Post by Toasted Cheese on Oct 25, 2018 2:03:06 GMT
With Lila, it was more the impact of the presentation of her death scene. Bear in mind, I was only a mid teen when this came out and it was the start of my slasher phase interest and was getting into to see films with restricted ratings on them, which I was too young previously to see.
I had seen a still of her screaming face and when it happened in the film and was put into context of the narrative, I was thinking, are they really going to show her getting stabbed in the gob and if they do, will it look realistic. I did not expect the film to even go there. It was brutal and graphic and sensationally presented. Lila's personality and her character to me were irrelevant at the time. I cannot think of other on-screen deaths that have this same wow factor. This is only from my own personal perspective and from my own catalogue of what I had seen previously. I still find nothing much to top it and it was also a very original death as well, because it was also very random.
Mrs. Spool had a similar impact on me, because the film was almost over but not quite. It was the presentation again. I have seen other films with people getting whacked on the head with shovels, but again, none that match this.
You know there is something every so slightly unlikeable about Vera Miles. It is very subtle, but I think it's there. And it worked to wonderful advantage in what I think is her best performance, as murderous beauty mogul, Viveca Scott, in "Columbo" 3rd season opener, the delightful "Lovely, but Lethal". Miles is an absolute hoot! Her hairdo alone makes the show worth watching!
I was also interested in the technical aspect of how they achieved the death scenes in films, as in the special make-up. You would have also been a few yrs younger than me when it came out, and it may have also affected you differently. I thought Lila's death was done quite realistically. That is why I like Halloween II - 81' so much as well, because there wasn't any overdone extensive make-up effects in this one and the deaths were shown to be quite realistic and painful without overdoing the rubbery latex and red paint.
I know you are a big fan of Columbo, but this is just something that isn't a part of my psyche. I don't even recall if it was screened on NZ tv, or if it was, it was perhaps later at night, and since we didn't have a t.v for 8yrs, I only saw stuff at neighbors houses. I was lucky to see CA's when I did. Nothing much mattered anyway, once I discovered CHiPs'. That was one show I just had to see and if I wasn't able to visit an episode, my whole world came crashing down around me. I had to make friends with the neighbors just so I could see it on Friday nights. 
