{"id":6895,"date":"2017-10-01T02:30:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-01T01:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=6895"},"modified":"2019-03-05T17:17:02","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T16:17:02","slug":"theres-always-vanilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2017\/10\/01\/theres-always-vanilla\/","title":{"rendered":"There\u2019s Always Vanilla"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Theres<\/a>
There\u2019s Always Vanilla<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Format:<\/b> Dual Format (DVD + Blu-ray), part of \u2018George Romero Between Night and Dawn\u2019 limited edition box-set
\nRelease date:<\/b> 23 October 2017
\nDistributor:<\/b> Arrow Video
\nDirector:<\/b> George A. Romero
\nWriter:<\/b> Rudolph J. Ricci
\nCast:<\/b> Raymond Laine, Judith Ridley, Johanna Lawrence
\nUSA 1971
\n93 mins<\/p>\n

This review of George A. Romero\u2019s atypical counterculture drama is an excerpt from horror luminary Kim Newman\u2019s new book Video Dungeon<\/i> (Titan), which explores the B-movie basement and digs out unexpected gems. <\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

George A. Romero<\/a>\u2019s second film, made with many of the creatives who worked on Night of the Living Dead<\/i>, is the odd man out in his CV: a vaguely counterculture-ish, diffident look at the relationship between smart, directionless, no-longer-a-kid Chris (Raymond Laine) and smart, vulnerable model-actress Lynn (Judith Streiner).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Originally conceived as a short acting showreel for Laine, it mushroomed into a feature George A. Romero<\/a> claims wasn\u2019t really finished because writer Rudy Ricci left the project before finishing a script. Romero, always a skilled editor, imposed some shape in post-production, adding Chris talking to camera about his life and times and significant vox pops about a contraption-like piece of Pittsburgh public art (the Ultimate Machine). Some scenes are credibly uncomfortable and catch the restless, fractious vibe of the times, as when Chris runs into his estranged but amiable father (Roger McGovern) in a go-go bar and sets him up with a hippie chick\u2026 some stretches feel autobiographical on the part of Romero and his ad industry colleagues, as when Lynn appears in a commercial for Bold beer produced by sinister-looking ad guru Michael Dorian (Richard Ricci)… and a few moments go for outright satire, as when Chris lands a gig at an ad agency with caricature execs and is given the trial job of selling an army recruitment campaign to a draft-resisting generation.<\/p>\n

A radical mood change comes in a sequence where pregnant Lynn visits a back-street abortionist \u2013 but doesn\u2019t go through with the operation; suddenly, Romero uses the tilted angles, dark shadows and jagged cutting of his 1970s horror films. Streiner appeared (under the name Judith Ridley) in Night of the Living Dead<\/i> and Laine showed up again in a Chris-like role as the feckless lover of the witch protagonist in Jack\u2019s Wife<\/i> (aka Season of the Witch<\/i><\/a>). It\u2019d make an interesting hippie-phase-of-horror-auteur triple bill with Brian De Palma\u2019s Greetings<\/i> and Tobe Hooper\u2019s Eggshells<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kim Newman<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This review of George A. Romero\u2019s atypical counterculture drama is an excerpt from horror luminary Kim Newman\u2019s new book Video Dungeon<\/i>.
\nReview by Kim Newman<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[654,3,1374],"tags":[1288,1149,1421,725,942,119],"class_list":["post-6895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dvd-and-blu-ray-releases","category-dvds-and-blu-rays","category-kim-newmans-nightmare-movies","tag-1970s-film","tag-american-film","tag-counterculture-cinema","tag-george-a-romero","tag-hippie-cinema","tag-romero"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"Kim Newman\u2019s Nightmare Movies","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1Nd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5751,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2015\/09\/05\/dawn-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":6895,"position":0},"title":"Dawn of the Dead","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"September 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The most easily enjoyable film in Romero\u2019s seminal zombie trilogy screens as part of \u2018The Colour of Money\u2019 season at the Barbican. 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Review by David Cairns","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Creepshow","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Creepshow-594x444.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Creepshow-594x444.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Creepshow-594x444.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":305,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/03\/01\/diary-of-the-dead\/","url_meta":{"origin":6895,"position":2},"title":"DIARY OF THE DEAD","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"March 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Zombie king George A. Romero returns to the sub-genre he created, with gripping if somewhat predictable results. Review by Lindsay Tudor","rel":"","context":"In "Cinema releases"","block_context":{"text":"Cinema releases","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/cinema-releases\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":504,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2008\/12\/01\/season-of-the-witch\/","url_meta":{"origin":6895,"position":3},"title":"SEASON OF THE WITCH","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"December 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Season of the Witch was a strong political and stylistic statement by George A Romero, who chose to critically explore female identity during some of the most dynamic years of the feminist movement while eschewing the zombies that had made him famous in favour of witchcraft. Review by Siouxzi Mernagh","rel":"","context":"In "Home entertainment"","block_context":{"text":"Home entertainment","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/dvds-and-blu-rays\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1243,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2010\/07\/11\/martin\/","url_meta":{"origin":6895,"position":4},"title":"Martin","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"July 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"George A Romero's 1977 Martin offers a remarkably ambiguous, playful, disturbing and original take on the vampire. Comic review by Adam Cadwell","rel":"","context":"In "Check it out"","block_context":{"text":"Check it out","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/category\/check-it-out\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/martin.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/martin.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/martin.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6908,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2017\/11\/16\/raging-sharks\/","url_meta":{"origin":6895,"position":5},"title":"Raging Sharks","author":"Pam Jahn","date":"November 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Finned fiends attack an underwater base in this sharksploitation entry. 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