Steven Jay Schneider

FEAR WITHOUT FRONTIERS:
HORROR CINEMA ACROSS THE GLOBE
First edition published July 2003

by FAB Press
FAB Press
Grange Suite
Surrey Place
Godalming
GU71EY
England, U.K.
www.fabpress.com
Text copyright © 2003 Steven Jay Schneider and individual contributors.
Design and layout by Harvey Fenton.
Front cover design by Deborah Bacci, Chris Charlston and Harvey Fenton.
This Volume copyright © FAB Press 2003

World Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without the prior written permission of the Publisher.
Copyright of illustrations is the property of the production or distribution companies concerned.

These illustrations are reproduced here in the spirit of publicity, and whilst every effort has been
made to trace the copyright owners, the editor and publishers apologise for any omissions and will
undertake to make any appropriate changes in future editions of this book if necessary.
Front cover illustration:

Maa ki Shakti (aka Ammoni) (India).
Back cover illustrations:

top right: Khooni Panja (India), middle left: Exorcismo Negro (Brazil), bottom right: Seytan (Turkey)
Frontispiece illustration:
Dany Carrel discovers the secret of the stone women in the shadows of the Mill tower,
MM of the Stone Women (Italy).
Contents page illustration:
Promotional montage for Sohail Shaikh's Ab Kya Hoga (India).
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 1 903254 15 9
Fear Without Frontiers
Horror Cinema Across the Globe
edited by
Steven Jay Schneider
Contents
Preface 7
- Kim Newman
Introduction 11
- Steven Jay Schneider
PART I: ARTISTS, ACTORS, AUTEURS

Madmen, visionaries and freaks: the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky 15
- Pam Keesey
Coffin Joe and José Mojica Marins: strange men for strange times 27
- André Barcinski
Return of the phantom: Maxu Weibang's Midnight Song 39

- David Robinson
Enfant terrible: the terrorful, wonderful world of Anthony Wong 45

- Lisa Odham Stokes & Michael Hoover
The rain beneath the earth: an interview with Nonzee Nimibutr 61

- Mitch Davis
Cinema of the doomed: the tragic horror of Paul Naschy 69

- Todd Tjersland
Sex and death, Cuban style: the dark vision of Jorge Molina 81
- Ruth Goldberg; followed by an interview with the director, "Testing Molina,"
by Steven Jay Schneider
PART II: FILMS, SERIES, CYCLES

Fantasmas del cine Mexicano: the 1930s horror film cycle of Mexico 93
- Gary D. Rhodes
The cosmic mill of Wolfgang Preiss: Giorgio Ferroni's Mill of the Stone Women 105
- David Del Valle
The "lost" horror film series: the Edgar Wallace krimis 111
- Ken Hanke
The exotic pontianaks 125

- Jan Uhde & Yvonne Uhde
Playing with genre: defining the Italian giallo 135

- Gary Needham
The Italian zombie film: from derivation to invention 161

- Donato Totaro
Austrian psycho killers & home invaders: the horror-thrillers Angst & Funny Games 175
- Jiirgen Felix & Marcus Stiglegger
PART III: GENRE HISTORIES AND STUDIES
Coming of age: the South Korean horror film 185
- Art Black
Between appropriation and innovation: Turkish horror cinema 205

- Kaya Ozkaracalar
Witches, spells and politics: the horror films of Indonesia 219

- Stephen Gladwin
The unreliable narrator: subversive storytelling in Polish horror cinema 231

- Nathaniel Thompson
The Beast from Bollywood: a history of the Indian horror film 243
- Pete Tombs
In a climate of terror: the Filipino monster movie 255

- Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr.
French revolution: the secret history of Gallic horror movies 265

- David Kalat
PART IV: CASE STUDY - JAPANESE HORROR CINEMA

Pain threshhold: the cinema of Takashi Miike 285
- Rob Daniel & Dave Wood; followed by an interview with the director,
"When cynicism becomes art," by Julien Fonfrede
The Japanese horror film series: Ring and Eko Eko Azarak 295
- Ramie Tateishi
The urban techno-alienation of Sion Sono's Suicide Club 305

- Travis Crawford
Notes on contributors 312
Index 314
Preface
Kim Newman
Of all screen genres, only the western and Edgar Allan Poe - who half-aspired to a
the musical were Invented and developed European sensibility even as he
1
primarily or even exclusively in the USA. incarnated the first great stereotype of
And yet, in almost all cases, the dominant American letters, the alcoholic newspa-
strains of any given genre, identifying perman - most of the subjects of early
cycles and stand-alone individual master- American horror films were European.
works, are American: the gangster film, the Chaney's greatest grotesque characters
melodrama, the war movie, the romantic were French, in The Hunchback of Notre
comedy, science fiction. Only the martial Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the
arts movie grew up away from Hollywood, a Opera (1925), while 1930s monsters
non-American alternative to the western. hailed from that imaginary Mittel Europa
The mainstream of the horror film is which is always "Transylvania" whether or
American, though the defining cycle of the not it is actually supposed to be
1930s, commenced at Universal Studios Czechoslovakia (Mark of the Vampire,
by Tod Browning's Dracula and James 1935) or the made-up "Kleinschloss" (The
Whale's Frankenstein (both 1931), is a Vampire Bat, 1933), Haiti (White Zombie,
synthesis of Hollywood industrial 1932), the South Seas (King Kong, 1933),
production methods with a primarily Ancient Egypt (The Mummy, 1932),
(though not exclusively) British literary fogbound London (Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde,
tradition (Bram Stoker, Mary Shelley, R.L. 1932, The Lodger, 1944), Paris (Mad Love,
Stevenson) and the expressionist visual 1935) or the Far East (The Mask of Fu 1
Nevertheless, the
western owes a
techniques coined by the run of silent Manchu, 1932). Some films even doubled great deal to the
horror films from Germany. Many of the the alienation effect by bringing monsters pre-clnematic
key personnel in the first American horror from remote locales to a contemporary traditions of bandit
tales found in every
boom, often employed by Universal London that still seemed mid-Victorian by culture in the world
Pictures and then taken up by competitor Yankee standards, as witness the and the musical to
Transylvanian visitors of Dracula and many European
studios eager to get in on the act, came varieties of theatre-
from the United Kingdom (James Whale, Dracula's Daughter (1936), and the with-music.
Boris Karloff, Claude Rains, Charles Tibetan curse of The WereWolf of London
Laughtoh, Colin Clive, Lionel Atwill) or had (1935). Even the odd American-set horror, 2
Chaney was
never quite the
experience in the German film industry like Warner Brothers' Dr. X (1932) and horror star Forrest
(Bela Lugosi, Karl Freund, Edgar G. Ulmer, Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933), took J. Ackerman would
Paul Leni, Curt Siodmak, Peter Lorre, pains to establish a "European" feel, like him to have
been. His career
Michael Curtiz). The death of home-grown casting Englishman Lionel Atwill as range, taking in
2
macabre icon Lon Chaney after the foreign-sounding madmen (Dr. Xavier, pirates In Treasure
completion of his only talkie (The Unholy Ivan Igor) who menace all-American Fay Island (1920) to the
drill instructor of Go
Three, 1930) meant that for Americans Wray and handing directing chores over to Tell the Marines
horror would speak with a European the versatile Hungarian Michael Curtiz, (1927), marks him
who deftly laid Technicolor expressionist out to be as much a
accent, whether the sly Anglo-Indian lisp precursor of
of Karloff or the drawled Hungarian touches over the typical Warners US big chameleon
cadences of Lugosi. city feel. The Curtiz films make something character actor
stars like Alec
of the disjunction between mad science
Aside from the persistent run of films Guinness and Peter
experiments or bodies encased in wax and Sellers as it does a
Murders in the Rue Morgue, 1932; The monster man like
fast-talking, cynical reporters who joke
Black Cat, 1934) drawn from the works of Karloff or Lugosi.
horror cinema across the globe 7

preface
about Prohibition and snarl their copy

down the telephone like refugees from The
FrontPage (1931).
The 'Universal' style of horror stayed
in vogue for fifteen years, modified a little
by the arrival of a new American horror
star in the doggily unlikely Lon Chaney, Jr.
- his most successful vehicle, The Wolf Man
(1941), casts him as a Yankee who goes
back to his roots in a backlot Wales and
mingles with all manner of Brits and
gypsies, accepting the script's curse via a
bite from Bela Lugosi that also suggests a
curse of typecasting being passed on. In
the 1940s, the most invigorating new cycle
came from the Russian-born Val Lewton,
whose first features were directed by the
Frenchman Jacques Tourneur (Cat People,
1942; I Walked With a Zombie, 1943; The
Leopard Man, 1943) and set in the
3
Americas but who called in American
directors Mark Robson and Robert Wise
even as his films cast Karloff and looked to
Greece (Isle of the Dead, 1945), Scotland
(The Body Snatcher, 1945) or London
(Bedlam, 1946). In the 1950s, a fresh
approach to horror was established by The
Thing From Another World (1951), which at
once looked further afield than Romania for
its monster but emphasised the very
Americanness of its human characters and
combined gothic shadows with the fast
pace and tough dialogue associated with its
supposed producer, Howard Hawks. The
gothic came back via England's Hammer
Films (their breakthrough feature was The
Curse of Frankenstein, 1957) and the most
(1968) and The Exorcist (1973), which came
completely American cycle of horror
to dominate the genre in ways still being
emerged in Roger Corman's series of Poe-
felt. Almost all the auteurs cited above have
derived films starring the effete but non-
made films based on the works of Stephen
European Vincent Price (commencing with 4
3
Though all are King, who became the default American
The Fall of the House of Usher, 1960).
foreign-tinged: Cat horror writer after Poe (H.P. Lovecraft never
People is about a
Serbian curse,
Independent American filmmakers like quite took pole position) and represents the
I Walked with a George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead, most monolithically American face the
Zombie concerns 1968), Wes Craven (The Last House on the genre has ever had. They have also all
Caribbean voodoo
and The Leopard Left, 1972), Larry Cohen (It's Alive!, 1975), worked through their combination of debt
Man transfers a the Canadian David Cronenberg (Shivers, to tradition and desire to escape from it by
novel set in South 1976), John Carpenter (Halloween, 1978) making revisionary vampire movies:
America to New
Mexico. and Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Cronenberg's Rabid (1978), Romero's Martin
Massacre, 1974) might have rebelled (1978), Hooper's Safem's Lot (1979),
4
Hooper's Salem's against the conventions of the Universal- Cohen's A Return to Salem's Lot (1986),
Lot (1979), Hammer-Hollywood style when they set out Craven's A Vampire in Brooklyn (1995),
Cronenberg's The
Dead Zone (1983), to make committed, extreme, gruesome, Carpenter's Vampires (1999).
Carpenter's genuinely scary, politically provocative The figure of the vampire has come to
Christine (1983),
Cohen's A Return to
horror films, but they nevertheless consti- stand for the horror film as the figure of the
Salem's Lot (1986), tuted a mutation of the mainstream. From cowboy does for the western, and a handy
Romero's The Dark the low-budget zombie, slasher and
Half (1993). way of encapsulating the horror film in any
Craven's A venereal mutant movies that invigorated culture is to examine its vampire movies.
Nightmare on Elm American horror in the 1970s rose entire Vampire movies have been made in Turkey
S!reer(1984) is cycles, including the larger-budgeted Devil
heavily King- (Drakula Istanbul'da. 1953), India (Bandh
influenced. movies that followed Rosemary's Baby Darwaza, 1990), Hong Kong (the Mr.
8 fear without frontiers

