A Canadian Direct-to-Video Coming-of-Age Film with a Warning

2,399 words

Oh, What a Night
Directed by: Eric Till
Written by: Richard Nielson
Starring: Corey Haim, Barbara Williams, & Keir Dullea

There is a magical movie out there that went direct to video. As a direct-to-video film, it cannot be called one of the great classics of all time, nonetheless the movie, and the cultural context in which it was filmed, is significant enough for reflection. The movie is Oh, What a Night, (1992), shot in Ontario in a little more than a month during the late summer of 1991. Oh, What a Night is a coming-of-age story in which the protagonist, Eric (the late Corey Haim), seeks a romantic relationship with an older woman, Vera (Barbara Williams), in rural Ontario during the 1950s.

The Coming-of-Age Genre and the Two Lost Corey Boys

In the same way that a true Western can only be set in the years between the end of the Civil War and the death of Queen Victoria, and war movies really only cover World War II and Korea, coming-of-age films are best set after World War II, but before 1964, when the illicit second constitution, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, was imposed upon America’s whites. Using a mid-twentieth-century setting works well for the genre because there was comparatively little going on at the time, so puberty, crushes, and learning to drive can legitimately be the focus.[1] A decent, secondary time-period for a coming-age-film is in the 1980s, for the same reasons.

Stand By Me (1986) was set in 1960, and that film is the gold standard for the genre. [2] Haim was not in the film, but his friend, Corey Feldman, was. There is no way to discuss Haim without discussing Feldman because the two were professionally and personally intertwined between 1987 and 2010, when Haim passed away. Corey Haim and Corey Feldman were A-List teen actors in the 1980s who came to be called “the Two Coreys.” Their on-screen chemistry was outstanding, and this acting alchemy first appeared in the film The Lost Boys (1987).

The Lost Boys is a Generation X cultural sensation. Through the film, the songs of The Doors were introduced to people who were either not born or a babe in arms when the lead singer, Jim Morrison died in 1971. The wardrobes and hairstyles of the characters in The Lost Boys had an impact also although I’m uncertain if the film set the trend or merely amplified an existing one. It is certain that teenagers in the late 1980s wore army fatigue jackets and acid washed jeans like the characters in the film. It is also possible that Kiefer Sutherland’s vampire hairstyle inspired the mullet. Sutherland played the character David, the vampire group’s tough squad leader. Sunglasses like those worn by the film’s male lead, Jason Patric, who played Michael, were also everywhere in the late 1980s.

One aspect of The Lost Boys is the Jewish Question. I won’t go through the entire list of who among the cast and crew was a Jew or not, but both of the Two Coreys are Jewish as well as actress Jami Gertz, who played Star – who David used to lure Michael into the vampire lifestyle. The most important thing about the film’s Jewish Question is that it wasn’t asked. There are no anti-white digs, no Bolshevik messages, and no expressions of neoconservative views. It is unthinkable that any of the characters or the actors which play them represent the hatred that brings about a JDAMS dropped on a Palestinian hospital. Indeed, the characters are exactly who you’d want in your town should it be infected by night-stalking, blood-sucking, “Nosferatus.”

With that in mind, both Corey Feldman and Corey Haim cannot be seen as representatives of Jewish subversion of America. Their stories can, however be seen in the light of the problems that all whites face in post-“civil rights” America, as well as decadent Hollywood’s negative influence on America’s whites.

It was around the time of the filming of The Lost Boys that both Coreys started on a downward path. Corey Haim was already in trouble in 1987. He claimed to have been homosexually raped by another actor on the set of the coming-of-age story Lucas (1986). Since the actor who allegedly raped Haim is known to engage in reckless behavior and is HIV+, Haim’s claims have the ring of truth. Haim started using during the filming of The Lost Boys.

