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November 6, 2008 4:36 PM Subscribe
I remember seeing this. Made quite an impression on me. I started playing around with prosthetic rubber make-up around this time; making elaborate heads sculpted in plasticine, created giant molds in plaster, painted a rubber compound into the mold, pulled it out, fixed any imperfections, added crepe hair, attached it with spirit gum and more rubber (colored with acrylics).
A bit later on I discovered foam latex.
Pretty good for a Junior High Schooler with no real instructions to go by back then. A couple publicity stills from "Planet of the Apes" and an article about Jack Pierce doing Karloff as Frankenstein.
posted by RavinDave at 5:00 PM on November 6, 2008 [2 favorites]
A bit later on I discovered foam latex.
Pretty good for a Junior High Schooler with no real instructions to go by back then. A couple publicity stills from "Planet of the Apes" and an article about Jack Pierce doing Karloff as Frankenstein.
posted by RavinDave at 5:00 PM on November 6, 2008 [2 favorites]
I love this movie so SO much. Unfortunately, however, I think it may be under copyright. I've seen it on what seemed like an official DVD release. Either way, though, GARGOYLES OWN
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:15 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:15 PM on November 6, 2008
I think I remember this as well, and I think it was the first time I ever heard the word 'gargoyle', which of course became part of my regular vocab after that. Thanks!
posted by mattholomew at 6:32 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by mattholomew at 6:32 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
Wow. That was awesome. If this were made today it'd be all bargain-basement CGI.
posted by Locative at 6:35 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by Locative at 6:35 PM on November 6, 2008
Huh, I don't remember having seen this, though it was probably something I would have watched. I wonder if the concept was based on Mothman.
posted by Tube at 6:42 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by Tube at 6:42 PM on November 6, 2008
I didn't sleep well after watching that movie, not well at all. I was young, I watched it in the basement, in the dark and then went to bed, whereupon I became all too familiar with the vagaries of my ceiling.
posted by caddis at 7:21 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by caddis at 7:21 PM on November 6, 2008
We had the same experience as caddis, but with the added bonus of slightly-older-than-us sadistic uncles. We didn't sleep much after that until about 1979, when they (thankfully) discovered females.
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys at 7:26 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by An Infinity Of Monkeys at 7:26 PM on November 6, 2008
Yes, that movie freaked me out too. It was one of the first credits for the late great makeup artist Stan Winston.
posted by marxchivist at 7:47 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by marxchivist at 7:47 PM on November 6, 2008
Sadly, I got my first crush falling in love with the girl in the movie. Talk about having mixed feelings, with the confusing thoughts of, "My god, I have fallen for a girl who also is being pursued by a gargoyle! Why is love so complicated!?!"
posted by Senator at 8:35 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by Senator at 8:35 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
Yet another one of those movies I inflicted on my wife that led to the creation of the "Jared doesn't get to pick the movies" rule.
posted by JaredSeth at 8:59 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by JaredSeth at 8:59 PM on November 6, 2008
It's strange that imdb still doesn't have an image of Jennifer Salt. She was also in Midnight Cowboy, which I didn't know. And yeah, I'd...nevermind.
posted by sluglicker at 9:19 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by sluglicker at 9:19 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
The thing I remember about seeing this movie in the afternoon, early '80s, was thinking how good it was -- scary, intelligent; the gargoyle had an almost Shakespearean quality to him, a Heathcliff in green skin and claws, deadly and bashful at the same time. The only other movie I remember having such an affect on me -- a movie Steven Speilberg once said "it completely undid me " when he saw it at the drive-in-movie when he was a kid -- was Invaders from Mars , which I saw when I was 8 years old. By the time it was over I was hugging my older sister tightly on the couch. Parts of these movies can still work their way into my fevered dreams some 20 years later.
posted by vronsky at 9:42 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by vronsky at 9:42 PM on November 6, 2008
I saw this movie when it was broadcast, and the image that still sticks in my memory is that of a gargoyle hanging from the ROOF-RACK OF A STATION WAGON AS IT CAREENS DOWN A ROAD!
(Is that scene really in this movie, or did I disremember?)
*doesn't matter, still won't sleep*
-
posted by Ron Thanagar at 9:43 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
(Is that scene really in this movie, or did I disremember?)
*doesn't matter, still won't sleep*
-
posted by Ron Thanagar at 9:43 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
All these years, I thought I was the only one who was traumatized by this film. The "end of the bed" scene was the one that done me in.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:44 PM on November 6, 2008
posted by MrBadExample at 10:44 PM on November 6, 2008
Ron Thanagar - that's the same scene that stuck in my head all these years.
If the subject is Great TV Movies from the Seventies, I'd like to mention Spielberg's "Duel". I saw it when it first aired, and again recently. It turned out to be even better than I remembered. The plot is one sentence long, but the experience is captivating.
posted by davebush at 10:45 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
If the subject is Great TV Movies from the Seventies, I'd like to mention Spielberg's "Duel". I saw it when it first aired, and again recently. It turned out to be even better than I remembered. The plot is one sentence long, but the experience is captivating.
posted by davebush at 10:45 PM on November 6, 2008 [1 favorite]
davebush - Duel was just plain awesome, and precluded the whole "CB radio American Truckers are like Modern Cowboys"-thing... and "Killdozer" was pretty cool, but please don't remind me of that ABC Mystery Movie of the Week with that damn voodoo doll.
