Tuesday, August 16, 2005

searching for savage steve holland


Why are there no fan pages dedicated to Savage Steve Holland?

He directed three feature films. "Better Off Dead", "One Crazy Summer" and "How I Got Into College". They combined live action and whimsical little animated bits. He was the bizarro John Hughes of his time. And then what happened?

IMDB tells us that he's taken a long detour into TV. In terms of fan sites, the best I could find was this "EEK! The Cat" fansite. There is this curt wikipedia entry that says he manages his own studio called "Savage Studios", but either it doesn't exist any longer or it hasn't gotten around to creating a website.

John Hughes walked down damnation lane creating a slew of increasingly worthless kids movies. Is this where iconic 80s directors end up?

I realize I may be alone in arguing for the underappreciated genius of a man who many might say only directed one good movie in his life, but i remember loving ONE CRAZY SUMMER when I was a kid. and when i was 13, i even remember liking HOW I GOT INTO COLLEGE (arguably the toughest sell of his oeuvre). but you just can't dispute the sheer brilliance of BETTER OFF DEAD. There aren't that many people who could pull off a comedy about a suicidal teenager that includes traditional animation *and* claymation. In 1985.

If I could make ONE movie in my life with that much audacity... well, I won't be content with that, but it'd be better than nothing.

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