...why exactly is Peter Cushing...or rather, why is the character he plays in the sleazy, tension-filled, slightly campy and unflinchingly visceral 1968 horror thriller "Corruption"...renowned surgeon Dr. John Rowan,
so freakin' mad, huh?? I mean, we're not talking something as simple as 'just stubbed my big toe on the curb', 'dammit, someone took my last jello in the 'fridge' or 'yer' cheatin' at cards, pard'ner' mad, here. No sirree, Bob...we're talking something
more like outright mad-as-a-hatter, complete mental breakdown, 'I'm gonna chase ya' down, and if I catch ya', I'm gonna slice ya' up with this scalpel', blood-lusting psycho killer mad. At least, for this viewer,
that was the first impression, in first becoming privy of the 1968 film, "Corruption"...
...before eliciting a conclusive 'theory' to this query, given this opportunity to view "Corruption" for the first time, this viewer cannot help but kick things off by expressing an absolute love of movies trailers...especially those wrought from the guilded age of the drive-in and grindhouse cinema, from the mid '60's...say, to the mid '80's. As they are obviously intended to do, the movie trailers 'sell' the film, and the more viscerally descriptive and exploitatively in-your-face, the trailer is, the better to draw in the eager, albeit unsuspecting viewer...especially this viewer. In some cases 'exploitative' is almost synonymous to 'deceptive', and often, such deceptive exploitation can fool the hapless viewer into thinking that the film is something that it ultimately proves not to be. More than often enough, this strategy culminates into the trailer being something better than the movie itself; however, there's the occasion when a movie trailer, in being evasive, deceptive, and at the same time exploitative, hides the fact that the movie itself is a powderkeg, and the trailer...as shamelessly circus-barker impressive as it might be, or tries to be...is merely an anticipatory fuse...
...there's no doubt, director Alfred Hitchcock's terrifying classic 1960 horror/thriller, indelibly left it's mark on world-wide cinema. Since the film's influential inception, and well into the inspired horror, terror & thriller-flavored productions of today, the multiple-personality, schizophrenic psycho killer...given twistedly skewed and underlining motivations, as well as often deceptive and compelled appearances & visages...these bad boys (...and sometimes, bad gals) seductively draw in the unwary and unsuspecting, taking them to the point of no return...no escape...and without warning, strike with maligned intent, knowing little of what is right or wrong...often, not even caring about the two...the cold-hearted, alluring spider, drawing in the flies. Mad & maniacal 'mickey mouse' role call...sound off, now: 1961's "Homicidal"...1980's "Silent Scream"...1964's "Strait Jacket"...1973's "Sisters"...1982's "Pieces"...1992's "Raising Caine"...2012's "Maniac"...1980's "Dressed to Kill" (...notice the obvious emphasis on director Brian de Palma)...1976's "Schizo"...1980's "Fade to Black"...and so many countless others...both prominent and obscure...it might be understandable that something worth noting...something almost forgotten, though no less inspired and powerhouse, in it's presence...something razor-edge terrifying...something under-the-skin creepy...something...something like...
...why exactly is Peter Cushing...or rather, why is the character he plays in the sleazy, tension-filled, slightly campy and unflinchingly visceral 1968 horror thriller "Corruption"...renowned surgeon Dr. John Rowan, so freakin' mad, huh?? I mean, we're not talking something as simple as 'just stubbed my big toe on the curb', 'dammit, someone took my last jello in the 'fridge' or 'yer' cheatin' at cards, pard'ner' mad, here. No sirree, Bob...we're talking something more like outright mad-as-a-hatter, complete mental breakdown, 'I'm gonna chase ya' down, and if I catch ya', I'm gonna slice ya' up with this scalpel', blood-lusting psycho killer mad. At least, for this viewer, that was the first impression, in first becoming privy of the 1968 film, "Corruption"...