Horror Show

[Scorpio]

Zombies: The Aunt Sally's Of Horror

All iconic horror creatures have a deep seated symbolic value if they are to endure the fickle tastes of the mass media. So where does the Zombie fit in ?
I consider the Zombie to be the most humble of beasts; they can hardly be romanticized like ghosts, and vampire's ( I cant see any shirtless Zombies running around in Twilight ); They have none of the Werewolves latent power ( i consider the hulk to be a werewolfesque, in that respect ); And they are rather mundane when compared to an Alien being.
The Zombie began as the hapless victims of a Voodoo sorcerers, and in Haitian folklore the sorcerers were the source of fear, not there unfortunate relatives pulled from there graves . Despite getting increasingly violent and appropriating the Ghoul's taste for human flesh, the zombie has retained its victim status. In modern mythology, due to the success of Romero's ' Dawn of the dead ', the Zombie has become the favorite of redknecks and gun freak's, who have found the perfect vessel for there power fantasies; The zombie has become like one of Tolkien's orc's, a thing you can kill without guilt or prohibition.
So what makes a Zombie scary?. I believe that the secret is found in the sociological aspect, rather like the serial killer mythology. The scariest part of Dawn of the dead, which is the best undead film made by far, comes early; the Zombie is not supernatural here, but a product of the Ghetto, a failure of society. The cannibal myth has been around for a long time; It is something that some historians believe was not an uncommon practice amongst primitive people in time's of want. Cannibalism is probably the worst act that we can imagine others, or ourselves, indulging in; It represents a person or society at its most degraded and destructive.
If anyone has there own thought's about the Zombie, or disagree with mine, lets hear you.

[kensei]

Of all horror creatures that come from folklore and have been actually believed in by man there is probably none more changed by Hollywood than the zombie. In their original form they were not cannibals, weren't even violent most of the time but were usually brought back from the dead to be used as slave laborers, and the way to destroy them was not to inflict a devastating head injury as you now see in movies but to get them to swallow some salt. They also never looked half-decayed like the ones on "The Walking Dead" but were traditionally reanimated while still fresh and intact, a hollow dead stare and lack of speech being the only things to mark them as unusual.

Much has been written about how supposedly real zombies have only been frauds, people poisoned with a carefully calibrated dose of blowfish toxin that induces a comatose state nearly indistinguishable from death, then dug up by criminals passing themselves off as sorcerors and revived, hypnotized perhaps into being slaves and causing horror when people who knew them see their dead loved one returned to life. There is no doubt that this has occurred. IF there have ever been genuine supernaturally reanimated zombies, time would differentiate them from these fraudulent ones in that the frauds would continue to age while the real ones would not.

A very good fictional zombie story that appeared well after the "Night of the Living Dead" type had begun its reign but stuck largely to the original folklore was the second episode of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" in 1974. In it, a feud between Haitian gangsters and Mafioso in Chicago resulted in the murder of a young Haitian who was then brought back as a zombie by his grandmother, a voodoo priestess, to exact revenge on the men that had killed him. He did look partially decomposed for shock effect, but he was not a cannibal, killing his targets by snapping their spines. It featured the correct method of zombie disposal, the force-feeding of salt.

[kensei]

And by the way, since I'm mentioning "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" here on Casebook I should probably point out that the show's first episode featured Jack the Ripper as an immortal being responsible for murder sprees around the world throughout history.

[kensei]

Since I'm revisiting this thread, I thought I'd also take a departure from zombie discussion and mention a movie that's opening soon that has me very excited. Another horror icon is about to be given new life, debuting May 16th, and I'm talking about one of the BIGGEST of all time. The film stars Bryan Cranston, the star of "Breaking Bad" which has been hailed by critics as one of the best tv shows ever (and though I admit I've never seen it I did enjoy his comedic work on "Malcolm in the Middle" which was also excellent). I am talking about- drum roll please- GODZILLA!

When Godzilla first appeared in all those cheesy Japanese movies he was of course played by an actor in a big rubber suit who stomped around on miniature sets. It was a less sophisticated time, but that upright look- and his shrill, high-pitched shrieking roar- caught on with fans who loved the campiness of it. The last time Godzilla was rebooted was the universally panned Roland Emmerich film starring Matthew Broderick in which it was thought it would be cool to turn him into a sleek, streamlined, low-riding and fast-running T-Rex type creature. The big budget didn't help, and nor did the attempt at adding humor here and there because the jokes were just stupid. Godzilla fans hated it. Now, from what I've garnered of the new film, the monster has been returned to the upright stance that fans adore by British director Gareth Edwards, but the multi-million dollar budget insures he will look nothing like a man in a rubber suit. And the story seems to begin as a very well crafted drama about the lives of real people in a real setting, then explores what would happen if that reality were to suddenly have a 350-foot lizard attacking your city inserted into it.

In watching the trailers, I heard that old familiar high-pitched roar and I have to say I am just giddy with anticipation.

[Beowulf]

Might be an interesting movie, especially with Bryan Cranston they might give it a better script than it has ever gotten. A friend of mine was totally addicted to Breaking Bad, she will likely love this news

Not much for campy, I prefer gothic settings, fogs, slow suspense, no gore, which ruins it for me, is the reason I either refuse to see a movie or turn a channel.

