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Los Angeles Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
What does smelting have to do with Ted Bundy? A lot, argues ‘Murderland' author
The first film I saw in a theater was 'The Love Bug,' Disney's 1969 comedy about a sentient Volkswagen Beetle named Herbie and the motley team who race him to many a checkered flag. Although my memory is hazy, I recall my toddler's delight: a car could think, move and communicate like a real person, even chauffeuring the romantic leads to their honeymoon. Nice Herbie! Or not so nice. A decade later, Stanley Kubrick opened his virtuosic 'The Shining' with fluid tracking shots of the same model of automobile headed toward the Overlook Hotel and a rendezvous with horror. Something had clicked. Caroline Fraser's scorching, seductive 'Murderland' chronicles the serial-killer epidemic that swept the U.S. in the 1970s and '80s, focusing on her native Seattle and neighboring Tacoma, where Ted Bundy was raised. He drove a Beetle, hunting for prey. She underscores the striking associations between VWs and high-yield predators, as if the cars were accomplices, malevolent Herbies dispensing victims efficiently. (Bundy's vehicle is now displayed in a Tennessee museum.) The book's a meld of true crime, memoir and social commentary, but with a mission: to shock readers into a deeper understanding of the American Nightmare, ecological devastation entwined with senseless sadism. 'Murderland' is not for the faint of heart, yet we can't look away: Fraser's writing is that vivid and dynamic. She structures her narrative chronologically, conveyed in present tense, newsreel-style, evoking the Pacific Northwest's woodsy tang and bland suburbia. Fraser came of age on Mercer Island, adjacent to Lake Washington's eastern shore, across a heavily-trafficked pontoon bridge notorious for fatal crashes. Like the Beetle, the dangerous bridge threads throughout 'Murderland,' braiding the author's personal story with those of her cast. A 'Star Trek' geek stuck in a rigid Christian Science family, she loathed her father and longed to escape. In Tacoma, 35 miles to the south, Ted Bundy grew up near the American Smelting and Refining Co., which disgorged obscene levels of lead and arsenic into the air while netting millions for the Guggenheim dynasty before its 1986 closure. Bundy is the book's charismatic centerpiece, a handsome, well-dressed sociopath in shiny patent-leather shoes, flitting from college to college, job to job, corpse to corpse. During the 1970s, he abducted dozens of young women, raping and strangling them on sprees across the country, often engaging in postmortem sex before disposing their bodies. He escaped custody twice in Colorado — once from a courthouse and another time from a jail — before he was finally locked up for good after his brutal attacks on Chi Omega sorority sisters at Florida State University. Fraser depicts his bloody brotherhood with similar flair. Israel Keyes claimed Bundy as a hero. Gary Ridgway, the prolific 'Green River Killer,' inhaled the same Puget Sound toxins. Randy Woodfield trawled I-5 in his 1974 Champagne Edition Beetle. As she observes of Richard Ramirez, Los Angeles' 'Night Stalker': 'He's six foot one, wears black, and never smiles. He has a dead stare, like a shark. He doesn't bathe. He has bad teeth. He's about to go beserk.' But the archvillain is ASARCO, the mining corporation that dodged regulations, putting profitability over people. Fraser reveals an uncanny pattern of polluting smelters and the men brought up in their shadows, prone to mood swings and erratic tantrums. The science seems speculative until the book's conclusion, where she highlights recent data, explicitly mapping links. Her previous work, 'Prairie Fires,' a biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, won the Pulitzer Prize and other accolades. The pivot here is dramatic, a bit of formal experimentation as Fraser shatters the fourth wall, luring us from our comfort zone. While rooted in the New Journalism of Joan Didion and John McPhee, 'Murderland' deploys a mocking tone to draw us in, scattering deadpan jokes among chapters: 'In 1974 there are at least a half a dozen serial killers operating in Washington. Nobody can see the forest for the trees.' Fraser delivers a brimstone sermon worthy of a Baptist preacher at a tent revival, raging at plutocrats who ravage those with less (or nothing at all). Her fury blazes beyond balance sheets and into curated spaces of elites. She singles out Roger W. Straus Jr., tony Manhattan publisher, patron of the arts and grandson of Daniel Guggenheim, whose Tacoma smelter may have scrambled Bundy's brain. She mentions Straus' penchant for ascots and cashmere jackets. She laments the lack of accountability. 'Roger W. Straus Jr. completes the process of whitewashing the family name,' she writes. 'Whatever the Sackler family is trying to do by collecting art and endowing museums, lifting their skirts away from the hundreds of thousands addicted and killed by prescription opioids manufactured and sold by their company — Purdue Pharma — the Guggenheims have already stealthily and handily accomplished.' Has Fraser met a sacred cow she wouldn't skewer? Those beautiful Cézannes and Picassos in the Guggenheim Museum can't paper over the atrocities; the gilded myths of American optimism, our upward mobility and welcoming shores won't mask the demons. 'The furniture of the past is permanent,' she notes. 'The cuckoo clock, the Dutch door, the daylight basement — humble horsemen of the domestic Apocalypse. The VWs, parked in the driveway.' 'Murderland' is a superb and disturbing vivisection of our darkest urges, this summer's premier nonfiction read. Cain is a book critic and the author of a memoir, 'This Boy's Faith: Notes from a Southern Baptist Upbringing.' He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Screen Geek
