Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Are remakes destroying the classics?
When was the last time you saw a horror movie that you can honestly see becoming a classic? It’s fair to say the output of late has been fairly slow in terms of quality with Hollywood taking most of the blame with its endless re-makes. Just how many more retreads of Japanese movies are we going to have to endure before we get a truly original horror movie? Even the new films that aren’t remakes leave you thinking you’ve seen it all before.
The trend began as early as the 1930’s when “Dracula” came out, technically a remake of the classic German Expressionist movie “Nosferatu”. You can forgive the makers for this one, as the German movie was silent, done in a completely different style and featured different characters, if in name only. The 40’s saw a boom time for original horror movies, particularly from Val Lewton who came up with a novel way of selling his movies. Using public research to see what titles people would go to see, he handed these to low budget film-makers to do with what they wished. Hence such quirky and sensational titles as “I Walked with a Zombie” and “Cat People” actually contained no monsters as such and more by way of suggestion.
The question of when a remake becomes sequal must have been raised when Hammer started producing a host of vampire, werewolf and Dracula movies that carried the characters names with little of the old plot, bringing them up to date and putting them in new situations. Hence you had Dracula and his vampires battling Samurai swordsmen in “Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires” and countless Transylvanian re-treads, some good, some bad.
A second boom period of horror films brought us such classics as “The Exorcist”, “Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, “The Omen”, Rosemary’s Baby” and “Night of the Living Dead” as the genre took a giant leap forwards, creating new monsters to fear. It could be argued the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, including “Blood Feast” and “2,000 Maniacs” paved the way for these movies by smashing down the boundaries of taste and creating a feeling of ‘anything goes’. Who could have envisaged the crucifix masturbation scene or flesh eating zombies in 50’s or early 60’s horror without Gordon’s gore movie revolution? Suddenly there was so much to explore with the new found freedom that a return to the old school monsters of vampires, werewolves and mummies had to take a back seat.
Horror was becoming more global as well, with the Italian’s introducing the horror element into thrillers by way of increasingly elaborate gore set pieces. Maestros of the Giallo such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava created another genre of horror movie that didn’t even include a monster but a serial killer, paving the way for the Americans to take the horror element back out of the thriller with the less subtle slasher movie. Once again there was a blurring of remake and sequel, after all the only difference between “Friday the 13th”, “The Burning” and “The Slayer” was the cast.
This didn’t stop John Carpenter and David Carpenter inventing body horror, as discussed in an earlier post, a truly original form of horror that had its gory roots planted in werewolf and vampire mythology, thrust into a contemporary setting and evoking current fears of penetration and invasion. Ironically both would tread the remake path with “The Fly” and “The Thing” but with enough originality and style to make them very different movies.
It’s difficult to identify a current horror classic. There have been plenty of good ones including “Saw”, “The Sixth Sense”, “The Others” and “Dog Solders” but they all have their roots elsewhere. “Saw” has Argento’s bloody fingerprints all over it, “Sense” and “Others” hark back to the Val Lewton days of showing nothing but suggesting everything whilst “Dog” is a superior updating of the old Lycanthrope story. It begs the question where’s the originality?
Certainly not Hollywood! Look at their recent output…”Amityville”, “Dawn of the Dead”, “Texas Chainsaw”, “Ring”, “Grudge”, “Dark Water” and “Freddy Vs Jason”. A touch of Déjà vu perhaps? It’s really rather pathetic that, though some of these movies are good in their own right, surely the creativity can be channelled into a new movie. Just look at “Donnie Darko”, excellent movie and very original, why isn’t Hollywood putting its countless millions into thought provoking movies that have something else to say instead of “I refer the honourable gentlemen to my original movie”. The answer…MONEY!!! There’s already an audience for “Texas Chainsaw”, those curious to see what the re-make’s like and those who’ve heard of the original and want to see what the fuss is about. It also gives the studios the chance to re-release the original on a double disc, special edition DVD and squeeze more cash out of a gullible public, me included!
