From Post-Mortem to Postmodern: A History of Horror Movies, Part 6

It seemed like the horror genre had nowhere else to go after the blood-drenched, boundary-pushing 1970s and '80s. And in a way, that was true.The 1990s is remembered by many as a lowpoint in the history of scary movies. And while that's a slightly inaccurate generalization, the decade did suffer in some respects as a result of the excesses of the years that preceded it.

On the one hand, you had many of the deathless franchises of the 1980s lurching forward, series like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween churning out sequel after sequel, burning out the moviegoing public in the process. New slasher series like Child's Play, Leprechaun and Candyman, while offering some new ideas, also added more fuel to the fire.

In addition to that, a backlash occured. Beyond the genre, American moviemaking in general became more conservative, reacting to the unbridled violence and sex of the previous generation with more restraint and less gratuitousness. Criticisms of the business had begun to have an effect, and filmmakers had finally gotten over the fact they could do certain things they couldn't before. Now they were being more prudent about when and how often to do them.

Within horror, the gore factor was greatly reduced. Of course there were some exceptions--the most notable of which was a certain 1992 horror comedy by New Zealand director Peter Jackson called Brain Dead (or Dead Alive in America). That offbeat zombie flick ratcheted up the onscreen violence to ridiculously unheard of levels, but played it for laughs all the way. Perhaps that was the only way Jackson got away with it.

Ironically, once the splatter scene became old hat, Hollywood made something of a return to the grand guignol of a bygone era. Gothic horror made a brief comeback, and even the old monsters got taken out of mothballs for movies like Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Wolf (1994) and The Mummy (1999) (though the latter was reimagined as more of an action film.) Vampires in particular benefited from a "goth" movement that buoyed Anne Rice's series of novels to worlwide acclaim and led to a motion picture version of Interview with the Vampire starring mega-stars Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

The genre was lost in a way, heading in several different directions at once, unable to find its bearings. It was playing, after all, to an audience that felt as if it had seen it all. In hindsight, it seems only natural that the only thing to do under the circumstances was to deconstruct. For the first time, horror films became self-aware and self-reflective.

Just as he had been among the pioneers of the previous era, director Wes Craven led the pack again. Toying with the concept with 1994's New Nightmare, something of a coda to his Elm Street saga in which dream killer Freddy Krueger crosses over into the real world, Craven committed fully to self-aware horror with Scream (1996). A slasher flick in which all the characters seem to know about slasher flicks and all their cliches, the movie plays upon our expectations, injecting new life into a tired subject with a healthy dose of postmodern irony. Scream and its sequels, along with pics like I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), led to an unlikely rebirth of the hack-and-slash subgenre.

After years of searching for a new identity, the horror genre benefited from the shot in the arm, and by the end of the decade seemed to be on the road to recovery. Yet it also seemed as if horror filmmakers everywhere had learned over the course of the 1990s that they didn't necessarily need buckets of guts to effectively generate terror.

Witness the types of films that led the renaissance in the late 1990s. In America, it was newcomer M. Night Shyamalan and his atmospheric, Oscar-nominated ghost story The Sixth Sense (1999). There was also the ground-breaking Blair Witch Project of the same year. Although the overdose of internet hype that accompanied the film may have sabotaged it to a certain degree, it was the ingenious decision to inspire fear through the hyper-realism of a so-called "mock-umentary" approach that makes the movie a landmark--and one of the biggest influences on the genre to this day.

Meanwhile, from overseas in Japan, a movement was spreading abroad that would have an even greater impact in America in the years to come. With Hideo Nakata's Ringu (1998) being the most well-known, Japanese horror would further reinvigorate the genre and open up new avenues to explore.

Horror had proven that it had a lot more life left in it. In fact, with the dawn of a new decade, it would soon become unimaginable that it had ever been in trouble in the first place. If the 1990s saw horror go into hiding, then the start of the 21st century saw it make up for lost time, exploding into the mainstream consciousness like never before.

Other major releases:

• Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)
• In the Mouth of Madness (1995)
• Cube (1997)
• The Haunted Lantern (1997)
• Urban Legend (1998)

Part 1: The Silent Dead

Part 2: Gods & Monsters

Part 3: It Came from Hollywood

Part 4: The Times They Are a-Changin'

Part 5: Blood & Guts

Soon to come: Part 7 - Gore Goes Mainstream (a.k.a. The Final Chapter)

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Marvel's Man-Thing Rises from the Swamp Once More...