I saw for the first time on tv last year Dracula, Prince of darkness, the Hammer film with Christopher Lee, from 1966.

The way those people were presented as so trusting while meanwhile you had the impression they were sitting ducks with only one of them recognizing the situation was pretty chilling.

Old news I know, but it's surprising how many filmmakers these days miss out on the importance of subtlety.

[Magpie]

I saw Vault of Horror over the weekend. I'm not a huge fan of anthology movies, but the Brits generally make some of the best, with Amicus at the pinnacle.

[RivkahChaya]

If the only Godzilla you have seen is the American release, with the scenes of Raymond Burr cut in, his voice-over narration, and some bad dubbing of the little dialogue there is, you really need to get a copy of the subtitled Japanese version, which was not released until about 12 years ago. It's titled "Gojira," which is a better transliteration of the monster's name.

It's not nearly as cheesy, and is actually very scary. You get to know the characters before they are annihilated-- they aren't just nameless figures in a story Raymond Burr is telling-- so your heart is in your throat. It doesn't matter that the monster is a guy in a rubber suit-- and if you do a little reading, apparently, it didn't matter to the original Japanese audiences, because there's a style of theater in Japan where the costumes are merely suggestive, and there's little realism. I'm not familiar with it, but people who are say that the godzilla costume, references this style, and the obvious fakeness of the villages he stomps on do as well, and also reference making little village scenes with ceramic buildings that is some kind of crafting hobby popular in Japan. So the movie is probably a lot scarier in Japan, and was even scarier in the 1950s, when there were Hiroshima survivors in the audience.

I can't recommend seeing the subtitled version more strongly.

[kensei]

I think one of the few things the Matthew Broderick Godzilla of a few years back got right was the pointing out of how the monster was actually called Gojira originally, but when the western press aired footage of a frightened Japanese sailor who'd seen the beast saying that name his thick accent sounded to western ears like he was saying "Godzilla," so that's what it got called in America.

[Scorpio]

Misogyny

Is misogyny a real problem in horror movies?.
Off the top of my head, two of my favorite films, The evil dead, and Friday the 13th seem to have fallen onto this trap, excuse the phrase.
Its not just a fault of the Z graders, either;Even great directors working in the genre offend sometimes. Kubric's The shining, and Peckinpah's Straw dogs both earned loud criticism for the portrayal of violence against women.
Human foibles are the soul of good horror and i suppose misogyny needs to be included under that banner, but we have all seen horror movies where female directed violence is used to titillate the audience.

[kensei]

Is misogyny a real problem in horror movies?.
Off the top of my head, two of my favorite films, The evil dead, and Friday the 13th seem to have fallen onto this trap, excuse the phrase.
Its not just a fault of the Z graders, either;Even great directors working in the genre offend sometimes. Kubric's The shining, and Peckinpah's Straw dogs both earned loud criticism for the portrayal of violence against women.
Human foibles are the soul of good horror and i suppose misogyny needs to be included under that banner, but we have all seen horror movies where female directed violence is used to titillate the audience.

I don't think of it as actual misogyny, I think it is just that women are considered the weaker sex and so in fiction they often fall into the role of "damsel in distress." Plus there are so many real world examples in history to draw on like Jack the Ripper. But although women do often end up as victims in horror movies, you have to admit that they often get to turn the tables and triumph in the end as well. How many "Friday the 13th" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" films had Jason and Freddy defeated in the end by women? Most of them.

[Scorpio]

Not sure where the horror heroine originated.
Perhaps it was 'Texas chainsaw massacre', but it quickly became a cliche.
Only ' The Evil dead' stands out in memory as bucking the trend.
Bruce Campbell was Sam Raimi's pal, so it figures.

[Scorpio]

Has anyone scene a horror film called descent ?
Its about some women who encounter a homicidal subterranean species on a climbing trip.

[John Wheat]

To Scorpio

I've seen the Descent. I don't rate it, it takes far too long to get going.

Cheers John

[kensei]

I was bringing up the latest "Godzilla" reboot a few posts back and I never came back to it once I'd seen it, so better late than never I guess.

The focus was supposed to be on modern FX giving us a realistic looking Godzilla but still remaining true to the upright stance that fans are loyal to from the days of the guy in the rubber suit, and it definitely delivered! This Godzilla looked and sounded amazing, commanding instant respect and awe from the moment his mere act of emerging from the ocean caused a tsunami that drowned a city. My only complaint would be that for a movie called "Godzilla," one would think that the title character would actually be on screen a bit more than he actually was. Don't get me wrong, what you see of him you will never forget, but there should've been at least a little more. The two other monsters that he fought- which are called MUTOs and have been described as looking like a cross between a preying mantis and a staple remover- were given more attention.

Also, I'll avoid spoilers here for anyone who hasn't seen it but Brian Cranston turned out not to be the actual star of the movie as he was kind of implied to be. That distinction goes to Aaron Taylor Johnson who played his son. Anyway, all in all I thought it was well worth two hours of one's time for any lover of giant Japanese monsters.

[Scorpio]

I like Alien, The Thing, The Fly, and the Mothman prophecies; but otherwise find monster movies unengaging. King Kong is also good film but i dont find it scary.