Know Zedd? If not that's a shame. Nick Zedd is an underground film maker with titles like Geek Maggot Bingo, Police State, Whoregasm and many more. Zedd's films either work for people or they don't. You don't get a lot of middle ground with Nick's flicks.
Totem Of The Depraved is Nick's tale of his life. At 163 pages that doesn't add up to a lot.
Or does it?
Nick Zedd manages to put a lot into his life. He also doesn't fall into the drug addled idiot who thinks they are a film maker because they hang out with an edgy crowd. Nick acts, directs, writes.
It's funny to read how edgy he thinks he is, but towards the end even he admits that he isn't really. He has respect for a lot of people. Normal people. He can't stand posers and morons, but the general public doesn't do anything to Nick and he responds in kind. He mentions a time that they were going to make a snuff film and he couldn't do it. He felt that murder was wrong. To take someones life away from them seemed too much for Zedd.
I remeber watching some of Zedd's stuff in my younger days and I decided to write to him and tell him I reviewed stuff. He sent me a tape of Lord Of The Cockrings which I thought was hilarious. I also thought it was pretty cool to have a film director send me a homemade tape of their films for me to review. I should have realized that he was a softie right then.
A lot of the book deals with his multiple sexual conquests and travelling from place to place where he is misunderstood and looked down upon.
In the end I think that Nick likes being the underdog, but there are certain times in the book where he could have chucked it all, gone mainstream and made a successful life for himself, but he would have been miserable the entire time.
When you consider that Nick Zedd made They Eat Scum in 1979, that makes the young, angry film maker a crotchety old man at this point.
Then he delivers on the perfect superhero spoof with the cable access gem Electra Elf and Fluffer and proves that he still has what it takes to make sure people still say;
"Nick Zedd? Who in the Hell is Nick Zedd?"
Nick would love that last quote.
Seriously.
2 comments:
After reading about Zedd in DEATHTRIPPING all those years ago, I found myself devouring everything he had put his stamp on. TOTEM OF THE DEPRAVED is one of my top three film books-- it's inspiring and terrifying in all of the right ways!
How I wish Zedd would make a snuff film starring himself.
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