The Tenth Lecture-- You Monster

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!

To keep with the slightly horror theme of the post before last, I'm going to do this one on good old fashioned movie monsters. Now, you should all know that I have always had a soft spot for monsters and folklore.  I've spent quite a bit of time reading about eastern and western European folklore about werewolves and vampires and what not and I'm not talking about you're, preteen, love story, romance Twilight vampires.  I'm talking rip your throat out and have your blood run down his face vampires (or at least sophisticated ones like Dracula).  ANYWAY... I'm going to give you a bit of monster background and tell you my favorite monster flicks (or at least ones I find entertaining).



First off, let me say that Dracula is pretty much my favorite book ever (even if that's lame).  I think it's a great work of literature, the journal style is great, the book is frightening and the story is interesting.  In my opinion NO ONE can make a Dracula movie that will ever be worth watching because none can compare to the book (yet everyone tries).  However, the most worthwhile Dracula made to date, at least in my opinion, is the 1931 Universal film. Now here is where I get all the notes and letters and messages saying I'm wrong and how there are better Draculas but hear me out.  Maybe I'm sentimental to old film, but I like the film for what it was.  It wasn't Dracula, it wasn't the book, it wasn't necessarily close and I can't watch the film while thinking about the book but I liked it for what it was.  A classic vampire movie from a classic film company in a time when they were making some of the most beloved and enduring horror films ever.

Now time to tell a little bit about the folklore behind it.  Everyone knows what a vampire is, undead ghoul, sucks blood, turns into bats, yadda yadda.  Not all of that is true though...  A vampire is an undead entity or demon that survives on the life force of others and they have been around since the beginning of man, however, the popularity of vampire lore started mainly in western Europe.  Largely in the Balkans and Romania.  The frequency of the myth actually lead to corpses being exhumed and staked in some cases.  Vampires could look like anything the people in the area decided, many could be bloated rotting corpses or completely normal humans but what started the modern vampire was the novella The Vampyre by John Polidori.  This vampire archetype was carried on and expanded on in Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the most well known and beloved vampire story ever (Twilight can fuck off).  In most vampire stories, vampires didn't turn into bats, instead transforming into a wolf or similar animal, also, not all vampires have fangs or lack a reflection or shadow.  Stakes were always a fatal weakness to a vampire, however, what the stake should be made of varies.  Decapitation is fatal and so is fire and drowning.  Garlic and holy symbols are weaknesses and many vampires suffered from arithmomania, which is the obsessive need to count (making the Count from Sesame Street have some connection to real vampire lore).  With Bram Stoker came the ideas that vampires can't cross running water, the sun weakens them and that they can only enter a house is invited, this, however, is not found in traditional lore.

Next is Frankenstein.  There haven't been nearly as many Frankenstein films as Dracula films, but once again, one of the best films is the 1931 Universal film.  Just like the Dracula film, Universal's Frankenstein, does not match the story that it takes it's name from at all (the monster doesn't even talk), but what makes this a good movie is it emotional depth (the perfect example is the scene between the monster and the little girl... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA9opHsLACk, which also happens to show the fact that this movie was pre-code era).  The movie doesn't reach the depth that the novel does, but it's still a great example of early horror, with Boris Karloff's silent portrayal of the Monster being quite jarring at times.



The Wolfman, was another Universal monster film that is a classic of horror cinema.  It wasn't based off of anything except gypsy and voodoo lore and therefore has nothing to compare to, however, the film, made in 1941, doesn't reach the depths that Dracula or Frankenstein did.  The movie was a pretty straight forward monster movie.  I was very excited to hear that a new Wolfman movie was going to be made, so I was in line to see it.  The 2010 remake was a very decent movie until the end (and I won't ruin it, but know that it's ridiculous and ruins the whole movie more or less).



The idea of shapeshifting humans have been in mythology forever, however, the werewolf ideal gained popularity in western Europe, specifically in gothic horror tales.  The werewolf started as a victim of black magic, but as the stories progressed they became part of Satan's army and developed a taste for human flesh.

So there it is, the big three are out of the way... however, there are many more monsters in cinema like zombies and other creatures (I could do a whole post on zombies, and Chris already has).  The other creatures just shown in the Universal monsters series are The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of The Opera, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Creature from The Black Lagoon, The Mole People.

 

Gonna finish this up talking about Lon Chaney, Sr. who is also known as "The Man of a Thousand Faces".  Another thing you should know about me is that I'm completely mystified by make up artists and what they can do and the creatures they can create and Lon Chaney was the master of portraying tortured figures and doing monster make up during the silent film era.  Two excellent portrayals were The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Any serious costume designer or make up artist has to pay some respect to Lon Chaney, he started and popularized serious make up artistry, he made the make up part of the character, not just a cover for the character and he made make up an art.



So there it is, monsters, one of my favorite things in film (and one reason I really enjoyed the Hellboy movies, or really most things by Guillermo Del Toro).  Hope you've enjoyed it and if you want any more information about monsters or folklore/mythology, don't be afraid to ask.
See you cats later.