Eggshells (film)

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Eggshells
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTobe Hooper
Written byTobe Hooper
Kim Henkel
Produced byDavid L. Ford
Tobe Hooper
Raymond O'Leary
StarringRon Barnhart
Pamela Craig
Allen Danziger
Sharron Danziger
Kim Henkel
CinematographyTobe Hooper
Edited byRobert Elkins
Tobe Hooper
Music bySpencer Perskin
Shiva's Headband
Jim Schulman
Distributed byWatchmaker Films (2009)
Release date
1969[1][2]
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40,000[3]

Eggshells is a 1969 American independent experimental film directed by Tobe Hooper in his directorial debut. Hooper, who co-wrote the film with Kim Henkel, also served as one of the film's producers. The film centers on a commune of young hippies, who slowly become aware of an otherworldly presence that resides in the basement.

Plot[edit]

A group of young hippies, having recently moved into an old house in the woods, slowly become aware of an otherworldly presence residing in the basement of the house.[1][2]

Cast[edit]

  • Mahlon Foreman as Mahlon
  • Ron Barnhart as Ron
  • Amy Lester as Amy
  • Kim Henkel as Toes
  • Pamela Craig as Pam
  • Jim Schulman as Jim
  • Allen Danziger as Allen

Production[edit]

Hooper reflected on the film later when recounting his first efforts as a filmmaker: "It's a real movie about 1969. It's kind of vérité but with a little push. Like a script on a napkin, improvisation mixed with magic. It was about the beginning of the end of the subculture. Most of it takes place in a commune house. But what they didn't know is that in the basement is a crypto-embryonic-hyper-electric presence that managed to influence the house and the people in it. The influences in my life were all kind of politically, socially implanted."[4]

Reception[edit]

In 2017, Zane Gordon-Bouzard of Birth.Movies.Death stated that the film "lay[s] out its rambling vision of hippie life in Austin, Texas in a series of acid-splashed reveries". Gordon-Bouzard also noted that the film displayed many of the themes and motifs that would become a staple in director Hooper's later films.[5] Louis Black from The Austin Chronicle gave the film a positive review, stating that the film very much emulated the works of Jean-Luc Godard. Black also praised the film for its capturing of 1960s Austin attitudes and lifestyles, as well as the psychedelic visuals and Hooper's direction.[6]

See also[edit]

Citations[edit]

Sources[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Macor, Alison (February 22, 2010). Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: Thirty Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-77829-0.
  • Towlson, Jon (March 20, 2014). Subversive Horror Cinema: Countercultural Messages of Films from Frankenstein to the Present. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-7469-1.

Websites[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]