When it comes to supernatural swamp creatures in comics, I've always been more of a fan of the sorely under-used Man-Thing, as opposed to his much more well-known counterpart over at DC. Created during the horror-comic renaissance of the 1970s along with other Marvel characters like Blade, Ghost Rider and Morbius, Man-Thing was a creepy, enigmatic figure that haunted the outer boundaries of my comic-collecting childhood. I never knew much about him because he never made many appearances, yet his image and nature were so striking that I snatched up whatever I could find (and yes, the title "Giant-Size Man-Thing" was just about the funniest thing my 11-year-old brain could imagine.)

Unfortunately, like many of the post-1960s Marvel characters, Man-Thing was just never quite popular enough to sustain his own series for any great length of time. Most recently, I recall a short-lived run a few years back that was quite good, written by J.M. DeMatteis, best known for the famous 1987 "Kraven's Last Hunt" Spider-Man storyline.

But now, Marvel has introduced a new take on the Man-Thing in a special four-part miniseries for it's mature-readers "MAX" line. It's called Dead of Night, taken from the title of a 1970s Marvel horror comic. Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the series retells the character's origin, with each of the four issues told in a different style of horror storytelling. The first one, which I picked up a few days ago, is a tip of the hat to the classic EC Comics in every way, even including its own Crypt Keeper-style "host" Digger--a character lifted from obscure 1969-1970 Marvel horror book Tower of Shadows.


According to an interview Aguirre-Sacasa gave to CBR News, the second issue will be told in the style of the 1960s-70s Warren magazines Eerie and Creepy; issue #3 will be in 1970s exploitation horror flick style; and the finale will unfold like James Cameron-esque '80s action-horror. The art is done by a different artist in each issue--the one I'm familiar with is issue #3's illustrator Javier Saltares, who did excellent work on the early 1990s Ghost Rider.

After reading issue #1, I highly recommend Dead of Night for anyone who loves horror comics. Marvel is doing a great job with a character that deserves more attention--or who at least deserves to be redeemed after that god-awful direct-to-SciFi-Channel movie adaptation of a couple years back. Just try not to be too afraid, because in case you forgot, "All who know fear burn at the Man-Thing's touch!"

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REVEALED! Bruce Campbell Really Is God!

Well, it looks like Bruce's die-hard fan base has been right all these years! This picture appeared this morning on Ain't It Cool News, submitted by the man himself.

It's apparently from Mr. Campbell's upcoming movie My Name Is Bruce, which capitalizes on the actor's cult following. In the flick, Campbell plays himself--when a bunch of fanboys discover a real-life supernatural threat to humanity, they enlist the aid of an unwitting Bruce, who turns out to be nothing like his cinematic persona. The film has screened at a few festivals over the past year, and will be going straight to DVD sometime this year.

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Dexter Head Honcho Takes the Dirty Sexy Money

Variety announced a major shakeup Tuesday afternoon for Showtime's runaway hit series Dexter. The serial killer drama's executive producer and "showrunner" (read: dude in charge) Daniel Cerone has flown the coop, opting for a similar position on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money.

Cerone has been the top man on Dexter since the show's beginning in 2006, following a run as a writer-producer on Charmed. Despite Cerone's departure, Dexter is still on track to kick off it's third season on September 30. Assuming that the writers strike put a crimp in its development, it's safe to guess that the season is still being scripted. No word on what impact, if any, Cerone's absence will have on the creative direction.

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Wait, You Mean Zombies in a Shopping Mall Has Already Been Done?

Apparently that's news to Capcom, the video game developer that had the nerve to act surprised when Richard Rubenstein--owner of the intellectual property of Dawn of the Dead--sued them last Monday for copyright infringement over their game Dead Rising.

Capcom tried in vain to block the lawsuit, claiming that the concept of zombies in a mall was not something that could be copyrighted. But Rubenstein's MKR Group took it further, declaring that, "Both works are dark comedies. Both works provided thoughtful social commentary on the 'mall culture' zeitgeist, in addition to serving up a sizable portion of sensationalistic violence."

I was wondering how long it would take for this to happen. George Romero even mentioned the alarming similarity during his recent Opie & Anthony interview. Rubenstein owns the rights to both Dawn and Day of the Dead--in fact I believe it was a dispute between he and Romero over the ownership of the concept that partly created such difficulty in getting a fourth Dead film made for so many years.

