Just some bros out enjoying the night.
And if you’re wondering where the Bride of Frankenstein is, this is boys’ night. Also, the Phantom of the Opera wasn’t invited because he made out with Dracula’s girlfriend even though they weren’t dating at the time, but still, that’s just not cool, man.
And now we come to the end of our “Horror Icons” week, with a villain whose recognition is on par with Jason or Freddy. Though it’s always someone different under the Ghostface shroud when the movie ends, the mask is what viewers remember the most. “Scream” borrows a tact from Jason, taking something relatively ordinary (a Halloween ghost mask that could be bought just about anywhere) and turning it into something terrifying. It doesn’t matter who’s under there, the only thing that matters is that mask.
Most readers, even if they aren’t horror fans, have probably seen the “Scream” films. They were pretty ubiquitous upon their release, and if a given audience member didn’t like horror, they could easily rationalize that these films were “thrillers” or “mysteries” and occupy themselves with figuring out who the killer was while ignoring all the icky gore. Whatever you have to do to help you sleep at night, unnamed audience member.
“Scream” tells the story of Sydney Prescott and her group of friends as they attempt to figure out who’s calling up teenagers, quizzing them on scary movies and then brutally killing them. These murders also tie in with the one-year anniversary of Sidney’s mother’s murder. Over 15 years later, it still holds up, and I have a soft spot in my heart for it.
Like Robert England and “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” the “Child’s Play” series owes a great deal to Brad Dourif, who voices the killer doll Chucky. Without him, the character wouldn’t be nearly as menacing — or nearly as fun.
The “Child’s Play” series is another that benefits greatly from the killer talking and wise-cracking, much like the “Nightmare” series. Though it too suffers some of the same flaws, moving into far more jokey territory as the series progressed. The first film explains the origins of Chucky, originally Charles Lee Ray, a serial killer. Pursued by the police, he uses voodoo to put his soul into the body of a doll. This doll soon finds it way into the hands of young Andy. Later, as strange things start happening and people start turning up dead, Andy realizes something’s a little off about his new toy, but who’s going to believe him? After being shot and bleeding, Chucky learns that his doll body is becoming human and if he doesn’t move his soul into a human body soon, he’ll be trapped in his current form forever. Because Andy was the first person he revealed his true nature to, he can move his soul into Andy’s body, which he’s more than happy to do. Andy, along with help from his mother and the cop who was after Charles Lee Ray, is able to stop Chucky and kill him (or does he?)
Death and sex have always been intertwined in horror films. In “Friday the 13th,” camp counselor sex was pretty much the motive for all the killings. The only survivor of Michael Myers’ stab-festival in “Halloween” is the virginal hero, played by Jamie Lee Curtis. In “A “Nightmare on Elm Street,” right after having sex, a girl is mutilated and dragged across the ceiling of her bedroom. Sex equals death. This pops up again in the “Hellraiser” films, starting with 1987′s “Hellraiser” (based on director Clive Barker’s short story “The Hellbound Heart”).
In the first film, a man named Frank is a hedonist who’s after every possible sexual pleasure he can find. He hears of a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration that will take him into a realm of intense carnal pleasures. He finds it, figures out how to open and immediately hooks rip him to pieces. Apparently this is how you gain access to the Hell-like world run by the Cenobites, a group of formerly human monsters who practice extreme sadomasochistic torture, blending pleasure and pain into one otherworldly even. Leading the Cenobites is Pinhead, who’s name pretty much tells you all you need to know about him. Frank’s brother Larry moves into his house, somehow releases Frank’s bloody, flesh-less body back into the real world, where it proceeds to kill people (with the help of Larry’s wife) and regain his strength. Larry’s daughter Kirsty figures out what’s going on, steals the Lament Configuration and summons Pinhead to come get the guy who escaped his clutches.
Whereas “Halloween” built atmosphere and tension, 1980′s “Friday the 13th” was mainly concerned with “How can we kill that guy and make it shocking and cool?” This question was answered in a multitude of ways, the best of which was “Let’s push an arrow through Kevin Bacon’s throat!”