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Screen Geek
Beloved Stephen King Horror Classic Now Streaming On Max
With Max's connection to the Warner Bros. library, subscribers can often find a majority of titles from the studio's library available to stream on Max. Of course, streaming can become a complicated web of licensing issues, so certain titles frequently come and go. Now one such title – a beloved horror classic based on the works of Stephen King – is now streaming on Max. This particular title was one of the earliest feature films to be based on a Stephen King novel. With a release date of 1980, it helped establish the hype for many King adaptations that followed. Of course, very few of those films have a reputation as bold and memorable as this effort from one of Hollywood's greatest directors. Perhaps most interestingly, however, is that Stephen King himself is notably not a fan of this adaptation. While die-hard fans may agree with King, given that the film takes several liberties with his original novel, numerous film fans, critics, and casual viewers generally agree that this film is a recognizable classic. The film, titled The Shining , was initially considered a flop in 1980. It even received two nominations at the first Razzies in 1981. Nevertheless, it has proven itself to be a powerhouse example of a horror film, with its unique cast and setting consistently being referenced to this day. For those unfamiliar, The Shining revolves around Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrance who takes on a job as a caretaker for a remote hotel in Colorado. The location, titled the Overlook Hotel, seems to have a psychic hold on Jack including a number of supernatural spirits that haunt him and his son, Danny, played by young child actor Danny Lloyd. The late Shelley Duvall plays Jack's Wife, Wendy, who gives a stunning performance as a woman whose whole world is burning down around them. While it may not have the same characterizations as the original novel, and certain sequences have been altered or removed completely, director Stanley Kubrick did so to create what many consider to be an exquisite example of Hollywood filmmaking. Hopefully Stephen King fans can enjoy revisiting the horror film on Max, and for those newcomers, hopefully they can appreciate The Shining so many decades later just like its other fans.
Sky News AU
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News AU
'We loved it': The Shining twins look unrecognisable 45 years on, but still cherish the eerie roles that made them famous
The twins who played the terrifying Grady sisters in Stanley Kubrick's The Shining are all grown up. Lisa and Louise Burns were just 11 years old when they were cast in Kubrick's 1980 adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling novel. Although their screen time was brief, their chilling presence as ghostly apparitions who appear to young Danny in the Overlook Hotel quickly became one of the film's most iconic images, referenced endlessly in pop culture and Halloween costumes ever since. Today, the sisters live quiet lives in the UK, with Lisa now working as a lawyer and Louise a published scientist. While they've long stepped away from acting, the identical twins haven't let go of the role that made them famous, and often share updates with their fans on social media. In November, the pair shared a photo from a special screening of Shine On: The Forgotten Shining Location, a documentary that explores how Kubrick created the film's sets. "Trip down memory lane last Thursday," they wrote alongside a photo taken outside Elstree Studios in London. "A screening of Shine On documentary: a behind-the-scenes look at Stanley Kubrick's use of the Enigma building for the kitchen scene (& others) in The Shining." Despite the nearly 45 years that have passed, the sisters still speak fondly of their time on set, particularly working alongside Kubrick and the film's star, Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson, 88. "Oh my God, we loved it," they told the Daily Mail in 2015. "Every day felt like we'd been invited to a very exclusive party and we were the youngest, luckiest people to be there." Louise shared a fond memory with Nicholson, who played the role of unhinged family man Jack Torrance. "I clearly remember sitting on Jack's knee and joking with him," she said. "...He was just a regular person, in fact he was very sweet." The twins also remembered celebrating their 11th