preface
Vampire series), Italy (L'ultima preda del The first important studies of the
vampiro/Playgirls and the Vampire, 1960), history of the horror film, by Carlos Clarens
Spain (El gran amor del Conde (An Illustrated History of the Horror Film,
Dracula/Dracula's Great Love, 1972), 1967) and Ivan Butler (The Horror Film,
France (Le frisson des vampires/Sex and 1967), made the development of genre a
the Vampire, 1970), Germany (Derfluch der story, conceding its roots with Méliès in
grunen augen/Cave of the Living Dead, France and the Expressionists in Germany
1963), Korea (Wolnyoui Han, 1980), the but then following an Anglo-American
Philippines (The Vampire People, 1966), narrative with very occasional diversions
South Africa (Pure Blood, 2001), Greece like the Italianate horrors of Mario Bava.
(Dracula Tan Exarchia, 1983), Taiwan Since the 1960s, this has been the accepted
(Elusive Song of the Vampire, 1987), and natural way of looking at genre - until
Denmark (Dracula's Ring, 1978), Malaysia recently for the very practical reason that
(Pontianak, 1956), Belgium (Le rouge aux most commentators writing in English had
levres / Daughters of Darkness, 1971), probably seen every American or British
Argentina (Sangre de Vírgenes, 1968), horror film ever made but only a scattering
Brazil (As sete vampiras /7 Vampires, of genre movies from other territories. It
1985), Cuba (¡Vampiros en la was a simple matter to dismiss, say, the
Habana!/Vampires in Havana, 1985), Mexican gothic cycle of the late 1950s and
Mexico (El vampiro/The Vampire, 1958), early 1960s by ridiculing the likes of El
Japan (Chi o Suu Me/Lake of Dracula, Santo contra las mujeres vampiro (Samson
1971), the Netherlands (Bloedverwanten / vs. the Vampire Women, 1961), or to
Blood Relations, 1977), Australia (Thirst, shudder at the "ineptitude" of Jesus Franco
1979) and the former Soviet Union on the strength of an hour-long cut-down of
(Pyuschye Krovy/Blood-Suckers, 1991) - La comtesse noire (Female Vampire, 1973).
and though it took a surprisingly long time Of course, the French magazine Midi-Minuit
(discounting US-backed efforts like the Fantastique was more open to films from
Subspecies films), even Romania has gotten non-Anglophone cultures, and Gallic
in on the act, with the 2002 release of Vlad enthusiasm for Bava was caught by British
nemuritorul/Dracula the Impaler. critics frustrated at the censor-imposed
In each case, the elements come from withholding of La maschera del demonio
English-language horror literature and film, (The Mask of Satan, 1960) from the United
with the archetypal figure of the cloaked Kingdom even as AIP was hammering out
Dracula reincarnated in a local context and Americanised versions of his films for
set among conventions drawn from specific kiddie matinees.
lore. Obviously, in vampire movies made in It is possible that English-language
non-Christian countries, the monster is not releases did no favours. To this day, there
repelled by the cross - but might shrink is an oppressive tendency on the part of
from a statue of the Buddha or the aum American writers when discussing 'foreign'
symbol. Frequently, the fanged blood- horror films to use slapdash American
drinker of Hollywood and Hammer is release titles - listing La maschera as Black
commingled with whatever variant features Sunday, or even to colonise Brazil's major
in national myth, like the hopping, mummy- horror icon by tagging Jose Mojica Marins's
look jiangshi of Chinese films. Occasionally, alter ego "Coffin Joe" rather than Zé do
there seems even to be a deliberate setting Caixâo, as if a character as strange and ^ As is made
of different horror traditions against each specifically resonant could be processed at especially obvious
other, for satirical purpose in ¡Vampiros en by those scrambled
Ellis Island and repackaged as a samba versions made by
la Habana!, in which languidly decadent Freddy Krueger. To a certain breed of Jerry Warren, who
European vampires and aggressively camp-follower, the poor dubbing is would transform La
capitalist American gangster vampires are Momia Azteca
essential to appreciation of films that can (1957) and La Casa
both put in their places by a revolutionary therefore be sneered at for their technical del Terror (1960)
Cuban half-breed; or just to lever in a ineptitude and recycled for contemptible into Attack of the
Mayan Mummy
contrast, as in As sete vampiras, whose horror host shows, cut into with pathetic (1964) and Face of
cloaked Count-type turns out to be innocent jokes and contextualised as trash. It's an the Screaming
of vampire murders actually committed by a Werewolf (1965) by
especial irony that this unearned superi- intercutting footage
blood-sucking plant, or the several recent ority is achieved in the process of from the original
Hong Kong films that take a cue from Americanisation in that the bad dubbing with new material
Hammer's The Legend of the Seven Golden shot with flat
was usually done Stateside - the average lighting, locked-
Vampires (1973) by mixing Transylvanian- Mexican horror movie is lit, art-directed, down camera, non-
style vampires with their hopping Chinese photographed and edited to a high existent art direction
and endless
cousins. standard,5
and the adoption of different pointless dialogue.

preface
(though not necessarily worse) styles of Fear Without Frontiers is not an

acting is a cultural variant rather than a entry-level book. It is assumed that the
failing. Bela Lugosi and Robert Englund reader will already have a working
are no more high-mimesis in their line knowledge of mainstream horror and be
6
An honourable
readings than German Robles or Marins. open to alternative possibilities, even
exception is Barrie The worst type of colonialism comes in the purposes, of the genre. It does not pretend
Pattison's The Seal practice of remaking foreign horror films to be a complete overview of non-Anglo-
of Dracula (1975),
with its excellent to suit a notional American audience, with American horror, focusing instead on a
round-ups of the incidental effect of insulting the clutch of specific creators or countries,
vampire movies
from Spain, the original audience when Hollywood exports asking always what horror might mean in
Philippines, Italy, their versions of Godzilla (1998), this particular context, what are the local
Mexico and France. Diabolique (1996) or The Vanishing (1993) factors that may have shaped these films
back to Japan, France and the (and which might be obscure to an
7
The Asian Netherlands. Low-budget American overseas audience) and what relationship
specialist critic Tony
Rayns has pointed attempts at Italian-style zombies (Shock they might have to the great ongoing
out that the English- Waves, 1977) or HK-ish hopping vampires tradition. It is an inverse snobbery to
language title used (The Jitters, 1988) aren't usually up to
for the export of
claim that anybody's horror is somehow
Ching Siu-Tung's much either. "better" than anybody else's, and there's
Qian Nu You Hun Aside from the odd article on figures no point in using Lucio Fulci as a club to
(1987), A Chinese
Ghost Story, like Dario Argento, Mario Bava, Jean batter Wes Craven. The high amazement
seemed to mislead Rollin or Paul Naschy, and the occasional factor found in many films discussed here
a lot of reviewers round-up of the monster movie scenes in comes as much from unfamiliarity as from
into believing that
this was the first film Spain or Italy, little serious writing on genuine worth: watching one Indian,
of its kind rather non-English language horror was Malaysian or Hong Kong horror picture is
than a summation 7
a revelation, but ploughing through fifty
of years of genre
available until the publication in 1986 of
activity, as if critics the first edition of Phil Hardy's Film will reveal conventions and cliches as
were to consider, Encyclopedia: Horror volume, from Aurum prevalent and ultimately limiting as those
say, Terence
Fisher's
6
in the UK and Overlook In the U S . Often that obtain in the American slasher film.
Frankenstein Must erroneously thought to be entirely written There is also something faintly trainspot-
Be Destroyed by its editor, the Hardy volume gives at terish about those who prize foreign films
(1967) without
acknowledging that least equal space to horror films from for levels of gore, sexual violence or
the Hammer horror around the world as it does to the more general depravity they feel US movies are
cycle was ten years familiar British and American product, not delivering. If that's your only interest
and several dozen
films old by then. showcasing thoughtful, informed pieces in cinema, then form an internet
from unsung experts Paul Willeman, Tom newsgroup and swap lists of ten favourite
8
Perhaps surpris- Milne and Verina Glaessner. The real eyeball-gouges with similarly sad fellows -
ingly, there are few this book will have little to say to you.
scary Americans in importance of the Hardy encyclopedia may
world horror to be in its tone: not academic, but also not "Foreignness" is an essential
stand as the equiva- crippled by the Michael Medved 'Golden
lents of the sinister component of horror - to meet a monster,
Yanks who crop up Turkey' approach that has made so much it must come to you (like Dracula
in spaghetti writing on cinema in general, and horror emigrating from Transylvania) or you
westerns (like Lou cinema in particular, irrelevant, witless,
Castel in iQuien must go to it (like the Mummy, waiting in
sabe? / A Bullet for wilfully ignorant and irritating. Compiled an Egyptian tomb). Here, we are consid-
the General, 1967), well before the wide availability of most of ering the possibility that you might
though monstrous
Brits like Dr. Jekyll
the films it mentions on video when even 8
yourself be foreign. Some things (death,
and Jack the Ripper researching basic credits resembled a trip darkness, being alone) frighten us all;
are familiar figures into a lost continent, the first edition of
in continental horror others (flying severed heads, Godzilla, the
movies, some of the book had more than its share of errors golem) are culturally specific. In this book,
which are set in a but also more than its share of first-time- we're interested in the second category.
pretend-London (the in-print coverage. For instance,
German Die Toten Now, let's meet some interesting people.
augen von London I Willeman's entries on Franco cleared the
Dead Eyes of way for a more thoroughgoing
London, 1961, the Kim Newman
Spanish Dr. Jekyll y
reassessment of this filmmaker's work,
while the openness of the project London, 2003
el hombre lobo I Dr
Jekyll and the encouraged later writers like Pete Tombs
Werewolf, 1971, the
Swiss Jack the (Immoral Tales, 1995, Mondo Macabro,
Ripper, 1976) as 1997). Steve Thrower (editor of the
bizarre to English indispensable Eyeball magazine) and Tim
audiences as the
Paris of Mad Love Lucas (of Video Watchdog) to search even
(1936) or Theatre of further afield and open up the horror sub-
Death (1967) must cultures of many lands.
seem to the French.

Introduction
Steven Jay Schneider
Despite the occasional ebb of popular Vanilla Sky (2001), Insomnia (2002) and
interest (followed by the inevitable flow), Ring (2002) are themselves remakes of
throughout the history of cinema the foreign horror films and thrillers.
horror genre has proven itself perhaps the What do horror films from other
most profitable of all those competing for parts of the globe look like, and sound
play time in theatres across the US and like? What are their particular conven-
UK. But as even a brief look at the line- tions, their stylistic trademarks, and their
ups of recent film festivals and conven- sources of inspiration? Who are their
tions makes apparent, the United States major auteurs, actors and monstrous
and Britain are by no means the only antagonists? And what are the dynamics
countries to develop, produce and of cross-cultural horror exchange? In the
promote cinematic tales of terror. Horror pages that follow, a collection of experts
films serve as dark playgrounds for the on horror cinema from around the world
embodiment and dramatisation of both occupy themselves with all of these
universally felt anxieties and culturally questions, and others besides, attempting
specific fears in a whole slew of other to answer them through a productive and
nations and regions as well. entertaining mix of historical background,
With the rise of the internet and the comparative analysis and close readings
increased availability of previously unseen of particular films, cycles, series and
(sometimes unheard of) titles on video and subgenres. Interspersed throughout the
DVD over the past ten years, both fans book are interviews and conversations
and scholars - not to imply the existence with key players in contemporary world
of a dichotomy where one really doesn't horror cinema, from innovative writer-
exist - have become increasingly familiar directors such as Nonzee Nimibutr
with the passionate and perverse horror (Thailand), Jorge Molina (Cuba), Takashi
directors, films and stars to come out of Miike (Japan) and Sion Sono (also Japan)
such countries as Italy, Japan, Spain, to award-winning Hong Kong "Category
Germany and Hong Kong. But still not III" superstar Anthony Wong.
enough are aware of the fact that the In his Preface to this collection,
genre's geographic borders stretch from horror novelist, critic and scholar Kim
Turkey to Thailand, from France to the Newman has done a wonderful job of
Philippines, from Chile to Czechoslovakia setting the global stage for what is to
to Cuba, and beyond. That significant, or come. All that remains by way of
at least noteworthy, horror film output introduction is a brief note about the
comes from areas as diverse as Singapore, policy of selection employed herein. The
Mexico, India, Austria, Korea, Brazil and editor's working definition of "horror" was
Poland. That classics of the genre like left intentionally broad, not because it was
Dracula (1931), Psycho (1960), The felt that any candidate film from any
Exorcist (1973) and The Silence of the country should count as a member of the
Lambs (1990) have exerted nearly as horror genre in some conventional,
profound an influence on cinematic Western-oriented sense of the term, but
traditions abroad as at home, and, that, at this still-early stage of world
conversely, that recent Hollywood produc- horror cinema study, it's a lot safer - and
tions such as The Vanishing (1993), much more fun - to be too inclusive rather
horror cinema across the globe

introduction
than too exclusive. Of course limitations of Special thanks are due to my publisher,
space made it impossible to devote a Harvey Fenton at FAB Press, who also
chapter to every country with a horror undertook all the design, layout and
film tradition, and my admittedly lame production co-ordination duties, and to
excuse for leaving out relevant material on Francis Brewster for his sterling efforts at
such English-speaking nations as the proofing and indexing stage. Hearty
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and thanks are also due to all of the Fear
Canada, not to mention the United States Without Frontiers contributors; to the
and Britain, is that the book's original title students who took my classes on horror
(quickly discarded by the publisher) was cinema (even when that wasn't what they
The Subtitles That Dripped Blood! (I said it signed up for) at Tufts University, New York
was a lame excuse...) This just means University, U.C. Berkeley and CUNY-Staten
that, in the best horror movie tradition, Island; and to my veeeerrrrrry
Fear Without Frontiers needs a sequel - or understanding family and friends,
maybe three, depending on the box-office especially Elyse, Stuart, Pammy, Owen,
returns. Suzie, Max and Erin. And above all, thank
you to Katheryn Winnick (my little
Beelzebub) for hanging in there through
acknowledgements thick, thin and everything in between.
Any edited collection is the product of

intense and sustained collaboration behind
the scenes as well as between the covers,
and the present volume is no exception. I
would like to extend my sincerest thanks to
all the usual suspects, without whose
assistance, guidance and support this
project would not have come together
anywhere near as well as it has - in
particular Jane Bacci, Lucas Balbo
([email protected]), Dennis Bartok,
Adam Buck, Kelly Burkhardt (TLA
Releasing), Nigel Burrell, Renata Clark, Ian
Conrich, DiRT, Rogelio Agrasanchez Jr.
and Xochitl Fernandez de Agrasanchez at
the Agrasanchez Film Archive
(www.agrasfilms.com), Roger
Garcia, Ruth Goldberg, Susanne
Groh, Andrew James Horton,
Kier-La Janisse-Wood, David
Kalat, David Kerekes, Kinoeye,
Bill Knight, Edith Kramer, Frank
Lafond, Mirek Lipinski, Xavier Mendik,
Martin and Tom Mes, Jorge Molina,
Marc Morris, Thomas Weisser, Tony
Williams and Masa Yoshikawa.
fear without frontiers

