When I Dismember Mama was released as a double-bill with The Blood Spattered Bride at the drive-in and various lowbrow theaters in 1974, upchuck cups were passed out amongst patrons as a gag gift to promote the film and to get people talking outside of the theaters. The trailer for the double-bill is even better.
Released on VHS in the 1980s by Simitar Entertainment, I Dismember Mama has become a cult classic amongst horror fans – most likely because of its catchy and alluring title. You would assume that the film is about – well – dismembering mama, right? Wrong. This Oedipal-Norman-Bates-style movie has very little to do with dismembering at all, although it has it’s fair share of kills and thrills.
Directed by Paul Leder and originally titled Poor Albert and Little Annie (a much more accurate title), Zooey Hall stars as Albert, a deranged young man who has been incarcerated in a mental institution for attempting to kill his sociopathic and controlling mother. While watching soft-core pornography in his room, becoming more frustrated with his deprivation, he escapes by brutally killing a nurse. Albert returns to his mother’s mansion and his childhood home where he torments, tortures, and brutally kills the housekeeper. Albert’s killing spree is put on hold when the housekeeper’s young daughter, Annie (Geri Reischl), comes home from school looking for her mom. Albert views Annie as an untouched, pure, beautiful young girl who has had the kind of childhood that Albert wishes he’d had. Albert wants to protect Annie at all costs, even if it means killing other women around him. Annie and Albert become the best of friends (the upchuck cups are necessary for their creepy bittersweet relationship, rather than the blood and guts), but Albert’s sexual urges take over at night, forcing Albert to find immoral hookers to slaughter. The police track Albert and Annie to a warehouse filled with naked mannequins – and the mad chase is on!
Leder made some interesting choices, especially with the soundtrack, that occasionally take away from the suspense and creepiness of the film. The most interesting choice is the film’s theme song, “Poor Albert” by Bob Roden. Give it a listen during this clip from the film:
“Poor Albert, what does the future hold in store? Poor Albert, do you know what you are looking for?”
What does I Dismember Mama really have in store and do we know what movie we are looking for? The lyrics in the song actually sum up exactly how we’re supposed to feel about I Dismember Mama: we’ve been cheated out of the film we thought we were going to see (dismemberment of Albert’s mom in great and gory detail) and we’ve been left with a peculiar tale of a murderous psychopath and his obsession with pure and untouched little girl.
Here are a few shots of the VHS box from the Terror Tapes collection, as well as the press booklet that was used to promote the film.
After I Dismember Mama, Paul Leder went on to direct My Friends Need Killing in 1976, another low budget horror film where a Vietnam vet goes on a murder spree, killing men he served in the army with. Zooey Hall worked in television, including an appearance in Happy Days in 1975 and Geri Reischl became “Fake Jan”, replacing Eve Plumb as Jan Brady in The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
FEARnet tracked Reischl down to remember Dismember and she also shared with us a story about her first onscreen kiss – at just 12 years old!
There is a strange relationship between your character Annie and Zooey Hall’s Albert in I Dismember Mama.
Yeah, he believes that all women are bad – that all women are whores because of how he was raised by his mother. She babied him and he slept in the same bed with her until he was in his teens. Albert was warped by his own mother. But with me as Annie, he sees me as innocent and pure and undefiled, as he says in the movie. I haven’t been touched, I’m a virgin, and Albert likes this. Albert wants to have that childhood that Annie had.
There are so many moments in the film where I would yell at the screen, “Eww! God! No, Albert, Don’t!” What was it like working with Zooey Hall?
Reischl: He was very nice and very professional; he was very into his role. Sometimes I felt like he got into his character a little too much – about liking me or having feelings for me – and not just onscreen but off-screen as well. It sort of creeped me out, actually, but it also helped me with my role because as Annie, I’m supposed to feel creeped out by him, but I’m also supposed to trust him
Did you always have your parents or a guardian on set with you watching to make sure nothing got out of hand?
Yes, absolutely. Until you’re 16 or 18, you can’t be alone on the set. My mother was with me all the time, everyday. I also had a social worker as well to make sure that my rights on set were being honored. The social worker would make sure I wasn’t working past the hours I was supposed to, that nothing inappropriate was going on with me there. In I Dismember Mama, I have this little mock wedding with Albert. He gives me a rose and marries me for pretend, just playing. In one take, he actually got a little too carried away and originally, he was just supposed to hug me to honor our “marriage.” Instead, he didn’t just hug me, but he looked at me and gave me a big passionate kiss right on my lips! I was stunned! At 12 years old, I knew it was weird – I knew that wasn’t supposed to happen! So, I went to my mom who was with the social worker and I told them what happened. They were both very upset, so they went to talk to the director and warned him that production could be shut down. He promised it would never happen again, and the next day, the director brought me a stuffed animal and a box of chocolates.