Rant over…just bring back original scares please. In the meantime I’ll return to my DVD of the 60’s version of “The Haunting”…now that’s scary…
Coming up…posts on Dario Argento, slasher movies, a review of the original “Texas Chainsaw and the inspiration behind the slasher movie…”Black Christmas”, so come back and see me soon…
“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”
The trend began as early as the 1930’s when “Dracula” came out, technically a remake of the classic German Expressionist movie “Nosferatu”. You can forgive the makers for this one, as the German movie was silent, done in a completely different style and featured different characters, if in name only. The 40’s saw a boom time for original horror movies, particularly from Val Lewton who came up with a novel way of selling his movies. Using public research to see what titles people would go to see, he handed these to low budget film-makers to do with what they wished. Hence such quirky and sensational titles as “I Walked with a Zombie” and “Cat People” actually contained no monsters as such and more by way of suggestion.
The question of when a remake becomes sequal must have been raised when Hammer started producing a host of vampire, werewolf and Dracula movies that carried the characters names with little of the old plot, bringing them up to date and putting them in new situations. Hence you had Dracula and his vampires battling Samurai swordsmen in “Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires” and countless Transylvanian re-treads, some good, some bad.
A second boom period of horror films brought us such classics as “The Exorcist”, “Texas Chain Saw Massacre”, “The Omen”, Rosemary’s Baby” and “Night of the Living Dead” as the genre took a giant leap forwards, creating new monsters to fear. It could be argued the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, including “Blood Feast” and “2,000 Maniacs” paved the way for these movies by smashing down the boundaries of taste and creating a feeling of ‘anything goes’. Who could have envisaged the crucifix masturbation scene or flesh eating zombies in 50’s or early 60’s horror without Gordon’s gore movie revolution? Suddenly there was so much to explore with the new found freedom that a return to the old school monsters of vampires, werewolves and mummies had to take a back seat.
Horror was becoming more global as well, with the Italian’s introducing the horror element into thrillers by way of increasingly elaborate gore set pieces. Maestros of the Giallo such as Dario Argento and Mario Bava created another genre of horror movie that didn’t even include a monster but a serial killer, paving the way for the Americans to take the horror element back out of the thriller with the less subtle slasher movie. Once again there was a blurring of remake and sequel, after all the only difference between “Friday the 13th”, “The Burning” and “The Slayer” was the cast.
This didn’t stop John Carpenter and David Carpenter inventing body horror, as discussed in an earlier post, a truly original form of horror that had its gory roots planted in werewolf and vampire mythology, thrust into a contemporary setting and evoking current fears of penetration and invasion. Ironically both would tread the remake path with “The Fly” and “The Thing” but with enough originality and style to make them very different movies.
It’s difficult to identify a current horror classic. There have been plenty of good ones including “Saw”, “The Sixth Sense”, “The Others” and “Dog Solders” but they all have their roots elsewhere. “Saw” has Argento’s bloody fingerprints all over it, “Sense” and “Others” hark back to the Val Lewton days of showing nothing but suggesting everything whilst “Dog” is a superior updating of the old Lycanthrope story. It begs the question where’s the originality?
Certainly not Hollywood! Look at their recent output…”Amityville”, “Dawn of the Dead”, “Texas Chainsaw”, “Ring”, “Grudge”, “Dark Water” and “Freddy Vs Jason”. A touch of Déjà vu perhaps? It’s really rather pathetic that, though some of these movies are good in their own right, surely the creativity can be channelled into a new movie. Just look at “Donnie Darko”, excellent movie and very original, why isn’t Hollywood putting its countless millions into thought provoking movies that have something else to say instead of “I refer the honourable gentlemen to my original movie”. The answer…MONEY!!! There’s already an audience for “Texas Chainsaw”, those curious to see what the re-make’s like and those who’ve heard of the original and want to see what the fuss is about. It also gives the studios the chance to re-release the original on a double disc, special edition DVD and squeeze more cash out of a gullible public, me included!
