What do you call it when the skies are blue, the weather is hot, the girls are hotter, and our beloved drought-stricken countryside is once again ablaze with raging flames from hell?

You got it. Los Angeles in the summer, baby! Honestly, is there anywhere else in the world you’d rather be?

Incidentally, the movie world tends to reflect the corresponding moods of the four seasons. Since it’s L.A. in the summer, why not focus on a couple of DVD’s that capture the spirit perfectly?

We’ve all seen Paul Thomas Anderson’s classic 1997 film, Boogie Nights. You know, the one where Mark Wahlberg stars as an up and coming (no pun intended) porn star from the valley named Dirk Diggler…

If any of you haven’t seen it, hop to it.

What’s most interesting about Boogie Nights (besides the plot and the mind-blowing performances from William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, and Heather Graham among others) is its subtle blending of fact and fiction.

Dirk Diggler, of course, is a fictional representation of legendary porn king John Holmes, who is best known for sporting a 12 inch penis. Furthermore, as Dirk ascends the ladder of super-porndom, he begins to fall prey to the drugs and violence that accompany the lifestyle.

For the true story of the surreal demise of John Holmes, you simply cannot miss the grossly overlooked and underrated 2003 film, Wonderland. Directed by James Cox, Wonderland stars Val Kilmer as Holmes and takes you through the life of drugs and debauchery that eventually leads a washed-up, coked-out Holmes to the center of one of the most legendary tragedies in L.A. history: The Wonderland Murders.

Apart from a masterful performance from Kilmer, Wonderland also features stand-out turns by Dylan McDermott and Josh Lucas, who play David Lind and Ron Launius respectively. Lind and Launius were cocaine pirates in a group known as the Wonderland Gang because of their residence in Laurel Canyon at 8763 Wonderland Avenue (the house today looks exactly as it did then). Naturally, it became a second residence for John Holmes.

Constantly broke and desperate to get high, Holmes gradually sullied his reputation with the Wonderland Gang by continually ripping off drugs and money from the house. No longer amused by Holmes’ big dick, they eventually gave him an ultimatum: pay us back or else…

This is where the story gets cloudy. Another of Holmes’ “friends” was famed night club owner Eddie Nash (played brilliantly in the film by Eric Bogosian). Being familiar with Nash’s luxurious San Fernando Valley home, Holmes allegedly told the Wonderland Gang about a treasure in drugs, cash, and jewelry that Nash hoarded in the house. As repayment to the gang, Holmes agreed to unlock Nash’s back door for the Wonderland boys; who promptly ransacked the place by gunpoint and made off with nearly a million dollars in various goods.

That was a serious fucking mistake.

On July 1, 1981, a group of men entered the Wonderland house and brutally beat four people to death with lead pipes; leaving a fifth in critical condition. The incident became known as the “Four on the Floor” murders and this film explores the differing accounts offered by Holmes (Kilmer) and Lind (McDermott) to the investigators. David Lind insisted Holmes not only sold out the Wonderland Gang to Eddie Nash, but actually physically participated in the bludgeoning. For his part, “Johnny Wadd” denied any personal involvement in the killings and only went as far as to admit unlocking Nash’s back door.

Part of the intrigue here is that to this very day nobody knows exactly how involved John Holmes was in the Wonderland Murders because all of the affected parties were either victims at the time or have since died. Director Cox does a brilliant job of exhibiting the versions offered by Holmes and Lind; followed by a third scenario which represents his own vision as to how the tragedy probably went down. In the end, we the viewers are left to make up our own minds.

Seriously, does a movie get any more L.A. than this?

By Chris Virnig