Menu

Future Kill

June is Slasher-Hybrid Month at Retro Slashers!

, , , , , 4

Not to be confused with quasi-slashers, which are movies with vague slasher elements (in which case, I’m pretty sure every single horror movie and serial killer thriller would be valid), slasher-hybrids are films that specifically combine the slasher film with an outside genre but can exist in both worlds on their own merits.

One example is Without Warning (1980), which uses the slasher structure to a T – random killings, bodies stashed to be discovered by the heroes, prime whodunnit paranoia – but drops in an alien monster (played by Kevin Peter Hall, who would later play pretty much the same role in Predator!). Another example is Silent Rage (1982) starring Chuck Norris, where The Beard fights an indestructible proto-Terminator who keeps on coming back. This one combines action elements within a slasher framework – and yes, there’s roundhouse kicking. And hopefully I don’t have to tell you about the incredible Maximum Overdrive (1986) directed by Stephen King – a slasher movie where trucks, vehicles and even a soda vending machine are the killer! Thank the lord Stevie boy was nose-deep in coke or that flick wouldn’t be nearly as goofy and awesome.

Some movies even attempt to combine multiple types of film, like Future Kill (1985, review) which uses a chase movie scenario to bolster its slasher trappings, while also integrating post-apocalyptic styled mayhem.

With hybrid-slashers, it’s the mish-mash of separate genres that make for fun watching. We plan on offering reviews and articles from our senior writers that will bring to light some of these combos. By no means will June necessarily feature only slasher-hybrid coverage, but I was looking for a way to provide more consistency instead of segregating our top contributions to the small window of theme weeks. We’ll give it a try, anyhow.

What are your favorite slasher-hybrids and what genres do they criss-cross?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqz2rejJS6M

Future Kill Composer Robert Renfrow Passes Away

, , 1

I have been informed by a close friend of Future Kill composer and true Texan Robert Renfrow that he passed away on December 9th 2010 after a short illness. He was only 49. It feels like a major blow to me – in 2006 I interviewed Renfrow and it was one of my favorite interview experiences ever, having seen the movie an innumerable amount of times and knowing every synth tune in the back of my mind. I know he enjoyed recollecting his experiences from the movie, too.

The sound quality in the video here doesn’t do Renfrow’s score justice (one reason the film score really needs to be released), it’s a fitting track to include here, with the title ‘Splatter’s Requiem’.

Future-Kill (1985) Review

, 4

feature_futurekill

It’s the near future and young adults are divided into two factions: the ‘Frats’, the privileged college upperclass, and the poverty-stricken ‘Mutants’, a society of punk protestors. We start out with each group separately but in mirrored situations – a pack of ‘bad’ frat members are in trouble for repeated pranks on a ‘good’ frat, while on the punks’ side of the city, ironically-named peaceful leader Eddie Pain scolds nuclear-scarred metal-armoured Splatter for actions that make his name not at all ironic. It’s when the troublemaking frat boys are sent out to kidnap a Mutant for a party prank that the two groups collide, and Splatter seizes the opportunity to murder Eddie, which defaults himself to leader status, and pin it all on the fratboys, which results in a chase movie with slasher overtones where escape seems impossible.

Ronald W. Moore (who also co-wrote with Kathleen M. Hagan) shot this as Splatter around the midpoint of the 80’s, perhaps the best time to make a genre film. Advertising played up the Texas Chainsaw Massacre connection of having Ed Neal and Marilyn Burns in the same film again, but the links are stronger. This was shot in Austin, Texas, and a TCM poster can even be seen in a shop window in one scene. Yet Future-Kill doesn’t emulate the famous other, in fact it goes out of its way to be a 180 degree counterpoint. Instead of a rural setting and retarded killer wielding second-hand-hardware, we have the inner city, and a calculating, technologically superior killer.