Rant over…just bring back original scares please. In the meantime I’ll return to my DVD of the 60’s version of “The Haunting”…now that’s scary…
Coming up…posts on Dario Argento, slasher movies, a review of the original “Texas Chainsaw and the inspiration behind the slasher movie…”Black Christmas”, so come back and see me soon…
“Beware the moon and stay on the path…”
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Video Nasties
For those of you outside the UK, you may not be familiar with the Video Nasty phenomena we grew up with during the early to mid-80’s. Film censors had been in place for cinematic movies since the dawn of the medium, many early horror films suffering cuts or outright bans. It was the advent of video that created the problem for the government that violent movies could be watched by anybody in their own homes. It also created a market for a whole host of low budget exploitation movies that had no place on a cinema screen. Suddenly the horror industry blossomed and anybody could get a movie released, each one trying to outdo the other in terms of on screen violence, blood and guts. A worrying trend that the powers that be had to put a stop to, as the modern horror film became THE folk devil of its time.
Lurid covers drew attention to themselves, “Driller Killer” with a man having a drill thrust through his head and “I Spit on Your Grave” with its cover claim “This woman has just cut, chopped, broken and burned five men beyond recognition” brought the wrong kind of attention leading to something approaching a moral panic. Suddenly new legislation led to the creation of the BBFC whereby every title had to be withdrawn and reclassified, some of them becoming illegal resulting in numerous police raids. Video shop owners in 1984 were roundly raided and targeted by police in a not too dissimilar fashion to how terror suspects are targeted today.
This led to a number of movies, most notably “Last House on the Left”, “Evil Dead”, “Zombie Flesh Eaters” and “The Anthropophagous Beast” becoming labelled ‘Video Nasties’ and banished from our shelves. Others were seized and released in drastically cut versions, especially director Lucio Fulci who’s movies “House by the Cemetery”, “The Beyond” and “City of the Living Dead” suffered pre-cuts by cheap video labels who couldn’t afford the liassons with the BBFC, “Cemetery” in particular suffering some 7 minutes of cuts rendering it almost suitable to receive a PG certificate.
It also resulted in some excellent movies coming under scrutiny and cases of mistaken identity as Police Officers who knew little about these movies seized titles like “The Big Red One” and “The Last Little Whorehouse in Texas”. Tobe Hooper’s “The Funhouse”, a fairly tame slasher flick was banned, some thinking it was mistaken for “The Last House on Dead End Street”, another American gore movie also known as “The Fun House”, that escaped the DPP’s list. Dario Argento’s spectacular “Tenebrae” also found itself undeservedly in hot water, Mario Bava’s incredible nod to “Ten Little Indians”, “Twitch of the Death Nerve” and peculiar brit sci-fi flick “Xtro” were lumped in with dross such as “Don’t Look in the Basement” and “House on the Edge of the Park”. Suddenly the boom time of horror movies was under threat. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. All this did was make awful films appealing and an underground trade in bootleg videos that actually CREATED a crime!
A brief relapse of the nasty era materialised in the early to mid 90’s when The Daily Mail, rather tastelessly, tried to blame a child murder on kids watching “Child’s Play 3”. This led to quality movies such as “Man Bites Dog”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “Menace To Society” and “One False Move” standing in limbo as the BBFC went a bit weak at the knees. However common sense prevailed and we can now see the likes of “Dogs” and “Natural Born Killers” on network TV uncut.
Of course most of these movies are completely legal and suitable now, with no ill effects to society, no rampaging maniacs or breakdown of moral values. The likes of “Evil Dead”, “Driller Killer”, “Zombie Flesh Eaters” and “Snuff” are now available uncut, with cuts made to release such as “Cannibal Holocaust”, “Cannibal Ferox” and “Island of Death”, many people realising most of these films are crap after all and not worth the fuss of not seeing. To sum up the ridiculous nature of some of these so-called nasties, alien flick “Contamination” was released with the proud banner ‘Previously Banned’ emblazoned on the front cover, barely masking the accompanying ‘15’ certificate. Makes the whole thing seem like a complete waste of time, government intervention eh! Until next time folks…
“Beware the Moon and stay on the path…
Lurid covers drew attention to themselves, “Driller Killer” with a man having a drill thrust through his head and “I Spit on Your Grave” with its cover claim “This woman has just cut, chopped, broken and burned five men beyond recognition” brought the wrong kind of attention leading to something approaching a moral panic. Suddenly new legislation led to the creation of the BBFC whereby every title had to be withdrawn and reclassified, some of them becoming illegal resulting in numerous police raids. Video shop owners in 1984 were roundly raided and targeted by police in a not too dissimilar fashion to how terror suspects are targeted today.
