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Twilight Author Switches Media

Stephenie Meyer, on the verge of becoming the next J.K. Rowling, has been quite busy as of late. The author of the hugely successful and omnipresent Twilight vampire series was in the midst of the fifth book in the saga, Midnight Sun, when a draft of the novel leaked to the web.

Supremely ticked off by the leak, Meyer reportedly shelved the sequel (for the time being, anyway). And according to io9, she's apparently trying to move past the professional setback by shifting her creative juices to another medium entirely: music videos.

Meyer is a big fan of Southern California emo band Jack's Mannequin, mentioning them several times on her website. Well, it seems the band, no doubt seeing dollar signs in an affiliation with the white-hot horror writer--contacted her with a request to direct their next video, for their record "The Revolution". Reportedly, although the video is handled in a dark "Tim Burton-esque" kind of way, it is decidedly vampire-less.

Meyer began work on the project while still participating in the editing process of the upcoming film version of Twilight, collaborating with experienced music video cinematographer Noble Jones.

Not bad for a Mormon mother of three from Scottsdale.

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Metal and Horror: What's the Connection?

Let me just get this out of the way right off the top: I'm not a huge fan of heavy metal. I was definitely the most interested during my adolescence in the late '80s/early '90s, but aside from some great acts like Metallica, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Guns 'n' Roses, Motorhead, Ozzy and AC/DC, even then my tastes were largely classic rock. Since then, I went through my alternative phase like everyone else, then the whole "singer-songwriter" thing, but as an adult my taste in music now falls largely within the realm of trad. jazz/trad. pop/lounge. So admittedly, maybe I'm not the best one to pontificate about all this. But I'm going to anyway.

Recently, I started up a new blog about pop standards, and wondered how much overlap in readership there would be, since for the most part, heavy metal seems to be the music of choice for a lot of hardcore horror fanatics. I do have a handful of readers of both, however, and one of them recently got me thinking about exactly why it is that heavy metal and horror movies seem to always go hand-in-hand.

The easy answer is that both of them deal in shocking, sometimes violent imagery. Horror films depict it in a visually explicit manner, while much of metal evokes it through the lyrics and the tone of the music (the videos can also contribute a visual element). I can remember the first time I saw Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams" video, and it's still probably the most disturbing four-minute movie I've ever seen.

But there's more to it than that. Heavy metal and horror films (at least in their modern form) can both appeal to something angry and adolescent within us. They both provide a catharsis. In the case of horror, many movies are positioned to the viewer in such a way that the violence is a release--one of the hallmarks of horror of the past few decades is that we are encouraged to enjoy the violence in some way, even as we recoil from it. And many fans of metal find empowerment in its bottomless rage. It's the ultimate teen male power fantasy, with its furiously bellowing singers and combative instrumentation.

Therefore, it should really be a no-brainer that so many horror movies have featured relentless metal soundtracks. The visual and aural imagery is a perfect match. Look at it this way. Arguably, heavy metal has been with us for nearly 40 years. And from the beginning, bands like Black Sabbath freely adopted the same kinds of themes that were already common to horror movies of the era. And once the earliest fans of heavy metal became old enough to be among the decision-makers in the film industry, the shift towards a metal-centric horror genre began. The phenomenon really hit its stride in the '80s, with The Return of the Living Dead probably being the prototypical example.

Particularly, the "new" type of horror movie that emerged in the 1970s gelled quite nicely with the metal aesthetic that was emerging at the same time. In the olden days, there was far less angst in horror films. Audiences were encouraged to identify with the heroes and heroines, and the monster was exactly that, a monster. A tragic figure at best, but still a monster. When the Frankenstein Monster follows Elizabeth into her wedding chamber, the audience was not gleefully cheering on the Monster. And almost invariably, no matter how horrific things might get, it all worked out OK in the end. Most of the time, these films were scored with moody, macabre, yet eerily beautiful orchestral music, whether original or classical in origin.