Part One:
Artists, Actors, Auteurs
Madmen, visionaries and freaks: the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky 15

- P a m Keesey
Coffin Joe and José Mojica Marins: strange men for strange times 27
- André Barcinski
Return of the phantom: Maxu Weibang's Midnight Song 39

- David Robinson
Enfant terrible: the terrorful, wonderful world of Anthony Wong 45

- Lisa O d h a m Stokes & Michael Hoover
The rain beneath the earth: an interview with Nonzee Nimibutr 61

- Mitch Davis
Cinema of the doomed: the tragic horror of Paul Naschy 69

- T o d d Tjersland
Sex and death, Cuban style: the dark vision of Jorge Molina 8I
- R u t h G o l d b e r g ; followed b y a n interview w i t h the director, " T e s t i n g M o l i n a , "
by Steven J a y Schneider
artists, actors, auteurs
Madmen, visionaries and freaks:

the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky
Pam Keesey
Alejandro Jodorowsky is a director who Olympics covered the massacre. When

defies categorisation. With a career that Fando y Lis was released, viewers saw it as
has spanned nearly 50 years, including an allegory for the country's political
musical theatre, street theatre, mime, the climate. The film inspired riots, and the
circus, comic books, esoteric philosophy government, concerned that it might inspire
and the Tarot in addition to his work in further civil unrest, banned the film
film, it is hard to imagine that there is altogether. The Acapulco Film Festival,
anything Jodorowsky hasn't done. where the film was being shown, closed
Jodorowsky's films, like Jodorowsky early that year.
himself, also defy any easy classification. In Fando y Lis, based on a street play
Drawing from surrealism, science fiction, written by Jodorowsky's long-time friend
Zen Buddhism, classic Hollywood and and collaborator, Fernando Arrabal, Fando
Mexican urban life, just to name a few of (Sergio Klainer) and his wheelchair-bound
his many influences, Jodorowsky's films girlfriend Lis (Diana Mariscal) journey
have inspired widely divergent critical through urban rubble to find the mystical
assessments. While many critics have city of Tar. As they proceed, they encounter
found his films horrifying - bloody, violent, a variety of people who dance in the midst
excessive and grotesque - Jodorowsky's of corruption and decay. At one point, a
name is not one many viewers associate middle-class gentleman draws blood from
with the horror genre. Yet in 1989, after a Lis's arm into a glass and then drinks it.
ten-year absence from the silver screen, While not an overtly political film, Fando y
Jodorowsky resurfaced with the release of Lis touched a nerve among youth who
Santa Sangre, a smart, elegant and stylish found themselves out of step not only with
horror film produced by Claudio Argento, their parents and their generation, but also
brother of Italian horror director Dario with the middle-class establishment. They
Argento. Santa Sangre is perhaps felt betrayed by the government, the police
Jodorowsky's most mature, most polished and the army, who showed themselves
work, exhibiting his many talents, interests capable of bloodshed when faced with the
and influences, as well as his remarkable voice of youthful opposition.
skill as a storyteller and visual artist.
Fando y Lis would not be the first of
When Jodorowsky showed up in New Jodorowsky's pictures to engender contro-
York in 1970 with El Topo under his arm, he versy. In fact, controversy would become
had every reason to think that he was on one of Jodorowsky's chief trademarks in
the verge of international success. After all, the film industry. His controversial nature,
his film Fando y Lis (1968) garnered as well as his controversial content, may
worldwide attention when the Mexican partly explain why Jodorowsky hasn't
government banned the film. Weeks before made more films. It also helps to explain
the premiere, the Mexican police clashed why Jodorowsky's films remain fresh,
with student protestors, leaving hundreds innovative and challenging. Say what you
of young people dead or wounded. will about Alejandro Jodorowsky, but one
Reporters from all over the world who were thing is certain: he is not just another
in Mexico to cover the 1968 Summer opposite:
Hollywood director. Santa Sangre
horror cinema across the globe Í5

Chile/Mexico
Maurice Chevalier, who was making his

comeback at the Alhambra Theatre. While
in France, Jodorowsky made his first film, a
mime production of Thomas Mann's The
Severed Heads, which included an
introduction by Jean Cocteau. Jodorowsky
became increasingly involved with the
French surrealists, and was heavily
influenced by Antonin Artaud and his
Theatre of Cruelty. Artaud rejected
traditional Western notions of theatre in
favour of a theatre that would "make itself
the equal of life" and in which "(themes] will
be cosmic, universal, and interpreted
according to the most ancient texts."
According to Artaud, a Theatre of Cruelty
was to be "bloody and inhuman" in order to
exorcise the viewer's repressed impulses, a
philosophy Jodorowsky would take to heart.
By 1960, Jodorowsky was travelling
back and forth between Paris and Mexico
City. Along with Fernando Arrabal and
Roland Topor, Jodorowsky founded the
surrealist review SNOB, and Producciones
Pánicas - the Panic Movement. The Panic
Movement took its name from the Greek
pan, meaning "all" or "everything." The Panic
Movement embraced all things social,
cultural and political. Drawing on Artaud's
Theatre of Cruelty, the Panic Movement also
included the burgeoning popular culture of
the 60s, including science fiction, comic
books and rock-'n-roll. Producciones Pánicas
first major production was "Sacramental
Melodrama" (1965), a four-hour play that
premiered at the Paris Festival of Free
above: The early years Expression and included Jodorowsky in
Considered lost for motorcycle leathers slitting the throats of
30 years, Fando y
Lis was released on Although Jodorowsky transcends any geese, smashing plates, dancing with a
DVD by Fantoma in nation-state boundaries, he was born in cow's head and castrating a rabbi.
1999.
1930 in Iquique, Chile, the son of Russian While in Mexico, Jodorowsky started a
immigrants. As a child, he didn't fit in, and weekly comic strip (Fábulas Pánicas, or
turned to books and movies for compan- Panic Fables), directed over one hundred
ionship. In an interview with the Los plays and made his second film, Fando y
Angeles Times, Jodorowsky reminisced, "All Lis. (One of the other avant-garde artists
my life.. .movies was (sic] the most important involved in the production, Juan López
thing. I was very solitary boy: immigrant, Moctezuma, would go on to direct such
white, with a big nose... The movies were the horror cheapies as Dr. Tarr's Torture
only friend I could have. I loved Erich Von Dungeon (1972) and Mary, Mary, Bloody
Stroheim, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Mary (1976).] Fando y Lis has been
Frankenstein and Charles Laughton in The frequently, and unfavourably, compared to
1
Hunchback of Notre Dame." Fellini's Satyricon (1969). Although the two
It wasn't long before his family left the films contain many visual and narrative
small, seaside town of Iquique and moved to similarities, and despite the fact that
Santiago. There, Jodorowsky's interest in Jodorowsky has often been accused of
1
Wilmington, M. the arts blossomed. He worked with the imitating the Italian director, Fando y Lis
(1990) "Jodorowsky was released a full year before Fellini's.
Looks At Himself
circus, and began performing as a mime. He
And Uncovers became involved with street theatre, and in Quite aware that his next film, El Topo,
'Santa Sangre'." 1955 left for France, where he studied with would get short shrift (if, that is, Mexican
Los Angeles Times
Home Edition Marcel Marceau. His work in France also authorities would allow it to be shown at
(April 14), 4. included a stint directing and producing all), Jodorowsky decided to leave Mexico for

Alejandro Jodorowsky
teff:
UK theatrical poster
his film's premiere. Jodorowsky thus made as narcissistic. With an opening scene
his way to the heart of counter-cultural reminiscent of a spaghetti western,
activity: New York City. While it has been Jodorowsky also draws on surrealism,
argued that Jodorowsky's timing was off, Buddhism, Zen, nihilism and good old-
showing up at the waning of the "Movement" fashioned morality plays in structure and
characterised by counter-culture art icons narrative, a story Jodorowsky has described
such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Paul as a "quest for sainthood." Drawing from a
Morrissey and Michael Same, he variety of mystical, religious and occult texts,
nevertheless found a ready audience for his the story is less important than the meaning.
avant-garde mystical western. ("I tried While there is a thread of a plot, the pursuit
making a western", Jodorowsky has said, of meaning is really the main force behind
"and wound up with an eastern.") the film. El Topo has four acts: "Genesis",
In December of 1970, Jonas Mekas, a "Prophets", "Psalms" and "Apocalypse." The
leading figure in the world of alternative and film plays as a multicultural, multi-denomi-
independent cinema, was organising one of national tale of enlightenment. In the
his periodic avant-garde film festivals at a beginning of the film, El Topo ("the Mole" in
rundown theatre in Manhattan called the English, played by Jodorowsky) claims that
Elgin. Mekas chose to premiere he is God. As a result of his journey, he
Jodorowsky's film, showing it the same learns humility and, in the end, realises that
nights as the three devoted to the films of he is not a god, but a man.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono. El Topo would Mixing sex, violence, sadomasochism
only be shown at midnight, Mekas and a variety of marginalised characters,
announced, because it was a film that was including prostitutes, dwarves, armless and
too "heavy" to be shown at any other time. legless men (in one of the more interesting
El Topo's run was extended, playing contin- visual plays that are characteristic of
uously seven nights a week from its debut Jodorowsky, a man with no arms carries on
on 18 December 1970 through the end of his back a man with no legs), El Topo elicited
June 1971. While El Topo didn't exactly a variety of reactions. In the Village Voice,
launch Jodorowsky's career, it did launch Glenn O'Brien waxed poetic about the
the phenomenon of the "midnight movie", a meaning and symbolism of the film: "It's
marketing and exhibition phenomenon that midnight mass at the Elgin... They've come
continues to lure audiences to specialty, to see the light - and the screen before them 2
Quoted in
cult and horror films to the present day. is illumined by an abstract landscape of Hoberman, J. and J.
Jodorowsky wrote, directed, scored and desert and sky - and the ritual begins Rosenbaum,
again... Jodorowsky is here to confess; the Midnight Movies
was the star of El Topo, which may, in part, 2
(1983). New York:
explain the frequent description of the film young audience is here for communion. Harper & Row, 94.

