Valerie Leon, born November 12th 1945, is a cult movie actress known for her roles in a number of high profile British films as well as a near perfect hour-glass figure.
Valerie Leon's mother, who was trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London stopped acting to become a full-time mother. Leon is the eldest of four privately-educated children. After leaving college, she became a trainee fashion buyer at Harrods before going to an audition which led to her becoming a chorus girl then going on tour with Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl.
Leon has been both an official and unofficial Bond girl playing the role of "hotel receptionist" in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and the "Lady in Bahamas" in the non-canon Never Say Never Again (1983). Other supporting appearances included Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978), another hotel receptionist in The Italian Job (1969), and a call girl in No Sex Please, We're British (1973). The 1971 Hammer horror film Blood from the Mummy's Tomb offered Leon a rare lead role, as a reincarnated Egyptian queen.
Leon was married to BBC's Head Of Comedy, Michael Mills from 1974 until his death in 1986. The had two children, a boy named Leon born in 1975 and a girl Merope born in 1977.
Christopher Walken delivers a fractured, nuanced performance in The Dead Zone (1983)
The Dead Zone is so close of a perfect book-to-movie film that it's hard to find much better. Three creative forces came into near perfect alignment: the inscrutable, afflicted performance of Christopher Walken as Johnny Smith, the genius of Stephen King's reality in shorthand and the prolific story-telling talent (both visually and thematically) of David Cronenberg. The movie will knock you into next week.
The film opens on Johnny reading the ending from Poe's Raven to his students: "...my soul from out of that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted...nevermore." As the bell rings, Johnny promises to read from The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow soon. Johnny and his gal, fellow teacher Sarah (the saucy Brooke Adams of Sometimes They Come Back (1991)) cut classes to enjoy a growing romance until an accident on a dark night destroys it. Johnny unwittingly slams into an 18-wheeled milk tanker and it's lights out for Johnny for five years.
He awakes in a private hospice where he learns that his life, his girl and his job have been flushed down the toilet while he was in a coma. Still recuperating, Johnny picks his life back up by finding that he's awoke with a kind of second sight. A power that manifests by allowing him to see the past, present and future by taking a person's hand. A gift that allows Johnny to see into the Dead Zone - the place where life and death intersect. This concept is rather awkwardly elucidated by Cronenberg, who is much more visceral or bodily focused in his films. It's the only real misfire in the film.
The Castle Rock Killer learns the hard way not run with scissors in a Stephen King movie.
Early in the film, as his visons begin, Johnny is shown with his physical body in one place, the hospice, while his consciousness is in a burning bed warning a little girl to get out of a burning house. The scene's editing intertwines the two shots in a brilliant cross-cut that Walken's performance welds together. This effect is enhanced in a later scene as Walken states to a disbelieving Tom Skerritt at a murder scene: "I was there! I was watched the whole thing. I was there."
On the trail of the Castle Rock Killer, Johnny finds himself caught in the Dead Zone.
The movie's shot composition and experimental visual elements are to be noted. The stark snowscapes are defined by thick black tree lines. A subterranean murder scene in a darkened tunnel is framed in brilliant white highlights. A murder victim in a park gazebo is surrounded by a pure white layer of snow disconnecting it from the larger world. The gaunt figure of Johnny, in his black Navy jacket, against the icy gray skies. This harsh black and white element delineates the living and the dead with Johnny right in the middle.
The color green, ranging from a dull green in the hospice (and Johnny's clothing) to an eerie bright shade of green in The Castle Rock Killer's home convey the nearness of Johnny to the supernatural in the first third of the movie - a technique lost for some inexplicable reason the rest of the film.
Senate hopeful Greg Stillson has also received a vision - from the Crazy Zone.
The final two-thirds of the film revolve around Johnny re-dedicating himself to teaching, accepting the loss of Sarah and finding that he's the only man who can stop a delusional politician from starting a nuclear war.
Acting as a tutor, Johnny encounters Senate hopeful and successful psychotic Greg Stillson who, himself, has received a vision from the Crazy Zone that he will be "President of the United States!". Johnny sees the evil little creep starting World War Three. The possibly reality occurs when future President! Stillson receives another call from the Crazy Zone in the middle of the night, this time to preemptively launch nuclear missiles at Soviet Russia.
Following unlikely medical advice Johnny aims at a holy roller determined to start WWIII.
All the movie's elements fit together in an uneasy narrative driven by brillant performances every actor in the film. From Martin Sheen, as the evil Greg Stillson with his henchman Géza Kovács as Sonny, supporting actors Herbert Lom as Dr. Sam Weizak and Leslie Carson (Barry Convex of Videodrome (1984)) as a blackmailed newspaperman - each turn in inspired performances. This is a real testament to the detail-oriented casting and direction of David Cronenberg in a movie that continues to floor audiences.