But with the rise of the youth culture and the glorification of adolescent angst, both music and horror movies changed. Modern horror movies are characterized often by unlikable protagonists whom the audience can't wait to see eviscerated. The monster is often portrayed as a "cool" anti-hero figure. While on the surface the status-quo of good vs. evil is there, it's really just lip service. God cannot be counted on to save us, and things almost never end happily. The spirit of the age is pure mayhem, and we, the audience, revel in it. No wonder, then, that heavy metal's subversive ethos is such a perfect fit, and that the two would appeal to a similar demographic.

The same morbid/juvenile fascination with blood, guts and chaotic rebellion that produced the modern horror movie also led to the popularity of heavy metal, with its preoccupation with death, anarchy and sacrilege.

Now before anyone gets up in arms, I'm not describing it that way because I hate modern horror and/or metal. Certainly, if I hated horror movies I wouldn't be writing this blog. And I don't describe much of metal as "juvenile" in a negative sense--there's nothing wrong with giving release to some of the more juvenile aspects of ourselves, within moderation. I mean, you're reading the words of a man who has about 5,000 comic books in his basement and every one of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection box sets, so I'm the last one to preach about the sober, Spartan life. But we must at least acknowledge that this is the part of our psyche that identifies with these things--the ticked-off 13-year-old screaming at the world.

It's one of the main shifts that separates fright flicks pre- and post-1970, and one of the central connections, I believe, between heavy metal and horror films. For some, both things are fascinations of youth, which pass through maturation. The appeal of listening to Carnivore's "Jesus Hitler" and renting Faces of Death often dissipate with the onset of adulthood, delayed or otherwise. For others, like myself, the love of one subsides while the love of the other grows deeper than ever. I am living proof that it is possible to love Rob Zombie's movies, but not necessarily his music.

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The Fly Lands Stateside

After a premiere stint in Paris, David Cronenberg's and Howard Shore's operatic adaptation of their 1986 motion picture The Fly is finally arriving in America this weekend. It makes its U.S. debut this weekend in Los Angeles at the L.A. Opera's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

I'm really wishing I could be out on the West Coast to see this. Who knows? Maybe it'll eventually travel east for a stint at the Met. In the meantime, if there's anyone out there who is actually going to be attending the show, drop me a line via comment or email. I'd love to feature a review on the site!

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Anita Page 1910-2008

There are very, very few major pre-World War II movie stars still around, let alone silent movie stars. But yesterday, we lost one of the most popular American actresses of the late 1920s, when Anita Page passed away at age 98. In recent years, she had made a low key return to the screen, acting in a bunch of horror B-movies in her 80s and 90s.

She was born Anita Pomares in Flushing, Queens, but went Hollywood early, breaking into movies as a teenager toward the end of the silent era. Most notable among her early pictures was While the City Sleeps, in which she was the leading lady of none other than the king of the silents, Lon Chaney Sr. When sound movies came in at the end of the decade, she went right along with it, starring in the early musical The Broadway Melody, as well as the rare Buster Keaton talkies Free & Easy and Sidewalks of New York.

Although not well remembered today, at the height of her popularity in 1929, she received some 10,000 fan letters per week--second only to Greta Garbo--and was actively pursued by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. But her time at the top did not last long. According to her own statements later in life, the reason for her abrupt and early retirement in the mid 1930s was her refusal to abide by the notorious "casting couch" system employed by some studio heads at the time.

Aside from one role in the 1960s, Page stayed in retirement for 60 years. Amazingly, she was bit by the acting bug again at the age of 86, when she started discovering that she still had a following among early film aficionados. Over the past dozen years, she took to appearing in primarily low-budget, low-profile productions. Among these were Witchcraft XI: Sisters in Blood and The Crawling Brain, abysmal trash to which she lent more class than was deserved in supporting roles. Due out later this year, her last movie was Frankenstein Rising, in which she plays Elizabeth Frankenstein.

"I am so honored," she recently said. "I sign autographs and the people are so kind. This is one of the most wonderful moments of my career, and to experience it at this time in my life, and at my age, I never would have dreamed."

