This film actually is a shot-for-shot remake of Pole Romanski's suppressed 1968 flick HELTER SKELTER HONEYMOON, the infamous American version of Leni Riefenstahl's Nazi classic, TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. Shown primarily at the seediest inner-city flicker houses, a bootlegged print of HSH found its way onto the Manson family ranch, and the rest is history. Before Watergate, so the story goes, the Dirty Tricks Division of the White House rounded up and destroyed the few copies existent. My campus was open-minded, so it was double-billed with PINK FLAMINGOS--prior to Manson making headlines, of course.
It is easy to see why D.C.Mann (an obvious pseudonym) choose the second fake name of "Vin Crease" and renamed this film SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF THE RISING SUN. At least when Gus Van Sant perpetrated his uncalled for similar remake of PSYCHO, Hitch already was pushing up daisies. Whoever Mann or Crease REALLY is, how did you get your hands on a script or print of HSH? More to the point, how do you sleep at night? I get shivers just thinking about it, and Charlie's not even paroled yet!
It is easy to see why D.C.Mann (an obvious pseudonym) choose the second fake name of "Vin Crease" and renamed this film SLAUGHTERHOUSE OF THE RISING SUN. At least when Gus Van Sant perpetrated his uncalled for similar remake of PSYCHO, Hitch already was pushing up daisies. Whoever Mann or Crease REALLY is, how did you get your hands on a script or print of HSH? More to the point, how do you sleep at night? I get shivers just thinking about it, and Charlie's not even paroled yet!