Notes: The Dead Zone screenplay was written by the late Jeffrey Boam who also wrote Innerspace (1987) and two of the Lethal Weapon movies before becoming the executive producer for 20st Fox's doomed Bruce Campell vehicle Brisco County Jr. in the early 1990's!
Axe-Mass is that special time of the year to go on wild chopping sprees for loved ones.
This Axe-Mass Eve, as the ancient poltergeist of St. Nick descends upon an unsuspecting world, it seems fitting to celebrate a classic film showcasing one man's life-affirming redemption after a horrifying brush with death in: Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984).
On Axe-Mas of December of 1971, after visiting his kooky Grandfather in a Utah mental facility, young Billy Chapman is traumatized by witnessing St. Nick forcibly stuffing his mother's stocking then killing both of his parents. This, possibly, triggers Billy, later in the film, to kill anyone he perceives as "naughty". Which, is pretty much everyone.
After the murders, young Billy is sent off to a strict catholic orphanage where Mother Superior routinely beats poor Billy with a belt while screeching to him that "Punishment is necessary! Punishment is good!" This, possibly, also has a negative effect on young Billy's psyche. But who can really say?
Released as an 18-year-old, Billy Chapman finds work in a local department store. At the store, Billy is given the task of playing jolly, old St. Nick in time for Axe-Mas. After some initial jitters and rape-and-murder flashbacks, Billy gayly dons a St. Nick suit and promptly chops up his very "naughty" fellow department store employees.
From there, Billy Chapman merrily goes on to share his new found Axe-Mass spirit with the world at large.
Um, can I axe you a serious question? No? Well... Choppy Axe-Mass!
After zaniness ensues, Billy (still in his snappy St. Nick outfit) retraces his steps to the orphanage in order to extract revenge from Mother Superior and maybe off some naughty orphans and cops along the way. There are a few interesting twists that end with Billy being killed in front of his little brother Ricky. This abrupt end to Billy's Axe-Mass sets up - you guessed it - Silent Night Deadly Night 2 released in 1987.
The series was so stimulating and well-received (actually, it was banned in theaters and protested against by the PTA) that Hollywood quickly decided to make total of four progressively worse sequels including:
Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 (1987) Ricky Caldwell, Billy Chapman's brother, shows his Axe-Mas spirit in the first sequel.
The sequel picks up on Christmas Eve some years after the first movie, with Ricky Caldwell (played by Eric Freeman), the 18-year-old brother of the first film's killer, being held in a mental hospital awaiting trial for a series of murders he committed.
While being interviewed by psychiatrist Dr. Henry Bloom, Ricky tells the story of the murders his brother Billy committed through a series of several flashbacks that use footage from the original film, as well as some new shots inserted in the flashbacks to make Ricky appear in more of Billy's original story.
Ricky teaches Mother Superior the true meaning of Axe-Mass: severe, unrelenting punishment.
Before long Ricky's Axe-Mass spirit is revived and he is sent into the world to punish naughty people until he is mistakenly shot to death by local police who thought he was some sort of dangerous mass murderer. Can you believe it?
Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out (1989) Futuristic plastic helmets filled with pasta sauce equal three socks in your trousers.
The nearly incoherent, clip re-regurgitating third installment of the series picks up with Billy's brother Ricky being shot down by police at the end of the previous film. The now infamous Santa Claus Killer has been left comatose for six years, with a transparent dome being affixed to his head by doctors in order to repair his damaged skull.
Ricky (Bill Moseley from House Of 1,000 Corpses) wakes up feeling refreshed and full of Axe-Mass spirit and immediately pursues a blind, clairvoyant teenage girl because it seemed like the most marketable thing to do at the time.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990) In the 1990's, all sequels revolved around lost plot points and paper-thin story vehicles. It was contractual.
In the fourth installment of the Silent Night series the role of Ricky Caldwell is credited to Clint Howard (Day Of The Dead), Ron Howard's b-movie acting bro, who is a kind of marauding homeless guy who spends most of the movie in a dirty camouflage jacket and not the traditional Axe-Mass costume of St. Nick.
This unwatchable 90's horror sequel film was notably produced by Brian Yuzna the longtime producer of the Re-Animator series.
Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991) During Axe-Mass, it's Yul Brenner who knows if you've been naughty or nice.
Unlikely enough, Mickey Rooney (not a typo) stars in the last, deeply troubling sequel to the infamous Silent Night series. As a highlight, this film features an anatomically incorrect life-sized man-doll with a thing for gals in garter belts. Who knew?
This is currently where the popular series has left off. Who can say when another bold group of film makers will approach this title with fresh eyes and re-new all of our Axe-Mass spirit?
Notes:
The DVD release of the original Silent Night, Deadly Night didn't happen until December 11th 2007. As of 2009, it went officially out of print.
Valerie Leon, born November 12th 1945, is a cult movie actress known for her roles in a number of high profile British films as well as a near perfect hour-glass figure.
