As a long time horror fan, I'm pretty well-read in the genre. Yet, like anybody else, there are classics I haven't gotten to. One such blind spot are the films of Val Lewton. To many, the shadow shrouded films Lewton produced for RKO defines horror in the 1940s. The nine films are widely available, frequently packaged together, and are often shown on TV. So what's my excuse? I just... Haven't gotten to them yet. Well, no more. This Halloween, I finally expose myself to the work of Val Lewton. I begin with the first horror film Lewton had a hand in, which I have seen before, albeit years ago. “Cat People” remains probably the producer's most well-known motion picture.
Irena Dubrovna is a young Serbian woman who immigrated to America years ago. Her childhood was haunted by legends of cat people, individuals who turned into panthers and killed those they love. This has instilled in her a fear of falling in love. That's an especially pressing concern, as she's just met Oliver Reed. Oliver is immediately smitten with the exotic and charming Irena. The two quickly marry. However, Irena continues to fear that she might transform into a cat person. It puts a strain on their marriage, to the point that Oliver considers the advances of his lovelorn secretary. That is when the curse of the cat people takes hold of Irena.
Tourneur's direction extends the shadows inside Irena's mind into the film's world. “Cat People's” visual palette is defined by deep shadows. The early scenes are sunnier but, as Irena descend into her personal nightmare more, the film's appearance gets darker. Even regular shots, of people just hanging around home or work, are shaded in blackness. The film is also acutely aware of the totemic power of the cat. Irena often visits the black panther in the zoo, fascinated with it for reasons she can't understand. She's subconsciously aware that the cat symbolizes the inner turmoil she can't acknowledge. She even feeds it a dead bird at one point, confirming the unspoken kinship she feels with the big cat. Fittingly, the panther contributes to her undoing. The film is littered with other cats, Irena constantly being reminded of the feelings she denies.
Really, I should consider “Cat People” brilliant. There are so many elements in the film that work for me. It's obviously a classic. So why don't I like it more? The love story at the film's center doesn't work for me at all. Irena and Oliver first encounter each other at the zoo, in what would be called a “meet cute” in modern film lingo. Within minutes, they are romantically involved. After a few scene, the two get married. Yet Irena's psychological hang-ups prevent her from even kissing her husband! No wonder he accepts Alice's romantic advances. Yet this infidelity also makes Oliver look like a jerk. It's hard to become too invested in the film when the love story is this anemic. Simone Simon, a perfect mixture of vulnerable and exotic, is perfect in the lead role. Even Kent Smith is fine as Oliver. The flawed writing is to blame.
Considering H.P. Lovecraft was best known for his short stories, an anthology film based around his work seems like a natural idea. I'm surprised nobody tried it before 1994. “Necronomicon,” usually accompanied by subtitles such as “Book of the Dead” or “To Hell and Back,” was produced by Brian Yunza. Yunza had previously been involved with “Re-Animator” and “From Beyond,” making fans eagerly anticipate this one. The film was completed in 1993 but never got a wide release. Eventually, even the VHS would go out-of-print. A domestic DVD release has never followed, though disc versions are available overseas. This rarity has given “Necronomicon” a certain allure. Is this hard-to-find Lovecraft film really worth tracking down?
The film features four segments. The framing device involves H.P. Lovecraft visiting an occult library. After sneaking into a hidden area, he uncovers the legendary Necronomicon. There, he reads three stories from the past and future. “The Drowned” is about Edward De LaPour, a man who has just inherited a dilapidated hotel. He learns his uncle, the hotel's former owner, lost his wife and child in a boat wreck. He then used the Necronomicon to bring them back to life. Both men, in turns out, are being manipulated by darker forces. In “The Cold,” a teenage runaway befriends an eccentric scientist who lives in a refrigerated room. The two fall in love before she learns how severe his condition really is. “Whispers” involves a pregnant police woman hunting a serial killer called the Butcher. This quest leads her to a bizarre underground world involving aliens and profane sacrifices to forgotten gods.
The first proper segment in the film is also quite good. “The Drowned” doesn't have much to do with the story its adapting, “The Rats in the Wall,” but feels fittingly Lovecraftian anyway. An amazing looking fish man puts in an appearance. Later, undead people sprout tentacles and seaweed from their orifices. The segment concludes with a giant elder god emerging from under the old house. The old hotel setting is very atmospheric. Christopher Gans, who would make “Brotherhood of the Wolf” and “Silent Hill” later, makes sure the segment is darkly colorful. Bruce Payne and Richard Lynch are solid in the leads. The segment ends a bit abruptly but its pretty good up to that point.