Chile/Mexico
The New York Times's Vincent Canby, Jodorowsky's collaboration with Klein
however, had a considerably different did not go well, resulting in Klein retaining
reaction: "Has El Topo really rendered film rights to both El Topo and Holy Mountain,
criticism superfluous, or is it spawning a placing stipulations on the showing of the
kind of fascistic film criticism that hopes to two films that kept them out of distribution
strong-arm the opposition with suggestions for years. Jodorowsky then moved
of reflected ineptitude and confused minds? permanently to France. He remained active
I'd hazard the guess that a certain amount - among other things producing comic
of the pro-criticism and of the pro-audience books, including the highly successful
reaction generally is itself the result of Moebius series and a restored version of the
calculated intellectual intimidation within Tarot of Marseilles - although he fell into
3
the film itself..." relative obscurity in the U.S. in the years
Despite mixed reaction to El Topo, the following Holy Mountain. Jodorowsky also
New York art scene welcomed Jodorowsky continued to make films throughout the
with open arms. Former Beatles manager years, including Tusk (1978), Santa Sangre
Allen Klein agreed to represent him, and (1989) and in 1990, The Rainbow Thief
Jodorowsky started work on his next (1990) - Jodorowsky's most commercial
feature, The Holy Mountain (1973). Where El film, starring Christopher Lee, Omar Sharif
Topo was an avant-garde spaghetti western, and Peter O'Toole.
Holy Mountain might be regarded as a Jodorowsky has disowned both Tusk
surrealist science-fiction film. With the and The Rainbow Thief. Tusk, a movie
heavy philosophy of El Topo and the visual about elephants and elephant hunting, was
appeal of Barbarella (1968), Holy Mountain made in India. The producer, Jodorowsky
was also a "head trip" movie, a genre claims, pocketed most of the production
described by commentator Danny Peary as budget, leaving him to finish the film with
"films that are confusing but mentally minimal resources. The Rainbow Thief, on
4
stimulating.'" the other hand, was well financed.
At one point, Jodorowsky was under However, Jodorowsky ran into a different
contract to direct the adaptation for Frank set of problems with the producers.
Herbert's acclaimed science-fiction novel Produced by Alexander Salkind, the
Dune - a film, it is worth noting, that may producer of Superman (1978), and written
just be one of those great "might-have- by Berta Dominguez, Salkind's wife,
beens", featuring such legends as Gloria Jodorowsky was asked to make the film
Swanson, Orson Welles and Salvador Dali - with two conditions: no violence, and
a job that would later be handed over to complete respect for the script.
another alternative film director with a cult The demands of "keeping to the script"
following, Eraserhead (1977)'s David Lynch. - and a personality conflict with Peter
right:
Jodorowsky took
the lead role in his
1973 epic The Holy
Mountain.
3
Canby, V. (1972)
"Is El Topo a Con?"
In Film 71/72: An
Anthology. Simon &
Schuster: New York.
www.hotweird.com/
jodorowsky/canby.ht
ml. Accessed 5
December 2001.
4
Peary, D. (1981)
"£/ Topo." In Cult
Movies. New York:
Dell Publishing, Co.
www.hotweird.com/
jodorowsky/peary.ht
ml. Accessed 5
December 2001.

O'Toole - left a bad taste in Jodorowsky's

mouth. Jodorowsky summarises his
conflict with the producer in a rather
amusing anecdote pertaining to the sewer
rat: "For instance, in this film I'm doing
now, a person is living with a rat, and they
(the producers] say, "This picture is too
expensive." I ask, "Why?" and they tell me
they need to make an artificial rat to do
everything the script is saying. And I say
"But you're crazy, we'll use a real rat and
we'll follow what the rat does!" "Oh, you'll
improvise?" They're horrified! Sure I'll
improvise, the rat will improvise! I'll shoot
what the rat does and change the script to
fit! They went crazy - it took me two days to
5
convince them not to use an artificial rat."
While The Rainbow Thief may not be
Jodorowsky's favourite project, it still carries buried them all in his garden. Then, one above:
the unmistakable stamp of the director. day, he called the police, telling them Santa Sangre.
Christopher Lee stars as Uncle Rudolf, a everything, including where to find the
wealthy, aristocratic eccentric worthy of bodies. After his trial, Cardenas was
Buhuel who lavishes his dogs with love and institutionalised. He was released ten years
caviar, but feeds his dinner guest giant later, with no recollection of his past
bones. One evening, in an orgy with local misdeeds. He studied, became a writer and
prostitutes, Uncle Rudolf slips into a coma. lawyer, married and had two children. He
His nephew, Prince Meleagre (Peter O'Toole) became a contributing member of society, a
- equally eccentric, but more reclusive than "sweet man" in Jodorowsky's words. It was
his uncle - retreats to the sewers to await his as though his past belonged to an entirely
uncle's death and his inheritance. The thief different person. "(Reality] was not real for
Dima (Omar Sharif), looking forward to his him", Jodorowsky comments, "(reality was]
share of the wealth, cares for the prince - 6
a fairy tale."
Meleagre's only connection to the world
Jodorowsky embellished the essential
above. In his role as caretaker, Dima learns
truths of Goyo Cardenas's life, making the
that there is more to life than money. Like so
killer's fairy tale reality the centre of the
many Jodorowsky films, The Rainbow Thief
story. The result is a film that is part
is a tale of enlightenment and redemption.
thriller, part fantasy, part surreal and part
homage to some of the greatest directors of
Santa Sangre suspense and horror films of the 20th
century.
In between Tusk and The Rainbow Thief Jodorowsky's son Axel plays Fénix
Jodorowsky made Santa Sangre (1989), (Spanish for "Phoenix", the mythological
arguably his most successful film. bird that self-immolates, only to rise again
Jodorowsky had been working on the from its own ashes), a young man who
screenplay for Santa Sangre for six years believes himself to be an eagle, who has
when Claudio Argento approached him been confined to a mental hospital as a
about collaborating on a project. result of the traumatic events of his 5
Jodorowsky asked Argento to consider his childhood. Jodorowsky tells the story of Interview with
Alejandro
script for Santa Sangre. Argento agreed, Fénix's past in an elaborate flashback Jodorowsky,
and Jodorowsky accepted an unusually sequence which begins with the circus "Wrapped in
Salamander Cloth,
modest fee in order to maintain complete coming to town. The circus is the "Circo del He Played House."
artistic control over the production. The Gringo" and the town is Mexico City. The Forced Exposure
result is a stunning work that reflects Gringo is Orgo (Guy Stockwell), proprietor #17:
7 www.hotweird.com/
Jodorowsky's many passions and of the small circus and Fénix's father. jodorowsky/forced.
influences, from favourite childhood movies Fénix's friend Aladin (Jesús Juárez), the html. Accessed 5
and mime to mysticism, repression and "World's Smallest Elephant Trainer", asks December 2001.
redemption. Fénix why his father drinks all the time. 6
Ibid.
Santa Sangre is loosely based on a "My mother says he killed a woman in
real person, the Mexican serial killer Goyo America", he responds. But all is quickly 7
The young Fénix
Cardenas. While living with his mother, forgotten when Aladin and Fénix go to see is played by another
of Jodorowsky's
Cardenas murdered several women, and "the new act", a voluptuous but mean- sons, Adan.

Chile/Mexico
above: spirited tattooed woman (Thelma Tixou, voice and the glint of his knife as he waves
The once-censored
bleeding elephant billed only as "The Tattooed Woman"), and it in front of her eyes. Having calmed her
scene from Santa Alma (Faviola Elenka Tapia), a young deaf down, Orgo takes her behind the animal
Sangre. mute who has been trained as a tight-rope cages, where Fénix catches a glimpse of
walker whose name means "Soul." Orgo is them in a torrid and unsentimental sex act.
also interested in the act, particularly the At the point of climax, Fénix's attention is
tattooed woman. Orgo seduces her by torn away from the sight of his parents
sliding her up against a target and when he hears the elephant trumpeting.
throwing knives at her. The creature is dying, blood flowing from
Fenix's mother, Concha (Blanca his trunk in an unmistakable (and typically
Guerra), is an aerialist who is also a very "Jodorowskian") allusion to an ejaculating
religious woman. While her husband is phallus. But the allusion is passing, the
under the big top with the tattooed woman, death of the elephant foreshadowing all of
Concha is defending a small local church, a the deaths to come.
shrine to her favourite saint, from the In one of the more memorable
onslaught of developers and the disinterest sequences in the film, a sombre, yet
of the institutionalised church. The saint is carnivalesque, funeral procession ensues.
an uncanonised school girl whose arms The gargantuan coffin is led to the
were cut off by attackers who then raped outskirts of town, to the gorge that
her and left her to die in a pool of her own separates the city from the slums. The
blood, the "Holy Blood" of the title. The elephant is sent to his final resting place at
Bishop refuses to protect the church, the bottom of the gorge, and hordes of
proclaiming the folk religion a sacrilege and hungry people from the shantytown
a heresy, a reflection of Jodorowsky's descend upon the coffin, dividing the
distrust of established religion and the carcass among themselves. According to
institution of the Church. Jodorowsky, elephants are "the image of
Concha returns to the circus and Christ", and the people eating the elephant
finds her husband with the tattooed symbolic of communion. While the scene
woman. Outraged, she attacks him, but may have religious overtones for
Orgo hypnotises her with the sound of his Jodorowsky, the most striking image is one

of poverty and political powerlessness, himself does. This is especially important

harkening back to Fando y Lis. given the scene that follows.
The night of the funeral. Concha finds Another performer at the theatre, the
Orgo in bed with the tattooed woman. She exotic dancer/stripper Rubi (Gloria
threatens the woman, and throws acid on Contreras), has become infatuated with
Orgo's groin. In pain and enraged, Orgo Fénix. His hands fascinate her. Rubi
cuts off both of Conchas arms at the arranges to meet Fénix at the theatre later
shoulder, leaving her to die in a pool of her that night. When Fénix arrives, he is wearing
own blood before slitting his own throat a sequined circus masters suit identical to
and putting himself out of his misery. The the one his father wore. He tells Rubi that he
tattooed woman and Alma flee, and Fénix is will throw knives at her, and when she voices
left locked in the trailer, crying as his life her concern that she will be afraid, Fénix
crumbles around him. End of flashback. comforts her by saying, "I will hypnotise
Fénix is on his way to the movies with you." She succumbs, and he begins throwing
a number of young men with Down his knives, visualising the tattooed woman
syndrome when a pimp (Teo Jodorowsky) as he saw her that day under the big top
intercepts them and takes them to the red while his father threw knives at her. Concha
light district rather than the theatre. It is in walks in on them, horrified by what she sees.
the red light district that Fénix sees the "You know what you have to do", she tells
tattooed woman, waking him from his Fénix. "I am ordering you - my hands and my
fantasy and returning him to human, arms - to kill her." And he does.
rather than eagle, consciousness. The next morning, Fénix and Concha
The next morning, Fénix hears his awake in the same bed, Fénix instinctively
armless mother calling to him from the reaching to scratch Concha's belly as if it
street below. Delighted to see her once were his own. His clothes are fashioned to
again, he climbs through the window to complement Concha's, his sleeves an
join her, leaving the institution behind. extension of her dress. At breakfast,
That night, the tattooed woman is brutally Concha eyes a poster of The Invisible Man
murdered in a scene reminiscent of the (1933) hanging in the kitchen. "Without me
shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho you are nothing. No one sees you and no
(1960). In the morning, Alma, the young one notices you, just like your stupid hero",
deaf woman who has been living with the she says, gesturing toward the poster.
tattooed woman since they left the circus, Fénix is plagued by hallucinations,
finds the bloody remains of the mutilated moments during which Jodorowsky is able
body. to return to the striking and surreal images
Fénix, who has donned the of his street theatre days. In one scene,
magician's tuxedo, cloak and top hat of Fénix sees chickens pecking away at
his childhood, is reunited with Aladin, Conchas severed arms while Fénix, as
once the "World's Smallest Elephant Christ, dodges hens falling from the sky.
Trainer" turned shoe-shine boy. He takes Jodorowsky has been quoted as saying, "The
Aladin with him to a theatre where he and 8
Virgin Mary is a chicken." If the Virgin
his mother form "Concha and Her Magic Mary is indeed a chicken, and the chickens
Hands." Her hands, of course, are not her are raining down on Christ, this image
own, but Fénix's. Dressed in a gown made raises the question, did Christ suffer at the
for two, Fénix's arms become his mothers hands of his mother the way Fénix suffers?
as she performs "The Creation of the Fénix wants nothing more than to be
Universe", a mime-style performance invisible. Alone in his room, under a poster
inspired, the credits inform us, by a of James Whale's 1933 classic and
similar work by Marcel Marceau. watching the film, he sits in a rocking
The beauty of the performance is the chair, his head wrapped in bandages,
way in which Concha and Fénix work mimicking every move Claude Rains makes
together, Fénix's hands moving in time as the transparent anti-hero of the film.
with Concha's expressions and responses, Complete with a laboratory set-up straight
clearly two bodies but behaving as one. out of the movie, Fénix attempts to make
The strength of these two performances his own invisibility serum, but to no avail.
allows for the suspension of disbelief, Fénix removes his bandages in sequence
letting the viewer experience the illusion of with the Invisible Man's unmasking in the
Fénix's arms becoming his mother's, to film, but underneath his bandages, the 8
Loud, L. (1990)
the point where Concha has far more face of Fénix remains. "The Virgin Mary is
control over Fénix's actions - the way he a Chicken."
Santa Sangre offers tribute not only to American Film 15.6
uses his hands and his arms - than he American popular culture through (March), 80.

