Coroner’s Corner – Column

Coroner’s Corner

by John Bikowski

When I saw Interview With the Vampire the first time, the audience sat there as if they were waiting in the dentist’s office for a multiple root canal with a rusty straight razor. It severely hampered my full enjoyment of the film. However, upon a second viewing, the new audience reacted as if each scene of violence was being enacted upon themselves. Several women would continually jump, gasp, and scream. With such audience participation, I had a blast watching everyone squirm; and hence, and I had a better opinion of the overall flick. By the way, if you noticed the effects for Interview were flawless, it was because they were done by Stan Winston who did the computer effects for T2. He can show you what you would look like with your tonsils ripped out by a spoon, without having to cut away for special prosthetic effects. Cool, huh?

I also recall seeing Arachnophobia with 60 rambunctious Brownie Scouts. (Call off the search party – they weren’t with me; they just happened to be there.) Anyway, they screamed and cried at every spider sighting which, of course, had me continually on edge.

The point is that depending on who you view the film with, the movie can take on a whole new dimension. For example, if you were to watch Pieces with your Gramma, you might think, “This is irredeemable trash!” However, if you watch Pieces with some friends at a kickin’ party, you all will have countless moments of enjoyment ranking on the absurdity of the actors and the violence. The story is about a little boy who gets in trouble for making a naked lady puzzle. To show he is truly sorry, he hacks his mom to pieces with an ax. Many years later, the kid is loose and dealing with his problems by chopping off choice co-ed parts at a university. Apparently, he is building the ideal corpse for God-knows what. The film is frequently punctuated by righteously gory scenes of limb loppings and gut spillings. Not to ruin the film, but the ending has to be seen to be believed! The hero of the story is walking by the pieced-together nasty corpse which decided to reach up and slowly castrate him! A great climax!

Reviewed in a previous issue, another wonderful party tape is Dead Alive – the ultimate zombie film and still the goriest film I’ve ever seen. This flick will answer all those nagging questions you have always carried around. “Could I be in danger from a person with no legs?” “How would a room full of people mix with the blades of a lawn mower?” “Can a pile of intestines pass gas?” Check it out!