I first met horror film icon David Hess (a North Bay Area resident for many years) about seven years ago when local indie film icon Rob Nilsson brought him to see a play starring my wife, Monica Cortes Viharo, in San Leandro. At first I didn't recognize him as the memorably sadistic rapist-killer "Krug" from Wes Craven's groundbreaking grindhouse classic, The Last House on the Left (1972), but once he actually told me who he was during a introductory conversation wherein I happened to mention George Romero ("how do you know George?" I asked him ingenuously), I actually got down on my knees and genuflected, as a sign of belated respect, and because I was frankly embarrassed, since he really didn't seem all that different from his screen visage, burned in my brain decades before this chance encounter. I was just so shocked to suddenly meet the legendary "Krug" at a production of Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean in the quiet East Bay town of San Leandro; the wildly incongruous context initally blinded me. Afterwards we went to eat at a Mexican restaurant nearby and after some more casual conversation, Hess, sitting next to me in the booth, turned to me and said, "Hey man, I really love your wife!"
Anyone who has seen Last House on the Left or David's other sleazy classics like The House on the Edge of the Park (1980) or Hitch-Hike (1977) understands that such a "compliment" from such a character was a bit chilling. Hess specialized in playing dangerous degenerates, since he was often typecast after the unexpected success of Last House, even though he first got his break in show biz writing tunes for the likes of Elvis Presley and Pat Boone. (David also told me he had been roomates with James Dean at some point, but frankly I didn't believe him - given his relatively youthful age, the chronology just didn't add up.) His intimidating public image didn't seem to bother him, though. I think he got off on it a little. I just kept a close eye on him when he hugged my wife goodbye...
Not long after this, we actually wound up being co-stars in Rob Nilsson's film Go Together (2007), largely shot at the defunct Parkway Speakeasy Theater in Oakland, which I programmed and where my Thrillville "cult movie cabaret" gig had been born back in 1997. The film was the final installment of Rob's ambitious and intimately epic "9 @ Night" series, documenting fictionalized but grittily authentic street life in and around San Francisco, many of which starred my father Robert Viharo, and one of which, Scheme C6 (2001), featured my wife Monica in the female lead. In Go I only had a cameo as "myself" hosting a porn movie, not much of a stretch, while David, who was starred in several of Rob's films, reprised a recurring role as a luckless vagrant, sleeping in the garbage alley next to the theater. We had no scenes together, but it was a kick to be listed in the same credits with "Krug." (Read my recent Examiner interview with Rob here.)
The next year, I invited David to appear in person at a 35mm screeening of Last House at the Cerrito Speakeasy in El Cerrito - which I also programmed and often presented Thrillville - back in May of 2007. He was very friendly to the fans, obviously had a blast and it was a high point of my career as "Will the Thrill."
The last time I saw David Hess was at Wondercon in San Francisco, in February of 2009. I bought an autographed copy of the limited edition CD soundtrack to Last House, featuring his own folksy music, including the famous track "Wait for the Rain" with the eerie refrain "and the road leads to nowhere," which seems even more haunting in the wake of his sudden death from a heart attack at age 69 this past October 8, 2011. We'd stayed in touch via email over the last couple of years, and I always took it for granted I'd hook up with him again sometime soon. I shouldn't have.
Will "the Thrill" Viharo is a pulp fiction author and B Movie impresario.
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