the matrix

There are some things that people will never forget. For me, the above image is one of them.

I have written about my love for Superman III in the past. It is a movie that when taken into context of the franchise it’s contained in, is completely ridiculous. Richard Pryor? Robert Vaughn? Slap stick opening montage?! All of these things, if put in a super hero film today, would be just as derided as they were when Superman III was first released in 1983. Yet, it is a movie that to me, is imminently watchable and very entertaining. All of this aside, I am not going to make this into another love fest for Superman III like I did here. What I am going to do is talk about a scene in the movie that gave me nightmares for years afterward. It is insane to think that a scene such as this would be contained in a film intended for family audiences. What scene am I talking about? Funny you should ask.

Before I get into what exact few seconds of film I am talking about, I feel I need to set the scene and explain the circumstances of how it happened. After under going a personality change in which he turned into a drunk and nasty son of a bitch, Superman is back to his good guy self and trying to fix what he had done in his other state. Meanwhile, bad guy Mitch Webster (Vaughn) has decided to use infantile employee Gus Gorman’s new super computer to rule the world. Now the catch to this computer is that it can exploit anybody’s weaknesses. So after rendering Superman weak with a healthy dose of Kryptonite, Superman flies away to grab some lethal acid and leaves our villains alone as the computer gets a mind of its own.

Here is where things get nasty. The computer turns itself back on after its plug (‘THIS screw?’) is pulled and Vaughn runs toward safety with his sister and mistress. All of a sudden, the computer grabs his sister Vera and pulls her into its circuits. The subsequent close-up is when the nightmares start. We see metal slap onto her face with nasty ‘clap’ noises and screams of pain echo through the speakers. Robotic wires stream across her face and a close-up of her closed eyes is interrupted when they open up to a robotic sound effect. Unrecognizable, Vera The Evil Robot Lady attacks her brother with laser rays shooting from her hands and eyes. Thankfully, Superman shows back up and knocks her metal ass through the floor. And that was that.

But, it wasn’t. This one scene lived in my subconcious for months, maybe years after. More so than Jason Voorhees, more so than Michael Myers, and even more than Freddy Krueger, Vera The Evil Robot Lady was the focus of many sleepless nights in the life of a young Garrett Collins. Why this is has always escaped me. Watching it now, the robot eyes are cheesy, and the under use of the set-up they had hurts it. Thinking about it in the context of the computer’s ability to exploit weaknesses, does this mean that Vaughn was always scared of his sister turning into a robot and killing him? Where is the accompanying comic book to explain this? They have books to explain everything else for Christ’s sake. So why the hell isn’t the one thing in the current over saturated comic book media landscape I care about not out there for me to read?!

Maybe it’s for the best. After all, if everything about the origins of Vera The Evil Robot Lady had been explained and spoon-fed to me, the scene would not have resonated as much and almost all of its impact would have been taken away. Maybe modern filmmakers who have dreams of remaking some of their favorite films (of which I am) should take notes. Not everything needs to be explained, as the more you deconstruct something, the less scary it is. Congratulations Vera The Evil Robot Lady. You are the only instrument of fear which was handled correctly.

Behind The Scenes Photos

If you are a Facebook friend of mine, let me take this opportunity to apologize. As of late, I have delved into behind the scenes photos of every movie from The Birds to Star Wars to Fast 7 and been on a little bit of a posting photo binge. Though I have seen the weirdest things posted on this little thing called social media -most recently, I saw an article with the headline ‘Police Arrest Women Who Had $100 Worth of Walmart Merchandise In Her Vagina’- I thought at first my little photo posting binge was a bit intrusive. Then I thought, ‘it’s my page, I’ll do whatever the hell I want.’

Ok, I am getting a bit off topic here. To get back on track, I have always been fascinated by behind the scenes photographs. Looking at behind the scenes Jaws photos, it is safe to assume not long after each picture on that set was taken, someone was getting yelled at. The magic of the movies is that we see images placed onscreen, most likely made up, and get moved by them. What behind the scenes pictures display to me is people collaborating to bring this magic to us. There is something undeniably captivating about each and every image because of its result.

For example, take a look at this picture featuring the midair shootout between Neo and Agent Smith from the original Matrix film. We all know about how iconic the film is within science fiction circles. But seeing Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving go through the motions of filming it makes it even better to me. The coordination and trust between each actor and the director’s vision is what makes a film work as well as The Matrix does. Of course, the Wachowskis are notoriously camera shy, so they are not in the picture. But images such as this define the magic of movies to me.

Well. That and this amazing image of Jason Bateman getting fed from the set of Teen Wolf Too.

See you next time!