2024 (or the year I met Julie Brown)

2024 has been a long year of ups, downs and all arounds, but I want to focus on the ups.  There is still plenty of my New England Adventure I haven’t blogged about.  This is due in part to a decrease in a desire to write, but that’s not what I want 2024 to be known for.   Rather, as the title of this post suggests, this is the year I met a singer/actress I’ve admired for a long time. 

Did Providence guide me to Providence or was it just Dave?

When Dave of My Gay Opinion, who invited me to the East Coast specifically for the Rhode Island Comic Con, and I were in line to meet Julie Brown, my hands started to sweat.  There she was, only a few people away from me.  My 16 year-old self was bouncing off the walls because he would’ve never imagined getting to meet the star of JUST SAY JULIE and the singer of THE HOMECOMING QUEEN’S GOT A GUN!  Was this really happening?  Did I hop on my first commercial flight and travel halfway across the country to meet Julie Brown?  Yes, it was really happening and yes, I flew way out of my comfort zone just for this moment!  

Masked for my protection against people!

Disappointing there was no gremlin on the wing!

During Dave’s turn, he broke the ice for me by mentioning to Miss Brown that I flew here from Nebraska, so it was easy to slip into a conversation with her as she autographed my CD of TRAPPED IN THE BODY OF A WHITE GIRL.

I hope you’re totally jealous!

I stayed relatively calm as I told Julie Brown how she has creatively inspired me and how I was probably the only teenager who watched MTV with a parent.  As I told Miss Brown, my mom enjoyed JUST SAY JULIE and said Julie reminded her of Lucille Ball.  Then I got my picture taken with Miss Brown and I look like the big fanboy who was totally geeking out.  I’m sure if 100 pics could have been snapped, I would’ve looked unapologetically over the moon in all of them! 

A freakboy and his idol!

After the photo, Julie Brown and I talked a bit more.  She was truly surprised I came all the way from Nebraska.  I told her how Dave and I were planning to hit New York City the next day and how amazing my trip had been already.  Then Miss Brown said she had to give me a hug!  I wasn’t gonna refuse, so we hugged!  Yes, Julie Brown and I hugged!!!  My 16 year-old self was less of a hugger than I am, but I knew he was freaking out in the best way possible.  After that sweetly surreal moment, Miss Brown was then polite enough to give Dave a hug, but I’ll never let him forget Julie hugged me first! 

My New England Adventure could’ve ended there and I would’ve been satisfied.  However, meeting Julie Brown was really only the beginning and I’ll try to blog more about it in 2025. 
Thanks for reading my blog this year.  I appreciate your support. 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. click a pic ⤵️ for more about my New England Adventure… 

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Click the pic ⤵️ to experience the most viewed tale of 2024…

freakboy on film: BLOOD (or how I stalked the ghost of Andy Milligan)

Do you really believe that the startling lack of Andy Milligan in this year’s posts means I’m no longer obsessively re-watching his surviving films and having fever-wet daydreams about finding his lost ones? 

WRONG!

The proof of how deep my Milligan obsession goes can be found in my New England Adventure.  When Dave of My Gay Opinion invited me to Connecticut so we could meet a beloved singer/actress at the Rhode Island Comic-Con, he suggested a visit to New York City.  I immediately said yes to The Big Apple, obvi, and started to think of things I wanted to experience there.  The second thing I thought of was visiting a film location for FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET in Staten Island.  I simply had to see where Andy Milligan lived in the early 1970’s and check out the street corner where the ending of FLESHPOT comes out of nowhere.

Who cares about the Statue of Liberty when there’s Andy Milligan?

After a ferry ride to Staten Island, an Uber and some confusion over which house was which, Dave figured out the location of 149 Corson Ave.  This is where Andy Milligan lived during the production of my favorite of his films. . 

I think this is Andy’s house.

In FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET, Andy’s house is where Bob (Harry Reems) lived and where the up and coming lawyer was hoping to have a future with hustler Dusty Cole (Laura Cannon ).  

