Continuing on with my series of audio commentaries, I have decided to take a break from “Homicide: Life on the Street” and do one on another show, the infamous HBO prison drama “OZ.” I became aware of this show when I found out that, like “Homicide,” it was executive produced by Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson. It was created by Fontana who originally sought to create a show about a minimum-security prison which he would have called “Club Med,” but he opted instead to do one on a maximum-security penitentiary once he got permission to do so from the head of HBO Original Programming.
It needs to be noted that “OZ” was the first hour-long drama ever produced by HBO. Most people forget this as “The Sopranos” came on a year or two later and quickly upstaged this groundbreaking show. Like “Homicide,” “OZ” never got much love from the Emmys or other major awards show, but it laid a solid path for the hour-long drama to exist on HBO. Shows like “The Sopranos” and “Game of Thrones” would possibly never have existed without the success of this show.
This commentary is on the premiere episode of “OZ” which is entitled “The Routine.” Written by Fontana and directed by Darnell Martin (“I Like It Like That”), it perfectly sets up the visual style which would quickly define the show and introduced us to a plethora of actors and actresses including Edie Falco, J.K. Simmons, Eamonn Walker, Harold Perrineau, and Kirk Acevedo. This episode also demonstrates quite dramatically how not a single character we see here will ever be safe. Anyone could die at any time, and this continually filled me with endless anxiety as a viewer.
Please check out the audio commentary below. “OZ” is available to stream on Max (formerly HBO Max) and to own and rent on DVD.
I recently had the pleasure of checking in with Keon Maghsoudi (a.k.a. Keon Kobra), a most excellent friend of mine from high school. We joined up to do an online commentary on the horror movie “Night of the Demons.” Released in 1988, the same year we got “Child Play’s,” “Maniac Cop,” “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master,” “Phantasm II” and the completely unnecessary “Poltergeist III,” it was made for $1.2 million and shot over four weeks in South Central Los Angeles. Despite negative reviews from critics, it went on to gross over $3 million after its debut in Detroit. Since then, it has become a cult classic and was followed by two sequels and an obligatory remake.
Before Keon and I started, I admitted I had not previously seen “Night of the Demons.” I was aware of it, having seen its posters in newspapers and a trailer on television. But back then, I was only slowly getting into horror movies as they were the kind of cinematic experiences I was fascinated by but quick to avoid. These days, I look forward to them as I have long since become deeply fascinated by the dark side of humanity.
“Night of the Demons” tells the twisted tale of a group of high school seniors who decide to celebrate Halloween at Hull House, an isolated funeral parlor which (surprise surprise) is said to be haunted by evil spirits. Despite this, one of the seniors gets the group to participate in a séance which, as you can expect, leads to all hell breaking loose. This demon, which kind of looks like the anglerfish from “Finding Nemo,” rises up and begins to possess these foolish teens, and it is clear from the get go many of them will not survive the night.
This is one of those movies best watched with a group of friends as watching it by yourself serves as a reminder of how a party of one is not much fun. Director Kevin S. Tenney and screenwriter Joe Augustyn employ a large number of horror movie clichés to where we feel like we have a good idea of which characters will live and die. It’s almost like a guessing game as I was tempting to place bets as to which one would bite the dust first. I kept thinking it would be Stooge (played by Hal Havins). Was it? Watch the movie.
Dread Central, in its review of the cult classic, described it as being “fun. Lively. A masterpiece, it’s not.” I think this perfectly sums up “Night of the Demons” as it was made not to ascend to the cinematic heights of “Lawrence of Arabia,” but instead to satisfy its core audience which was into blood, gore and hair/glam metal bands which the 1980’s was famous for producing. I want to thank Keon for inviting me to be part of this commentary as watching the movie with him proved to be a lot of fun.
As we watched the movie, I had its Wikipedia and IMDB pages up on my computer, and I found out the following:
Cathy Podewell, who plays the virginal Judy Cassidy, lived in Walnut Creek, California, a city not far from where Keon and I grew up.
Judy’s boyfriend, Jay, who is portrayed by Lance Fenton, played Kurt Kelly in one of the greatest teen movies ever made, “Heathers.”
Linnea Quigley, who plays teenager Suzanne, was 30 years old when she was cast. Quigley initially turned down the opportunity to audition as she felt much too old to play a teenager. Nevertheless, she was cast.
Quigley is best known for playing teenage punk Trash in “The Return of the Living Dead,” another in a long line of movies I still need to see.
This movie was recorded in Ultra Stereo. Remember Ultra Stereo? That seems to have gone the way of VHS tapes.
I have included the entire video of our commentary down below. I hope you enjoy it.
The Ultimate Rabbit 