birthday on set, with Kubrick's wife, Vivian, giving them each an autograph book that they had everyone sign. "What was so wonderful to us was that Stanley had found the time to celebrate the 11th birthday of two children he was never going to meet again. It really did feel like we were all family by then," Louise said. Lisa added: "Stanley also gave us a tiny bottle of the blood, which he called Kensington Gore, and it was the same blood that we had to lie in during our death scene." In 2023, the Burns' fully embraced their pop culture legacy during a Q&A panel at Comic-Con Northern Ireland, stating that they find the parodies of their roles "absolutely hilarious." Since the film's release, their likeness has popped up in Family Guy, Modern Family, The Simpsons and even Angry Birds. "I've got two boys, and there was some video of Angry Birds, and suddenly one of my boys says, 'Mum, it's you, you're an angry bird!'" Louise laughed. As for why they think The Shining still captivates audiences after all these years, Lisa believes it comes down to how grounded it is in everyday life. "I think everyone can relate to staying at a hotel," she explained. "And I think psychological horror works on a relationship between what you do every day, and then what would happen if one day you turn left rather than right, and then where does that go?" The Shining Twins' social media account is often inundated with messages of support from fans who have enjoyed staying connected with Louise and Lisa since their iconic performance. "You have grown to be beautiful ladies," one user said, while another commented: "Thank you for sharing yourselves with us and thank you for being so PERFECT in the movie."
The Independent
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Soprano Elza van den Heever has nightmares from her disturbing portrayal of `Salome'
Elza van den Heever's portrayal of Salome sticks to her when she leaves the Metropolitan Opera for a rented apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. 'Every night I wake up with the most disturbing nightmares, just random things that I dream and feel so real,' the South African soprano said. 'There's just a tinge of darkness that's lying in my subconscious at the moment, and I wake up in a pool of sweat every single night with very, very weird, very strange things that I dream.' Claus Guth's intense and disturbing production of 'Salome' opens Tuesday night and runs through May 24, the Met's first new staging since 2004 of Strauss' adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play. The May 17 performance will be televised to theaters worldwide. Based on the biblical story of the Jewish princess who was the daughter of Herodias and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas, 'Salome' provoked a scandalous reaction to its 1905 premiere. It is best known for the seductive dance of the seven veils that the princess performs for her lecherous stepfather in exchange for a gift of her choosing: the head of St. John the Baptist on a silver platter. Body doubles show a shattered psyche An acclaimed German director making his Met debut at age 61, Guth updates the setting to Victorian time and supplements Salome with six body doubles at various stages of youth, in black velvet dresses with white lace surrounding the neck and black bows. Guth wanted them to resemble organ pipes when standing together. Their blank expressions bring to mind the Grady twins haunting the Overlook Hotel in Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining.' 'It's one of my favorite movies,' Guth said. 'Unconscious, I probably took something from there.' Guth's staging was first announced by the Met in 2017 as a coproduction with Moscow's Bolshoi Theatre starring Anna Netrebko. It debuted at the Bolshoi in 2021 with Asmik Grigorian, after Netrebko decided the role wasn't right for her, and was to open the Met's 2021-22 season only to be pushed back because of the pandemic. Russia's attack on Ukraine prompted the Met to build its own sets. Before Strauss' opening note, a video of a young Salome is projected as a prerecorded celesta plays, evoking a music box. The set includes a doll, a stuffed animal and a hobby horse. During the dance, a Herod body double wearing a mask mixing ram and human in the style of Picasso pairs with each Salome in ascending age to project stages of abuse that left her irreparably scarred as she collapses. 'I definitely view it as fragments of memories that are being reconstructed by a brain that has been abused and tortured,' van den Heever said. 'His perversity just overwhelms her. ... You see the way that Herod grooms the first three in particular and how his behavior becomes more violent and more cruel with the last three.' Gerhard Siegel, the actual Herod, watches from a short distance as his lifetime of exploitation is depicted. 'What's happening on stage is revolting, however, the power of it is that the music is just so beautiful it becomes even more beautiful when the actions on stage are more revolting,' Met music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin said. 