Customer Reviews

Spalding Gray: Terrors of Pleasure [VHS]

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I loved this piece despite the fact that I don't own, but have, in my rentals, encountered plenty of broken down structures. I suppose I didn't come into watching this expecting it to be of the same calibre as 'Monster' or "Swimming to Cambodia", (this being a mere HBO production), so a comparison to those didn't even occur to me. In reply to the above review though, I thoroughly enjoyed the "flat" film footage, especially of the huffing and puffing landowner making his way through waist high snow drifts to show the cabin. I also enjoyed Gray's portrayal of the Jehovah's witnesses--could this have been lost on our British friend, I wonder? Anyone who has had to deal with them(Witnesses, I mean) will find it quite amusing. The story is, as I recall, rendered mostly from footage, and has only snippets of the ever-famous Spaulding sitting at his desk. The film plays effectively as his narrative takes us through the process of finding a dream-cabin getaway in Catskills and buying a real house that has actual rooms (as opposed to the loft he's been living in for many years.) I was rooting for him from the time he first surveyed the "early American" interior of his cabin, to when he went out to see the stars and was thwarted by his neighbor's high-intensity spotlight. And of course there is Gray's commentary, which redeems many a mundane depiction of daily life.
I have shown this very-difficult-to-find video to friends who don't know Gray's work, and they've all loved it. So if you're looking for a house or a rental and want to commiserate--or just want a good laugh, I think this short is worth it. I've seen it 3 times already, and I still think it's funny.

Definitely the least of all the filmed versions of Spalding Gray's monologues. The large TV studio audiences don't quite know what to make of Spuddy initially (laughing nervously and uncertainly at first) - and he seems wary of them and a little detached. I've heard a audio version of the same monologue which is much better as that audience was smaller and more familiar with Gray's work.
It's very flatly shot and has filmed inserts (without sound) displaying scenes the monologue is describing - as if watching Gray perform isn't enough!
However as the audience get used to the pace - a slow build to hysterically funny hysteria - Gray becomes more confident and you start to ignore the visual deficencies and become capitvated by this tale of buying a monstrously awful house - it has a boiler in the attic! - perhaps a metaphor for Gray's state of mind - and as he admits - he suspects (and fears) he may have bought it and put himself through the Terror's of Pleasure (of owning property) simply to have material to write a monologue about it.
Worth it for the performance and material - but Monster in a Box and Swimming to Cambodia are the best screen adaptations of his work - perhaps this is only for completists like me.