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Eegah
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Eegah! (also known as Eegah! The Name Written in Blood) is a 1962 film starring Arch Hall Jr. as Tom Nelson, Arch Hall Sr. (credited as William Watters) as Robert I. Miller, Richard Kiel as Eegah, and Marilyn Manning as Roxy Miller. The movie was directed by Arch Hall Sr. (writing and directing under the pseudonym "Nicholas Merriweather," and acting under the pseudonym "William Watters"), and was also written by Hall and Bob Wehling.
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Encyclopedia
Eegah! (also known as Eegah! The Name Written in Blood) is a 1962 film starring Arch Hall Jr. as Tom Nelson, Arch Hall Sr. (credited as William Watters) as Robert I. Miller, Richard Kiel as Eegah, and Marilyn Manning as Roxy Miller. The movie was directed by Arch Hall Sr. (writing and directing under the pseudonym "Nicholas Merriweather," and acting under the pseudonym "William Watters"), and was also written by Hall and Bob Wehling. The music editor was the young Alan O'Day, who went on to create #1 pop hits in the 1970s. The film was featured on episodes of Canned Film Festival and Mystery Science Theater 3000, and was one of the films listed in Michael Medved's book The 50 Worst Films Ever Made.
Plot
Eegah (Richard Kiel) is a giant prehistoric caveman living in the middle of the desert. One night after a party, Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning) is driving home when she comes across Eegah. She tells her boyfriend Tom Nelson (Arch Hall Jr.), and her father Robert Miller (Arch Hall Sr.) about the caveman. Her father, a professional photographer, decides to go into the desert to look for the creature. When he fails to show up at his designated pickup time, Tom and Roxy go into the desert looking for him.
Roxy is soon kidnapped by Eegah and taken back to his cave while Tom searches for her. In Eegah's cave, Roxy is reunited with her father, who tells her that he has begun to communicate with the caveman and has developed a theory as to the creature's astounding longevity. When a frisky Eegah expresses what seems to be romantic interest in Roxy, her father, fearful that the creature may kill them both if he is rebuffed, suggests she put up with as much of it as she can bear. Eegah never tries anything too explicit, though, and Roxy even ends up giving him a shave before the pair is able to escape. Crushed, Eegah follows them back to civilization, and a final confrontation ensues.
Hall Jr., then being promoted by his father as an Elvis Presley-style teen idol (with mixed success), warbles several tunes, all of them based on a female name ("Vicky," "Valerie," etc.) during the film- despite the fact that his on screen girlfriend's name is Roxy.
The film attempts elements of traditional shlock-horror and youth comedy genres. It also contains echoes of the 1960s "beach party" genre.
Cast
MST3K
This film was featured on the movie-mocking cable television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1993. The MST3K version has been released on DVD by Rhino Home Video. The DVD contains both the aired MST3K episode and the original uncut version of the film.
One of the goofs from this episode later became a stock MST3K gag: Robert Miller's voice calling out "Watch out for snakes!", though the character is clearly not speaking at the time. "Watch out for snakes!" became a running gag, both on other episodes of the show and in a limited fashion as a pop-culture meme.
In the published episode guide to the series, The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Amazing Colossal Episode Guide (ISBN 0-553-37783-3), the cast considers the shaving scene from Eegah, in which Eegah lolls his tongue around and laps up shaving cream, to be one of the most disgusting things they've witnessed during their time on the show. The writers also speculate that some kind of romantic relationship existed between Arch Hall Sr and his on-screen daughter Marilyn Manning, due to the uncomfortably non-familial chemistry in their scenes together.
Ray Dennis Steckler (aka Cash Flagg), who directed and starred in another movie shown on MST3K, The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!?, had a minor role in Eegah! as Mr. Fishman, who after being bumped by Eegah poolside and confronting him for it, gets tossed into the water.
In Popular Culture
- The aforementioned "Watch out for snakes!" meme makes an appearance in the third season of The Office (US TV series). In the episode "Beach Games," Michael Scott warns his workers with this statement as they walk onto the beach.
External links
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