Fossil Lake: An Anthology of the Aberrant (22 page)

ARKHAM ARTS REVIEW

Peter Rawlik

Arkham Arts Review:
Alienation

An Interview with Director James Romberg

Eight years ago media producer James Romberg became a sensation with his docudrama
Innsmouth
. This week he debuts his new work
Alienantion
, an account of the life of the film actor Abraham Waite. Earlier this week Mr. Romberg chattered with our own Mick Moon.

MM:  Mr. Romberg,
Innsmouth
was a sweeping historical piece, and a critical and commercial success; why follow it up with an examination of someone like Abraham Waite? It seems a radical departure from your previous work.

JR: 
Innsmouth
– and before that
Jermyn
– were period pieces.
Alienation
is a contemporary film, but it’s still rooted in the same source, still asking the same questions. What does it mean to be different, to be fundamentally inhuman in a human world, both physically and psychologically? I could do this through fiction, but adapting history, telling the stories of these people who actually lived, I think it is much more powerful.

MM:  But, in both previous films your protagonists moved from a human world into an inhuman one. In
Jermyn
, Arthur rejects his origins with tragic results, while Robert in
Innsmouth
eventually learns to accept and embrace his ancestry. Abraham Waite begins in an inhuman world and moves into the normal one, finding a place, or at least trying to. That seems to be a bold reversal of direction.

JR:  Actually it’s a natural progression that mimics the time and attitudes that each film was set in.
Jermyn
is an Edwardian piece, with the central character representing the dominant society, which violently rejects any revelations concerning the past that might impact their particular worldview.
Innsmouth
is purposefully a Jazz Age piece, and the response of Robert Olmstead to revelations concerning his ancestry mirrors the societal changes that were occurring during that time period. Yes, he rejects what he discovers, and reports it to the government, and the actions taken are just as violent and drastic as those portrayed in
Jermyn
. However, in the aftermath Olmstead reconsiders, his initial rejection is replaced with not only acceptance, but also a sense of outré wonder and elation. I think of
Alienation
as a commentary on post-humanism. Abraham Waite begins his journey in Innsmouth, isolated from what some would call civilization. His journey from that isolation into the spotlight of first fame, and then infamy, highlights the changes in mainstream society and the way in which it now embraces the fringe elements it once tried to deny, even destroy.

MM:  But Abraham Waite is still alive, and still working in film, correct?

JR:  He is. Abe has been working in film since 1962, when he first appeared in Corman’s
Echidna
. He made sixteen films with Corman, including the remake of
Freaks
and the classic
Galaxy of Fear
. In 1982 he began working with Tobe Hooper, appearing first in
Tsathaggua
, and then later as the antagonist in
Warlords of Yaddith
. The failure of Romero’s
Night of the Reanimator
, both critically and financially, drove Abe to take a number of minor parts, mostly as an extra or part of the special effects team. This led to him working with Carpenter on
Who Goes There?
and winning a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

MM:  This was very controversial at the time.

JR:  Right. There were a lot of voices, ugly voices, raised in response to Abe’s appearing on network television. A coalition of actors, mostly character actors who specialized in roles that required significant amounts of make-up and prosthetics, objected saying that Abe had an unfair advantage. In the meanwhile, many people with similar characteristics suggested that Abe was catering to stereotypes. Just as ethnic groups had formed to protest the negative portrayals of Africans and Asians on film, the movement that protested Abe and similar actors became very vocal. However, while the Black Face and Yellow Face Movements worked in concert with each other, the Green Face groups found no such support and were forced to escalate their activities in order to garner national attention to their cause. Unfortunately, one radical faction chose to resort to violence to make their point.

MM:  You’re talking about the accident that occurred on the set of Larson’s series,
Galactics
.

JR:  There was nothing accidental about it. The Esoteric Order of Dagon purposefully interfered with a dangerous stunt which caused the death of six of their members. It was a reprehensible act, and psychologically scarred those cast and crew members who witnessed it.

MM:  The grand jury found that the studio was not responsible for those deaths. Abraham Waite sued and won significant damages from the Order.

JR:  Well he may have won the legal battle, but in many ways he lost the war.

MM:  Care to elaborate?

JR:  The trial was a spectacle, and it brought to light a significant amount of history, including family history, that Waite would have preferred remain out of the public eye. There was testimony about religious practices, inbreeding, genetics, even miscegenation. It was all very ugly. There was even a Congressional Committee chaired by Tipper Gore to review the legal status of residents of Innsmouth and Dunwich. Afterwards, the studio wrote Waite’s character out of the series, over Larson’s protests mind you, and Abe was essentially blacklisted from Hollywood.

MM:  This led to his working in some questionable films.

JR:  Yeah, for about ten years or so he worked with a lot of independent directors. He even did some soft-core, what was unfortunately called fish porn. Eventually, he got work with some decent directors like Raimi, Smith and del Toro. All of which eventually led to his performance in Jackson’s
Eldritch
, for which he won the Academy Award.

