Monthly Archives: January 2022

One Third of The Unholy Trinity: Blood on Satan’s Claw

 

In the realm of cinematic folk horror three films are enshrined as ‘the unholy trinity’, The Wicker Man, The Witchfinder General, and The Blood on Satan’s Claw. Of the films only The Wicker Man has a contemporary (at the time of production) setting with the other two set in historical times.The Witchfinder General is set during the English civil war and while no magical or supernatural events takes place it is a film with characters obsessed with witchcraft. The movie I watched this past Sunday night The Blood on Satan’s Claw takes place in the early 1800’s when the enlightenment, for the educated, has dispelled superstition but unlike The Witchfinder General, here the supernatural is real and evil stalks the land.

Originally conceived as an anthology film The Blood on Satan’s Claw kicks off with a country lad discovering inhuman remains in a field he was tilling. The educated judge visiting the isolated village dismisses any talk of demons as superstition leaving the villagers to face the growing threat alone. The children of the village fall under the thrall of some unseen influence bringing death and terror to the adults and children resistant to the unholy call.

While lacking in the gory effects made popular in the 80s cycle of horror films and not quite up to the standard of psychologically themed horror films, The Blood on Satan’s Claw, though not a massive hit in its time, has come to be seen as one of the founding films, along with the others in the unholy trinity, of the genre folk horror. What makes this movie effect as a horror film is that apparent randomness of the violence and misfortune that befalls various villagers. There is no ‘transgress and die’ pattern at work nor are the people targeted a direct danger to the growing evil. Terrible fates fall upon characters without reason leaving an existential dread in the air that anyone at any time is a potential victim.

Perhaps slow by today’s standards The Blood on Satan’s Claw is still worth a watch and is currently streaming on Shudder.

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Tilbury: an Update and recommendation

 

On Friday Jan 28th I posted my review and comments on the 1985 made for television Icelandic Folk horror movie Tilbury and in that essay, I commented that the film apparently took an antisemitic turn in its final act.

I am pleased, very pleased, to report that such an interpretation is at odds with the director’s intention and the Menorahs visible in the setting of the films climax were ultimately just an element of set decoration that carried the potential for misinterpretation and not confirmation of a character’s earlier accusations. The film’s reached out to me to discuss this matter and I’m happy to revisit my thoughts on this interesting piece of folk horror. (I also want to note that my Sweetie-wife strongly disagreed with my initial interpretation.)

Tilbury with its folklore that is unfamiliar to most people beyond Iceland and its strange nightmare logic sequences is not the sort of cinema that everyone enjoys but that we need more of, off beat and willing to be something more than a machete wielding masked madman. So please check out this unique piece of cinema currently streaming on Shudder.

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Icelandic Folk Horror: Tilbury

Icelandic Folk Horror: Tilbury

Made for Icelandic television in 1987 Tilbury is a short, just 53-minute, folk horror set during the British occupation of Iceland in 1940.

Audun is young man from rural Iceland. When he is sent near Reykjavik to part of the labor force building up defenses for the occupying British forces, he’s asked by the village priest to check in on a young woman, the priest’s daughter, who traveled there earlier and who has now fallen out of contact.

Out of place and naive Audun eventually finds the young woman but begins to suspect that a British officer she’s having an affair with may in fact be an imp from Icelandic folklore. As Audun investigates his experiences become more and more nightmarish.

Despite the limitations of television and budget Tilbury has much to offer; Lynchian dream logic sequences, amusing portrayals of British and American stereotypes by Icelandic performers, and a different vibe of folk horror.

The follow bit of text I am striking through. Please see my follow-up post but essentially it was wrong and I regret the error.

That said it must be noted that halfway through the run time the piece takes an ugly anti-Semitic turn that is truly baffling and utterly unnecessary to story or plot. At first these viewpoints can be dismissed as a character’s bigotry but the movie’s climatic sequence present imagery that invalidates such an interpretation.

With such an ugly turn I cannot recommend anyone support what otherwise might have been an interesting discovery.

Tilbury is currently streaming on Shudder.

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A Phantom Fidelity: Frankenstein Monster’s Creation

 

It is difficult to count the number of times Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel Frankenstein has been adapted in some form or another to motion pictures, but the count is in the scores. Some have attempted to hew closely to the novel as in Kenneth Branagh’s 1994 Mary Shelley’ Frankensteinwhile other are so disregarding of the text that creature is made into a kaiju fighting other oversized monsters in the Japanese wilderness.

What nearly all these adaptations have in common is a visually dynamic creation process where the creature is brought to life. The method varies wildly, in the first film adaptation from Edison’s company the creature is born in fire and in the aforementioned 1994 film the processed is wet and liquid much like a fetus growing in a womb. However, the most famous and most used process is lightning during a fantastic storm as inspired by the pre-code 1931 James Whale film Frankenstein. (Ironically it is not electricity that provides life the creature in this film but the undiscovered ‘Great Ray’ beyond ultraviolet that is the source of life, but the movie fixed in the popular imagination the idea of electrification into life.) This production also created another recurring fixture in future adaptations, the twisted assistant, here named Fritz, who later and indelibly became Igor.

