A revisit to the late Larry Cohen's Special Effects (1984)...

...has been on my mind, since the director's unfortunate death this year. I felt my IMDb user comments covered the expected synopses and I liked the energy and thoughts that the film inspired. I really like this film, and considering Lund's considerably small output available, Special Effects (1984) has that curiosity and cult value to it as well.

I rented this MGM release in 2010.

About this viewing tonight, what was particularly eye-opening was how Elaine allows herself to be handled because when we are first introduced to her she does seem to be quite independently minded and a woman who doesn't just cater to what men want. But Neville, at the end, is able to convince her to go to bed with him and she voluntarily agrees to "become" Keefe's dead wife, going home with him, willfully going along with the facade, even planning to tell the kid she's his mom! Although it happens during a hectic shoot--I think Cohen really gets a point across that film productions are quite all over the place and busy, can be messy before "lights, camera, action!"--you can hear Elaine cop to being seduced by the role and "performance art", telling Keefe he might as well admit to it, too. That Keefe could ever agree to this filming a story on his wife, exploiting her tragedy, and even actively act in it, and Elaine allowing her whole identity to change, giving in to the role almost--and eventually completely, it would appear--to her own detriment, we can see how talented Neville is at manipulating folks not in the industry...while those in the industry not associated directly to him have had enough of his "eccentricities". But we see that at the end Neville is so totally psychotic--it isn't just raging at a woman who belittles his ego and status as a director--he cannot go without seeing his project to completion, willing to duplicate the gory details of strangulation with a different "actress". Elaine certainly looks almost identical to Mary Jean, although she's more clever, not as convinced that a career in the movies is her select interest, has other goals that aren't so selfish as being a successful actress, but you can see her gradually surrendering her own personality, who she is, for Mary Jean. That is what fascinates me so much. A tarty, sharp, mousy, somewhat intense, and constantly busy Salvation Army volunteer with side jobs that keep her on the go gives all that up to portray this self-absorbed actress neglecting everything else for the chance to be a star, forgoing a marriage and parenthood, leaving behind an entire life to parade in some 4th of July itty bitty outfit for ogling photographers in some rat-trap fleebag hotel room. Elaine would take on the makeup, different hair style and color, with mink coats and red lipstick, dismissing her obligations to other jobs in order to go all-in for Mary Jean. Lund never fails to captivate me. I'm still astonished she was in so little during such a short life.

I didn't want to fail to mention this fun dialogue exchange between Neville and a police detective who gets so involved in the production of Mary Jean he even abandons his own caseload in order to watch casting sessions, even preparing his own screenplay ideas! The detective talks about his need to touch his surroundings, to feel them, even if it results in injury. We all have our little tics and quirks. Cohen loved for his characters to have them. I'm glad his films had characters who were uniquely detailed, saying and doing things not so predictable. Even if ad-libbed or spontaneous despite the ongoing plot. I think that is why I am so drawn to Cohen's outre content.