Suzee Slater in Chopping Mall (1986)
Suzee has been out of the industry for about a quarter of a century, and nobody seems to know where she is now. Wikipedia says, “Shortly after the release of Mind Twister, Slater suddenly retired from acting and disappeared from the public eye. Fellow Chopping Mall actress Barbara Crampton explained in 2016 that the two failed to keep in contact in the years following that film’s release. The movie’s staff had been unable to locate Slater, making her one of the few surviving cast members to not attend the 30th anniversary screening of Chopping Mall.”
For a while in the late 80s and early 90s, Suzee frequently appeared in low-budget grade-Z exploitation films created by such schlockmeisters as Jim Wynorski and Fred Olen Ray.
Astoundingly enough, both of those guys are still making movies, at ages 64 (Ray) and 68 (Winorski). Wynorski’s latest project is CobraGator. Ray’s most recent efforts include such classics as Abner, the Invisible Dog.
So they haven’t changed much.
Of course I was not expecting them to be creating sensitive, heart-wrenching movies about societal mores, class struggles, America’s turbulent past, or man’s place in the universe.
Although I can only guess that Abner, the Invisible Dog must come close.
I only hope I will never have to watch it to find out for sure.
Not only did I not expect those two guys to change, but I don’t want them to. Frankly I’m glad they leave that kind of crap quixotic endeavor to the likes of Mike Leigh and Ken Burns. It’s good to know that Ray and Winorski remain dependable beacons of consistency, their rock-steady light helping us to navigate the fraught waters of change. I haven’t watched any of their new movies in at least 20 years, and I never liked any of the ones I did watch back in the day *
… but it’s kinda nice to know they are still there.
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(* Full disclosure: I did really enjoy the sublimely awful Deathstalker II. Winorski actually realized that he didn’t have the budget or the talent to create even something so unambitious as a Deathstalker film, so he tripled the cheese and turned it into a pretty good genre parody with a lot of self-deprecating laughs. I tip my hat to him for that one! Here’s my review.)