Arguably the most interesting of the late-1970s-early-80s No Wave films of Beth B and Scott B, a cheap and (intentionally) anarchic yet also literate and intriguing hour-long feature. THE TRAP DOOR (1980) followed the B’s premiere feature-length effort THE OFFENDERS (1979), a film that was admittedly made up as they went along. THE TRAP DOOR, which got “lost” for years only to be found again in 2025 (for the Kino Lorber Blu-ray NO WAVE), has a more structured feel, and a cast packed with underground icons like the novelist-journalist Gary Indiana and filmmaker Jack Smith (FLAMING CREATURES).
THE TRAP DOOR (1980) Trailer
Jeremy Jones (John Ahearn) sues his former boss Ms. Fist (Jenny Holzer) for wrongful termination, only to get laughed out of the courtroom by the judge (Gary Indiana). Later that night Jeremy reveals to his GF (Dany Johnson) in their car at a drive-in that “I’m not sure what’s real and what’s not real.” He then leaves to get popcorn, during which his sweetie is promptly snatched away by a random guy.
The following day Jeremy reports to a job interview, during which his prospective employer (William Rice) performs a thoroughly inept music number with a broom handle—and then throws Jeremy out. He subsequently hooks up with the man’s secretary (Robin Harvey), and has a threesome with her and a “Bird Woman” (Marcia Resnick). The next day Jeremy visits the seriously bizarre Dr. Shrinkelstein (Jack Smith), who attempts to hypnotize Jeremy and launches into an impassioned political rant before using the eponymous trap door to eject Jeremy into the ether.
THE TRAP DOOR is far more studied and deliberate than the B’s previous films, as demonstrated by an extremely stately pan across Jeremy’s room, a nifty shot of a drive-in movie screen viewed through a car windshield, and some evocative lighting in the climactic psychiatry scene. Offsetting those things are all the standard No Wave movie shenanigans: carboard sets, nonprofessional actors and, in the outdoor scenes, extras staring unashamedly into the camera.
What’s most interesting is the thematic content. It may be a bit of a stretch to call the film a “Nietzschean parable” (as an imdb plot summary tries to do), but it does favorably recall Kafka and Voltaire in its pitiless exploration of isolation and disconnection. The B’s favored subject—a man humiliated and/or tortured incessantly (as seen in BLACK BOX and THE OFFENDERS)—is given an especially subtle and sophisticated treatment in THE TRAP DOOR, with the brutality of the earlier films replaced with a world that grows increasingly irrational and unwelcoming to the hapless male protagonist.
Vital Statistics
THE TRAP DOOR
B Movies
Directors/Producers/Screenplay/Cinematography/Editing: Beth B, Scott B
Cast: John Ahearn, Jack Smith, Colen Fitzgibbon, Mary-Lou Fogarty, Robin Harvey, Jenny Holzer, Gary Indiana, Dany Johnson, Richard Prince, Marcia Resnick, Bill Rice, Robin Winters