What makes these phantom fidelities is that the novel spends an amazingly little amount of time or text on the creation itself. One paragraph, 98 words out 75,000 depict the creature creation.

” It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs.“

And yet I think it would be very difficult to persuade a production company to fund a new adaptation of Frankenstein without a climatic creation scene present. And Igor has become so accepted as cannon that in the 2004 film Van Helsing when asked why he tortures the creature Igor responds, “It’s what I do.” His existence not only as assistant but as tormentor is so fixed it no longer needs any form of explanation. The mad scientist, the sadistic assistant, and the grand act of creation seem foundational to the story and none of it existed in the original text. Perhaps the person who casts the longest shadow in the universal myth, second only to Shelley herself, is James Whale.

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A Strange Cinematic Love: Planet of the Vampires

 

When I was about 12 or 13 on the local late-night horror show I saw a movie that left a deep and lasting impression Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires.

PoV is a science-fiction horror that may have very well influenced Dan O’Bannon when he conceived of his classic scrip Alien. Adapted from a short story “A night of 21 Hours” (in Italy with the more apt title Terror in Space) the movie is an Italian/Spanish co-production with an international cast fronted by American actor Barry Sullivan. Two space craft, the Galliot and the Argos arrive at an unexplored world following a signal that may be of intelligent origin. Attempting to land the Argos nearly crashes and after a brief fugue state where the crew try to murder each other bare-handed they begin a search for the missing Galliot. Strange occurrences and lights plague the Argos’ crew, and they find that the perpetually fog shrouded planet harbors a lethal secret.

Planet of the Vampires lacked a decent budget and quite ironically vampires. The lethal secret of the planet has nothing at all to do with undead corpses feeding upon the blood of the living which is why the Italian title is so much more fitting. However even with a limited budget Bava, who was a master of in-camera special effects, produced a colorful, visually striking, and engaging piece of cinema. Sullivan is reported to have said that while on set everything looked sparse and cheap, and he was later stunned by how it appeared on screen. The film has only a couple of optical effects with everything else, including the ship’s telescreen communications before performed live in set and captured in camera. The cast deals with the multilingual nature of the international production well enough with only a few scenes where it was clear that the various cast did not under the lines being spoken by each other. (This sort of production was common in Italy at the time where English, French, Spanish, and Italian speakers would deliver their lines in their own languages with dubbing for various markets smoothing over the final product.)

Two elements of the story fixed in my mind over the decades. One, the ending which when seen becomes very obvious as to why it sticks and the other a very prosaic scene where Sullivan’s commander comments that their last-minute landing turned from a crash into an Academy perfect one. An observation that isn’t special but lodged deep into my memory.

Planet of the Vampires is not great cinema but it is fun and quite stylish.

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Stop Calling Frankenstein Science Fiction

 

It may be heretical of me, but I do not consider the 1818 novel Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley to be a work of science fiction.

That is not to take anything away from this groundbreaking, culturally impactful, piece of art. Shelley laid out a horror novel that possesses deep philosophical themes on the nature of humanity and responsibility. However, in my opinion it is not science fiction.

Science Fiction is the genre of art that looks at the current scientific and technological state of the world, extrapolates from that starting position along possible advances and uses that extrapolation to explore themes, stories, and plots of a possible future. Frankenstein for all its inventions does not do that.

Shelley makes no attempt in the novel to elaborate on the scientific process that leads to the creature’s creation. There is absolutely no, ‘because we have this bit of technology or science, we might have this thing in the future’ which is the beating heart of SF. The creation process used by the titular character is described in a manner that is more akin to sorcery than science. Mary Shelley was not interested in the process that might leads a scientist to the creation of life, and that process is science fiction, but rather her interest spring from the deep and troubling moral questions raised by the concept. Questions that are so profound as science and technology reach heights unimagined we find ourselves grappling with the same issues she raised. There is no doubting her brilliance. But she did not extrapolate and that is what separates, genre-wise, her work from that of Wells and Vern. Philosophically Wells tried to keep up with her, but she beat him on that front handily and Vern always seemed more concerned with the engineering than the ethics. All three giants were critical in laying out thematic and conventions that we now accept as science-fiction by Shelley did not invent the genre.

 

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Stolen Infirmity

 

If you follow politics, you are likely familiar with the concept of Stolen Valor where someone claims a military history or deeds that are untrue. They served in combat when in reality they never left the base admin offices and so on.

Hollywood, the most creative place on Earth, has rebooted and reimagined the concept and created what I’m calling Stolen Infirmity.

Over the least several decades there has been a general awakening in American culture to be more supportive, sympathetic, and understanding of people suffering from addictions, disorders, and past trauma. This is a good thing and these people need our attention and our compassion.

