Horror Masters: 5 Things You Didn’t Know Tobe Hooper Directed
If you know the name Tobe Hooper at all, you know that he’s the auteur behind the shocking and genre-defining 1974 slasher film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary. You might also know that he oversaw the original made-for-TV adaptation of Salem’s Lot in 1979, or that Steven Spielberg handpicked him to direct 1982’s Poltergeist. You may even know that — in a move that sets him apart from many of his fellow iconic horror directors — he directed one of his own sequels, helming Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 in 1986.
But Hooper had a long career, working regularly as a director from a few years before Texas up until 2013. And in that time, he created a lot of things — including some stuff you had no idea he’d made.
1. Eggshells (1969)
Many people think Texas was Hooper’s first feature film, but that honor actually goes to this movie, a surreal psychedelic tale about a group of hippies living in a group house (one of whom is played by Texas cowriter Kim Henkel). The twist? They don’t know there’s an otherworldly being living in their basement and controlling their actions.
Long thought lost, a print of the film resurfaced in 2009, and viewers can now check it out online. Fans champion it as a great historical artifact of Austin, Texas, in the ’60s; it’s actually the first feature film to be shot in Austin. But if you’re looking for something similar to the tightly paced tension of Texas or The Funhouse, beware: Though reviews say it gives an intriguing look at the evolution of Hooper’s style, it’s also experimental and nonlinear.
2. Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself” (1983)
The 1983 video for Billy Idol‘s first solo hit is a little … spooky, right? Especially considering that the upbeat song’s lyrics are about (depending on who you ask) either an audience Idol performed for in Japan, or self-pleasure. But in the video, Idol is contemplating a much bleaker fate than either of those options: Living in a postapocalyptic wasteland, he takes an elevator through a creepy apartment building full of chattering skeletons and murderous strangers, before meeting up with the zombie hordes on his rooftop. It’s New Wave meets The Omega Man, all shot with a certain grime that only Hooper can bring.
Brian D. McLaughlin/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Idol picked up Hooper specifically for the project; he liked Texas Chainsaw but was particularly interested in how Hooper injected humor into some pretty solemn subject matter. Idol also felt that he and Hooper had something else in common — Idol noted in a 1984 interview that he thought Hooper had gotten financially ripped off during the success of Texas Chainsaw, so they had had a common experience of being “done in” financially by companies they had worked with. “He seemed like the kind of person I could work with because he knew the truth about life,” Idol recalled.
3. I’m Dangerous Tonight (1990)
In 1990, erotic thrillers were all the rage — so much so that even Hooper was pulled into making one. In this made-for-TV movie, Twin Peaks’ Madchen Amick comes into possession of a sexy cursed dress, which causes several people to become liars, cheaters and blood-thirsty murderers. The film is based on a 1937 novella by Cornell Woolrich, the acclaimed noir writer whose short stories have been adapted into a number of other films, including Rear Window.
4. Haunted Lives: True Ghost Stories (1991)
Hooper worked extensively in TV, often directing for horror anthology shows. But he also directed an episode of this Leonard Nimoy-narrated series that combined investigations of haunted spaces with re-enactments of the ghostly goings-on. Hooper’s episode, which aired on May 15, 1991, dealt with an infamous “haunted Toys ’R’ Us” in Sunnyvale, California, and featured Sylvia Browne, the psychic and future daytime TV staple.
5. The Mangler (1995)
Though Hooper or Stephen King superfans likely already know about this film, most others will be in for a surprise, so brace yourself: This is about a possessed laundry press. A possessed laundry press that can eat people and, at one point, chase them down the street. There is also a possessed ice box, Robert Englund as a sinister laundry overlord, and the exorcism of various evil appliances.
Though it got savaged in the press upon release (The New York Times said that it was “a potpourri of supernatural cliches and warmed-over Stephen King notions about corruption randomly stuck together”), is a possessed laundry press really all that much stranger than a possessed car, a la Christine?
Based on a King short story, this film was King and Hooper’s second collaboration. And though it underperformed in theaters, there were two direct-to-video sequels. So maybe the story was a bit more pressing than most people gave it credit for.
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