Chile/Mexico
right:
Jodorowsky's son
Axel in the central
role of Fénix in
Santa Sangre.
Universal classics, but also to Mexican But The Saint proves to be no match
popular culture with its reference to for Concha. Indeed, it is only Alma, the deaf
masked Mexican wrestling. Fénix becomes mute who has followed Concha and Fénix
infatuated with, and brings home, a woman since the night her guardian, the tattooed
who might just be a match for his woman, was killed, who is able to challenge
overbearing mother: a transsexual masked Concha. Dressed in tightrope walker's
wrestler ("the World's Strongest Woman") mourning clothes, she arrives at the scene
named for Mexico's most famous wrestling and, by her very presence, helps Fénix And
superhero, El Santo ("The Saint"). redemption.

Jodorowsky's tribute to the father of similar. For me, difference is what is Art...
freaks 11
(Nature] has a big imagination."
The film Browning is most famous for
The carnivalesque features of Jodorowsky's - Dracula (1931), starring Bela Lugosi - is
films have drawn comparisons to Federico considered by many Browning aficionados
Felllni, and Fenix's dependence upon his to be one of his weakest works. Freaks, on
mother (which involves her control over the other hand, was one of the director's
Fenix's behaviour, urging him as she does pet projects. Loosely based on a short story
to kill the young women who arouse him) entitled "Spurs", Freaks is the tale of a
have inspired more than a few comparisons circus midget named Hans (Harry Earles)
to Psycho. One reviewer described Santa who falls in love with a "big" trapeze artist
Sangre as resembling a "Buhuel remake" of (Venus, played by Olga Baclanova). Venus
the classic Hitchcock film.® Of course, agrees to marry Hans, believing that
there is an homage to James Whale's The midgets have a shorter life span than
Invisible Man, and Jodorowsky himself has "normal" people. Hans's inheritance makes
acknowledged a tribute to George Romero's the union all the more appealing, ensuring
Night of the Living Dead (1968). Both of that upon his death, Venus and her lover,
these tributes - to Whale and Romero - are Hercules the strong man (Henry Victor),
described by Jodorowsky as inverting what will live happily ever after.
has become the traditional horror image, At their wedding feast, Venus is
horror effectively becoming ann'-horror: welcomed into the family of freaks as they
"Yes, there's The Invisible Man, and the chant, "We accept her, we accept her...."
Zombie scene is from Romero. I made some Venus, overwhelmed and disgusted,
echoes, but I played with them, In Night of responds by yelling "Dirty - slimy - freaks!
the Living Dead they were terrible persons Make me one of you, will you?" Offended,
coming back from the dead, and here they the freaks take her at her word. Her lover is
are beautiful women. It is anti-terror. In castrated, and Venus mutilated. The last
The Invisible Man, he became and he we see of her, she is a misshapen chicken
suffered because he was invisible. Here he woman, nestled into a sideshow booth of
takes off his bandages and suffers because her very own.
he doesn't like himself as a criminal. So
Merrill Pye, the art director on Freaks,
here I am playing with horror, and at the
10 recalled the first showing of the film:
same time I am making anti-horror. "
"Halfway through the preview, a lot of
Like the tender music that people got up and ran out. They didn't walk
accompanies the most discomfiting scenes 12
out. They ran out."- MGM attempted to
in the film, the juxtaposition of horror with market the film as a compassionate human
beauty is the Romantic vision of the story, and Tod Browning as a great
sublime, of terrible beauty. Jodorowsky humanist. Nonetheless, Freaks was pulled
clearly sees Santa Sangre as a romantic from circulation just months after it was
film, a film as much about the power of released in the U.S.
redemption - and the redemptive power of Despite being described as 9
love - as it is about horror, murder or Jay Carr of the

"loathsome, obscene, grotesque and Boston Globe,
despair. bizarre", Freaks found a following in quoted In the movie
More evident, however, than the Europe, especially among the surrealists. trailer for Santa
Sangre:
influences of Bufiuel, Fellini, Romero, The numerous films in which Browning http://us.imdb.com/
Hitchcock or even Whale is the influence of teamed with Lon Chaney, Sr. (the so-called Trallers?0098253&3
Tod Browning, director of the legendary "Man of a Thousand Faces") were, as film 322&28. Accessed
5 December 2001.
1932 film, Freaks. Populated with a variety historian David J. Skal has noted, particu-
of side-show talents, including Johnny larly popular in France, where many saw in Jodorowsky,
Eck, the "half-boy" whose body ends just these pictures the legacy of German "Wrapped in
Salamander Cloth,
below his rib cage, Pete Robinson ("The Expressionism. In 1956, French critic He Played House."
Human Skeleton") and Olga Roderick, a Louis Seguin described Browning as "one of
"traditional" bearded lady, Freaks, it is the greatest directors who ever lived... (Far] 11 Ibid.
worth noting, is the film that followed El superior to men like John Ford or 12
Topo in the midnight slot at New York's Hitchcock" (quoted in Skal, 221). Quoted in Skal,
D. J. and E. Savada
Elgin Theatre. Browning and Jodorowsky Jodorowsky, who was in France in the (1995) D a *
clearly have similar sensibilities, finding mid-to-late 50s and may have read these Carnival: The
Secret World of Tod
people with handicaps and/or deformities critical assessments of the director, also Browning,
of various kinds interesting, even beautiful. thinks highly of Browning and his films: Hollywood's Master
"Normal people are monstrous", according "The only picture I liked all the actors in of the Macabre.
Anchor Books: New
to Jodorowsky, "because they are so was Freafcs... All of the actors in that film York, 174.

Chile/Mexico
opposite: were good. My favourite was the man who

Rare German poster
from his corset and angered by the
for Jodorowsky's has no legs or arms. That was a good actor prohibition Zanzi has placed on his
The Holy Mountain. to me. That's one I remember very, very relationship, kills him, leaving his
well. I like Tod Browning a lot. He is like a signature six-fingered print on the man's
father to me. I think maybe I'm a reincar- neck. Unable to ever reveal his true identity
13
nation of Tod Browning. Who knows?" to his beloved Nanon, Alonzo blackmails a
If Santa Sangre is any indication, surgeon to remove his arms, making him
Jodorowsky might very well be Browning the man of Nanon's dreams.
reborn. The two directors have much more Nanon, however, has other plans.
in common than a fondness for people with When Alonzo returns from recuperating
physical deformities. Browning, like from his surgery, he discovers that Nanon
Jodorowsky, ran away to join the circus as has fallen in love with, and is engaged to, the
a young man, and his love of circuses, strong man, Malabar the Mighty (Norman
carnivals and sideshows would continue to Kerry). Infuriated, Alonzo plans to sabotage
creep into his work long after he'd left the Nanon and Malabar's new act: a pair of
Midway. After a brief stint in Vaudeville, white stallions on treadmills is whipped into
Browning was introduced to D.W. Griffith, frenzy by a scantily clad Nanon while
and began his career in film as one of the Malabar restrains them. Alonzo attempts to
primary actors on the Biograph Studio sabotage the treadmills, hoping that their
roster. When Griffith left Biograph, breakdown will rip Malabar's arms from
Browning went with him. It wasn't long their sockets. Instead, Alonzo falls onto the
before Browning moved from being in front treadmill himself, and is trampled to death
of the camera to working behind it. by the horses' beating hooves.
Browning became a master of this silent It is not merely the circus, the knife
medium, directing dozens of film before the throwing, the beautiful assistant, the
advent of sound. armless killer, nor the midget sidekick that
Santa Sangre bears a striking links Browning's The Unknown to
resemblance to The Unknown (1927), one of Jodorowsky's Santa Sangre. It is a shared
Browning's best films. Originally titled aesthetic, a dark, brooding atmosphere
Alonzo the Armless, The Unknown is, like that is as compelling as it is disturbing.
many Browning films, set in the circus. Lon Just as significant, however, is the
Chaney is the armless Alonzo, a knife- difference between the two films and the
thrower and sharpshooter who handles two filmmakers: Jodorowsky's story is one
both blades and bullets with his bare feet. of love, hope and redemption while
His aim is so precise that he is able to Browning's is one of vengeance, despair
disrobe his beautiful assistant, Nanon and retribution.
(played by a very young Joan Crawford), by Jodorowsky, like Browning before
severing the stays of her garment. Alonzo is him, has always had a bold vision for his
in love with Nanon. Nanon, who has a films and treasures; above all else, the
deep-seated fear of men and their arms freedom to pursue his artistic inclinations.
(presumably the result of an earlier sexual Jodorowsky is an iconoclast: he defies the
trauma), is fond of Alonzo precisely conventions of Hollywood cinema, holding
because he is armless. the industry's measure of success with a
Alonzo, however, harbours a secret certain disdain. It is ironic, then, that
identity known only to his dwarf assistant, Santa Sangre, the film that most encapsu-
Cojo (John George). Alonzo is a criminal on lates the director's passion for life, love and
the run, and is using the circus to hide theatre, is also the film that has been most
from the police. Alonzo also has arms that well received by the critics. Santa Sangre
he keeps hidden by having them laced into both celebrates and defies Hollywood,
a tight leather corset (an actual corset that invoking Browning, Whale and Hitchcock
Chaney used as part of his costume for the while being made completely outside of the
film). Although he does have normal arms, studio system. It also celebrates and defies
Alonzo is possessed of a second thumb on the tropes of traditional horror films,
one hand, making his six-fingered imprint relying as much on love and compassion as
a link to his criminal past. The corset, it does on blood and violence to
13
LaBine, J. (1996) however, has kept his true identity hidden communicate with the audience. Santa
Interview with from both the police and from his circus Sangre is a unique and refreshing film that
Alejandro
Jodorowsky. Fad 36. colleagues. celebrates Jodorowsky's vision of the
www.hotweird.com/ Alonzo's attention to Nanon infuriates universe, a world where madmen are
jodorowsky/fadinter
view.html. Accessed her father Zanzi (Nick De Ruiz), the owner visionaries, freaks are a balancing force
5 December 2001. of the circus. Alonzo. temporarily freed and horror is the path to enlightenment.


Coffin Joe and José Mojica Marins

strange men for strange times
André Barcinski
The word most commonly associated with ran- for Congress, was thrown in jail,
José Mojica Marins is "strange." In 1968, founded his own church, and had seven
he shot a film entitled The Strange World of children with five different women. He was
Zé do Calxào; that same year, he starred in also the most censored filmmaker in
a television show with the same name. And Brazilian history, and the country's only
when he ran for Congress in Brazil in 1982, true independent filmmaker.
his slogan was "a strange man for strange To fully understand what makes Jose
times." Mojica Marins such a special character
Marins's films are strange indeed, a though, it is necessary, first of all, to know
mix of gothic horror and Third World where he came from.
barbarism, Expressionism and Surrealism,
Catholic guilt and Nietzschean nihilism. He Tracing roots
single-handedly invented a Brazilian horror
genre and created the country's most Marins was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on
famous movie character, an evil (appropriately enough) Friday the 13th of
gravedigger called Zé do Caixào (or "Coffin March 1936, the son of Spanish
Joe", as he is known in the U.S. and in immigrants. His father, Antonio, was the
Europe). manager of a small movie theatre, and
But if Marins's Jilms are strange, his made some extra money on weekends
life is even stranger. In his case, fact is bullfighting in small arenas in Sao Paulo.
indeed stranger than fiction. At the age of His mother, Carmen, was a housewife and,
thirteen, José Mojica Marins was expelled according to testimony, a great tango
from Catholic school after shooting a film singer and dancer. For the first 18 years of
called Judgement Day, in which aliens Marins's life, the family lived in the back of
attacked the Earth in flying saucers and the movie theatre managed by Antonio. It
killed priests. Before his sixteenth was a small, 200-seat theatre in Vila
birthday, Marins had shot twenty short Anastacio, a working-class neighbourhood
films and founded his own "movie studio" surrounded by factories.
in a chicken barn. At seventeen, he had to Vila Anastacio was called the "Tower
interrupt his first feature film due to the of Babel", because of the large numbers of
tragic deaths of three (!) actresses. By the immigrants from different countries. There
age of eighteen, he was running his own were families from Spain, Portugal, Russia,
acting school. In the 1960s, he directed five Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Italy,
of Brazil's biggest box-office hits, had his Romania, and even Africa, who had come
own TV show, his own comic book, and to Brazil escaping the horrors of the Second
recorded a samba album. He directed World War. Many arrived in Vila Anastacio
westerns, comedies, musicals, porn flicks, not speaking a word of Portuguese. Marins
and shot the first ever love scene between a remembers visiting friend's houses and not opposite:
woman and a dog in Brazil. He was a understanding anything anybody said. José Mojica Marins
partner in a funeral parlour, had his own Each group of immigrants had its own in the role of his
line of Coffin Joe cosmetics, a shampoo, lifelong alter-ego
social clubs. But they also mingled with Zé do Caixâo
and even a Coffin Joe sugarcane liquor. He their neighbours and absorbed their ("Coffin Joe").