This led to a number of movies, most notably “Last House on the Left”, “Evil Dead”, “Zombie Flesh Eaters” and “The Anthropophagous Beast” becoming labelled ‘Video Nasties’ and banished from our shelves. Others were seized and released in drastically cut versions, especially director Lucio Fulci who’s movies “House by the Cemetery”, “The Beyond” and “City of the Living Dead” suffered pre-cuts by cheap video labels who couldn’t afford the liassons with the BBFC, “Cemetery” in particular suffering some 7 minutes of cuts rendering it almost suitable to receive a PG certificate.
It also resulted in some excellent movies coming under scrutiny and cases of mistaken identity as Police Officers who knew little about these movies seized titles like “The Big Red One” and “The Last Little Whorehouse in Texas”. Tobe Hooper’s “The Funhouse”, a fairly tame slasher flick was banned, some thinking it was mistaken for “The Last House on Dead End Street”, another American gore movie also known as “The Fun House”, that escaped the DPP’s list. Dario Argento’s spectacular “Tenebrae” also found itself undeservedly in hot water, Mario Bava’s incredible nod to “Ten Little Indians”, “Twitch of the Death Nerve” and peculiar brit sci-fi flick “Xtro” were lumped in with dross such as “Don’t Look in the Basement” and “House on the Edge of the Park”. Suddenly the boom time of horror movies was under threat. Of course nothing could be further from the truth. All this did was make awful films appealing and an underground trade in bootleg videos that actually CREATED a crime!
A brief relapse of the nasty era materialised in the early to mid 90’s when The Daily Mail, rather tastelessly, tried to blame a child murder on kids watching “Child’s Play 3”. This led to quality movies such as “Man Bites Dog”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “Menace To Society” and “One False Move” standing in limbo as the BBFC went a bit weak at the knees. However common sense prevailed and we can now see the likes of “Dogs” and “Natural Born Killers” on network TV uncut.
Of course most of these movies are completely legal and suitable now, with no ill effects to society, no rampaging maniacs or breakdown of moral values. The likes of “Evil Dead”, “Driller Killer”, “Zombie Flesh Eaters” and “Snuff” are now available uncut, with cuts made to release such as “Cannibal Holocaust”, “Cannibal Ferox” and “Island of Death”, many people realising most of these films are crap after all and not worth the fuss of not seeing. To sum up the ridiculous nature of some of these so-called nasties, alien flick “Contamination” was released with the proud banner ‘Previously Banned’ emblazoned on the front cover, barely masking the accompanying ‘15’ certificate. Makes the whole thing seem like a complete waste of time, government intervention eh! Until next time folks…
“Beware the Moon and stay on the path…
Friday, January 20, 2006
Blood Sucking Freaks!!!
After getting a little bogged down in metaphor and meaning in my last blog, time to get back to the fun part of horror…THE FILMS!!!
It has to be said the output from the Troma Studios, famous for such titles as “Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator” and “A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell” has been variable, but one thing you can normally expect is something a little different, that can certainly be applied to “Blood Sucking Freaks”. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to see this on a bootleg video in my youth and was even luckier (or not) to catch this on the UK Horror Channel just the other night. For the uninitiated, the movie centres around the Great Sardu, a sadist who hosts performance art based on torture and murder, the audience unaware that the events taking place on stage aren’t fake but are in fact real. A slim plot from which to hang an outrageous collection of scenes that at times resemble a nightmare version of “Little Britain”.
Sardu and his sick little assistant dwarf Ralphus play darts; the camera pans back to show a woman’s bare bottom with a target drawn on. They play backgammon with female slaves fingers as chips, Ralphus points out Sardu has no ‘chips’ left, “I bet you an arm and a leg I have” he grins in reply. “Sardu can’t come to the phone right now, he’s a little tied up”, one female slave says as she applies a little S&M to a chained Sardu. “Put the girl to work in the toilets, her mouth will make an interesting urinal”, Sardu remarks to Ralphus on being introduced to a new slave. You can probably tell the tone of the movie from this, it certainly doesn’t take itself seriously.
