GRAND GUIGNOL

There was a decade or so from 1962 when a new genre of movie came out that screams to me as camp camp camp. The genre was named "Ladies of the Grand Guignol" and there were a few ingredients to these movies.

These were always psychological thrillers normally involving torture, serial killing and odd special effects.

The main character or characters were ALWAYS played by a Hollywood leading lady who maybe hadn't had great success recently

The said actress screamed a lot and was either the evil murdering character or more often than not, the one being framed for being bad.

The supporting cast are more wooden than a trip to Ikea.

There's always a twist at the end of the movie where the the main female lead was either found guilty or a secret was revealed to prove their innocence.

The original film of Grand Guignol was one of the most legendary movies ever made....
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? Ageing Hollywood Queens, Bette Davis and Joan Crawford camp it up the max as Jane and Blanche Hudson who are sisters with a crazed relationship, both forgotten stars and Jane gets more and more cracked up as Blanche feels the psychological pressure. Surely one of the best movies ever made, Crawford and Davis especially show just why they made it to the top of their game. Jack Warner who was previously their boss during the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1940s said "I wouldn't give you a dime for those two washed up bitches" agreed to distribute the film which was a smash hit and renewed interest in both Bette and Joan with Bette getting her 10th Oscar nomination as psycho Baby Jane.

Both went on to do their own thing less than two years later, Joan in Straitjacket where she plays psycho Lucy Harbin who chops her husband up with an axe and Bette playing a twin role in Dead Ringer where she kills herself and takes on another identity. However, the money was too good and public opinion too strong and Joan and Bette were to be reunited in Whatever Happened to Cousin Charlotte which was later renamed Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte. This time Bette was Charlotte, a Southern belle who's being driven crazy by her evil cousin Miriam however Bette made things difficult for Joan who left the picture and was replaced by Bette's friend, the angelic Olivia de Havilland. Chopped hands and plantations were order of the day in this gothic smash.

Joan and Bette and indeed Olivia made some more movies ala Grand Guignol. Bette appeared in British horror The Nanny and The Anniversary where she played the crazy nut job Mrs Taggert who wears an eye patch. Joan was in Berserk as circus owner Monica Rivers, in a hark back to her classic Flamingo Road where she was the carni girl, this time her staff are being murdered and she doesn't know what's happening! Olivia was in one of the most bizarre movies ever made. Lady In A Cage finds the demure Miss De Havilland stuck in a chair lift with her door open when her house is invaded by various reprobates who tear the house apart and torture her as she's stuck 7 feet in the air in the lift. Carrying on the torch from these gals is Shelley Winters who is questioned twice in What's the Matter with Helen? and Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? Shelley by this time in the early 70s is piling on the pounds but plays a woman who has visions of death and in "Auntie Roo" does a semi modern take on the Hansel & Gretel story with her being the witch in the oven. Shelley is rather convincing as the crazy lady and I wouldn't let her near a rabbit hutch again after watching what really was the matter with her character Helen!!

The director of Baby Jane and Sweet Charlotte, Robert Aldrich, realised there was life in the old dog yet and made Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? Geraldine Page is particularly icy as Clare Marrable who's out to swindle her housekeepers until Aunt Alice gets a bit suspicious and takes on Clare with crazy and torturous concequences. Now not only were women the lead but gay star and all round Hollywood hottie Sal Mineo had dragged himself into the frame. His uber low budget Who Killed Teddy Bear is the seediest of them all. Set in 60s Times Square amongst every sex shop imaginable, Juliet Prowse is being stalked and there's lots of footage of Sal Mineo in pants and sweating and working out - throw in a disabled sister, rough lesbians and porno obsessed cops and you have a menage a camp.

Tallulah Bankhead, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Fontaine and also Anthony Perkins have honourable mentions at making a stab as scream queens in Grand Guignol but Bette, Joan, Olivia et al stand out as fantastic actresses who went gung ho into a genre and made it their own and made me cry with laughter with all the camp murder nonsense. The zenith for acting quality is definitely Baby Jane but for pure obscene and unadulterated joy look for Straitjacket or Teddy Bear, Joan Crawford gives an A list performance in a definite B movie but that's what makes them so much more enjoyable!!