After playing the Hitchhiker, it’s good to see Ed Neal (who also wore a producer’s hat on this) bumped up to lead villain status. I personally find Splatter a more textured badguy then Leatherface. I was entranced by the number of technogadgets housed in Splatter’s armour, which reveal themselves as the film progresses, usually in methods of murder. Except one time after being humiliated by a hooker, when Splatter gets all low-tech on the girl and we’re treated to death by corrugated iron. Marilyn Burns looks pretty rough in the character of Dorothy Grim, a past-her-prime punk (and Splatter’s missus) who’s a far cry from sweet Sally Hardesty.

And that’s what this movie is about: polarized opposites. It’s set up as a frat comedy in the Animal House vein only to turn upside down into a serious violent film at the end of the first act. Anyone who tuned in blind on cable would have had one hell of a surprise at this point. The story also illustrates a massive ecological and cultural divide in future society, which in the 80’s we seemed to be moving towards (with the decades’ emphasis on material goods). Yes, behind the gore and exploitation framework this is a ‘message’ movie, I generally don’t care if that’s implied subtly or waved with a giant waving sign, all that matters is that saying something with the film was important to the creators.

Almost every reviewer loves to point out that the poster art is far better then the film. I tell you, they must think they’re geniuses for each coming up with that tired zinger. Let’s examine: would they prefer films to have cover art somehow psychically tailored to their specific like or dislike of a film? Terrific covers are what got us video store generation horror fans to pick up movies like this of unknown quality that we otherwise wouldn’t consider. There’s also the fact that it was designed by Alien’s HR Giger (after initial shooting, reportedly) which immediately sets his art a high bar not even a multimillion dollar budget could eclipse (See: Species). So comments like that are real cheap shots. To play devil’s advocate, HR’s art, drowned in silver is a slight misleading, pointing toward a more sci-fi tone. Giger did also design an alternative piece which skews completely the other way, into horror imagery. I prefer our Australian version of the art, which only adds some blue and red hues to provide a more balanced cover accurate representational of the film’s interior.

futurekillset

Future-Kill (which I grew up thinking was called Future Hill due to the title font) gives me such a rush every viewing. My favourite supporting player is Tom (Barton Faulks from the also excellent Edge of the Axe). He took the transition from carefree jokester to adrenelised killer in two easy steps (1. face being about to die, 2. strike first). Credit also goes to the black hole urban cityscape of decayed brick, rusted iron and sparse neon that backdrops the blood, sweat and fears. The musical score by Robert Renfrow (Interview) is a downbeat but hopeful synth track. Let’s also pay due to some hilariously filthy lines like “I’d rather suck off a ballbag”, “you worthless shit-cunt”, “let’s score some gash” and “tonight’s feature: the worm in the cage… in 3D”.

A Synthesized Future: The Robert Renfrow Interview (2006)

1

renfrow

Ronald D. Moore’s FUTURE-KILL (1985) faced illustrating a large story with a limited budget. A big part of its success in demonstrating a bleak, near-future vision was not what you see, but what you hear. Film composer Robert Renfrow’s electronic score perfectly complimented the on-screen action. Unlike many composers who start working on films after they’ve shot, Robert was on-set serving as sound sound assistant and 2nd boom operator during the production. Retro Slashers had the opportunity to speak with him back in November of 2006.

Retro Slashers: What was your background leading up to Future-Kill?

Robert Renfrow: I played keyboards in rock bands throughout junior high and high school and got a Roland Juno 6 synth when I was attending film school at the University of Texas at Austin. I did the music for my own projects and for a group project at school, and other students began to approach me for their projects. At the time, electronic music was popular in feature films. Georgio Moroder’s “Cat People” score is one of my favorites from that era. I was also a fan of the “this-character-has-this-theme” approach that John Williams took, as well as Bernard Herrmann’s technique of limiting the instrumentation to get a certain sound, although I was never able to sell that one to any producers. I did consider myself a student of the craft at the time, as well as a fan.

Retro Slashers: How did you get involved with the production?

