I SAW DUST BUNNY

Bryan (Hannibal: the Series) Fuller's Dust Bunny eluded me for far too long, but it's now a headliner on HBO Max, and so, at long last, I was able to experience its surreal splendor. 

The movie centers on a girl named Aurora, played by Sophie Stone, who harbors a creature under her bed. It kills her foster parents (and the couple isn't the first it's reputedly consumed). In True Grit fashion, she decides to hire a hitman, played by Hannibal lead, Mads Mikkelsen, a stealthy gent who lives in Room 5B of her New York City residence. (She knows "5B" is an assassin, since she watched him slay a series of assailants in Chinatown.) The cynical mercenary believes that whoever killed Aurora's parents meant to kill him and tells his "handler," Sigourney Weaver's Laverne, about the situation. This leads to a complex and dangerous succession that includes a suspicious social worker, Sheila Atim's Brenda, and a ruthless duo played by David Dastmalchian and Rebecca Henderson.   

For the most part, the story is told through Aurora's eyes, in a manner comparable to the youth-propelled Invaders from Mars and Phantasm, though filled with far greater whimsy, a la Martin Scorsese's Hugo. For one, Aurora's surroundings are stylized in both color and scope, her main hub resembling a spruced-up version of Los Angeles' Bradbury Building. To add to the colorful palette, Aurora's segues between quiet desperation and deal-making are heightened by a consistent, unearthly mood, which sometimes makes it difficult to discern what's real and what's reverie, although I suspect that was Fuller's full intent.  

Mikkelsen is the movie's supreme scene-stealer, thanks to the skillful way he dispatches his opponents, some of whom (one should infer) do, indeed, wish to eliminate Aurora, since she does know a little too much from both ends of the spectrum. 

Stone is good, too, as the wide-eyed heroine, who only wants to stop the creature from killing, and Weaver gives her quirkiest portrayal to date, often wavering between by-the-book silliness and Ripley-esque steeliness. 

Due to is offbeat execution, Dust Bunny won't be to everyone's liking. (It comes across like a blur of Luc Besson's Leon and Rob Reiner's North, with the aforementioned, kid-cut thrillers dominating.) Even so, Dust Bunny's motif remains monster oriented from start to finish, and for those who fancy frightful anomalies (whether insinuated, full-fledged or some place in between), this one has much to offer. 

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: GODZILLA'S GREATEST HITS (SUPER 66 TV MARATHON)

 

I SAW WRINKLES THE CLOWN

 

Wrinkles the Clown, a 2019, experimental documentary, has made its way to Netflix.

The concept, directed by Michael Beach Nichols, who coscripted with Christopher K. Walker, isn't what one may expect, as it presents twists and turns regarding an anonymous, Naples, Florida performer who's up for hire among parents who wish to scare their misbehaving children into obedience. Garbed in his weird, forlorn mask and red, white-dotted costume (often manifesting in rigid, Michael Myers style), Wrinkles became and remains a celebrity, but was he ever as active as some believe or just the stuff of social-media hearsay?

The initial part of the documentary focuses on a man said to be the veritable Wrinkles, but he's later unmasked as actor D.B. Lambert, an understudy for the one who reputedly is Wrinkles. The latter, who's silhouetted with voice distortion, consumes the content from such point on, sharing his behavioral and ideological views (and thoughts about his copycat counterparts), but is he no more than another clever ruse?  

Even the renowned "found footage" of Wrinkles (a clip where he emerges from under a little girl's bed) is staged. In addition, some hold firm that Wrinkles never held any official gigs. His "existence" rode off novelty posters, answering-machine recordings and off-the-cuff, phone exchanges (some amiable, others austere).

For the sake of comparison, Nichols' movie marches in step with Orson Welles' F for Fake, a 1973 documentary that covers the mass scare spurred by the Mercery Theatre's The War of the Worlds, as well as art forger Elmyr de Hory and Clifford Irving's prophetic book on Howard Hughes. In this regard, both productions question high-profile deception by exploring when and how fact and fiction merge.  