Here's to you, doll. In the parlance of the day, you were the cat's pajamas.

* For more on Anita Page, check out my other blog, Standard of the Day.

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Will There Be a Hellboy 3?

For the time being, all thought of a third installment in the fan-favorite Hellboy series from Universal seems to have been put on hold. For a couple of reasons.

Although just as well-done as the original, and a box office improvement, Hellboy 2 still fell a bit short of studio expectations. Also, director Guillermo del Toro recently made headlines by announcing that he is now completely booked for the next nine years. As of now, Hellboy 3 is not included amongst his upcoming projects, which means that if he ever returns to complete what he has described as a trilogy--which he has said he wants to eventually do--it will not be for another decade, at which point star Ron Perlman would be nearly 60. Indiana Hellboy, anyone?

At the m0ment, Del Toro is totally immersed in working on The Hobbit with producer Peter Jackson, as well as a follow-up to chronicle the events between that film and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. That's expected to occupy him for the next five years. After that, he turns his sights to some classic monster revamping--namely a long-discussed Frankenstein film and a new take on Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. Then comes a new, "more faithful" (don't they always say that?) version of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and an adaptation of the forthcoming historical novel Drood by the superb Dan Simmons. And finally, Del Toro's own pet project, an adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness, a seminal work by H.P. Lovecraft.

All exciting projects, to be sure, and Del Toro looks to be positioned as the next Lucas/Speilberg by the end of it. But no HB in sight. Oh, crap.

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Clive Barker Trashes PG-13 Horror, Approves Remakes

Barker has been quite the opinionated little camper in the past year. First, he lashed out against torture porn, then rightfully spoke his mind regarding Lions Gate's treatment of his latest film, The Midnight Meat Train. And now, he's speaking his mind to MTV on some hot topics within the genre.

Firstly, he's made it quite clear that he's all for the upcoming remakes of his classic movies Hellraiser and Candyman, provided there's a good story to be told, and that something different and interesting will be done to make them worthwhile. He inferred that he'd rather see a quality remake than a sequel which does a shoddy job of adding to the franchise. A while back, he had officially given his blessing to the Hellraiser remake in particular, but the directors he had approved have since left the project.

Also, Barker made some strong remarks with regard to the recent trend of trimming down horror flicks in order to get a more audience-friendly PG-13 rating:

"It’s one of the most disgusting developments in the last few years; the whole notion of a PG-13 horror movie to me is a contradiction in terms. It’s like having a triple-X Disney picture. It doesn’t work... Wes [Craven] says that ‘When you go into a horror movie, you need to feel that you’re in the hands of a madman.’ Now what madman makes a PG-13 picture, right? Your horror-movie madman… doesn’t neaten up all the edges and make it all nice for mommy. [Studios] do it because they want to bring in younger audiences and make more money. But they don’t make better movies."

While I agree with Barker primarily, there has to be a distinction made here. In recent cases in which this phenomenon has occurred (such as Prom Night), you're talking about a situation in which studios have taken material that is clearly meant to be of an rated-R caliber and diluted its effectiveness by forcing it into a PG-13 pigeonhole. From a creative and artistic standpoint, that's clearly a disastrous development. However, that said, I don't agree that there can be no such thing as a great PG-13 rated horror movie. In fact, I think that's kind of ridiculous.

There certainly can be excellent horror movies rated PG-13 (and even milder!)--they're just different types of horror movies. Not the kind in which excessive body parts--both internal and external--are on plentiful display. But there are movies which can fully accomplish what they need to, and be effective, without exceeding the MPAA's guidelines for PG-13. For example, movies like The Others, The Ring, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Lady in White were all very good, and all rated PG-13. But to be clear, none of them were "trying to be R."

