Eric Red: There's a Killer on the Road
Thinking of catching THE HITCHER this weekend? Hollywood's bloodlust to remake every single slasher film from the '70s and '80s finally catches up with the existential horror film that made C. Thomas Howell a killer and squandered the last bit of Rutger Hauer's BLADE RUNNER credibility.
One of the bloodiest films up to its time, it also carried a queasy homoerotic subtext that may not have been altogether intentional -- Hauer grabbing Howell's balls and licking Howell's spittle off his face in way too suggestive a manner.
But if that creeps you out, be sure and read Paul Cullum's epic exegesis in the L.A. WEEKLY a year ago that explores the kind of sensibility that would launch something like that into the world.
In May 2000, the screenwriter, Eric Red, was involved in a minor fender-bender on Wilshire in West Los Angeles, a stone's throw from Bundy and the house where O.J used to live. When the guy in the car ahead walked back to the driver's window of his Jeep Cherokee, he saw Red slumped over the wheel, but staring straight ahead, his eyes open wide. Then the car started to move. Slowly, the jeep pushed the guy's car out of the intersection until it jacknifed into oncoming traffic -- his girlfriend screaming in the front seat all the while. At the last second, Red's Jeep slipped off the back bumper and his tires found traction, jumpstarting him from 15 to 50 mph in a matter of seconds, and he crashed through a bus shelter, through the plate glass windows of a pool hall, and against the giant mahogany bar 20 feet inside, killing two people who were pinned against the bar and injuring 20. Then, when everyone was trying to rock the jeep back off his victims, Red wandered off, picked up a shard of glass, and slit his throat.
That's when the weird part really began. Red went immediately into the hospital on suicide watch, stayed out of the paper, and nine months later, LAPD announced they were dropping all charges -- it turns out, due to a neurological condition which caused him to pass out at the wheel. That would have been the end of it, except that the family of one of the victims was all lawyers, and they pursued him through the courts for five years before winning a million-dollar judgment. But in a monumental bit of reporting, Cullum documents every twist and turn -- including the similarities between the accident and his own films and unproduced screenplays, and the script he wrote after the fact making fun of the whole thing. It's not a tale for the faint-hearted.
And here's a tidbit you won't find in the story: When being admitted to UCLA hospital hours after the accident, Red insisted on being registered under the name Mario Kan. Mario Kan is an anagram for "I RAN AMOK."
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Comments
Tips indeed.
Q is worth 10 points
Posted by: Indeed at January 19, 2007 10:14 PM
Someone posted this on digg--even more in depth look at the story. http://www.laweekly.com/general/features/death-race-2000/12382/
Posted by: Cole at January 20, 2007 11:40 PM
Wow. That sucks... Freaky.
Posted by: Michelle Kenobi at January 21, 2007 01:05 AM
wtf
Posted by: Anonymous at January 21, 2007 03:15 PM
This accident happened almost a decade ago -- is it really news? Sounds like the producers of the hitcher remake are trying to blame the bad numbers of their film on someone else. Red is a great writer and I've been a fan for years. He seems like a decent guy and yes I've read the Weekly article (which seemed over the top to me). It really pisses me off that everyone is so quick to believe the worst about celebrities all the time. If you really want to know what he's doing now, check out his interview on the arrow: http://www.joblo.com/arrow/index.php?id=6483
Posted by: dan at January 22, 2007 04:34 PM
"It really pisses me off that everyone is so quick to believe the worst about celebrities all the time."
Yeah, it's not like the guy killed anyone... Oh, wait. He did.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 23, 2007 05:48 PM
Btw: What ever happened to that book sleazo: Paul Barresi was writing about Big Red and Tom Cruise...????????????? It would be better is a writer who actually has a drop of talent were to finish it...
Posted by: anonymous at June 15, 2008 04:40 PM
This story is twisted! What on earth does this have to do with that sicko barresi and that stupid book he tried to write about a redhead porn star and tom cruise??
Posted by: anon at September 27, 2008 10:23 AM