*definitely not sleeping now*
posted by Ron Thanagar at 11:27 PM on November 6, 2008
*definitely not sleeping now*
posted by Ron Thanagar at 11:27 PM on November 6, 2008
If you're finding the voice of the gargoyle (and the narration at the beginning) strangely familiar, that's because it's Vic Perrin, the Control Voice from The Outer Limits.
posted by The Tensor at 12:03 AM on November 7, 2008
posted by The Tensor at 12:03 AM on November 7, 2008
ha! vronsky, perhaps it's because halloween just passed, but my friend and i were just bantering about this film! pretty much, in connection to don't be afraid of the dark, another film from the same time. gargoyles is not as terrifying as don't be afraid of the dark, but... both films left a deep, lasting psychological mark.
Ron Thanager, yes, i remember that scene too! oh and that "voodoo doll" movie... apologies for reminding you, but do you mean the karen black vehicle, trilogy of terror? that african doll sequence was/is truly brilliant.
posted by lapolla at 12:21 AM on November 7, 2008
Ron Thanager, yes, i remember that scene too! oh and that "voodoo doll" movie... apologies for reminding you, but do you mean the karen black vehicle, trilogy of terror? that african doll sequence was/is truly brilliant.
posted by lapolla at 12:21 AM on November 7, 2008
When I was reading Dan Simmons' science fiction duology Ilium/Olympos images from this movie kept going through my mind as he described the character "Caliban". Cool post.
posted by DaddyNewt at 6:07 AM on November 7, 2008
posted by DaddyNewt at 6:07 AM on November 7, 2008
I saw this movie when it aired. Still scares me.
I can't recall if Gargoyles was part of ABC's Movie of the Week, but Duel was. Another that always stuck with me, for whatever reason, is The Girl Most Likely to, written by Joan Rivers (!).
posted by stargell at 6:44 AM on November 7, 2008
I can't recall if Gargoyles was part of ABC's Movie of the Week, but Duel was. Another that always stuck with me, for whatever reason, is The Girl Most Likely to, written by Joan Rivers (!).
posted by stargell at 6:44 AM on November 7, 2008
I have long had this movie lodged in my memory, but was unable to identify it. Thank you once again, you beautiful blue hive mind you.
posted by butterstick at 7:33 AM on November 7, 2008
posted by butterstick at 7:33 AM on November 7, 2008
You guys have to come to DC for the Washington Psychotronic Film Society screenings.
We revive films like: Bad Ronald, Trilogy of Terror, Daughter of the Mind, Night of the Lepus,
and other films we oldie fogie mefites wet the beds too.
posted by doctorschlock at 7:33 AM on November 7, 2008
We revive films like: Bad Ronald, Trilogy of Terror, Daughter of the Mind, Night of the Lepus,
and other films we oldie fogie mefites wet the beds too.
posted by doctorschlock at 7:33 AM on November 7, 2008
Oh God. I remember this from some lazy Sunday afternoon when I was a kid -- a kid too young to be watching a movie about Gargoyles. (And my SO wonders why I start hyperventilating around cathedrals.)
posted by MasonDixon at 7:59 AM on November 7, 2008
posted by MasonDixon at 7:59 AM on November 7, 2008
Oh my God! I remember seeing this when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old -- it scared the crap out of me! I've never met anyone else who remembers it -- the times I've tried to describe it, I've gotten blank stares.
posted by sarcasticah at 8:40 AM on November 7, 2008
posted by sarcasticah at 8:40 AM on November 7, 2008
I was somehow turned on as child with that scene where the gargoyle is practically drooling over the heroine. I can't believe it. I was turned on by inter-species sex.
posted by doctorschlock at 9:33 AM on November 7, 2008
posted by doctorschlock at 9:33 AM on November 7, 2008
Thank you! This is a great flick, and I had completely forgotten it.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 1:30 PM on November 7, 2008
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 1:30 PM on November 7, 2008
Ron Thanager, yes, i remember that scene too! oh and that "voodoo doll" movie... apologies for reminding you, but do you mean the karen black vehicle, trilogy of terror? that african doll sequence was/is truly brilliant.
lapolla
Eeeyep, that's the one. Man that was freaky.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 8:03 PM on November 7, 2008
lapolla
Eeeyep, that's the one. Man that was freaky.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 8:03 PM on November 7, 2008
WTF, first Breece D’J Pancake now this? Can Kolchak and "The Truth about Unicorns" be far behind?
posted by Lesser Shrew at 8:22 PM on November 7, 2008
posted by Lesser Shrew at 8:22 PM on November 7, 2008
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THANK YOU VRONSKY.
posted by tkchrist at 4:43 PM on November 6, 2008