Brazil
customs and traditions. Thus, Vila happened, as proven by several articles in

Anastacio became a joyous mess: Italians local papers and by the testimony of dozens
and Hungarians attended Polish parties; of people in Vila Anastacio. Marins never
Lithuanians spent their Sundays at forgot the image. Almost forty years later,
Spanish bullfights. Marins's best friend, he recreated that incredible event in the
Jose Andrusiac, was Lithuanian. To make film The End of Man (1971).
things a little bit more confusing, Vila But the supernatural was not
Anastacio also had a large black Marins's only interest. He was also
community. obsessed by movies. The theatre where his
The neighbourhood was a deeply family lived showed Brazilian comedies and
religious place. Blacks had their macumba all kinds of American films. On weekends,
temples, where people would dance and there was a matinee showing cartoons and
sing to the beat of the drums. There were serials such as Buck Rogers. Marins spent
Hungarian gypsies and Romanian fortune- the greater part of his childhood inside the
tellers. Marins was particularly struck by theatre, watching everything he could. He
the macumba ritual, with its party recalls being particularly impressed by a
atmosphere of live percussion and dancing. medical documentary about venereal
He remembers being totally shocked the diseases, shown as part as a government
above: first time he saw a macumba priestess prevention campaign ("It was scarier than
Brazillian 'Coffin incarnating an evil spirit: "She started any film I had seen!"). He also loved the
Joe' comic books, dancing, then she threw herself on the Universal horror films, and worshipped
testament to the
iconic status of ground and her body started shaking. Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff.
Marins's creation in Suddenly everything stopped. She stood While all his friends were riding bikes
his homeland.
up, and her face was transformed, she and playing soccer, Marins was staging
looked like someone else. When she opened plays and drawing comic books. He was
her mouth, her voice had changed too. She suspended from school after throwing a
1
sounded like a big man. lizard on a classmate during a play. "Well, it
Marins was an impressionable child, was supposed to be a scary scene", he
and the mystic atmosphere of Vila remembers almost sixty years later, "but the
Anastacio certainly appealed to him. When girl was a terrible actress and she wasn't
he was eight, he witnessed an incredible convincing at all. So I had caught this small
event that would change his life: he saw a lizard and kept it in a box, just in case I
dead man open his eyes and stand up in needed something to scare the girl."
the middle of his own wake. The "dead" guy On his tenth birthday, Marins got an
was the owner of a grocery shop, and had 8 mm camera. Two years later, his father
actually suffered a cataleptic attack. gave him a 16 mm camera. Marins immedi-
Although hard to believe, this really ately started experimenting with his new
right:
At Midnight I Will
Take Your Soul.
' All quotes from

José Mojica Marins
come from personal
correspondence
with the author.

José Mojica Marins
toys, shooting dozens of short films. audiences. He had originally planned on above:
Strange Hostel of
Although most of this material has shooting a juvenile delinquency police Naked Pleasures.
disappeared forever, what remains provides story entitled Geracao Maldita (Cursed
a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a Generation), and started selecting actors
very gifted and creative child. Marins tried from among the students in an acting
everything: he even drew directly on the school he had opened up. His financial
film, scratching the emulsion and creating situation was critical at the time. Worse,
very weird images. For his Judgement Day, his womanizing had led to major problems:
he shot scenes of the sky in Vila Anastacio Marins was married but had several
and subsequently drew spaceships affairs. One of his girlfriends at the time
attacking the neighbourhood. Most got pregnant, and was forcing him to leave
impressive is Bloody Kingdom, an his wife. Debt collectors knocked on his
adventure story set in the Arab countries in door every day, and his landlord was
threatening to evict the acting school from below:
which Marins plays a sultan with magic At Midnight I Will
powers. Marins would show these films in the building. Take Your Soul.
circuses and amusement parks, sometimes
dubbing the dialogue live through a
microphone. The small amount he made
from these films was immediately invested
in other ones. Between 1949 and 1952, he
made over thirty films in all.
Midnight strikes
Marins career as a horror director began in

1963, when he shot A Meia-Noite Levarei
Sua Alma (At Midnight I Will Take Your
Soul). It was his third professional feature,
after the western A Sina do Aventureiro
(The Adventurer's Fate, 1958) and the
juvenile drama Meu Destino em Tuas Maos
(My Destiny in Your Hands, 1961). At that
time, no one had done a horror film in
Brazil, and Marins thought the genre
would be totally unacceptable to Brazilian

Brazil
police film and were going to shoot a horror

film instead. Needless to say, the reaction
was the worst possible. Unable to find a
single actor that would take on the main
role, Marins decided to play it himself. He
assembled a crew, bought thirteen cans of
negative (130 minutes of film!) and, in a
mere thirteen days, shot At Midnight I Will
Take Your Soul.
It is very hard to believe that At
Midnight I Will Take Your Soul was even
released at the time. Brazil was - and still
is - the biggest Catholic country in the
world. Even by today's standards, the film
is incredibly blasphemous and violent. To
imagine that anyone would shoot a film like
this in 1963 is truly unbelievable.
The story is set in a very poor town in
upstate Sao Paulo. The locals are terrorized
by an evil gravedigger named Ze do Caixao
(Coffin Joe). Dressed in black, with a cloak,
a top hat, and five-inch fingernails, he
insults and humiliates the locals, mocking
their religious beliefs and their provincial
manners. Ze do Caixao's dream is to have a
child. Because his own wife, Lenita, is
barren, he kills her by dropping a huge
tarantula (real, of course) on her body, after
tying her to a bed and taping her mouth so
she that isn't able to scream. He proceeds
in his quest for the "perfect woman", raping
Terezinha, the wife of his best friend, after
drowning the guy in a bathtub. Some
friendship! Terezinha hangs herself, but
not before she has cursed Ze do Caixao and
promised to come back from the dead in
order to claim his soul.
The film was very violent, but what
really shocked Brazilian audiences was
Ze's blasphemy. In one now famous
sequence, Ze eats a big piece of lamb while
watching the Holy Friday procession
passing beneath his window. Any good
above: All of this pressure finally got to him. Catholic knows that you're not supposed to
Marins proudly
displays the One night, Marins had a terrible eat meat on a Holy Friday, much less offer
trademark Coffin nightmare. He dreamed he was being a piece of lamb to the priest, like Ze does,
Joe finger-nails. dragged to a cemetery by a faceless before laughing mischievously at the holy
creature, all dressed in black. The man. In another outrageous sequence, Ze
monster carried him to the graveyard and points to a crucifix and says, "What should
stopped next to an open grave. The we believe in? A symbol? An invisible force
tombstone read "JOSÉ MOJICA MARINS." created by ignorance?"
He could see the date of his birth: 1936. The film's two biggest inspirations
There was another number there too- were Universal horror flicks and 1950s EC
probably the year of his death-but Marins comic books, particularly Tales from the
closed his eyes. He didn't want to know Crypt. Like the comic books Marins read
when he was going to die. as a child, At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul
The nightmare was like a spark that starts with a host "introducing" the story,
fired his imagination. In one afternoon, he in this case a gypsy woman with large eyes
wrote the draft of a horror story. Then he and a scary voice. Clutching a skull, she
called a meeting with his pupils and stares at the camera and speaks directly
announced that they were abandoning the to the audience: "I wish you all a very

José Mojica Marins
unpleasant evening, my friends... After

this film, if you have to cross dark alleys
all by yourself, there's still time... Go
home! Don't watch this film!" Then a bell
rings midnight... "Too late... You didn't
believe me...so stick around...and suffer!
Because...at midnight I will take your
soul!"
Visually, the film seems taken directly
from the pages of comic books. The black
and white photography is highly
contrasted, and the lighting totally
Expressionistic, with rays of light cutting
through the pitch black scenery. Despite
his financial problems, Marins was able to
put together a very talented crew, which
included a number of professionals who
worked at big studios in Brazil. Therefore,
the cinematography (by Italian Giorgio
Attili, who became a lifelong Marins collab-
orator) is extremely accomplished, as is the
editing (by Luiz Elias) as well. The cast,
however, consisted of amateur actors
chosen from amongst Marins's students.
At Midnight I Will Take Your Soul was a
huge box-office hit, but Marins didn't see a
dime of it. To finance the film, he had
convinced his father to sell the family's
house and car. A couple of weeks before the
film's release, Marins sold the rights to using the title in a publicity campaign: "At above:
producer Ilidio Simoes for half of what he Battling away in
Midnight I Will Take Your Best Offer and Exorcismo Negro.
had spent in the production. This was only Sell You a Brand New Volkswagen." Even
the first of many examples of his incompe- mothers started invoking the name of
tence as a businessman, a flaw that would Coffin Joe, to control their unruly sons: "If
plague him throughout his entire career. you don't behave, I'll call Coffin Joe to get
Marins used to walk around in downtown you!" The success of At Midnight started
Sao Paulo counting the number of people attracting some film producers. Augusto de
in line to buy tickets for his film, and say to Cervantes, who, like Marins, was from a
his friends, "I just want to know how much Spanish family, but who, unlike Marins,
money I lost!" It was a lot of money: At was a very smart businessman, hired him
Midnight I Will Take Your Soul was shown to direct the sequel to At Midnight I Will
for sixteen months in Sao Paulo. Take Your Soul. The title of the sequel: Esta
Even though he was broke, Marins Noite Encarnarei no Teu Cadaver (This Night
had become a very famous man. Coffin Joe I Will Possess Your Corpse).
turned into a phenomenon, a cultural icon
in Brazil. The film's impact was felt A successful sequel
everywhere. A chain of car retailers started
This Night was a much larger production
than At Midnight, with a bigger budget and
even some professional actors. At that
time, Marins had moved his film school to
an abandoned synagogue in Sao Paulo. All
the sets for the film, including a forest, a
lake, and Coffin Joe's mansion, were built
either inside the synagogue or in the
backyard. The story is a follow-up to the
first film: Coffin Joe continues his quest
for the woman that will bear him the
"perfect child." With the help of a
left:
hunchbacked assistant named Bruno At Midnight I Will
(Jose Lobo), he kidnaps six women and Take Your Soul.

