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Poor Hunchback. Of all my monster models, he was the one I cared about least. Much like The Phantom of the Opera, neither my friends nor I had ever actually seen the movie.

And the similarities with Phantom keep going:

• More melodrama than horror
• set in Paris (not universally known to be creepy)
• featuring a disfigured human with a very narrow skill set
• who is persecuted for his abnormality
• whose revenge includes stealing the girl

But unlike Phantom, the hunchback

isn't even trying to be mean. Nor does he have a great master plan for revenge. Hunchback is filled with so much pathos, it's like a classy snuff film. It's the one film I am still incredulous at Disney remaking. Hunchback for kids? Really?

The detail here that I like is the Catholic-like attention to detail for the lashes on his back. And I did what any 12-year-old boy would do - slather on the red paint.

I've been cleaning these guys before each shoot -- to greater or lesser success (30 years of dust is surprisingly stubborn to remove). In cleaning Hunchback here, my clumsy scrubbing popped off his head. So I had to get some glue and stick it back on. And when I opened up the glue -- oh take me back. There's nothing like the noxious and unpleasant smell of model glue to get the memories going. Almost makes me want to put on that latest Partridge Family LP.

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