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Alyson Dunlop's Blog

~ "Hex in the City"

Alyson Dunlop's Blog

Tag Archives: Halloween

My Guilty Pleasures of Horror: The Monsters I Love to Love

07 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Anthony Hopkins, Betty White, Bill Pullman, Brad Dourif, Bram Stoker, Brendan Gleeson, Bridget Fonda, cult films, Damien Karass, Dracula, Ellen Burstyn, Exorcist, Gary Oldman, George C Scott, giant worms, Halloween, Horror, Jason Miller, Kevin Bacon, Lake Placid, Linda Blair, Max Von Sydow, Merrin, Oliver Platt, Regan, religious horror, Renfield, science fiction, Tom Waits, Tremors, Van Helsing, William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty

placid2

I’ve seen these films so many times I could practically recite their scripts!  Yet, often they get slated by critics for one reason or another.  We all have our guilty pleasures, so I thought this week I would share mine with you.  Comment and tell me what your guilty pleasures are (in film that is!  Naughty!).

Lake Placid (1999)

Click to view

Click to view

What’s not to love about Lake Placid?  It’s hilarious and scary all in the same movie.  Critics often say that it doesn’t know what it’s trying to be, whether horror or comedy.  It has been claimed that the actors haven’t a clue how to say their lines or react because they don’t know if they should be humorous or scared.  Rubbish!  They know fine well that it’s supposed to be a comedy horror.  There are a couple of bits that’ll have you jumping out your seat, but overall it’s a highly entertaining and funny film. 

The movie is about a 30-foot man-eating crocodile in New England.  The opening credits are very Jaws-like, as is the opening scene.  In fact, there are several scenes that are reminiscent of the shark movie.  It’s definitely a nod to Spielberg.   It’s set in Maine, which is possibly a nod to Stephen King as well.

There are also an abundance of great one-liners from Oliver Platt, Brendan Gleeson (Argh!  I didn’t recognise him as Hamish from Braveheart until today!) and a foul-mouthed Betty White.

Lake Placid is definitely one of my top guilty pleasures.  I don’t care what anyone says!  It’s a cracker.

Tremors (1990)

Click to view.

Click to view.

I haven’t seen this on TV for a few years.  Mind you, I don’t have a TV!  Nevertheless, every time I saw this was on, I just had to tune in and watch.  It’s the kind of film that’s normally on around 1am, and you can just zone out and watch without thinking too much.  There’s a lot of humour in it and a chance to see a young Kevin Bacon dressed as a cowboy.  My favourite part is the pole-vaulting scene! 

This film is a science fiction horror comedy, which has a lot of humour and has emerged as a cult classic.  Despite not being successful at the box office, Tremors has continued to appeal to many and became a hit through TV, video and internet viewers.

Tremors is about giant underground worms.  If you’ve not seen it, that probably doesn’t sound hugely appealing, but trust me and check it out!

Exorcist (1973)

Click to view.

Click to view.

I remember a few years ago, when I was setting out to do a post graduate in film and television studies.  We were asked to write down what we considered to be the best film of all time.  This is such a difficult thing to do.  I pondered on the problem for hours.  It very much depends on your experience of movies, and whether or not you’ve been shown what is considered to be a “quality” movie, by supposed experts.  You also have to take into consideration that not everyone likes every genre.  There were so many great films I had yet to see: Metropolis, Citizen Kane etc.  Besides, there are all sorts of things to consider such as when a film is set and the impact it has on the audience of that time.  The Exorcist had a huge impact on its original audience in 1973.   I also have a fair bit of respect for both the writer, William Peter Blatty and the director, William Friedkin (the nutter!), having also watched the making of the film.  On a small budget, he used many original ideas for special FX and sound.

Still, I was left with one of my classmates responses ringing in my ears: “Brave choice….”.   Diplomatic code for “Are you mental by any chance?” There are, of course, better.   I agree.  By today’s standard The Exorcist is by no means top of the range, but I still think it’s one of the best and original films made.  I never tire of watching it.  Years later it still provides timeless entertainment of human fears of the unknown, and epitomises the good vs evil/religious horror sub- genre.