Feldman was introduced to cocaine on the set of The Lost Boys after an “Asian lady” gave him cocaine so he could stay awake during an all-night shoot. A non-white giving a Caucasian an illicit drug is an act of extreme hostile racial aggression. Asians are not the “model minority” that “civil rights” enthusiasts claim.[3] Koreans, especially Korean women are very hostile to white American culture. Feldman’s drug use caused some on-set behavioral issues, so he was provided a handler, a Hollywood insider who turned out to be a pedophile. Both boys were exploited by pedophiles at this time. Feldman faced his problems and overcame them by spending nine months in rehab, but Haim’s drug use continued.

Illicit Sex in North America’s Midlands

Coery Haim’s personal life and professional career peaked in 1989, which is when he’d starred in a series of back-to-back successful films and his drug use could still be categorized as “heavy partying” rather than the uncontrolled problem that it would become. In 1989 he could even claim he was “clean and sober.”

Unfortunately, Haim was not “clean and sober.” In Oh, What a Night, one can see that the drugs have started to take their toll. Haim looks too thin; his skin looks…off…and his eyes, on occasion, look peculiar and unfocused. Nonetheless he still pulls off playing an older teenager who is figuring out how to be with a woman.

Haim’s success is probably due to a team effort. Oh, What a Night had a top-notch collection of actors who’d starred in earlier mega-hits. This includes Denny Doherty, who was in the Mommas & the Papas, a 1960s hippie band, as well as Keir Dullea who starred in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Geneviève Bujold, who plays Eric’s stepmother, starred as Anne Boleyn in the classic film Anne of the Thousand Days (1969).  Robbie Coltrane is also in the film. Then, he was a solid character actor transitioning between lowly roles such as “man at airfield” in Flash Gordon, (1980) and the globally beloved Hagrid in the Harry Potter series.

Eric is friends with Donald (Andrew Miller) who is dating Betty (Kirsten Kieferle). Eric is also new in town. He’d moved to Ontario when his dad remarried, so he doesn’t know everyone in the neighborhood and must deal with a new stepmother.

Eric and Donald are both eager to have sex, to put it frankly. The plot, basically, is the boys’ quest to get laid. This comes up when the two are at a wedding. The couple’s entry into marriage demonstrates sex that is controlled. The pair are expected to be faithful to each other, the woman and her children are expected to be financially supported by her husband, and they are expected to be his biological children.

Outside of marriage, sex can bring a person a great deal of headaches. This isn’t a secret, so movies which promote illicit sex have a poisonous message. In this case however, the film isn’t pushing poison, instead it is letting the audience watch a death-defying stunt. Will Eric be able to “score” with Vera, who has a husband and two children and come away unscathed?

There is an element of fantasy in the film. The mature woman – young boy sexual pairing is indeed a fantasy which is rarely enacted. This fantasy was first described in Ben Franklin’s advice about taking an older woman as a mistress since the sin is less and, “…debauching a Virgin may be her Ruin, and make her for Life unhappy.” Plus, Eric is not expected to marry the woman, with all the negatives that marriage can imply.

Eric is running a tremendous risk, however. When he finally seduces Vera, the audience discovers her two daughters are by two different men. Her first husband was killed during the Korean War. She and her current husband, Vern (Joseph Ziegler) are not formally married – instead they are living in a “common law” relationship. Vern returns and catches Eric in the barn. He correctly realizes, but cannot prove, what occurred, but Eric is able to escape because he realizes that Vern is the local chicken thief and makes the accusation just as Vera enters the barn to calm the situation down. This entire scene absolves Eric and Vera of their reckless actions. In the real world, the people who commit the small crimes, like turnstile jumping or chicken stealing are the same people who commit the big crimes, like murder, so Eric has successfully pulled off his death-defying stunt.

As for Donald, he does successfully pull of his quest, but he wins the girl by introducing her to his parents and gains the approval of his mother (Diana Leblanc), who is dying and wishes to meet her future daughter-in-law before the end. Eric’s father and stepmother also have sex and are shown in bed together at the end of the film indicating their relationship is going well, so the movie ends on a positive note.

Is it Magical Though?