MM:  This did not sit well with Tantamount, the parent studio of
Galactics
.

JR:  They weren’t happy at all, particularly with the toy line, which featured an action figure based on Waite that was almost identical to the one being marketed for the
Galactics
line. Tantamount took Abe to court claiming that he was infringing on their copyright of the character’s appearance, a patently absurd tactic, but bolstered by some creative interpretation of language in the licensing clause of his contract. Waite’s lawyers countersued, noting that he had only agreed to the use of his face, not his entire body, which in the series had never been fully shown. Meanwhile after reading the position taken in Tantamount’s filings, the SAG union authorized a strike in support of Waite.

MM:  That work stoppage lasted for six months, and eventually led to the downfall of the studio head Howard Lowe. It also changed the way studios contracted with actors and licensed their products.

JR:  It also created a whole new class of actors, so called Living Effects. The portrayal of the monstrous that had spawned the Greenface opposition and groups like the Esoteric Order of Dagon, suddenly had little to complain about. MADS, the Monstrous Ant-Defamation Society, was formed, and like the ASPCA, now has a presence on any studio film. Though to be honest, the days of exploitation films like
The Blob, The Creature from the Black Lagoon,
or
I married a Monster from Outer Space
, are long dead. Sure there may be a few direct to video releases, but these are relatively minor films.

MM: 
Humanoids from the Deep
set box office records at the Kingsport Film Festival last year. Jeff Wilmarth called it “A tour de force of cinematic sleaze that will leave you begging for more.”

JR:  I’ve seen that film, and I understand why it was so popular, and why the critics liked it. But the truth is that it possesses the same kind of nostalgic charm that things like
Madman
and
Red Hook
have. When we look at these dramas that are recreating what many see as a simpler more innocent time, what we are really doing is looking at that period and remembering it with fondness, but at the same time, we recognize that many of those behaviors and events were the product of an ignorant and bigoted society, that in retrospect can be very amusing, and yes entertaining, and therefore profitable. But that doesn’t make them significant works of art.

MM:  For example?

JR:  Scott’s film
Extraterrestrial
was very profitable, and the critics adored it when it came out. But now twenty years later it is forgotten, the effects are sub-par, the storyline is mediocre and the acting was just bland. In contrast,
EXtro
by Burton lost money on its initial release, but has now become a cult classic and a cash cow for Dyson Pictures.

MM:  Shifting back to Abraham Waite, what’s his current situation?

JR:  He’s doing very well; he lives in Kingsport where he spends most of his time fishing and painting. He doesn’t act much, though he just did a cameo in Lynch’s
Devil Reef
, and he’s scheduled to appear in an upcoming episode of
Professor Wyche
. He will be at the premiere on Friday.

MM:  Was he involved much with the making of
Alienation
?

JR:  Not as much as I would have liked. What many people don’t seem to understand is that Waite is a consummate professional. The film itself relies heavily on his memoir
Monstrous
, but where Abe was really helpful was in the actual film making. He’s been an actor for more than forty years, but he has also studied film and camera work. He actually has a credit in the film as a camera man. Also, Abe worked extensively with Rex Topf, the actor who played Abe in the film, to make sure that Rex had mastered Waite’s very distinctive walk and cadence. This wasn’t easy for Rex, he has three fewer tentacles than Abe, which we added in through digital effects, but capturing the way Abe moves was difficult for him.

MM:  You told me earlier that the home release version of the film will have a bonus track, would you like to explain?

JR:  Oh, absolutely, in fact we just came from the studio this morning, where I and Abe were working on the Director’s commentary. So, we will actually have Abraham Waite commenting about the film of his life.

MM:  That is kind of surreal.

JR:  Isn’t it though?

MM:  James I want to thank you for joining us here at Arkham Arts Review.

JR:  Always a pleasure.

MM: 
Alienation
, the new film by James Romberg about the life of actor Abraham Waite premieres at Miskatonic University’s Wilmarth Centre for the Arts in Arkham on Friday April 30th. Tickets are available at the box office, or online.

Following the premiere of
Alienation
, Director James Romberg, and his wife Ellen, were joined by Mr. Waite at a reception for the press. According to eyewitnesses the three were actively involved in answering questions, when Reverend Enoch Marsh, the nominal head of the Esoteric Order of Dagon in Innsmouth, approached the panelists.

Well known for his radical views in favor of racial segregation, Reverend Marsh was supposed to be barred from the reception. How he gained access is unknown. Security staff failed in their attempts to block his approach, and once Marsh reached the table, he threw himself at Mr. Waite reportedly screaming “Cthulhu fthagn!” Dr. Marsh then detonated explosives hidden underneath his coat killing himself, three security guards and the entire panel.

In light of these events Witch Hill Studios has indefinitely postponed the film’s release.