The last story, Brian Yunza's “Whispers,” is by far the film's worst. Supposedly inspired by “The Whisperer in the Darkness,” the segment is actually totally unrelated. The opening scene, establishing the heroine's pregnant state, is bluntly delivered via messy dialogue. Signy Coleman's Sarah is too gruff a protagonist to be likable. The plot shifts gears several times. Soon, “Whispers” degrades into a nonsensical series of gross special effects. A body, its brain totally removed, staggers around. A woman with no eyes appears. Gooey corpses are snatched up by flying bat monsters. Fleshy forms, with transparent domes containing organs, are revealed. It all leads up to an overly grim and mean-spirited conclusion. The special effects are pretty cool but its in service of a story that makes no sense.
I mentioned the other day how Joe Dante's “Homecoming” was the breakout episode of “Masters of Horror's” first season. This led to season two being full of similarly politically themed episodes. We've already seen John Carpenter's “Pro-Life” and here comes “Right to Die,” from Rob Schmidt. Dentist Cliff Addison has just had an ugly fight with Abby, his wife, over his infidelity. In the aftermath of this, they go for a drive. Cliff crashes the car and Abby is horribly burned. All of her skin burned off, Abby is put on life support. Cliff decides to honor Abby's wish to not be a vegetable, taking her off a ventilator and allowing her to die with dignity. Her mother has other ideas, demanding Abby stay alive as long as possible. A huge media controversy ensues. Cliff's opinion on the right to die changes when Abby flatlines and her ghost comes after him.
If the plot synopsis didn't make it clear, “Right to Die” is obviously inspired by the Terry Schiavo case, still fresh in people's mind in 2007. The question of whether it's ethical for a doctor to induce death could've been fertile ground for a horror story. Instead of building on this “Right to Die” takes things in a deeply tasteless direction. I think Schmidt – whose “Wrong Turn” was fun but hardly earned him the title of master – is going for dark comedy. The way Cliff flip-flops on his wife's condition, when he realizes she's haunting him, seemingly makes light of a heavy real world issue. This is most apparent in an especially gross scene where skin Cliff has stolen, in hopes of providing Abby with a transplant, falls off his speeding vehicle. Furthermore, “Right to Die” is another sleazy episode. There's frequent female nudity and several lengthy sex scenes. All of the episode's content is at odds with any social or satirical commentary it could've had.
About the only thing “Right to Die” has going for it is the central premise of an intermittent ghost. Abby is barely living as a grotesquely burned invalid. Every time she flatlines, she becomes a ghost, immediately seeking revenge on Cliff. She also apparently has some control over heat and fire. Whenever the ghost enters a room, the temperatures sore. One of the episode's grislier scenes involve Corbin Benson, playing a sleazy lawyer, being dragged into a cat scan machine and set ablaze. All of this stuff is mildly interesting but not well served by the dumb-ass material around it. “Right to Die” is not only the weakest episode of “Masters of Horror's” entire run but one that actually managed to offend me. It's probably possible to make an effective horror story or dark comedy about this topic but they sure as fuck dropped the ball this time. [3/10]
Compared to the usually farcical “Tales from the Crypt,” “Perversions of Science” was a far more serious series. “Ultimate Weapon” joins “Boxed In” and “Panic” among the series' “funny” episodes. Lou Ann and her husband Matt are having some problems. Lou Ann is having reoccurring nightmares about space aliens. Matt dismisses them but Lou Ann really is being probed by intergalactic scientists. They hope to trick her into mating with one of them, presumably to cultivate a hybrid fetus. To accomplish this, they take the form of her old college boyfriend, her husband, and even her female best friends. Shenanigans ensue, especially when Lou Ann's parents stop by unexpectedly.
“Ultimate Weapon,” whose title is totally non-indicative of its content, is the most disjointed episode of “Perversions of Science” thus far. The premise seems to shift from scene to scene. Sometimes, Lou Ann has been infected some sort of alien device. This causes her personality to shift and her appearance to change. However, other times, Lou appears unaffected. During these scenes, the focus is on the aliens attempting to be human. This leads to jokey scenes like the aliens having to learn suddenly what “gay” means. There's too many characters in the episode and the writers can't juggle them. One of Lou's friends spends half the episode stuck in a closest. Another, along with her parents, come and go without notice. It's occasionally kind of funny – the final scene is somewhat amusing – but is ultimately too hard to follow. Heather Langenkamp stars as Lou. It's nice to see her again but even her charms can't save this mess. This is the sole directorial credit of screenwriter/producer Dean Lopata which tells you a lot. [4/10]
No comments:
Post a Comment