often portrays, quiet, mild-mannered characters, has directed not one, but two films on the subject of two-eyed no-horned terrestrial people eaters. So this got me wondering…are there others? I decided to investigate.
I consider myself a Balafan; I have seen him on stage, I have read his book, “Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: An Actor’s Diary,” and I have seen many of his films. In fact, three of my favorite movies of all time (“Ghost World,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “A Mighty Wind”) all feature Mr. Balaban (coincidence?) However, I don’t know ALL of his work–a man of many talents, he acts and directs for tv, film and stage, and writes books–even Mr. Balaban himself may have a hard time keeping track of his long list of credentials. So I took to IMDB to find out if there were any other zombies or cannibals in his body of work.
As a life-long lover of anthology shows, I was thrilled to see “Amazing Stories,” “Tales from the Darkside” and the early 2000s “Twilight Zone” on the list, as well as a few episodes of “Eerie, Indiana.” These seemed like good contenders for possible flesh-eating storylines. I had watched some of these as a child, and this provided a perfect opportunity to revisit them now.
First up, the “Twilight Zone.” Thanks to years of New Year’s Eve marathons, I am pretty sure I have seen all of the original series, but I know there are some episodes of the ‘80s and early ’00s series that I have missed, so I enjoyed this opportunity to play a little catch up. Balaban directed two episodes: “Future Trade” (2002), about a company that provides a service in which you can trade futures with a stranger, and The “Pharaoh’s Curse” (2003), about a young magician hoping to learn the secret to a famous magic act. In true “Zone” fashion, the main characters should have been careful about what they wished for. I enjoyed both, but alas, no zombies and/or cannibals here.
Did you know Mr. Balaban directed the first episode of “Tales from the Darkside?” And did you know it was co-written by George A. Romero–yes, the same George Romero who made all those zombie movies. The episode “Trick or Treat” got the series off to a great start, setting the eerie tone of the show. It’s a story of an Ebenezer Scrooge-type store owner who holds IOUs from everyone in town. On Halloween, the children are allowed to search his home for the IOUs; should the child find them, his/her family will be free from debt. A few monsters do show up (it IS Halloween, after all) including a witch, the Devil, and a zombie of the pirate variety. However, this zombie seems to be between meals, since we don’t see him eat anyone, so my search continues…
Although not an anthology series, I have included “Eerie, Indiana” on this list because of its monster-of-the-week format. Balaban would have been a great fit to direct any episode of “Eerie, Indiana”; it seemed to inhabit the same universe of “My Boyfriend’s Back” and yet again took place in a slightly-off suburb. However, he only directed two episodes: “The Lost Hour,” about parallel universes, daylight savings and a mysterious milkman, and “Zombies in P.J.s.” ZOMBIES, did you say!?! Actually, these are only figurative zombies, in the form of sleepwalking (and shopping) humans. Both are really fun episodes from this totally binge-worthy, under-appreciated-in-its-time series.
Although the zombie count is low, and the cannibal count is at zero, I did find aliens–one of my favorite topics–on an episode of”Amazing Stories” entitled “Fine Tuning.” (Note: not only did Balaban direct an episode of Amazing Stories, he also starred in one entitled, “Gershwin’s Trunk” about a composer for Broadway–another one of my favorite topics!)
John Williams provided the soundtrack for many of our childhoods, from “Star Wars” to “E.T.,” to “Harry Potter” and even “Amazing Stories.” Little me loved “Amazing Stories.” Hearing that theme song moments after popping in the DVD instantly brought back memories of sitting by the TV as a child, waiting to see what this week’s story would be. Although Bob Balaban was the director of this particular episode, another famous director (and John Williams collaborator) was the creator of the series: Steven Spielberg. (He also wrote the story for this episode). No stranger to working with Spielberg, Balaban was in his film, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” which was also about aliens. (Coincidence?)
The aliens in “Fine Tuning” weren’t just any aliens—they were television-loving aliens. The episode is about a teenage boy who picks up television signals from outer space. What appears on the screen are aliens dressed up in 1950s attire—they aren’t speaking English, but one of the boys quickly recognizes they are acting out an episode of “I love Lucy.” They figure it takes 10 years or so for our television signals to reach them, and then another 10 for their signals to reach Earth, hence the aliens’ love of television shows of decades past.
The aliens decide to visit Earth, specifically Hollywood, to see their favorite stars: Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, and Jackie Gleason. I didn’t remember watching this one as a kid, but I enjoyed it so much that I made up for it by watching it multiple times, since I found it quite charming. Its tone is similar to MBB–silly, but straight. In the same way the townspeople treated Johnny’s zombification like it was NBD, the people of L.A. just went about their business, ignoring the tiny aliens walking around in trench coats and Groucho glasses. The best part was when the boy tries to communicate with the aliens via musical notes (a nod to Spielberg and Balaban’s CE3K) and the alien responds back with the NBC tri-tone. Brilliant. (Bonus: check out this kid’s awesome TV/radio/camera shirt!)
As mentioned in my previous blog post, as a child I dreamed of meeting and making friends with an alien, so right off the bat, I could relate to that aspect of the episode. However, it was the TV nostalgia element that really resonated with me. Here were three 1980s kids who knew the TV shows and stars from the 1950s. As an ’80s kid, I ALSO knew shows from the ’50s (I was particularly fond of “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Donna Reed Show”). And just as the aliens could find enjoyment in the entertainment of yesteryear, here I am doing the same thing, enjoying TV shows from three decades ago.
Although my Balaban binge only unearthed one pirate zombie, I came across the Devil (twice!), a scary witch with a sense of social justice, an interdimensional milkman, and some kindred spirit aliens on my viewing journey. I enjoyed watching new things, as well as revisiting TV shows from my childhood, while at the same time getting to know more about Bob Balaban, director of the strange and unusual.
I actually started writing this article a while ago, but due to moving and starting a new job, I had abandoned it. Then yesterday, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” came on television, with its Bob Balaban-filled opening–maybe the TV gods (or aliens?) were telling me finish it? And yes, even though I own the 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition Blu-ray (with three versions of the film) I did end up watching the entire thing.
Links:
You can watch Amazing Stories streaming online on NBC.com! Yay!
http://www.nbc.com/amazing-stories
To learn more about Bob Balaban in general, here is a nice article:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/being-bob-balaban-from-downton-abbey-to-the-monuments-men-is-the-actor-the-best-connected-person-in-9112215.html
BTW, I’m not the only one who thinks MBB is underappreciated:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/my-boyfriends-back-is-the-most-underrated-zombie-rom-com-of#.ke2woz24q
Coincidentally, as I was working on this article, this popped up in my Twitter feed–I guess I’m not the only one who is still thinking of “Parents” all these years later:
http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/features/393775-remember-siskel-ebert-reviewed-parents/
earth girls are cheesy 