Brazil
- which included eighty tarantulas and

sixty snakes - were locked inside the
synagogue. The scenes with the spiders
were the most difficult to shoot. At the end
of each take, some trembling assistants
would collect the tarantulas and put them
into a huge box. Often, some of the spiders
would disappear, only to be found -
sometimes days later - inside one of the
actor's shoes or locker. At one point, after
two huge tarantulas were found in a bakery
next door, almost killing the poor baker of
a heart attack, the shooting of This Night
was interrupted by police.
A crucial scene in this film was the
recreation of the dream that originally
inspired Marins to create Coffin Joe. In this
sequence, Coffin Joe is dragged by a
faceless creature to a cemetery and then
taken to hell. In order to increase the
impact of the scene, Marins decided to
shoot the hell sequence in colour, while the
rest of the film was in black and white.
Marins's vision of hell is unique and
disturbing: instead of fire, there is plenty of
snow (made of popcorn); the walls are
decorated by human heads, arms, legs,
and torsos, all moving independently in a
macabre ballet. The human body parts
were real, of course. The actors were
literally plastered on the walls, hung up
like decoration pieces.
This Night was an even bigger success
in Brazil than At Midnight. Although it is
impossible to know the exact number of
tickets sold because of the precarious
above: submits them to several "tests of bravery", system of box-office accounting at the time,
Marins is famous for
auditioning potential which include attacks by dozens of it is widely accepted that the film was seen
female co-stars by tarantulas and snakes. by an estimated audience of six or seven
testing their ability Marins wanted to do a film even more million, which would make it one the Top 10
to tolerate all
manner of insects shocking than the first one, thus the idea of biggest box-office hits in Brazilian history.
and reptiles using real snakes and spiders. With that in The release of This Night I Will Possess
crawling on their
bodies.
mind, he started auditioning actors for the Your Corpse, in 1967, marked Marins's
parts. The examination included some very apogee in Brazil. In the following three
repulsive examples of method acting: years, he would become the country's most
candidates were asked to lick snakes, famous filmmaker. In that same year, he
caress tarantulas, and kiss frogs. These started a TV show called Alem, Muito Alem
auditions made the front pages of all the do Alem (Beyond, Far Beyond the Beyond),
newspapers in Sao Paulo. When asked why a Twilight Zone-type weekly show with
he was overseeing such bizarre tests, horror stories that became the number one
Marins answered, "Well, I have to be sure show in its time slot, attracting more
that my actors will be able to fulfil their viewers than all of the other channels
duties when the time comes. If an actress combined. In 1968, he was hired by TV
has to do a scene in which she will be Tupi, a very prestigious network, to host
covered by snakes, I can't run the risk of another show, O Estranho Mundo de Ze do
hiring someone that will quit as soon as Caixao (The Strange World of Coffin Joe).
she sees the serpents." But This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse
The filming of This Night I Will Possess also marked the beginning of Marins's
Your Corpse makes for one of the most problems with the Censorship Board, a
bizarre chapters in Brazilian cinema. For fight that would eventually threaten to
two months, Marins, his crew, and his cast destroy his career.

José Mojica Marins
Censorship blues believe in your powers, master! Save me!"

To make sure that the changes would be
Censorship existed in Brazil since the made, Costa even wrote the dialogue
1930s, but things got much worse after the himself (a copy of the handwritten text can
military coup in 1964, and especially after be found in the Brazilian National
the Institutional Act 5, created at the end of Archives in Brasilia). Costa was a pretty
1968, which closed Congress and extended famous man in Brazil. Before getting a
the powers of the Censorship Board. Many position on the Censorship Board, he was
Brazilian filmmakers had a hard time with a defender with the Brazilian national
Censorship, but no one suffered more than soccer team that lost the 1950 World Cup
Mojica. Starting in 1967, all of his horror to Uruguay in front of 200,000 people in
films would either be cut to shreds or else Maracana stadium.
prohibited entirely. By 1970, over 60% of The problems with This Night I Will
every frame he had shot was banned from Possess Your Corpse started worrying film
Brazilian screens. and TV producers, and Marins was having
The first of his films to suffer at the difficulty in securing financing for his next
hands of the censors was This Night I Will projects. It was a bizarre situation: Brazil's
Possess Your Corpse. Not only was the film most famous filmmaker couldn't get money
cut by twenty minutes, but the ending was for a new film because everyone was afraid
changed too. In the original ending, Coffin of putting resources into a project only to
Joe is shot by the locals he had been have it banned by the censors upon
terrorizing. Moments before disappearing completion. Marins's next two features -
into the filthy waters of a swamp, he Trilogia de Terror (Trilogy of Terror) and O
screams: "God doesn't exist! I'll be back Estranho Mundo de Ze do Caixao (The
and I will kill all of you!" One of the heads Strange World of Coffin Joe), both made in
of the Censorship Board, Augusto da 1968 - were film adaptations of short
Costa, demanded changes, and Marins stories he had shot for TV. The first one
was instructed to dub the dialogue, was split between three directors - Marins,
transforming Coffin Joe into a pious man. Ozualdo Candeias, and Luis Sergio Person
In the new version of the ending, Coffin - while Marins directed all three episodes of
Joe says: "God! Yes, God is the truth! I the second one.
above:
Marins directing
himself in the role of
a rapist who ends
up suffering rough
justice in
Perversao.
left:
The Strange World
of Coffin Joe.

Brazil
Marins's episode in Trilogy of Terror, instinct always prevails over reason.

entitled Pesadelo Macabro (Macabre Challenged by a pompous journalist to
Nightmare), is one of his best works, the prove his theory, Odez invites the man and
chilling story of a man who has a his wife to visit his mansion. When the
premonition that he will be buried alive. couple arrive in Odez's house, they are
When the poor man wakes up and sees greeted by the host and taken to a small
that he has, in fact, been buried, he theatre, were they are forced to watch the
screams in agony. But there is no sound at most horrific burlesque show ever
all inside his coffin. Marins cuts from performed: a man is hung upside down and
outdoor scenes in the cemetery, with the eaten alive by a bunch of cannibals;
mourners crying loudly, to close-ups of the another has needles stuck in his neck; an
desperate man screaming for his life - but old man eats molten lead. Everything is
not being heard. shot in close-ups, with no recourse to cuts.
The Strange World of Coffin Joe Marins used real circus artists for these
consists of three short stories. The first scenes, and the effect is brutal.
one, O Fabricante de Bonecas (The Doll After the "show", Odez and his
Maker), is a straight-up horror tale about a assistants imprison the couple in separate
doll maker who uses real human eyes in cages. They are locked up for a whole week,
his puppets. The second episode, Tara with no food or water. In the end, both are
(Obsession), is an experiment in nothing more than animals. When Odez
filmmaking, shot with no dialogues, about stabs the journalist in the neck with a
a homeless man who is so infatuated with knife, the latter man's wife, dying of thirst,
a rich girl that he breaks into her crypt, drinks her own husband's blood. "My
after she is murdered, in order to possess theory is proven!" screams Odez, "Instinct
her dead body. The third episode, Ideología has triumphed!" The episode concludes
(Ideology), is Marins's most violent piece of with a cannibal banquet in which Odez and
work. He plays Professor Oaxiac Odez his assistants eat the couple, whose
below. (Coffin Joe spelled backwards!), a specialist
The Strange World
severed heads are served on a silver platter.
of Coffin Joe. in human behaviour who believes that This was not the kind of thing censors at

José Mojica Marins
the time wanted to see. One of them went inspired by the French Nouvelle Vague and above:
Hallucinations of a
so far as to ask for Marins's arrest. The film Italian neorealism - still hasn't been studied Deranged Mind.
was cut by over thirty minutes, and all enough in Brazil, in large part because it
three episodes had their endings deleted. was a disgraceful alliance. These filmmakers
Marins was also forced to change the began controlling Embrafilme, and had their
conclusion of the third episode. The films financed by the State. Or, in plain
Censorship Board decided that Oaxiac English, by the military dictatorship.
Odez should die in the end. Unable to Embrafilme was a nest of corruption
scrape together enough funds to shoot and shady deal making. A small group of
another ending, Marins used a creative - filmmakers received all of the available
though not very honest - solution: he money, while the rest of the country had to
borrowed a copy of an old Egyptian war deal with the absurd laws created by the
film starring Omar Sharif, which included a bureaucrats. Their idea was simple:
huge explosion scene, and added that Brazilian cinema should be protected at all
sequence to the end of The Strange World of costs. This included forcing theatre owners
Coffin Joe, in order to give the impression to show Brazilian films at least 100 days of
that Odez was killed in the blast. the year (the number reached 140 days per
If Marins's problems with the year in 1980), and obligating theatres to
Censorship Board weren't enough, another show Brazilian short films before each
blow to his career came towards the end of foreign feature, paying 5% of the box-office
1969, when the government created take to the producer of the short film.
Embrafilme, a State-financed company that Theatres, especially the smaller ones,
would control Brazilian cinema. The started closing. In the first fifteen years of
relationship between Embrafilme and the Embrafilme's reign, Brazil lost three
Brazilian filmmakers, especially those from theatres per week. In 1969, there were
the so-called "Cinema Novo" movement - 3,500 screens in the country. By 1984, that
directors such as Glauber Rocha, Carlos number would be reduced to 1,553. The
Diegues, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and number of tickets sold annually dropped
many others who claimed to have created a from 300 million in 1970 to 90 million in
"revolutionary" and popular cinema, 1984. The protectionist laws created by

Brazil
above: Embrafllme (and approved by the Cinema Despertar da Besta (Awakening of the
Inferno Carnal.
Novo gang) effectively destroyed Brazilian Beast) was banned outright. Awakening
independent cinema, created a hyper- was Marins's most personal project, a
inflation in movie budgets, annihilated horror-exploitation story about drug
small neighbourhood theatres, and subculture and urban violence. Marins
obliterated 60% of Brazil's existing movie had the idea for the movie after witnessing
screens. Embrafllme made it impossible for a pregnant prostitute being beaten and
an independent filmmaker like José Mojlca killed by police officers. This horrific scene
Marins, who never received a penny from made such an impression on him that he
the State, to survive. And it literally decided to shoot a film involving police
bankrupted the Marins family: in 1970, the officers, drug dealers, prostitutes,
theatre that Antonio Marins had managed perverts, and every seedy character he
for over thirty years closed down. could think of. Unable to find a single
below: The final nail in Marins's professional producer that would put up money for his
Perversào. coffin came in 1970, when his film O project, Marins did everything he could to
scrape together funds for the film: he
threw parties to collect money, and sold
everything he had; several filmmakers
donated cans of negative. All of the
interior shots were done in Marins's two-
room office in downtown Sao Paulo.
The film, created by Marins but
written by his brilliant screenwriter,
Rubens Francisco Lucchetti, starts inside
a TV show, in which a psychologist is
talking to a panel of "experts" about the
effects of drug use. To illustrate his
theory, the doctor begins describing some
very bizarre stories: a girl is brought by a
bunch of wild-eyed hippies to an orgy,
where she takes drugs and is raped by a
Moses lookalike... with Moses's staff!
Another woman is shown injecting drugs
into her foot, while five horny and sweaty
men stare at her doing it.

José Mojica Marins
The doctor then starts describing an Hard times, and a new beginning
experiment he did with four drug addicts.
He gives each one of them large doses of From the mid-70s to the mid 90s, Marins's
LSD, and takes them to a room decorated life was hell. Barred from doing the horror
with a huge Coffin Joe poster. Inspired by films he loved so much, his work declined in
the sight of Coffin Joe, all four subjects quality and he began to have some very
above:
begin hallucinating. Several people serious drinking problems. Unable to make The End of Man.
consider the "trip sequence" in Awakening money in movies, he appealed to all kinds of
of the Beast Marins's crowing tricks: in 1980, he founded a church, but
achievement. In his groundbreaking book went bankrupt a couple of months later. In
Mondo Macabro, Pete Tombs writes: 1982, Marins ran for Congress, promising to
"The half hour showing the quartet's help filmmakers, garbagemen, gravediggers,
visions contains some of the strangest and and prostitutes. "These are people that
most powerful images ever put onto nobody likes, but everyone needs", he
celluloid. Far from the high-tech, declared. Probably the low point of his life
computer generated fantasies of was a speech he made during a political
Hollywood, these visions are much more rally in Sao Paulo, attended by 15,000
raw and more disturbing. Marins makes a people. Completely drunk, Marins
positive advantage of his low budget to addressed the crowd: "My people, the beast
create effects that few art directors would is coming! The beast will arrive here and
dare to even dream of. In one scene, a take the milk away from our children! And
man is menaced by strange, fleshy faces there is only one person who can deal with
that appear to be closing in on him. this hideous monster, and that's me, Coffin
Gradually it becomes obvious that these Joe!" He was not elected.
"faces" are in fact a row of human arses, In the 1980s, Marins started shooting
with features painted onto them, hardcore sex films, the only job he could get
including moustaches and top hats. The at the time. Even in the xxx genre, he was an
natural reaction would be to laugh, but innovator: in 24 Horas de Sexo Ardente (24
the hellish context of the scene makes the Hours of Explicit Sex, 1984), he directed the
trick almost unbearably bizarre. The first love scene between a woman and a dog
sense of fear and isolation that these ever shot in Brazil. The film was a monster
scenes create is quite terrifying. Like a box-office hit, but Marins had chosen to be
powerful drug, the film can be only taken paid a salary instead of a percentage of the
in small doses and is difficult to watch profits, and so received only a small fraction
more than once. It may be Marins's best of what he could have made.
film. It's definitely his strangest. ...It's
In 1993, when everything looked very
certainly the closest thing to a genuine
2 grim for Marins, a Seattle-based video
acid trip ever put on film.
company called Something Weird put out a
Marins had huge expectations for dozen of his films. Little by little, his talent
this film, but not surprisingly, the started to get discovered by American and
Censorship Board thought different. European horror fans, and rediscovered in
Awakening of the Beast was banned. One Brazil (where Marins was already
censor even wrote: "I strongly suggest considered a has-been). In the following
burning the negatives of this film." To this years, he travelled to the United States,
day, Marins's best film has never been Spain, The Netherlands, Italy, France,
released commercially in Brazil. Portugal, and Argentina. Ze do Caixao
After the prohibition of Awakening, became Coffin Joe, and Marins's career was
Marins never again shot a film over which resurrected.
he had complete artistic control. He In 2001, Fantoma Films released
2
Tombs, P. (1998)
started working as a director-for-hire, Mondo Macabro:
Marins's three best films - At Midnight I Will Weird & Wonderful
doing comedies, sex flicks, and adventure Take Your Soul, This Night I Will Possess Cinema Around the
stories. He directed some interesting Your Corpse, and Awakening of the Beast - World. New York:
St. Martin's Griffin,
films, such as Finis Homints (The End of on DVD. And there's more to come: riding 123-24.
Man, 1971), an ironic take on the on the wave of his new respectability, not to
exploration of faith, about a prophet who mention a small financial stability, Marins is below:
A recent portrait of
walks in Sao Paulo doing miracles. But his preparing a new feature film, Os Dembnios José Mojica Marins.
films never reached the level of intensity (The Demons). This film is probably the most
and brutal beauty he achieved in such important one in Marins's career, for it
classics as At Midnight I Will Take Your represents a new beginning for Brazil's
Soul, This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse, horrormeister, the country's most radical
and Awakening of the Beast. and idiosyncratic artist.