“Friday the 13th” follows a group of counselors as they try to re-open Camp Crystal Lake after a bunch of murders caused it to close a couple decades earlier. But lo and behold, the murders are starting again, usually involving couples who are busy sexin’ it up. Lots of people get killed in gruesome ways, two women get into a fight and one them loses her head (ha), and there’s a jump-scare at the end (stolen from “Carrie”) and then the movie’s over.
When the movie was a success, it was no surprise that a sequel was on the way, but who would be the killer, since the original murderer was dispatched in the first film? Well, how about that son of hers who supposedly died? Yep, Jason, the face of the entire series, doesn’t really show up until part 2, and he doesn’t get his hockey mask until part 3 (in glorious 1980s 3-D!).
Many horror fans (especially overly serious/pretentious ones) will be quick to point out that director Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas,” released alongside “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” in 1974, was the first proper slasher movie. But John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” released four years later, was the film to put the slasher genre front and center, which brings us to Michael Myers.
If you haven’t seen “Halloween,” you’re doing yourself a disservice. The first movie is a classic and rightfully so. Much like “Chain Saw,” “Halloween” doesn’t dump gallons of blood on the screen. It’s all about unrelenting tension, which is important for a movie like this. And I dare say the movie wouldn’t be half as effective without Carpenter’s simple score.
“Halloween II” isn’t as good as its predecessor, but it’s still great fun. The films picks up the story exactly where the first film ends, which provides a nice sense of continuity between the two, making it all seem like one really terrible night in the life of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis). The film ends with closure and seeming demise of Michael Myers.
“Halloween III: Season of the Witch” was Carpenter’s attempt to make a different Halloween-themed movie under the familiar “Halloween” banner. This plan backfired, since people showed up to see Michael Myers and didn’t care about some masks that would kill people. Also, Stonehenge was involved.
In a semi-sequel to last year’s Univeral Monsters series, this week I’ll be focusing on seven “horror icons” from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. I chose my picks based on a few criteria: the character had to be easily recognizable, something that every horror fan, and most casual moviegoers, would know or at least heard of; I also tended to stick with characters who’d had several sequels, reboots, re-imaginings, etc.; and mainly I picked them based on which films I enjoyed the most. (Sorry, “Leprechaun” series, but even though you fit several of those criteria, I think most of your movies are terrible.)
I’m going to go in chronological order, so that means we’re starting with 1974′s “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” It’s been over thirty years since it’s initial release and it still holds up. Director Tobe Hooper seemed to take a page from other up-and-coming horror filmmakers, like Wes Craven with “Last House on the Left,” and uses his limited budget to wondrous effect, crafting a grimy, icky film that still shocks audiences, despite the notable lack of blood. I watched this with an audience a few years ago, and people still jumped and screamed at all the right parts, even after seeing the unnecessary remake and the doubly unnecessary prequel to the remake.
For those uninitiated, “Massacre” follows five teenagers on their way to visit their grandfather’s old house. Along the way, they run afoul of a nasty hitchhiker and then cross paths with a towering monster known as Leatherface. It’s a great movie and it still delivers. The sequels do a little less delivering, but they’re still relatively entertaining, even though there’s almost no continuity between films, unfortunately. The second film has Dennis Hopper as the family’s crazed patriarch and genre-staple Ken Foree shows up to kick some ass in part three. Part four boasts both Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger and it’s pretty awful. The remake wasn’t terrible, but was wholly unnecessary and the less said about the prequel the better. Supposedly there’s a planned 3-D version coming in 2012, but I’m not sure if that’s a remake, a sequel or some hybrid of the two.
Either way, Leatherface and the rest of his cannibal family still have what it takes to shock and scare. With the Halloween season quickly approaching, check out the “Massacre” series. I guarantee you’ll learn to appreciate the sweet sounds of a whirring chainsaw.
Join me tomorrow as I tackle a menacing, knife-wielding shape with the blackest eyes.