Renfrow: Having grown up in Dallas, college in Austin was quite a change of pace. My way of expressing it was to say “My heart beat’s slower in Austin.” Upon graduation, my impulse was to linger, and the production (then known as “Splatter”) was the perfect excuse to remain in Austin. My good friend Jim O’Kane was producer John Best’s roommate at the time, and director Ron Moore was a movie memorabilia dealer, buying and selling collectible one-sheet posters. I had no professional crew credits, but I was known by many of the crew who had also recently attended UT film school, and was tapped as Sound Assistant, who is sort of third banana on the set recording crew, behind the recordist and the guy pointing the boom mic. My job was to keep the cable between the mic and the Nagra deck from tripping anyone, and clearing a path when the boom person had to walk/run backwards.

Retro Slashers: What was it like on-set during the shoot?

Renfrow: I was surprised at the intensity of a film set. It seemed like everyone was determined to get the absolute best result for their particular task, but there was also a lot of effort toward cooperation between different departments, and between crew and cast. As you can see in the film, 80% were night exteriors, so typically we were showing up at dusk and breaking at dawn. Changing lighting setups and camera positions often caused a bit of “hurry up and wait,” and one of the many catchphrases popular among the crew was “If you’re waiting on me, you’re lying down.” To this day, I’m not exactly sure what that means, although my best guess is that it means “you are mistaken in the belief that you are waiting on me.”

Retro Slashers: Do you remember anything about the punk band Max & the Makeups that were featured prominently in the dance club scene?

Renfrow: Sadly, I remember little. I know they were playing a lot locally at that time. Austin, even way back then, was literally crawling with bands. I don’t know how it was that they were selected, although it may have been the hot female singer. I think the venue we shot in was Club Foot, a converted warehouse on 4th Street downtown. We were able to get a lot of coverage, and editor Leon Seith did a really nice job of cutting the scene to the songs. I see from Google that the band broke up later that year, but their performance lives on and on through the wonder of cinema.

Retro Slashers: How did you approach scoring the film and what resources did you have?

Renfrow: I recorded a demo of the main theme (which ended up as the 2nd selection you hear under the film’s tail credits) during the initial production by bouncing layers between 2 cassette recorders. All I had at that time were the Juno 6 and a TR-303 drum machine. When I got the contract at the beginning of post-production, I was able to buy a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 synth. My former band mate and buddy David Castell was engineering and producing bands in Dallas, and we recorded the score on a 1″ 16-track Tascam machine in a private studio David had installed. In addition to the mono mixes of the cues we pulled for the film mix, we also made a ¼” stereo master. I will have to look under my bed to see if I still have it. Although the new Subversive DVD release of Future-Kill is really sweet packaging and extras-wise, I am really disappointed with the audio quality. It sounds like they used some kind of gate/limiter effect on the audio channel to reduce noise, and there are many places where the background music comes and goes with the reading of the actors’ lines, because the music is below the gate threshold, but the voice is loud enough to open it, and the music comes in only when they are speaking. Of course reassembling all the audio elements, if that were even possible, and doing another mix for the DVD would have cost a fortune, and I doubt Subversive is pressing that many copies of this release.

Retro Slashers: Your next credit – 1987’s Murder Rap – seems to be your last. Why did you switch gears?

Renfrow: Throughout the mid-to-late 80’s, all the time I was hanging out in studios with bands and recording my own stuff, I always had a day job. The thing that made scoring jobs available to me in the first place was based on the economy in Texas at the time. Post production (editing, rerecording, and finishing) was taking place here locally in Texas. The main reason for this was because Texas money was financing the films. There were a lot of instant millionaires due to real estate and oil deals that would later turn into the Savings and Loan collapse and buyout. Too many Bozos with too much money on their hands. When that environment went away, there wasn’t any more post production happening in Texas. I spent a year in Los Angeles in 1989 with my demo reel and my banjo on my knee, but the only opportunities I encountered there were for spec work (you work for free and pay for your own studio time, and maybe we’ll pay you if there’s anything left). I came back to Dallas in ’90 got married and started a family, and have been too tired since to do anything but go to Little League games.

Retro Slashers: Looking back, are you happy with your work on Future-Kill?

Renfrow: Watching the DVD was quite a trip down memory lane, having been there during the shoot and having spent so much time in the editing room and in the studio. Aside from the audio problems I mentioned, I think for the most part that my work was a good fit for the movie, and I’d like to think a part of the audience’s experience.