Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre

... and LUX INTERIOR, TOO!!

Lux Interior Film Screening in LA
By Karina Longworth
2/5/2009

http://blog.spout.com/2009/02/05/lux-interior-film/

Lux Interior, frontman of the campy, classic horror-infused punk band The Cramps, died over the weekend. In a sort of sad/sort of fortuitous accident of timing, as Bob Westal points out at Forward to Yesterday, an animated film in which Lux had a key voice role is having a big screening via the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood tonight.

Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre is described by the American Cinematheque’s website as “A feature-length animated action-comedy” in which “Masked mayhem ensues when a team of wrestling heroes is caught in the middle of a struggle between a gang of barbarians right out of Mad Max and a legion of monsters inspired by the golden age of Mexican horror films.” Tonight’s screening will be the Los Angeles debut of the English-language print of the film. There’s a bit on the animation company’s blog about Lux Interior’s role:

We needed a creepy, unearthly yet endearing voice for Rayo X, and after testing many actors, it was apparent that the role was made for Lux. Working with him was both a blast and an honor…Tomorrow night will be a sadder experience hearing his voice ring out at The Egyptian, and a little unnerving when Rayo utters Lux’s favorite line in the movie ‘Ah, the heady stench of death‘.

If you can’t make the movie, there’s a surprisingly large number of Cramps videos and circa-late 70s, early 80s live footage of the band on YouTube — at least, as of this writing. A favorite clip making the rounds is embedded above: The Cramps playing a California mental hospital in 1984