Where a porn star legend died!

Down the street, at the corner of Corson and Westervelt Ave, is where (SPOILER ALERT) Bob is hit by a car, sending Dusty to huddle in a nearby stairwell before going back to being a hustler on 42nd Street. 

Sadly, I didn’t stay in New York City to live out my 42nd Street Hustler dreams

I know I only heard of Andy Milligan 4 years ago, but it was beyond amazing to walk the same sidewalks and streets of the grindhouse auteur.  While I can’t say I felt his spirit, I did feel high on the knowledge that Andy had been there.  

Did Andy Milligan traverse the treacherous Staten Island sidewalks?

He also used 149 Corson Ave. as the primary location for a film I don’t love as much as FLESHPOT, but it has its charms… 

I regret I didn’t trespass closer.

BLOOD (1973) 

Dr. Lawrence Orlovsky has found the perfect temporary home for his seemingly sickly wife Regina and his scientific experiments until he can deal with his crooked lawyer and move back to his father’s estate, but keep an eye out for the full moon.  The Staten Island structure will also be perfect for legless servant Orlando to wheel around in, just don’t ask him to go upstairs.  Orlando’s wife Carrie assists Lawrence in his experiments, despite a bum leg, which is a result of meddling with science.  Carlotta, the third servant, performs menial tasks and donates her blood to feed the man-eating plants in the cellar.  The man-eating plants are a key ingredient in a weekly injection to keep Regina alive. 

Who’s a pretty vampire?

It’s an Andy Milligan horror film, so there’s over the top drama, romance of sorts, side characters and plots that come and go, multiple murders and hints of incest.  Also, in case you haven’t figured it out, Lawrence is the son of the Wolf Man and Regina is the daughter of Dracula.  This supernatural pairing almost makes BLOOD Andy Milligan’s take on DARK SHADOWS.  The story is soapy enough, but it never quite reaches the sublime gothic atmosphere of the classic daytime drama. 

Not Barnabas and Quentin.

The acting is decent enough for this kind of film, but I want to give a special shout out to Hope Stansbury.  As with her role in THE RATS ARE COMING! THE WEREWOLVES ARE HERE! (1972), Ms. Stansbury brings a memorably off-kilter screen presence as Regina Orlovsky.  You’d swear the actress is on the brink of actually snapping and murdering her costars!  Tragically, her two other Milligan appearances, THE DEGENERATES and DEPRAVED! (both 1967), are lost films.  When checking her IMDb page, it appears Hope appeared as part of an “Off Broadway Family” in FOR LOVE OF IVY (1968) starring Sidney Poitier, which I am now very curious to see.  Also of note, Ms. Stansbury wrote Andy Milligan’s first film VAPORS (1965). 

Regina…Fashion Icon!

In conclusion… It’s funny.  As much as I love John Waters and would get a kick out of visiting Baltimore, Maryland, visiting Andy Milligan’s neighborhood in Staten Island felt more exciting and profound.  Maybe I feel a deeper connection to Andy’s often corrosively cynical celluloid views of life or maybe I’m just sick in the head.  I mean, I still find much to enjoy in BLOOD even though it’s probably one of his lesser films.  So, if you’re sick like me, fully embrace your Andy Milligan obsession and watch BLOOD while mentally planning to stalk his ghost again.  Hey, it shall be a most noble Holy Crusade to visit the church of GURU THE MAD MONK!  

Freak Out, 

JLH

P.S. The last Andy Milligan film I blogged about was his very last film…

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If you enjoy a good soap opera…

freakboy on film: CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS (1980)

“That can’t be right.” 

This was my sister’s statement as she scrolled through the on-screen cable guide several years ago.  I looked up from whatever I was doing and eloquently inquired, “What?”  My sister explained that, according to the guide, the schmaltzy, Christmas obsessed Hallmark Channel was showing a film called CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS, starring John Saxon.  While I could imagine this actor, in his later years, appearing as some young lovesick character’s grandfather, there was no way Hallmark would be showing a movie about cannibals.  Of course, we had to tune in to find out what the hell Hallmark was actually going to show! 