For that matter, what about every single great horror movie made before 1965, when filmmakers were unable to make movies of an R-rated type? Are we saying none of them are effective, none of them have the power to disturb us? Psycho would certainly be rated PG-13 if it were made today, maybe even PG--do we accuse Hitchcock of "neatening up the edges"? Granted, he didn't have the option of making his movie any more graphically violent, but would that really have made it any better than it is? Heck, Universal gems like Frankenstein and The Wolf Man would probably earn a G rating today. For my money, Nosferatu is a more powerful horror movie than many rated-R horror movies I've seen.

So I guess my point is, filmmakers should not be asked to reign in their vision in order to fit a PG-13 rating--but at the same time, we shouldn't broadly proclaim that it's impossible to make a PG-13 horror film that isn't well worth seeing.

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Don LaFontaine 1940-2008

Those of you who don't recognize the name may recognize him by his other name, Movie Trailer Voice-Over Guy. The man who became famous as the voice of more than 5,000 trailers over the past 40 years--and brought the phrase "In a world..." into the popular lexicon in the process--is no more. Don LaFontaine passed away on Monday, ironically from a collapsed lung suffered as a result of a blood clot.

An entire generation of movie-goers will forever associate that omnipresent, ominous voice of his with the many films he helped tease. Naturally, among the most memorable, and the most suited to his trademark delivery, were horror flicks. Here are some of the very best:









Godspeed, Mr. LaFontaine. In a time when nothing is as it seems, one man made a difference. One man changed all the rules. And nothing will ever be the same...again.

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Didn't Think a Movie Called "The Grapes of Death" Could Be Any Good

There must have been something in the water in Europe during the 1970s. It would explain the proliferation of excellent zombie movies that came from the continent during that period. Of course we all know about the Italians, especially Lucio Fulci. But in recent months, I've been delving beyond them, and discovering one gem after another. First it was Tombs of the Blind Dead. Then The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue. And now, I've finally got around to checking out Jean Rollin's The Grapes of Death, "the first French gore film."

An enthralling cross between arthouse and grindhouse, it really is quite a unique picture, and I'm glad the recent publicity around its newest DVD release led me to it. I'm also glad I was able to look past the ridiculous title, surpassed in ridiculosity only by its original French title, Les Raisins de la Mort. If you can refrain from snickering long enough to start the DVD, I assure you the snickering will stop shortly thereafter.

In the tradition of some of the previously referenced European offerings, the film feels like some kind of living nightmare, and most of the often-bizarre editing choices used throughout only add to that sense. Despite its status as "the first French gore film," it isn't wall-to-wall blood and guts. Rather, its structured in a much more effective way. Time and again, pastoral scenes of the French countryside lull the viewer into a sense of calm, only to be punctuated by moments of shockingly graphic violence that are over as abruptly as they arrived. It's a jarring experience, and I mean that in a good way. A crucifixion/beheading sequence is particularly unforgettable.


Plus, it's a plot only the French could've come up with: A pesticide used to spray grapes at a local winery causes anyone who drinks the resultant wine to be transformed into hideous, vicious quasi-zombies. It's filled with striking imagery, including a final shot that's bound to stay with you--even more so when you discover, as I did, that the movie's star, Marie-Georges Pascal, committed suicide seven years after the film's release.

Rollins may not be one of the greatest directors in the genre, and yes he did make some porn flicks earlier in his career. But he's far from the hack sleaze ball one would thus imagine. Rather, he's a man with a genuine love of the horror genre--having grown up on the Universal classics--who, after having to make some poor choices earlier on in order to keep fed, finally got the chance to make the kind of movies he always wanted to make, and ran with it.

One of the results is The Grapes of Death. If you're a fan of '70s-style horror, and Euro-horror in particular, and you haven't already seen it, do so immediately.

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Can You Name the Movie?

Happy "Labor" Day from The Vault of Horror.

Hey, what do you want from me, it's the only holiday that's never got its own horror movie.

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On a more serious note, The Vault of Horror was saddened to learn of the passing last Friday night of Killer Kowalski, truly one of the most horrifying wrestlers to ever set foot in the ring. He was 81.

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