For Nichols' opus, such ambivalence prompts urban legend (i.e. clowns in white vans who kidnap kids, the sinister Slender Man, et al), but this avenue also reveals the courage one must muster to overcome one's pop-cultural fears. 

The children featured in Wrinkles epitomize this component, as they strive to understand their elusive, gruffy-voiced tormentor and conquer his frightful hold over them. The children's processing reminded me of how I, as a wee boy, learned that monsters were only actors in makeup and then to act out the roles that made Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney and Carradine famous. The kids in Wrinkles walk a similar path, dressing up as their "adversary" for the sheer creative and therapeutic fun of it.  

That resonating outcome is my takeaway from Nichols' venture, and it's an empowering one. It doesn't matter if Wrinkles is (or ever was) an actual entity. It's a matter of what his legacy promotes. If one can see beyond a facade, then one can see the truth behind any front: indeed, a worthy life lesson.  

HAPPY ALIEN DAY 2026 (4/26)

 

AIRSHIP 27 PODCAST (APRIL 2026): A NEW PULP FLIGHT

Airship 27's (April 2026) Podcast glides high, with Ron Fortier and Rob Davis presenting its past six, New Pulp releases for its big "clean up" year.

The awesome lineup consists of a science-fiction, crime melodrama, Under a Crooked Star, by Daniel Whiston; a Bigfoot P.I. case, California Wolves, by Michael Panush; an alternate-history (post Civil War) excursion, Tenderfoot: An American Mammoths Novel, also by Panush; a spirited, sequel anthology, The Adventures of Radio Rita, Vol 2 (with stories by Curtis Fernlund, Gene Moyers, Glen Held and Samantha Lienhard); a mystical, French & Indians War exploit, Tomahawks and Sorcery, by Teel James Glenn; and a gusty, new pirate sojourn, Jezebel Johnston, Vol 10: No Quarter, by Nancy Hansen. 

The fellows also cover several upcoming (in-progress), Airship titles, including a spectacular, Adventures of Sinbad double feature, a new Barry Baskervilles book and a fascinating sequel to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Beyond Thirty. 

"Radio in" for all the finer, New Pulp details: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIAYXb74UwM

WISE WORDS:

 

REVENGE OF THE CREATURE: A MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES TRIBUTE

Classic Monsters of the Movies: Revenge of the Creature is a recommended supplement to Nige Burton & Jamie Jones' revised, Creature from the Black Lagoon, deluxe edition (see earlier, April post). 

Revenge of the Creature is a fascinating, 3-D follow-up to Universal's original hit, which transports the Gill-man to Ocean Harbor Oceanarium (Florida's Marineland), where he's put on undignified display before achieving a rattling escape, a la King Kong. 

Burton & Jones cover the production's development, while comparing its content to the hard-to-rival original. They also offer insights on director Jack Arnold; producer/cowriter William Alland; screenwriter Martin Berkeley; and the movie's stars: John Agar, Lori Nelson, John Bromfield, Nestor Paiva, Brett Halsey, Clint Eastwood (in a memorable cameo), and as the Gill-man, Ricou Browning (underwater) and Tom Hennesy (on land). 

As with Classic Monsters' Creature from the Black Lagoon volume, Revenge ... contains rare photos, impressive, publicity materials, "Quotable Quotes" and delightful trivia. 

I consider Revenge ... a stand-out sequel and Burton & Jones' "ultimate guide" a stand-out issue for its research and meticulous analysis. (I do hope that the deft duo fashions a Creature Walks Among Us edition to complete the saga. There's no doubt that such would prove oh-so-enriching.) 

Purchase Classic Monsters of the Movies' Revenge of the Creature at 

https://www.classic-monsters.com/shop/product/revenge-of-the-creature-1955-ultimate-guide-magazine/