Rubinstein is known for being quite the litigious fellow--going after fan websites and that sort of thing. But it's hard not to see his point on this one. The game is clearly inspired 100% by Dawn, and it looks like Capcom is trying to get away with adapting the concept without having to pay to officially license the property.

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Is "The Signal" Real?

Of course not, but I figured that headline might get your attention.

The polls have officially closed early for the strangest/creepiest horror-related news story of the year. Late yesterday afternoon, United Press International reported that a man sitting in a screening of The Signal in Fullerton, California promptly went bananas and began stabbing fellow patrons before fleeing the building.

In case you haven't heard, the low-budget thriller is all about a mysterious transmission sent via TV, cell phones, etc. which turns people into psychopaths. So it appears we're talking about one seriously impressionable dude here.

Reportedly, in the middle of the movie, the looney tune in question began abruptly stabbing the seat next to him, then the person next to him. Then he stabbed a second audience member sitting near the exit. Police arrived on the scene to find theatergoers rushing out in a panic. The perpetrator was already long gone, and has yet to be found.

The victims suffered lacerations to the arms and chest, and are currently recovering in the hospital. They're both expected to live.

Could we be seeing a wide release for The Signal as a result of this craziness? Talk about guerilla marketing...

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Diary: A Near-Return to Form for Uncle George

If you're going into Diary of the Dead expecting something on par with George Romero's seminal Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If you're going in hoping for a redemption of the series following the decidedly average Land of the Dead, your hopes are well-founded.

Diary is a major improvement over Land in nearly every way. Free of studio constraints, Romero is able once again to infuse his own personal flavor. This is without question a George Romero film. Yet it still manages to feel completely different from all the others--a feat actually accomplished by all five entries in the series. Romero had taken his timeline as far as it could go, and by returning to the beginning, he thankfully shifts gears from the often perplexing Land--in which an overly cynical Romero expected too much sympathy for his zombies, and instead of lamenting over humanity's inability to save itself, seemed to be saying that the world is a better place in the hands of the undead.

By stripping his mythos down, the director also delivers in another area in which Land was alarmingly lacking: scares. This movie is suspenseful as hell, and reminds us why Romero is among the very best at creating an atmosphere of gnawing dread. A scene in a darkened warehouse, as well as the film's climactic moments inside a mansion, are strong examples.

Many critics, and even fans, are pointing to the acting as the movie's major downfall. To those I pose the question: Have you ever actually seen a George Romero movie? As much as we love them, time and nostalgia have sweetened our appraisals of the dramatic performances in them. There isn't a single actor whose work is nearly as bad as anything on display in, say, Day of the Dead, which is filled with often laughably awful dramatics despite its brilliance in other areas. I won't say there are any particular standouts in Diary either, with the possible exception of the world-weary film professor played by Scott Wentworth, who is given some of the best lines in Romero's intelligent, if somewhat overstated script.

It's a testament to the continued effectiveness of G.A.R.'s satirical powers that I found myself actively disagreeing with his social viewpoints throughout much of the movie. I kept feeling that by railing against the modern information age, the 67-year-old auteur comes off as a bit of a reactive curmudgeon, taking on some of the close-minded qualities of characters he might have lampooned 20 or 30 years ago. Yet I'm grateful to him for making such a thoughtful horror movie, one filled with so much detail that it will stand up to the repeated viewings I'll surely subject it to once it comes out on DVD.

There's also a surprising amount of humor on display, balanced perfectly with the grave and weighty tone. We get some snarky digs at modern-day fast-moving zombies that will surely please Romero purists. Plus the brilliant appearance of what can only be described as the greatest and most unlikely zombie-slayer since Father McGruder kicked ass for the Lord in Dead Alive. You'll never look at Historic Williamsburgh the same.

As for you gorehounds out there, you might want to lower your expectations. I was actually pretty surprised and a little disappointed by the amount of restraint shown in this area. There isn't the requisite "zombie banquet" scene, nor is there a single dismemberment in the whole picture. It's even more restrained than the studio-produced Land of the Dead, which is not at all what I expected. Don't get me wrong, I pride myself on being a cerebral horror fan, but when I go to see a George Romero zombie flick I expect to see some lovingly shot organ-munching.

Not that the film isn't without its share of "interesting kills" for those who go in for that sort of thing. In particular, there's an ingenious bit of business in which one of the protagonists bonks a ghoul over the head with a jar of acid, then watches as the chemical slowly eats through the creature's skull and destroys its brain. Good stuff.