Exorcist III (1990)

Click to view.

Click to view.

Conveniently missing out the Exorcist II (don’t!), I also loved Exorcist III – some pretty spooky stuff going on.  I’ve already mentioned it in a previous blog, so won’t elaborate too much.  Despite, George C Scott getting nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for worst actor – for shame! – Exorcist III still managed to achieve quite a lot of success.  William Peter Blatty won a Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films (USA) for Best Writing.  It also received nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Brad Dourif, as always, was incredible – if my current book ever gets made into a movie I have a part just crying out for him to play!) and Best Horror Film.  Such a shame the disappointing first sequel deterred people from going to see it.  It’s definitely one to watch, if you’re a fan of the original.

Halloween (1978)

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Click to view.

Halloween, like all good slashers, is set at a celebratory time of year.  In this case, Hallowe’en – originally Samhain, the pagan feast of the (not particularly evil) dead.  In Christian times the festival became known as Hallowe’en and children would dress up to scare away evil spirits.  In any case, it’s associated with death.

Then we have an almost supernatural-like serial killer, with superhuman strength, who seems to appear and disappear in an instant, killing anyone who has too much sex, smokes or drinks booze.

This is definitely one of my favourite guilty pleasures!

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Click to view.

Click to view.

I’m going to be dedicating a blog to this film as it’s actually a HUGE guilty pleasure of mine! 

Bram Stoker’s Dracula stands out for me primarily due to the acting of Gary Oldman, Tom Waits and Anthony Hopkins.  The three are all great in their own eccentric way:  Oldman, as Count Dracula, Tom Waits as Renfield and Hopkins as Van Helsing.  I also love the dark, dream-like quality that runs throughout the film.  It’s another movie I never tire of watching.  Francis Ford Coppola used various subtexts and folkloric symbolism, which won me over instantly.   I see something different in it every time I watch.

Until next week, feel free to love what you love.

Remember to leave a comment below and tell me your favourite guilty pleasure!

Your friend, A.D.

FEMINISTS OF HORROR: Final Girls and Their Mad Men

26 Friday Apr 2013

Posted by Alyson Dunlop Shanes in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

A Nightmare on Elm Street, Alien, Aliens, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Black Christmas, crime, Doctor Loomis, drugs, Ellen Ripley, feminism, feminist, Final Girl, Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, Halloween, Hannibal Lecter, Horror, intelligence, Jason Voorhees, killer, knives, Laurie Strode, Leatherface, Lila, Mad, Mad Man, Madness, Michael Myers, misogynist, Nancy, Norman Bates, psychiatric illness, Psycho, Psychological, resourceful, Sam Loomis, Scream, Sex, Sidney, Sigourney Weaver, Silence of the Lambs, slasher, stabbing, strength, strong women, thriller, twists, victims, virgin, weapons

laurie-strode_786x1174Slasher movies are a favourite with horror fans.  Even if you’re not an outright horror fan, it’s likely you will have seen at least one of these in your life!  The slasher has elements of thriller and crime, so can be appealing to audiences who also enjoy these genres too.  In turn, some thrillers and other horrors, which are not really slashers as such, may have elements of the slasher in them.

What you may or may not realise is that there is a set of rules that come along with slasher and slasher-type horror films.  During my post graduate in film and television, I had fun studying the “Final Girl” in horror.  The Final Girl is a strong, independent female protagonist, the peer of the victims, but seen to be virtuous.  She does not indulge in the sex and drugs that prove to be the downfall of the others.  She also tends to avoid any kind of bullying.  She’s just an all-round nice girl, sometimes slightly “put upon” by others who take advantage of her good nature.  She is known as the Final Girl because, well, she’s the last one standing at the end of it all.  The Final Girl either escapes or overcomes the threat, showing her power, strength and intelligence for whatever scrape she’s managed to land herself in.

Final Girls share many characteristics: they are often sexually unavailable or virgins who avoid any illegal or illicit activity and often, though not always, have a non-gender specific name such as Laurie (Halloween) or Sidney (Scream).  The Final Girl can even be found in non-slasher horrors such as Alien, with the masculinised female character of Ellen Ripley (known only as Ripley); although, it has to be said that Alien does have many other characteristics of a slasher too.