'So that contrast should make people uncomfortable and if we do it right, yes, they should be shocked.' Working together for first time in 17 years Van den Heever greeted Guth with a hug when rehearsals started last month and told him: 'I've been looking forward to this for years.' Now 45, she last worked with Guth when he directed her 2008 European debut as Giorgetta in Puccini's 'Il Tabarro' at Oper Frankfurt. 'I was 100% in love from the very first moment we worked together. I think we're a match made in heaven,' she said. 'I just remember it being eye-opening, this world of regietheatre. I was scared of it because at the time everybody's always talking about, quote 'Eurotrash' and that scares you because you think, oh my God, what am I going to encounter? And it wasn't like that at all.' Salome debut three years ago Van den Heever made her Salome role debut in the 2022 Paris Opéra staging by Lydia Steier that transformed the dance into a gang rape. 'The first couple of weeks I was really struggling,' she said. 'It was hard for me to find my voice within her concept, but once I did, I was 100% and I think the performance speaks for itself. That's not me being forced to do things that I don't want to do. That was me 100% in the concept and in the role as she envisioned it and doing it with full confidence and conviction. It was difficult to get there, but once I got there I was extremely proud of the work we did.' Differences are clear to her. 'They're both equally dark and disturbing,' van den Heever said, 'except Lydia's was definitely more a visceral experience, whereas Claus' is more a psychological experience.' Symbolic sculpture During a climactic scene, Salome pushes over a 250-pound, 7-foot statue that shatters on the stage, creating a dust cloud. Gloria Sun, head of prop at the Met's construction shop, led four people creating 16 plaster statues filled with burlap -- one gets destroyed during each stage rehearsal and performance. The crew has given each a name, starting with Adam, Benjamin, Cain and Daniel. For opening night, Hamilton gets shattered. 'This is a moment that maybe shocks everybody,' Sun said At the final dress rehearsal last week, van den Heever was so overcome that her eyes teared when the audience applauded her during the curtain call. 'It's pretty clear that we're dealing with a very, very messed up situation,' she said. 'And it is perverse and it is cruel and it is psychologically very twisted. I think if we leave people comfortable at the end of the show, that means we didn't do our job very well.'
The Independent
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Real-life chilling photograph from The Shining found decades later
The real-life photo behind one of the most iconic scenes in cult classic, The Shining, has been found. Stanley Kubrick 's film, which was released in 1980, is considered one of the best horror films of all time and has become an annual Halloween staple. The film has also been the subject of numerous books and documentaries and, in these projects, film theorists have dissected the film, sharing ideas and hidden references featured within every scene. But one moment in the film has remained a mystery for over 45 years. At the end of the movie, Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is seen in a black-and-white group photo at the Overlook Hotel, after his mental state increasingly deteriorates due to the psychological force of the building. The eerie snap reveals that Torrance, inexplicably, has always been a part of the hotel. Now, after a year of investigation, New York Times journalist Alec Toler and British academic Alasdair Spark have found an obscure reference to the photo in a book from the 1980s that reported the original had been taken from an archive, with Nicholson's head pasted on at the front. According to a thread by Toler on X/Twitter, Spark recognised Santos Casani, a famous dancer and jazz instructor in London during the 1920s, which helped them narrow down the timeline and location. Casani also wore a prosthetic nose so the pair were able to 'triangulate the rough date when his nose matched the photo'. Toler and Spark looked through hundreds, 'maybe thousands', of 'British newspaper archive pages, old photos from jazz clubs, building blueprints/floor plans, dance instruction videos, etc, but never found any places that matched', After much sleuthing, they narrowed down the source: the BBC Hulton Archive, which was later purchased by Getty. Their conclusion was confirmed by Murray Close, a photographer who worked with Kubrick on The Shining. The photo is from a Valentine's dance held on 14 February 1921 at the Empress Ballroom in the Royal Palace Hotel in London. Spark told Getty Archives: "The photo doesn't show any of the celebrities I had speculated on – the Trix Sisters for instance - nor the bankers, financiers or presidents others like Rob Ager have imagined there. No devil worshippers either. Nobody was composited into it except Jack Nicholson. It shows a group of ordinary London people on a Monday evening. 'All the best people' as the manager of the Overlook Hotel said." Fans were pleased with the revelation saying: 'If these people only knew their group photo would become an iconic prop in one of the greatest horror films of all times...'
