Film blogger Steph from HorrorCultFilms shares her top five favourite film cameos.
I live and breathe movies. Working daily on HorrorCultFilms (HCF), loving film is a necessity, but it’s important that we all enjoy film as fans rather than see it as a chore. Though I usually know what’s coming out in cinemas six months in advance and have seen a selection of upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray releases prior to their release, I still like to switch my brain off “critic” mode and enjoy discovering film as a fan, as that’s what I truly am.
Empire Magazine is quite an important part in the history of HorrorCultFilms, as it was through the magazine and its forum that the majority of the HCF team found one another. We each shared a passion for horror and cult movies, hence the title of the site, and I could always be found with my nose between the pages of Empire Magazine with its informal approach, in-depth interviews with the stars and humorous, fact-filled articles.
Even to this day, Empire Magazine remains one of the leading film magazines and for good reason. The magazine caters for different tastes, not just horror and sci-fi, and their features always produce titles I’ve yet to see that are worth checking out.
One of the fun features in the September 2015 issue of Empire Magazine, which features a limited edition collector’s cover of Batman v Superman, explores 15 of the smartest cameos in movies. Whilst the magazine has opted for a few mainstream titles, I thought I’d share my top five film cameos from movies I’ve seen throughout the years.
Angus Scrimm – ‘Always Watching: A Marble Hornet’s Story’
It was only last week that I had the great fortune of watching this found-footage-style horror inspired by the ‘Marble Hornets’ YouTube series that features a Slender Man-like character called The Operator. Towards the end of the movie, our main characters end up at an asylum and mistake a man walking towards them for The Operator, when in fact it is the original suited boogeyman himself, Angus Scrimm, who played the Tall Man in Don Coscarelli’s ‘Phantasm’ film series. He only has one line but his presence was enough to make this horror fan squeal with delight!
Johnny Depp – ‘Before Night Falls’
Most actors who make a cameo appearance appear briefly just once in a movie but not Johnny Depp. In biopic drama ‘Before Night Falls’, Johnny Depp not only cameos as Bon Bon, a glam, blonde transvestite convict, but he also cameos as a completely different character later on in the movie as prison officer Lieutenant Victor. Talk about two polar opposite roles!
Val Kilmer – ‘True Romance’
Try to look for Val Kilmer in Tony Scott’s ‘True Romance’ and you’ll be hard pressed to find him. However, if I said look for the King of Rock n Roll, Elvis Presley, you’d have no trouble in doing so. Val masks himself well as Elvis, especially as the camera often shoots his body rather than his face as he gives advice to main character Clarence Worley (Christian Slater). It’s only until the credits roll that most people discover the true identity of the revived rock n roll star mentor.
Hunter S. Thompson – ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is one of my all-time favourite books as well as movies. After allowing actor Johnny Depp to stay with him at his home for a few months to help get in character for his alter ego Raoul Duke, it’s fitting that author Hunter S. Thompson himself has a cameo in Terry Gilliam’s movie adaptation of his most successful novel.
Thompson can be seen sitting at a table whilst Jefferson Airplane perform ‘Somebody to Love’ on-stage at the Matrix nightclub as Depp’s Raoul Duke makes his way to the men’s room. Duke even exclaims, “Mother of God, there I am!”, as he notices his older self looking back at him as he walks by. Genius!
Tinto Brass – ‘All Ladies Do It’
Director Tinto Brass is known for appearing in his erotica movies but my stand out cameo from the Italian auteur is in the film ‘All Ladies Do It’ as he plays Commodore Scarfetti who eagerly escorts his ‘niece’ into the changing room of a lingerie store, making sure she selects the right fitting brassiere. It’s cheeky and fun in the only way a Tinto Brass film can be and sure does create a few laughs.
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