The Final Girl is “watchful, intelligent and resourceful”.  She is, pretty much, the perfect horror movie heroine.  She is a character the audience can admire and she is a survivor.  Many critics of the slasher might say that it is a misogynistic genre, as it often has naked and vulnerable women being overpowered by men.  However, the Final Girl proves this not to be the case at all, quite the opposite.  The Final Girl is a very smart and dignified character, who usually always outwits the killer in the end.

However, the character of the Final Girl has evolved over time.  In Halloween Laurie’s ability was to simply remain alive until Doctor Loomis got there to save her.  By the time A Nightmare on Elm Street came along the Final Girl was starting to take steps to protect herself, and defeat the threat.  In the latter, Nancy is ready to take on Freddy!

Not only do Final Girls take on the killer, they also often protect young children too, showing their maternal side into the bargain.  Just as there are monstrous maternal figures to be found in horror, the Final Girl is the complete opposite.  Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) in Halloween has two young children in her care that she is babysitting for, whilst Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Aliens protects Newt with the famous line: “Get away from her, you bitch!”

As time has gone by, various differences have crept into the genre to allow it to evolve, and also to create unexpected twists at the end.  The first slashers had the Final Girl discover and help to capture the killer (Psycho), escape the killer until another day (Black Christmas), and finally, killing the killer, after the killer had killed all her peers, so that the Final Girl is also the Final Killer; this has further evolved so that some Final Girls turn out to have been the killer all along, although this is a little bit more unusual. 

In slasher horror, usually the weapon used by the killer is a blade of some kind, hence the term ‘slasher’.  It could also be argued that in, for example, Halloween, Laurie attacks Michael Myers with weapons that are phallic: a knitting needle; a coat hanger, which she fashions into a spiked object, and a knife – all intended for stabbing.  In the final sequence, Laurie takes over the dominant role using very masculine weaponry.

Probably the first Final Girl appeared in Psycho (1960), in the form of Marion’s sister Lila.  Lila appears with Marion’s boyfriend Sam Loomis (in Halloween a character bearing that name would also step in to save the day, as has previously been mentioned…!).  Along with other conventions that were built up over time, Psycho also saw the appearance of the human monster in the shape of the serial killer.  The serial killer is necessarily dangerous and frightening, an almost supernatural killing machine, usually with a severe psychiatric illness and a grudge to bear, often caused by a traumatised childhood.  The Final Girl is confronted with her every nightmare in the flesh: Norman Bates, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees (well, actually, his mother…but his legend lives on regardless!), Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, Ghostface, Hannibal Lecter.  Sometimes they have a supernatural side, like Michael Myers.  Most often they are the scariest thing of all, real-life people!  But, always, always, always, they are not just bad, they are completely and utterly insane.  The Final Girl has her work cut out for her, but through it all she prevails.

Every horror fan has got their favourite Final Girl/Psychotic Maniac movies, whether slasher or not.  Here are some recommendations.  I don’t suppose they are really in any particular order.  Silence of the Lambs and Psycho, though not slashers, have my favourite psychotic serial killer characters, whilst Alien has my favourite Final Girl – a good, strong performance from Sigourney Weaver.  Black Christmas is actually, to my mind, probably one of the best and earliest of the genre.  I really have no idea why I love Halloween so much.  I just do.  I think it’s the atmosphere, but I just can’t quite put my finger on it.  Nevertheless, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve watched it – at least once a year at, yes you’ve guessed, Hallowe’en!  And I just loved the twist in All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.

I’ve actually written my own slasher horror movie script!  If any budding film directors or production companies wish to get in touch, I’d be delighted to hear from you!

I’d also love to know about readers’ favourite slashers, psychological horrors, Final Girls and serial killing maniacs.  Do feel free to post comments!

Until next week.  Don’t go anywhere…I’ll be right back!  Your friend, A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Muir, J K (2007) A History of the Dead Teenager Decade in Horror Films of the 1980s McFarland & Co: USA (Chapter 2).

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