Eegah
Encyclopedia
Eegah! is a 1962 horror film
starring Arch Hall, Jr., Arch Hall, Sr., Marilyn Manning and Richard Kiel
in the titular role.
The film's notoriety was enhanced as a result of being featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
, and was one of the films listed in Michael Medved's
book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
.
Roxy is soon kidnapped by Eegah and taken back to his cave while Tom searches for her. In Eegah's cave, Roxy is reunited with her father, who tells her that he has begun to communicate with the caveman and has developed a theory as to the creature's astounding longevity. When a frisky Eegah expresses what seems to be romantic interest in Roxy, her father, fearful that the creature may kill them both if he is rebuffed, suggests she put up with as much of it as she can bear. Eegah never tries anything too explicit, though, and Roxy even ends up giving him a shave before Tom arrives and helps the Millers escape. Crushed, Eegah follows them back to civilization, and a final confrontation ensues.
In the city, Eegah breaks into a restaurant and hotel, attracting the attention of the authorities. Eegah then makes his way to a pool where Roxy and Tom are partying. There the police catch up with him as he catches Roxy, and shoot him dead. The film ends with Eegah lying dead in the swimming pool.
on the rock and roll/surf rock scene in Los Angeles. Hall, Sr. both co-wrote the film with Bob Wehling, directed the picture under the pseudonym Nicholas Merriweather, and co-starred opposite his son under the name William Watters. While the library music used to underscore the picture was supplied by André Brummer (under the name Henri Price), an uncredited O'Day ended up being the music editor on Eegah!
Hall Sr. looked to create an Elvis Presley
-style screen persona for his son, and made sure that Eegah! was peppered with various rock and roll songs, (including two songs he wrote called "Vicky and "Valerie") and flattering close-ups of his son, later mocked by MST3K because of Hall Jr.'s distinctly odd facial features. The film attempts elements of traditional schlock-horror and youth-comedy genres. It also contains echoes of the 1960s "beach party
" genre.
Hall Sr.'s company, "Fairway-International Pictures", located in Burbank, California, was also Hall's place of residence and doubled for a number of locations in the picture, including the Millers' apartment.
Assistant cameraman Ray Dennis Steckler
appears in the picture as Mr. Fischer, the man at the hotel who is thrown at the pool near the end of the picture. Steckler, who had previously moved to Hollywood to become a cameraman, made his directing debut the next year in the Arch Hall Jr. vehicle, Wild Guitar
. Steckler's first independent feature, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (which MST3K also riffed in a later season) was later distributed by Fairway-International.
book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
.
In 1993, Eegah! was featured on Comedy Central's
cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
and became a fan favorite.
One of the film's more inept moments became a running joke on the show: Hall, Sr.'s line "Watch out for snakes!" is blurted out despite a lack of any visual source for the dialog. The line became a running gag, both on other episodes of the show and in a limited fashion as a pop-culture meme, appearing on The Office
and as the closing line of The Rick Emerson Show.
In the published episode guide to the series, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide (ISBN 0-553-37783-3), the cast considers the shaving scene from Eegah, in which Eegah lolls his tongue around and laps up shaving cream, to be one of the most disgusting things they've witnessed during their time on the show. The writers also speculate that some kind of romantic relationship existed between Arch Hall, Sr. and his on-screen daughter Marilyn Manning, due to the uncomfortably non-familial chemistry in their scenes together.
Eegah! also appeared on an episode of Movie Macabre, featuring Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
.
In 2009, Eegah! was shown on horror host
ed television series Cinema Insomnia
. Apprehensive Films
later released the Cinema Insomnia episode onto DVD.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
starring Arch Hall, Jr., Arch Hall, Sr., Marilyn Manning and Richard Kiel
Richard Kiel
Richard Dawson Kiel is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore...
in the titular role.
The film's notoriety was enhanced as a result of being featured on an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
, and was one of the films listed in Michael Medved's
Michael Medved
Michael Medved is an American radio host, author, political commentator and film critic. His Seattle, Washington-based nationally syndicated talk show, The Michael Medved Show, airs throughout the U.S...
book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time is a 1978 book by Harry Medved, with Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved. This book represents choices for the 50 worst sound films ever made, in alphabetical order...
.
Plot
One night after shopping, Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning) is driving to a party through the California desert when she nearly runs her car into Eegah (Richard Kiel), a giant cave man. She tells her boyfriend Tom Nelson (Arch Hall, Jr.), and her father Robert Miller (Arch Hall, Sr.) about the giant. Her father, a writer of adventure books, decides to go into the desert to look for the creature and possibly take a photograph of it. When his helicopter ride fails to show up at his designated pickup time, Tom and Roxy go into the desert looking for him.Roxy is soon kidnapped by Eegah and taken back to his cave while Tom searches for her. In Eegah's cave, Roxy is reunited with her father, who tells her that he has begun to communicate with the caveman and has developed a theory as to the creature's astounding longevity. When a frisky Eegah expresses what seems to be romantic interest in Roxy, her father, fearful that the creature may kill them both if he is rebuffed, suggests she put up with as much of it as she can bear. Eegah never tries anything too explicit, though, and Roxy even ends up giving him a shave before Tom arrives and helps the Millers escape. Crushed, Eegah follows them back to civilization, and a final confrontation ensues.
In the city, Eegah breaks into a restaurant and hotel, attracting the attention of the authorities. Eegah then makes his way to a pool where Roxy and Tom are partying. There the police catch up with him as he catches Roxy, and shoot him dead. The film ends with Eegah lying dead in the swimming pool.