However, individuals accused of evil acts are stealing and claiming infirmities as a shield against any and all responsibility for their heinous actions.

People in actual therapy for these serious issues take responsibility for their behavior, for the harm that they have done to others, for their actions but these celebrities do just the opposite. The actions are not their fault but a result of their condition, their drinking, their sex addiction, certainly not themselves.

You can see this on full display in the recent interview where once beloved geek icon Joss Wheadon attempts to rehab his reputation. Despite numerous accusations from numerous people from nearly every production he has led. Somehow none of this true, somehow none of this is hisfault. Somehow, it’s all down to his trauma, and that actors somehow can’t understand his words.

An entire field of bulls would stink as badly.

 

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The Power of Mystery

When an audience or reader has a deficit of information one of two possibilities is likely. They may become frustrated and confused, disengaging with the piece or they may become intrigued and start filling in the missing bits from their own imagination.

In 1975’s Jaws, the mechanical shark worked rarely, and the filmmakers were forced to scrap plans that would have shown the beast on screen much more than the final film. With clever tension building techniques they crafted a taunt masterpiece around not seeing the shark until the final act.

In the television series Babylon 5 the Vorlons and Shadows were powerful mysterious being playing at some struggle that stretched over eons. They captivated the imagination and speculation. Then, once their background was explained, these master races were reduced to disappointed children of a cosmic divorce.

Hannibal Lector, pulled from a supporting role in the novel The Silence of the Lambs to a central thematic element in the film adaptation sparked endless fascination now neutered by endless backstory excavations and explanations.

This brings me to Boba Fett.

Fett, ignoring the animated sequence in the Holiday Special, first appeared in Star Wars: The Empires Strikes Back as the laconic bounty hunter that outwitted Han Solo and captured him for Darth Bader and the Empire. Other than showing a cleverness equal to or greater than Solo’s and successfully backtalking to Darth Vader the character did very little and never revealed his face. A perfect combination to create mystery and fascination with exploded almost immediately. The characters casual end in the next film ignited outrage as already a myth had grown up around him.

Now we are treated to a limited series The Book of Boba Fett centered on the character and as he is seen and heard more and more, he has lost nearly all of his mythic standing.

Having watched 3 of seven episodes I can’t say that anything about the character is worthy of his legendary status. As a guest character in The Mandalorian he was able to maintain that air of mystery that supported him as a mythic character. Front and center of his own series, his own story, he cannot remain an unexplained mystery and like Hannibal Lecter he shrinks in stature.

Mystery is a delicate element in storytelling. Use too much and your story if befuddled and confused, reveal too much as is happening here and there is little to entice.

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Trump Didn’t Create GOP Anti-Vaxxers

 

There is a tendency to lay at the feet of the Former President all the ills of the current GOP ignoring the fact that pre-existing rot is what allowed the charlatan to leap to the front of the GOP field in 2015 and take command of the party.

With the COVID-19 pandemic killing over 800,000 Americans a time-travelers from a mere decade ago would be shocked at how virulent the GOP bases is in resisting this literally lifesaving vaccine, but that time traveler would be ignoring the GOP’s history with an anti-vaccine stance.

Human Papillomavirus is responsible for a number of cancers found primarily in women. HPV is often transmitted via sexual intercourse and can lay dormant in a person for decades. In 2006 the first vaccines against HPV reached the market with the promise to save thousands of lives. For the vaccine to be most effective it is best to administer it before any HPV infection dictating the best course is to vaccinate before sexual activity.

Conservatives rebelled. Ignoring the danger to the lives of thousands of women their only concern, and an utterly unfounded one, was vaccinating against a virus that was principally transmitted sexually would encourage promiscuity. To date legislation merely recommending the vaccination has been defeated by GOP forces.

In 2015 as candidates jostled for the GOP presidential nomination, Senator Paul Rand, a doctor for god’s sake, tied vaccination to autism, a thoroughly discredited position. When confronted with video of his statement Paul insisted his words did not mean what they meant suggesting that people should believe him over their lying eyes.

 

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Grab Bag

Grab Bag

 

Here’s a smattering of topics to kick off the week. Forgive me if my thoughts are scattered and a little light but Monday Migraines are less than fun.

Author and Coordinating Judge Dave Farland has died. I never had the pleasure of working directly with Mr. Farland though a number of my writers pals have and none have had a single bad word about the man. He apparently was devoted to helping new writers and that is admirable. His friends and family have my deepest sympathies.

Vulcanic Eruption in the pacific. An undersea volcano near the island of Tonga erupted massively. So much so that tsunami warnings were issued around the entire pacific rim and the eruptions itself was captured and easily visible from orbiting satellites. The video is online and is both awe inspiring and terrifying.

Shudder now has the 3 hours documentary Woodlands dark and Days Bewitched exploring ‘folk horror’ films from around the world. It is an excellent primer on the sub-genre and has put many new films on my ‘want to watch list.’

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