Despite this obviously being a comedy, it’s so dark you literally can’t see it, the BBFC still failing to grant it a certificate. This is perhaps unsurprising based on their stance regarding sexual violence and particular exception to the exploitation, degradation and violence towards women, all of which this movie has. But there is a point to this movie, believe it or not.
Sardu kidnaps a Journalist, his staunchest critic, and tells him he will let him go if he gives him a positive review, revealing his plan to produce a show featuring a world famous ballet dancer that will prove him as a genius. Director Joel M Reid has defended this 1976 movie as a serious art film, taking the same stance as Sardu does in the movie. Both he and the film’s main character are desperate to be taken seriously despite not having the ability to produce high art, reducing themselves to shocks that mask their artistic limitations. Having directed nothing else of note before or after it’s become clear his most famous movie as a fitting epitaph to his career.
This may be trying to put a point on a film that has no point, although it has to be said that this is more than just a gore movie. There does seem to be something about it that lifts it above most Troma movies, despite a complete lack of production values, crap special effects, blatant exploitation and a plodding script. Perhaps Sardu is right, maybe he is a genius in a slimeball’s clothing, though I very much doubt it!
If you’ve not seen the movie, it will probably remain a rare curiosity, a cult classic whose reputation precedes it. If you have seen it, chances are you’ve never and will never see anything quite like it again. As the BBFC havn’t even given most of us the choice, most will have to keep wondering but don’t wonder too hard…just remind yourself that you HAVE seen better movies.
“Beware the Moon and stay on the path…”
It has to be said the output from the Troma Studios, famous for such titles as “Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator” and “A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell” has been variable, but one thing you can normally expect is something a little different, that can certainly be applied to “Blood Sucking Freaks”. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to see this on a bootleg video in my youth and was even luckier (or not) to catch this on the UK Horror Channel just the other night. For the uninitiated, the movie centres around the Great Sardu, a sadist who hosts performance art based on torture and murder, the audience unaware that the events taking place on stage aren’t fake but are in fact real. A slim plot from which to hang an outrageous collection of scenes that at times resemble a nightmare version of “Little Britain”.
Sardu and his sick little assistant dwarf Ralphus play darts; the camera pans back to show a woman’s bare bottom with a target drawn on. They play backgammon with female slaves fingers as chips, Ralphus points out Sardu has no ‘chips’ left, “I bet you an arm and a leg I have” he grins in reply. “Sardu can’t come to the phone right now, he’s a little tied up”, one female slave says as she applies a little S&M to a chained Sardu. “Put the girl to work in the toilets, her mouth will make an interesting urinal”, Sardu remarks to Ralphus on being introduced to a new slave. You can probably tell the tone of the movie from this, it certainly doesn’t take itself seriously.
Despite this obviously being a comedy, it’s so dark you literally can’t see it, the BBFC still failing to grant it a certificate. This is perhaps unsurprising based on their stance regarding sexual violence and particular exception to the exploitation, degradation and violence towards women, all of which this movie has. But there is a point to this movie, believe it or not.
Sardu kidnaps a Journalist, his staunchest critic, and tells him he will let him go if he gives him a positive review, revealing his plan to produce a show featuring a world famous ballet dancer that will prove him as a genius. Director Joel M Reid has defended this 1976 movie as a serious art film, taking the same stance as Sardu does in the movie. Both he and the film’s main character are desperate to be taken seriously despite not having the ability to produce high art, reducing themselves to shocks that mask their artistic limitations. Having directed nothing else of note before or after it’s become clear his most famous movie as a fitting epitaph to his career.
This may be trying to put a point on a film that has no point, although it has to be said that this is more than just a gore movie. There does seem to be something about it that lifts it above most Troma movies, despite a complete lack of production values, crap special effects, blatant exploitation and a plodding script. Perhaps Sardu is right, maybe he is a genius in a slimeball’s clothing, though I very much doubt it!
If you’ve not seen the movie, it will probably remain a rare curiosity, a cult classic whose reputation precedes it. If you have seen it, chances are you’ve never and will never see anything quite like it again. As the BBFC havn’t even given most of us the choice, most will have to keep wondering but don’t wonder too hard…just remind yourself that you HAVE seen better movies.
“Beware the Moon and stay on the path…”
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Horror Affecting America's Fears?