Tragically, it’s not about a woman making candles out of people!

CANDLES ON BAY STREET stars a luminescent Alicia Silverstone with Eion Bailey providing the eye candy.  The plot is definitely not about cannibals running amok in the streets.  It’s about a young woman returning to her hometown after many years away.  Instead of falling in love, like most Hallmark movies, she opens a candle shop and hopes to find a home for her son because she is dying.  It’s actually pretty decent, but maybe Hallmark could do a sequel titled CANNIBALS ON BAY STREET where Alicia Silverstone’s character returns to her hometown as a zombie. 

Scream play by Dardano Sacchetti & Antonio Margheriti / Directed by  Antonio Margheriti

However, the cannibals in CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS are not George A. Romero’s style of living dead.  These cannibals are high functioning rabid humans infected by a virus brought back by Vietnam War vets.  Whether in the streets, a theater, a department store or a hospital, the urge to get bitey with it is rampant.  It all begins with Norman Hopper having a nightmare about finding his soldier buddies, Charlie and Tommy, devouring human flesh in a hole.  The question is, did Charlie bite Norman as he tried to help them out of the hole or was that just part of the nightmare? 

Norman wishing he had packed cannibal repellent.

That’s a question the viewer must ponder as Norman deals with a teen neighbor girl flirting with him and a hot single doctor flirting with his TV reporter wife.  Oh, and Charlie, after being released from the mental hospital, celebrates his freedom by biting a woman’s neck in the theater, killing a member of a biker gang and then also shooting a department store security guard.  Norman talks Charlie down and soon the cannibal is back in the hospital, reuniting with Tommy.  Two cannibals are better than one as the biting gets out of control.  Then, to nobody’s surprise at this point, Norman is revealed to be infected and joins Charlie and Tommy in a cannibal posse as they flee from the cops.  Will the cannibals continue their rampage of biting or will the cops stop them?  Can Norman’s marriage survive the fact he has a taste for human flesh?  What does the teen neighbor girl have to do with anything?  You’ll have to watch to find out.  

Charlie won’t tell you, but he will bite you!

As you can tell, CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS is a serious film exploring the mental health of soldiers using cannibalism as an allegory for PTSD.  Yeah, not really, but I feel the plot wants to be that, maybe.  After seeing the film twice, I’m not really sure what it is.  Part of it is a serious drama, but then there are some well crafted gore scenes.  However, there is more than a little unintentional humor stemming mainly from the dialogue.  Everyone, except for John Saxon as Norman, sounds like they are dubbed.  This might be because this was an Italian production, even though some of it was shot in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Stop eating people so loudly, I’m trying to use the phone!

Speaking of John Saxon…
The actor is arguably best known as Nancy’s sheriff father in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) and is the main reason to watch CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS.  As Norman, he gives a believable performance as a man struggling with emotional and physical demons.  In other words, he lends credibility to the entire production.  Plus, if a cannibal daddy is your kink, Mr. Saxon goes topless.  

Norman brings all the cannibals to the yard

In conclusion… 
CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS, or CANNIBAL APOCALYPSE, as it is known on Tubi & Prime, is somehow neither a great movie nor a bad movie.  The plot plods along, often feeling like it’s not going anywhere even when things are actually happening.  However, despite all of that, I enjoyed the off-kilter weirdness coursing throughout.  Plus, John Saxon is always watchable!  So I guess overall, I’m glad the very mistaken on-screen cable guide introduce me to CANNIBALS IN THE STREETS via the Hallmark Channel. 
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This post is part of The John Saxon Blogathon, hosted by Barry of Cinematic Catharsis & Gill of Realweegiemidget Reviews!

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Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. my last blogathon post was a real scream…

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4 gift ideas for the open-minded readers in your life…