Film reviewers have noticed an issue in Oh, What a Night. Although Eric and Vera’s romance is initiated by a young man who is sexually mature and old enough to drive and buy a hunting license, and Vera is a lonely housewife, it is, technically an adult-child pairing. Indeed, Barbara Williams who played Vera, had previously played Corey Haim’s character’s mother in The Watchers (1988). Sex differences are also real and matter. Switch the sexes in the story so that a frustrated husband with a scolding wife takes the virginity of a teenage girl in his barn and the magic goes away. The moviemakers are frank about Eric’s ill-advised actions. In this case, Vera’s daughter continuously calls Eric, “A dirty bugger.”

There is something to the fact that in The Lost Boys, Michael becomes a half-vampire when he is given a bottle from which he drinks blood of the head vampire. On the set of that film, both Coreys were given illicit drugs which was the underpinning problem that led to their sexual abuse which were homosexual adult-child sexual pairings. Although the adult-child pairing in Oh, What a Night is not the damaging homosexual pedophilia which the two Corey’s experienced, there is something to the fact that what is in the movie hints at larger problems.

In 2020, a decade after Haim had died, Corey Feldman produced the movie about their abuse called My Truth: The Rape of the Two Coreys. The movie was one of the first to premiere through online streaming. The premier turned into a disaster. The stream was subjected to a DDoS attack. Then, rival websites appeared which offered a pirated version of the film, so Feldman lost money. The market was also flooded with professionally made DVDs with pirated copies. Feldman also lost money due to this.

Nobody in law enforcement investigated this outrage. The press also didn’t look into who might have been behind the mischief. This was part of what looked suspiciously like a coordinated media blackout. The Associated Press had promised to run a story on the movie but dropped the story, claiming the movie had no new information. Feldman suspects that the media already had stories ready to go claiming he had not produced a movie and had no evidence. When he did show a movie at the theatre despite the cyber-attacks, and there was evidence shown in the film, the press shifted to blackout mode.

It is likely that Hollywood insiders who had connections with DVD producers in Asia and other cyberwarfare specialists had a pre-planned campaign. This seems even more sinister and more likely when one recognizes that 2020 was an election year, and the mainstream media was looking to defeat Trump. Hillary had lost the election in part because of the rumors of pedophilia and satanic “spirit cooking” on the part of her inner circle. It is very likely that the political establishment didn’t want a second round of pedophilia accusations during the campaign. While this is conjecture, it is known that the media and “intelligence community” lied about the disturbing contents on the laptop of Joe Biden’s drug addicted son, Hunter.

“Sex,” said Marylin Monroe famously, “is here to stay.” Sex can get a person in a great deal of trouble. There are also predators out there. America is also under a hostile occupation from alien groups. Even if a person is an A-List Hollywood actor, it is possible to become brutalized by all of this. The best thing to do is recognize the problem, be cautious in one’s intimate affairs, and stay clean and sober.

Notes

[1] Movies set in the late 1960s, the coming-of-age occurs, but only within the context of the larger events of the time. In The Jesus Revolution (2023), the crushes and courtships of the young adults are minor plot points compared to the ongoing Vietnam War and Chrisitan spiritual revival. There are solid coming-of-age stories set during World War II, but the protagonist in such a movie must be very young indeed, a teenager at the time would soon be drafted, thus making the film a war movie. Hope and Glory (1987) is a WWII coming-of-age film whose protagonist is around ten years old. The Empire of the Sun (1987) is also a solid coming-of-age story during World War II. Likewise, the protagonist is too young for military service.

[2] Stand By Me stared Corey Feldman as Teddy Duchamp, the abused kid character. The movie re-launched interest in the “oldies” – the rock and roll songs of the 1950s and early ‘60s. The wardrobes of the characters in Stand By Me were imitated by junior high schoolers in the mid-1980s, especially the white t-shirt and blue jeans with the bottoms rolled up. Some brave souls even rolled up a pack of cigarettes in their t-shirt sleeves, thus imitating what River Phoenix’s character, Chris Chambers, did. Less brave souls rolled a pack of chewing gum in their t-shirt sleeves.

[3] Matthew Perry, the unfortunate star of the End of History hit-show Friends died of a drug overdose enabled by a number of Asian handlers including “Ketamine Queen” Jasveen Sanga and Kenneth Iwamasa.