I hadn't been to a movie in a long time and didn't know how advanced (and how bloody graphic) special effects had become within the previous couple of years. I read Peter Benchley's Jaws, and some time later (when the manager of my apartment building wanted to paint my apartment and I had to be gone for a few hours), I went to see the movie. Ye GAWDS!! Body parts strewn along the beach, a leg bitten off and sinking toward the bottom, blood gushing out of Quint's nose and mouth, and that scene where the shark crashes into the boat's cabin and starts snapping at Brody's legs. Even if it didn't get him, every time I think of that, I still try to put my feet in my shirt pockets!

It wasn't long after that I went to see Alien, which was intense enough all by itself, but it was on a double-bill with The Fury (1978) directed by Brian De Palma. Had to do with a secret U. S. agency trying to gather parapsychological children and young people (telepathic, telekinetic, etc., like King's Carrie and Firestarter) with the idea of developing them into weapons. At one point, one of the young people (the lovely Amy Irving, I think) levitates someone, makes them start to bleed from various bodily orifices including from under their fingernails, and then spins them like a top, spraying blood all over the furniture and the walls. In another scene, John Cassavetes' head explodes, spraying blood, brains, and teeth all over the room. They didn't just show this once, they did about a half-dozen instant re-plays from several different angles.

Yummy!!

I'm not particularly squeamish, but I wonder if anyone has ever thought of putting airsick bags in a little pocket on the backs of theater seats, like they do on airliners. . . .

Don Firth