Cast
- Richard KielRichard KielRichard Dawson Kiel is an American actor best known for his role as the steel-toothed Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as well as the video game Everything or Nothing, and Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore...
as Eegah - Marilyn Manning as Roxy Miller
- Arch Hall, Jr. as Tom Nelson
- Arch Hall, Sr. as Robert Miller
Production
Following the financial success of his first venture into the drive-in/juvenile delinquency genre, The Choppers, Arch Hall Sr. was able to fund Eegah!, a starring vehicle for his son, Arch Hall Jr., who had some success with songwriter Alan O'DayAlan O'Day
Alan O'Day is an American singer-songwriter, best known for writing and singing "Undercover Angel," a song which was number 1 in 1977. He also wrote songs for several other notable performers, such as 1974's Helen Reddy number 1 hit "Angie Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' number 3 hit "Rock And...
on the rock and roll/surf rock scene in Los Angeles. Hall, Sr. both co-wrote the film with Bob Wehling, directed the picture under the pseudonym Nicholas Merriweather, and co-starred opposite his son under the name William Watters. While the library music used to underscore the picture was supplied by André Brummer (under the name Henri Price), an uncredited O'Day ended up being the music editor on Eegah!
Hall Sr. looked to create an Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
-style screen persona for his son, and made sure that Eegah! was peppered with various rock and roll songs, (including two songs he wrote called "Vicky and "Valerie") and flattering close-ups of his son, later mocked by MST3K because of Hall Jr.'s distinctly odd facial features. The film attempts elements of traditional schlock-horror and youth-comedy genres. It also contains echoes of the 1960s "beach party
Beach Party film
Beach party movies were an American 1960s genre of feature films created by American International Pictures with their surprise 1963 hit, Beach Party, and copied by virtually every other studio...
" genre.
Hall Sr.'s company, "Fairway-International Pictures", located in Burbank, California, was also Hall's place of residence and doubled for a number of locations in the picture, including the Millers' apartment.
Assistant cameraman Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler
Ray Dennis Steckler , also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies...
appears in the picture as Mr. Fischer, the man at the hotel who is thrown at the pool near the end of the picture. Steckler, who had previously moved to Hollywood to become a cameraman, made his directing debut the next year in the Arch Hall Jr. vehicle, Wild Guitar
Wild Guitar
Wild Guitar is a 1962 musical drama film starring Arch Hall Jr., Arch Hall, Sr. , Ray Dennis Steckler , and Nancy Czar. The movie was directed by Ray Dennis Steckler and was produced by Arch Hall, Sr...
. Steckler's first independent feature, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (which MST3K also riffed in a later season) was later distributed by Fairway-International.
Influence
It is considered one of the worst films ever. The first real notoriety the film had past its initial release was being included in the Michael MedvedMichael Medved
Michael Medved is an American radio host, author, political commentator and film critic. His Seattle, Washington-based nationally syndicated talk show, The Michael Medved Show, airs throughout the U.S...
book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time
The Fifty Worst Films of All Time is a 1978 book by Harry Medved, with Randy Dreyfuss and Michael Medved. This book represents choices for the 50 worst sound films ever made, in alphabetical order...
.
In 1993, Eegah! was featured on Comedy Central's
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
cult television series Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
and became a fan favorite.
One of the film's more inept moments became a running joke on the show: Hall, Sr.'s line "Watch out for snakes!" is blurted out despite a lack of any visual source for the dialog. The line became a running gag, both on other episodes of the show and in a limited fashion as a pop-culture meme, appearing on The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
and as the closing line of The Rick Emerson Show.
In the published episode guide to the series, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide (ISBN 0-553-37783-3), the cast considers the shaving scene from Eegah, in which Eegah lolls his tongue around and laps up shaving cream, to be one of the most disgusting things they've witnessed during their time on the show. The writers also speculate that some kind of romantic relationship existed between Arch Hall, Sr. and his on-screen daughter Marilyn Manning, due to the uncomfortably non-familial chemistry in their scenes together.
Eegah! also appeared on an episode of Movie Macabre, featuring Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
Cassandra Peterson
Cassandra Peterson is an American actress best known for her on-screen horror hostess character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She gained fame on Los Angeles television station KHJ wearing a black, gothic, cleavage-enhancing gown as host of Movie Macabre, a weekly horror movie presentation...
.
In 2009, Eegah! was shown on horror host
Horror host
Horror hosts are a particular type of television presenter, often tasked with presenting low-grade films to television audiences. This tradition is primarily American, though there have been a few international hosts over the years.-Film Packages:...
ed television series Cinema Insomnia
Cinema Insomnia
Cinema Insomnia is a nationally syndicated American television series presented by horror host Mr. Lobo.- Format :Typically, Mr. Lobo opens each episode by promising to screen a well-known horror or science fiction classic ; however budgetary limitations, acts of God or other circumstances...
. Apprehensive Films
Apprehensive Films
Apprehensive Films is an independent American film production and distribution company. Established in 1997 as a production company, Apprehensive Films' main focus was low-budget Grindhouse-inspired films shot in Super 8 mm film and 16 mm film. In 2006, Apprehensive Films became a DVD distributor...
later released the Cinema Insomnia episode onto DVD.
DVD releases
The MST3K version of the movie was released on DVD in March 2000 by Rhino Home Video. As of January 2010, the DVD is now out-of-print on their official website, and as of July 2011, it is no longer available on MST3K's official website.External links
- Eegah on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Clip of the "Watch out for Snakes" phrase as it appears in Eegah on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....