We all know horror films are a social comment, a brief look through the history of the genre shows how America’s fears have progressed through the years.
Early horror movies out of Germany with the early German Expressionist classics such as “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” and “Nosferatu”, paved the way for early US chillers of the 30’s. The monster was always of European origin or certainly outside of the US, exemplified by “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”, giving the impression that the real horrors of this world were over there, not over here.
That theme progressed into the 40’s through movies like “I Walked With a Zombie” and “White Zombie”, playing on the fears of voodoo, invariably set in Africa or South America. It also played on the fears of white America over the increased power and influence of the black civil rights movement. There were of course exceptions, such as “Cat People”, but once again the origin of the monster was Russian, very much over there.
Horror stood aside for the alien invasion sci-fi movie the 50’s, the main frightful output being the UK’s early Hammer movie. The alien invasion theme became ever popular, seen by many as a sly nod over fears that the country would be ever changed by a foreign invader. The Cold War did little to dampen these fears, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” being the best example with the ‘invaders’ looking like us, sounding like us, having our memories and expressions but without emotion. A clearer example of the fears of Communism has yet to be made.
The 60’s saw horror move into America, not least with “Night of the Living Dead” that again took the theme of freakish versions of us as the monster. The idea of a new society devouring the new created the modern zombie, it was also one of the first ‘white’ movies that saw a black man take the lead role with a mob mentality of white groups echoing images of deep south movements trying to take control. There was much to fear from themselves in America and the horror film was beginning to reflect that.
The 70’s saw horror movies move closer to home with a slew of movies based on Ed Gein, a real life killer who skinned his victims and made clothes and furniture out of skin and bones. The realisation that your next door neighbour could be the monster to fear took hold, “The Omen” took it further implying it could be your own family. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” even had a family of serial killers, an alternative take on the breakdown of family values and the decline of rural businesses, in this case Slaughterhouses. The Vietnam conflict led to an increase in gore effects, the likes of which were captured on TV images, legendary special effects man Tom Savini based many of his effects on images he took as a combat photographer in ‘Nam.
The 80’s took the monster from next door into your own home with the slasher movie, “Halloween” being the first smash hit. David Cronenberg and John Carpenter’s body horror hits took it a further step by putting the monster inside the victim with “The Fly” and “The Thing”. “Nobody trusts anyone anymore”, says one of the characters in “The Thing” as paranoia in the US hit an all time high against a government that seemed to say one thing and do another. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” moved the horror from within into the world of sleep from which there’s no escape, the American dream goes up in smoke, goodbye value system. The film even blames the Kennedy/Nixon generation by making Freddy a guilty victim of their secret past, back to take vengeance on their young…someone’s coming to get you and you only have yourselves to blame.
Nowadays horror themes go in cycles, with sly nods to its more serious past, but occasionally the old fears come back. “28 Days Later” shows what can happen when biological warfare is mistaken for animal testing and activists kept in the dark get it horribly wrong. “Land of the Dead” is perhaps the first horror movie to take a long hard look at the effects of 9/11 and our own concerns about Terrorism and a class system that always threatens to boil over, just look at the similarities between the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Zombie uprising in “Land” to see how horror can very often get it bob on. "Beware the moon and stay on the path"
Early horror movies out of Germany with the early German Expressionist classics such as “The Cabinet of Dr Caligari” and “Nosferatu”, paved the way for early US chillers of the 30’s. The monster was always of European origin or certainly outside of the US, exemplified by “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”, giving the impression that the real horrors of this world were over there, not over here.
That theme progressed into the 40’s through movies like “I Walked With a Zombie” and “White Zombie”, playing on the fears of voodoo, invariably set in Africa or South America. It also played on the fears of white America over the increased power and influence of the black civil rights movement. There were of course exceptions, such as “Cat People”, but once again the origin of the monster was Russian, very much over there.
Horror stood aside for the alien invasion sci-fi movie the 50’s, the main frightful output being the UK’s early Hammer movie. The alien invasion theme became ever popular, seen by many as a sly nod over fears that the country would be ever changed by a foreign invader. The Cold War did little to dampen these fears, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” being the best example with the ‘invaders’ looking like us, sounding like us, having our memories and expressions but without emotion. A clearer example of the fears of Communism has yet to be made.
