ICHIBAN WEAPON READY

Dear Joe,

I just added these flicks to my watchlist! Just now! Let’s see, we have: SEVEN (7) absolute comforts that can be played anytime (or be listened to, say, at The Lab) and they are Highlander, both Nosferati, Busan, Trilogy, Night, and The Church; ONE (1) Film from the 80s with a serious rep that I never bothered to see, Gods; ONE (1) that deserves a no-bullshit, all eyes front rewatch, Inception; TWO (2) stone-cold strangers that, uh, yeah sure, we’ll give them an optimistic watch! And they are Agora (maybe Rachel Weisz, as an Egyptian Princess under cruel Roman Occupation, has a really big strange cat, and Stonehearst Asylum because what the Hell, we like Kate Beckinsale. No really. And it is an asylum story! Which brings us to…

The Ninth Configuration.

So, let’s see. It’s on the SHOUT! label. Doesn’t SHOUT! cull its shit from various catalogues? So there’s a chance, unlikely, but still a very remote chance, that out of all the recuts and edits and its goddamn various incarnations as TWINKLE TWINKLE KILLER KANE, that somehow this could be a copy of the original cut.

Highly unlikely. Last we read anything on the matter, it was largely accepted that the original cut is gone forever. Thank you Mister Blatty.

Which is really too damn bad, Joe. Because I saw this movie on its original release—on a night like tonight, rain and wind, except it was day, and I was fifteen, skipping school, and my weird older sister drove us to New Hampshire in a town by the ocean, and seeing 9th was one of the greatest film experiences of my life.

But Joe, but! And this is important! Even if the original cut somehow surfaced, it would not alter the fact that for all its imagination and flair and moood, The 9th Configuration is a pretty weak movie, clumsy, at times embarrassingly inept. Which is so weird, given that super-rich and first time director Blatty had extensive prior exposure to the film industry, such as the Pink Panther movies and his involvement on The Exorcist. Obviously Blatty realized his film was flawed, and hence the endless tinkering and re-tinkering.

So there we are. A beloved imperfect final result, still a comfort.

Will report back on the newcomers. We’ll talk again soon, Joe. We’ll keep watching the screens!

Love

Brian

Ω