There are clever tips of the hat to previous Dead flicks throughout, including a snippet of newscaster dialogue from Night that can be heard in the background at one point. There's also a scene in an apartment complex which directly conjures up the tenement scene in Dawn--and the impact is just as disturbing. This is by far the picture's grimmest moment.

Unfortunately, the homemade video gimmick on which the premise is hung doesn't always hold up. There are times in which it does feel a bit contrived, and the idea that the student filmmakers would add incidental music in post-production--especially to a scene in which one of the characters encounters her own reanimated loved ones--is kind of ludicrous. The movie is also too heavily narrated, with certain things overexplained, thus taking away from some of the visual impact (especially true during a jarring final scene that would've worked ten times better without narration.)

Now let me get the inevitable comparisons out of the way. Night of the Living Dead has always been the most frightening of the bunch to me, and still is. Dawn of the Dead is the best film all-around thanks to its enjoyable combination of horror, emotional resonance, quality filmmaking and commentary. Although Day of the Dead works better than Diary of the Dead as a horror movie, Diary is a higher quality film and a better overall package. And well, you know where I stand with regards to Land of the Dead.

It's a shame that virtually no money or effort was put into marketing this movie. I had to travel from Connecticut to Manhattan to see it, and the theater didn't even have a lobby poster for the flick. If properly pushed, this quality pic would've definitely yielded far better box-office results than it has, as it is a cut above most of the horror fare out there. Unfortunately, as a result of the mishandling, it looks like Uncle George is destined for the direct-to-DVD market from here on in.

Apparently, when there's no more room in theaters, the dead will sit on the video shelf.

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Quick! Check Out This X-Files 2 Footage While You Can!

While sitting and watching the Oscars tonight, I started to drift sometime between the Documentary Short Subject nominations and one of the Best Song performances, and so I took a quick peek on the web--only to discover this little chestnut.

Apparently, a preliminary trailer for X-Files 2 was screened for fans yesterday at WonderCon in San Francisco. The following is bootleg footage of that trailer taken by a diligent spy--so enjoy before Fox's legal bulldogs descend!

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LiLo Gets Razzed

Disney-Channel-poppet-turned-psycho-junkie-broad Lindsay Lohan has been getting so much attention lately thanks to a certain New York magazine pictorial, so what's a little bit more? Despite our best efforts to forget her work in last year's epic horror clunker I Know Who Killed Me, the prestigious Golden Rasberries--or Razzies--have seen fit to bestow a record-setting number of nominations on the flick.

The "film" has received a staggering total of nine nominations. Lohan herself has pulled off the impressive feat of being nominated twice for Worst Actress thanks to her double role. The twin performances have also earned her the distinction of being the only person to ever be singly nominated for Worst Screen Couple.

The serial killer pic has also gotten nods for Worst Picture, Worst Remake/Rip-Off and my personal favorite, Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie. Additionally, Chris Siverston was nominated for Worst Director, first-(and hopefully last-)time screenwriter Jeff Hammond for Worst Script, and Julia Ormond for Worst Supporting Actress.

There's a lesson to be learned here, folks. And it's that Lindsay Lohan should focus more on pictures that don't move.

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Thanks to everyone who made their voice heard in the "King of Horror" poll. Congrats to the legendary Vincent Price, who took an early lead and never lost it. Bruce Campbell also made a respectable showing in second place, and it's also interesting that Boris Karloff edged out long-time rival Bela Lugosi for fourth by a single vote. Check back tomorrow for a new poll.

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Ben "Gill Man" Chapman 1928-2008

The Creature no longer walks among us. Benjamin F. Chapman Jr., best known for portraying the iconic Gill Man in the 1954 classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon, passed away yesterday in Honolulu at the age of 79.

Chapman was one of the last living actors to have portrayed one of the famous "Universal Monsters"--although he only portrayed the Creature in his out-of-water scenes (Ricou Browning, who played the underwater Gill Man, is still with us.) Although he only did a handful of other early 1950s B-movies, Chapman spent the rest of his life graciously meeting and greeting fans at conventions and autograph signings across the country.

Standing an imposing 6'5" (a big part of what got him cast as the Creature), Chapman served his nation in the Korean War, and even crossed paths with the Rat Pack during his days as a bartender, partying with the likes of Peter Lawford and a pre-presidential JFK.

For more on Mr. Chapman, check out his official website: http://www.the-reelgillman.com/.

Special thanks to Karswell of The Horrors of It All.

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