The 60’s saw horror move into America, not least with “Night of the Living Dead” that again took the theme of freakish versions of us as the monster. The idea of a new society devouring the new created the modern zombie, it was also one of the first ‘white’ movies that saw a black man take the lead role with a mob mentality of white groups echoing images of deep south movements trying to take control. There was much to fear from themselves in America and the horror film was beginning to reflect that.
The 70’s saw horror movies move closer to home with a slew of movies based on Ed Gein, a real life killer who skinned his victims and made clothes and furniture out of skin and bones. The realisation that your next door neighbour could be the monster to fear took hold, “The Omen” took it further implying it could be your own family. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” even had a family of serial killers, an alternative take on the breakdown of family values and the decline of rural businesses, in this case Slaughterhouses. The Vietnam conflict led to an increase in gore effects, the likes of which were captured on TV images, legendary special effects man Tom Savini based many of his effects on images he took as a combat photographer in ‘Nam.
The 80’s took the monster from next door into your own home with the slasher movie, “Halloween” being the first smash hit. David Cronenberg and John Carpenter’s body horror hits took it a further step by putting the monster inside the victim with “The Fly” and “The Thing”. “Nobody trusts anyone anymore”, says one of the characters in “The Thing” as paranoia in the US hit an all time high against a government that seemed to say one thing and do another. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” moved the horror from within into the world of sleep from which there’s no escape, the American dream goes up in smoke, goodbye value system. The film even blames the Kennedy/Nixon generation by making Freddy a guilty victim of their secret past, back to take vengeance on their young…someone’s coming to get you and you only have yourselves to blame.
Nowadays horror themes go in cycles, with sly nods to its more serious past, but occasionally the old fears come back. “28 Days Later” shows what can happen when biological warfare is mistaken for animal testing and activists kept in the dark get it horribly wrong. “Land of the Dead” is perhaps the first horror movie to take a long hard look at the effects of 9/11 and our own concerns about Terrorism and a class system that always threatens to boil over, just look at the similarities between the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Zombie uprising in “Land” to see how horror can very often get it bob on. "Beware the moon and stay on the path"
A blog for horror fans, by a horror fan!
Welcome to my blog, born out of a love for all things related to celluloid horror. I've been a huge fan of fright flicks since a screening of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4" at an early age. Not a great film I must admit but I was fascinated by the possibilities the genre can offer in terms of images and the fantastic. It's the purest form of cinema there is, a medium where people go to escape their mundane lives in search of something a little different. Those who ridicule horror movies for being unrealistic miss the point because that is exactly the point. Nobody watches "Dawn of the Dead" and dismisses as garbage because zombies will never roam the land in teh same way "The Sound of Music" never gets a pasting because people don't burst into song in everyday life.
Over the coming months and, hopefully, years, i'll fill this site with reviews, opinions and look aheads to all those movies and events that shake the world of horror. Join me if you will by delving into the sometimes horrific, sometimes comical, always interesting world of the horror film. Let like minded folk join in with me ina celebration of the oldest genre of story and film known to the world of art. I hope you enjoy this site as much as I do...
"Beware the moon and stay on the path..."
Welcome to my blog, born out of a love for all things related to celluloid horror. I've been a huge fan of fright flicks since a screening of "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4" at an early age. Not a great film I must admit but I was fascinated by the possibilities the genre can offer in terms of images and the fantastic. It's the purest form of cinema there is, a medium where people go to escape their mundane lives in search of something a little different. Those who ridicule horror movies for being unrealistic miss the point because that is exactly the point. Nobody watches "Dawn of the Dead" and dismisses as garbage because zombies will never roam the land in teh same way "The Sound of Music" never gets a pasting because people don't burst into song in everyday life.
Over the coming months and, hopefully, years, i'll fill this site with reviews, opinions and look aheads to all those movies and events that shake the world of horror. Join me if you will by delving into the sometimes horrific, sometimes comical, always interesting world of the horror film. Let like minded folk join in with me ina celebration of the oldest genre of story and film known to the world of art. I hope you enjoy this site as much as I do...
"Beware the moon and stay on the path..."
