August 19, 2013

"Little Chrissy, say sugar."

Here's a clip from one of my favorite movies, "Pecker"...



... which I was watching this morning, because I saw that I'd been mentioned on Facebook. It was Annie Gottlieb saying "Ann Althouse, do not watch" about a pre-production trailer to a movie called "Squirrels."



I said, " So... that did make me click, but I stopped at 0:43. I don't want to see the squirrel bite off the girl's finger. And isn't that the girl who played Little Chrissy in 'Pecker'?"

I looked it up and saw that "Pecker" was made a long time ago, in 1998. I am getting old! So is the actress that played Little Chrissy, whose name, I see, is Lauren Hulsey. She looks like this now and seems to work not so much as an actress, but in visual effects. Perhaps she got into that through her experience making "Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2," where they made her look like this.

I guess there's a creepy kid category within child acting. Back when I was a kid, the #1 creepy kid was Billy Mumy. And I mean pre-"Lost in Space," particularly the "Twilight Zone" episode "It's a Good Life."

Recommended Amazon Instant Video: "It's a Good Life" and "Pecker."

8 comments:

dmoelling said...

Ann, there was a sequel to the Twilight zone "It's a Good Life" on the redo of the Twilight Zone in the 1980's. It has Bill Mumy (grown up) and Cloris Leachman as his mom. Not bad with a good twist at the end.

Ann Althouse said...

@ dmoeling I know. I never wanted to see that movie, both because of the deaths that occurred making it, and because I love the original black and white TV show that had Rod Serling at the beginning and the end. I'm so stuck on that. Greatest TV show of all time! I don't want to see it blown up for the big screen.

But I know the put a "happy" ending on it for the movie. I read the plot summary. Does anyone like that better than the originally deeply disturbing and highly metaphorical ending?!

dmoelling said...

It wasn't as good as the original, but still it's great to watch Cloris Leachman anytime. There was something about Rod Serling's choice of stories that makes you think that the entertainment industry was not as boring or routine as later generations made it out to be.

Wince said...

At least the squirrel wasn't chewing on a... "pecker": "They took my penis. They took my penis!"

Xmas said...

Ahh.."Pecker".

The movie that introduced the wider world to the term "Teabagging". A term that would be used by homophobes to disparage the Tea Party.

Ann Althouse said...

On tea-bagging and the implication of homophobia, let me recommend this wonderful Wisconsin protest incident involving Meade.

If anyone in Meadhouse says the word "homophobic," Meade or I will say "homophobic" in the outraged, confused manner of the man we like to call "That Marie Antoinette guy."

Ann Althouse said...

Start at 6:00 if you lack patience.

Or 5:25 if you have a bit more patience.

Meade is washing "Workers of the World Unite" off the Civil War monument.

SeanF said...

I'm a day late here, but, Ann -- "The Twilight Zone" movie in the 80s had a remake of "It's a Good Life." It was that movie (albeit a different section) in which Vic Morrow and the two children died. That's not what dmoeling's talking about, although they've got the dates mixed up.

One of the revived "Twilight Zone" TV series had an episode titled "It's Still a Good Life," which aired originally in 2003. It's an actual sequel to the original episode, with Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman reprising their roles (and Bill Mumy's daughter as his daughter).

It's worth checking out, and nobody died making it. :)