At the time, since you were a young girl, were you a lot like your character?
Yes, I was very much like her: happy, loving life, trusting people, wanting the adventure, having fun. It was an easy part to play but I did have to do my own stunts. When I run down the fire escape near the end, I had to go down backwards holding the railing, rather than facing forward and just running down. It was the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, and they wanted to make sure nothing bad happened.
Running around a dark warehouse full of naked mannequins must have been interesting as well.
It was scary, and I had to run amongst naked mannequins, and there are body parts lying around. All this time, I’m into the character as well, so I’m focusing on running away from Albert, and it was genuinely scary. He was chasing me with a hatchet. Even though I knew where I was supposed to run, it was still really scary. I could still feel it as if it was really happening to me. I was running hard, getting out of breath, making turns – and I don’t know where Albert is and when he’s going to come out at me, so I still had that fear while in that factory, and it felt very real.
Even though you know what’s coming, I can understand how scared you must have been – especially after that kiss! You never know what to expect!
Exactly! Well not only that, but the prop assistant gave Zooey a real hatchet! He’s supposed to be swinging the hatchet at me, and eventually he hits the mannequin and slices it with the hatchet, but yes – it was a real hatchet Zooey was carrying. So naturally, when the social worker found out, production was shut down until a fake hatchet was found. The prop assistants had to go and get a rubber one. My mom couldn’t believe they were chasing me with a real hatchet. Of course, everyone was very apologetic.
Your mom must have had quite a time making sure you were okay on set.
[Laughs.] Yes, and the bedroom scene when Albert comes into the bedroom, and I’m tucked in the bed and he comes in to check on me… I only had a nightgown on. As a 12 year old girl, I know I’m only acting, but it frightened me when Zooey would come into the room for that take, having him stand over me, thinking about whether or not he wants to do anything. He starts rubbing his bare chest. Even though I knew it wasn’t real, it was very scary for me.
The film was originally called Poor Albert and Little Annie, right? Were you allowed to see the film when it was finished?
It’s funny because I didn’t know that the title of the film had been changed. When the film came out, my mother wouldn’t let me go see it because of the nudity, and later on, I didn’t realize that the name of the movie had changed. The movie played on a double bill with The Blood Spattered Bride and I didn’t see it. I made the movie when I was 12, and I didn’t see it until I bought it on the internet, on VHS, when I was 40 years old! I had wanted to see the film for so long because I really felt like I had did a good job on it, and I didn’t get to see myself until years later. I really love how the film turned out. It was really fascinating for me to watch that relationship between Albert and my character, Annie.
What was working with Paul Leder like? I Dismember Mama was his second film after The Marigold Man.
He was really good, actually. I had worked a lot on Mattel commercials as a child, so I could tell that he really knew what he was doing. He was really nice to all of the cast and crew and very organized. He gave me really good directions. His daughter was onset quite a bit as well and we became friends. He also took his daughter and I to Magic Mountain, too, it was a treat after the movie was done. He was a really nice, laid-back guy.
Before working on I Dismember Mama, you starred in The Brotherhood of Satan– was this a much different experience because it was your first horror film?
Both of my characters are very much alike, actually. But in The Brotherhood of Satan, I had the opportunity to work with Strother Martin (The Wild Bunch, Cool Hand Luke) and L.Q. Jones (The Wild Bunch, Casino), which was really cool. This was a whole different type of movie too, all about Satan, it was one of the first of its time, too. We filmed this in 1969 and we filmed on location a lot in New Mexico. It was fun though – there were bloody body parts, and other kids on the set. The director, Bernard McEveety, his kids were in the film, too. It was a great experience, but the two films could not have been more different, even though they belong to the same genre.
More recently, you starred in The Meat Puppet.
Yes, it’s a psychological thriller and I play a very twisted part where you think I’m nice and sweet, but there is a lot more to my character than what meets the eye! The director, Joe Valenti, contacted me and asked me to play the part. I’m so glad that I did it because I won Best Supporting Actress at the Downbeach Film Festival, and the film actually won eight awards, including Best Director and Best Feature Film. I had never played a part like that before either, so it was great!
Having played Jan Brady and after starring in commercials for Mattel and being a successful pop singer, are you ever surprised to get interview requests for your work in horror films, so many years after the fact?
Yes, sure, it’s wonderful though! I’m getting offers to appear in films again, which is a lot of fun, and I also do convention appearances. In September (14-15), I’m doing FantaCon, and I really love meeting my fans at conventions like that. I’m also in negotiations about another horror film right now.
Geri Reischl is currently working on her music. She is an accomplished singer with several original songs and she does covers of 70s classics, including her song from The Brady Bunch. Get your hands on her music at http://www.gerireischl.com/
I Dismember Mama is hard to find on VHS – currently, a copy is up for $75 on Ebay, but you can watch the film on Amazon Instant Video.