Return of the phantom:

Maxu Weibang's Midnight Song*
David Robinson
Even though it may be forgivable to mislay Weibang would go to tremendous pains to

the odd Phantom of the Opera here and think through even the tiniest gesture, to
there, given the number of versions and find the best way to move people, and in
variants, that can hardly explain or excuse doing so to add to the power of a film. His
the half-century eclipse of Maxu Weibang's style of working was to be consistently
Midnight Song (Yeban gesheng), made at sincere and honest."
United China Pictures in Shanghai in The same writer described him as "a
1936. The film (and its 1941 sequel) kind, tolerant-looking man with a long,
surfaced in Europe in 1999 at the Udine angular face." He had an exceptionally
Far East Film Festival, to be revealed as large forehead: "From time to time he
arguably the most fascinating and creative would play an artist or scholar, not just
of all interpretations of Gaston Leroux's because of their closeness to his own
horrid tale. Along with the film comes the nature, but also because he naturally
rediscovery of the dark, original talent of looked the part: an artist with a somewhat
actor-director-designer Maxu, a name scholarly demeanour."
which figures in none of the authorized At 21, Maxu had the opportunity to
histories of Chinese film, though Stephen direct his first film, The Love Freak (Qing
Teo's recent Hong Kong Cinema, The Extra chang guairen, 1926) - apparently not a
Dimensions discusses the filmmaker's later great success - at the Langhua Film
career in the former colony. Company. Returning to Mingxing when
Very little is known about Maxu's life. Langhua closed down, he was assistant
He was born in 1905 in Hangzhou, in director on Love and Gold (Aiqing yu
Zhejiang Province. His parents died when huangjin, 1926), directed by Zhang
he was young, which is said to be the Shichuan, for whom he had worked
reason why he added his wife's family name several times as an actor. He was defini-
Ma to his original name of Xu. He tively established as a director in his own
graduated from the Shanghai School of right in 1928, and the titles of at least five
Fine Arts and after a period as an assistant further silent films are recorded: Freak in
* A version of this
teacher, was taken on by the Mingxing the Night (Helye guairen, 1928); Devil essay first appeared
Studios. Like Alfred Hitchcock, he Incarnate (Hunshi mowang, 1929); The in Film Quarterly
progressed from designing title cards to Cry of Apes in a Deserted Valley (Kong gu 53.2 (Winter 1999-
2000) and appears
full-fledged art direction. yuan sheng, 1930); Pear Blossom in the here with kind
He soon gave up designing for acting, Storm (Baoyu lihua, 1934); and Prison of permission of the
author. © 2000 by
playing his first role in Zhang Shichuan's Love (Ai yu, 1934). the Regents of the
The Marriage Trap (You hurt, 1924) at age Of these the only film known to University of
California.
19. An unidentified critic writing in 1942 survive, The Cry of Apes in a Deserted
recalled that his talent as an actor "lay in Valley, appeared at a recent Pordenone opposite:
his extraordinary ability to embody the Song Danping and
Festival. It is a pretty silly thriller in which his lover Li Xiaoxia,
character he was playing, using every word Lily, the beautiful daughter of an as portrayed by Jin
and action to express complex moods. engineering works manager, is apparently Shan and Hu Ping
in Midnight Song
None of his peers could match his portrayal carried off by a gorilla. Investigation reveals (aka Song at
of a character's deepest emotions... Maxu that Lily's captor is in fact a man disguised Midnight).

China
above: as a gorilla who is abducting young girls to in Old Dark House-style with the arrival of
In Maxu Weibang's
films the face and be sold for rejuvenation experiments. (In a bedraggled touring opera company at a
its disfigurement are the late 1920s rejuvenation and "monkey- dilapidated theatre guarded by a crazy,
central concerns. glands" provided the same kind of thrill for cackling old hunchback caretaker. They
Midnight Song's
hero, Song Danping tabloid-science as Viagra does today.) For learn that the theatre has been empty and
becomes physically all the shortcomings of the plot, the crumbling since the apparent death there
deformed. characters are vividly developed, and the of the great opera star Song Danping, ten
villain's underground lair is quite a stylish years before.
piece of design. Moreover, the 25-year-old The company clean up the theatre
Maxu, lean and handsome in a sinister and embark on rehearsals, but the young
way, appears as an actor, playing a lurking, star has trouble with his songs and stays
mysterious stranger who in the last reel behind to rehearse after the rest have left.
turns out to be the great detective who Alone in the theatre, he is alarmed to hear
below: finally brings the gorilla-man to justice. a beautiful voice, which guides him
Song Danping
before he became After a first experiment with sound, A through his song. It is of course Song
the "phantom", seen Goose Alights on the Wintry River (Han jiang Danping, who thereupon appears in
in a picture taken
when he was a luo yan, 1935), Maxu made his undoubted person to relate his story in flashback. He
famous actor. masterpiece, Midnight Song. The film opens was in love with the daughter of a rich and
powerful feudal lord, who punished him
for this presumption by having him
beaten and horribly disfigured. Since then
he has hidden in the theatre, waiting for a
singer who can take over his artistic
mantle. The young newcomer is chosen,
and entrusted with the manuscript of
Song Danping's operatic chef d'oeuvre. He
is also required to be envoy to Song
Danping's former love, Li Xiaoxia, whose
mind has broken from sorrow.
The major departure from Leroux and
other film adaptations is that the Phantom
is the unequivocal protagonist, and wholly
benevolent, even though at the end he

Maxu Weibang
becomes the instrument of killing his old left:

malefactor when the feudal lord menaces Song is trapped in a
burning tower:
the young singer and his fiancee. This is in Midnight Song.
marked contrast to the conventions of
Western horror films, which invariably
marginalize their monsters, however
sympathetic, generally pivoting the plot on
a decorative romantic duo.
In Leroux, the Phantom's protegee is a
female singer, and the Phantom is
provoked to lethal sexual jealousy of her
fiancee. Maxu develops much more
complex and ambiguous relationships by
making the protege male. The hallucinating
Li Xiaoxia believes the young man to be
Song Danping himself, and fascination and the Kuomintang), who also helped revise
delight begin to heal her tormented mind. the script to strengthen its nationalist and
Song Danping is perfectly content to place anti-feudal sentiments. At Tian's
the young man in this beneficent role of suggestion, the composer was Xian
surrogate, and his distress when he Xinghai, who deliberately combined
discovers that the young man has a fiancee elements of popular and folk song with
is a kind of jealousy on behalf of Li Xiaoxia, idioms of both Western and traditional
a strange and subtle anxiety about the Chinese opera.
boy's commitment to his go-between role. The incidental music is another
The expressionist settings, presum- matter, and a cause for some anxiety for
ably the work of Maxu himself, are richly modern European viewers. It is a
atmospheric. Clearly he had seen the compilation in the manner of a silent film
James Whale films, but the German score, recklessly juxtaposing popular
Expressionists are still quite evidently a classics, from "Night on Bare Mountain" to
much stronger influence on the lighting, "Orpheus in the Underworld," Handel's
use of shadows, and sinister chiaroscuro. "Largo" and "Rhapsody in Blue." It is not
Maxu is a master of mise-en-scene and easy for the contemporary spectator to
suspense: most notable is the scene when make the adjustment necessary to gauge
the bandages are finally removed from the the effect of these (essentially skilfully
Phantom, whose head is out of shot, below chosen) melodies upon a Chinese public, to
the frame line. The doctor slowly unwinds whom in 1937 they were still quite
the bandages as Song Danping's loving unfamiliar.
mother and sister watch with eager The film's enormous commercial
expectation, and the spectator waits with success launched the star career of its
growing anxiety, anticipating the shock of leading actor Jin Shan, created a long-
the exposure of the face - which indeed lasting vogue for horror films, and firmly
sends them reeling across the room. typed Maxu as a genre director. His next
Other factors enrich the film. Maxu four films included Tales of a Corpse- below:
was, by all accounts, a highly politicized Ridden Old House (Gu wu Xing shi ji, 1938) The Phantom.
person, deeply and personally affected - to
a degree of permanent melancholy - by
China's decades of trauma. (The film was
released in February 1937, only months
before the Japanese bombing of Shanghai
effectively closed down film production
there.) Song Danping is portrayed as a
fugitive revolutionary, using the theatre as
sanctuary, and the characterization of the
evil feudal lord has clear references to the
chaotic political struggles of the 1920s.
Part of the film's huge success on its
first release was due to the songs, at least
one of which has remained a favourite long
after the film itself has been forgotten. The
lyrics were by Tian Han (a left-wing writer
who at the time was under house arrest by

China
that he had leapt into the sea below and

been rescued by sailors.
More bizarrely, he recounts how his
appearance, though still monstrous, has
been changed in the meantime. This
sequence gives an insight into Maxu's
obsessive visual preoccupations. From the
sketchy biographical information
available, we learn that he was passionate
in his study of makeup, and would spend
hours trying out different opera makeups
on his own face. It is tempting to guess
that between 1937 and 1941 he had seen
Rupert Julian's 1925 version of The
Phantom of the Opera, and had preferred
Lon Chaney's death's-head makeup to the
rather more scrofulous face he had
designed for Midnight Song. To justify
making this change without breaching the
story logic linking the two films, he
devised a strange subplot in which the
Phantom is taken up by a crazy old doctor
who rushes about like La Fee Carabosse,
with a goblin nose, vampire teeth, and
Quasimodo hump. The doctor and his
assistants perform an elaborate operation
in a Frankenstein-like laboratory. The
above: and Leper Woman (Majeng nil, 1939). Then hands come out all right, but when the
At the end of
Midnight Song II, in 1941 he decided, or was pressed, to face is unwrapped, the doctor's assistants
Song's lover Li make a sequel to Midnight Song. recoil at the disaster: far from improved,
Xiaoxia has become Even if Midnight Song II [Yeban the face has been transformed to the Lon
blind, sparing her
the sight of Song's gesheng xuji], with an entirely new cast, Chaney pattern.
skull-iike visage. has not the quality of its predecessor, it is
Maxu introduces another outrageous
still the work of an artist of exceptional
narrative convenience later in the film.
fantasy and visual gifts. It opens with the
Song Danping's tragic lover Li Xiaoxia has
funeral of the young singer's fiancee, shot
lain sick and delirious in her bed
by the evil lord at the climax of the original
throughout the film, and in the final reel
film. After the funeral the singer leaves the
suffers the additional affliction of
opera troupe - whom we see being harassed
blindness. It is at this moment that the
by unidentified occupation troops - to go
young singer reappears with his Nationalist
and fight with the Nationalist army.
troops, to rout the invaders and effect a
Meanwhile, the wandering Song Danping is
meeting between the two one-time lovers.
reunited with his little sister, now grown
Now blind, the lady of course remains
up. In the flashbacks to which Maxu was
blissfully unaware of the disfigurement of
by this time chronically addicted. Song
her long-lost love, and dies happy, while
Danping relates his story. At the end of the
the Phantom, precluding all further
original Midnight Song, he was last seen
sequels, takes his life with a poisoned dart
trapped at the top of a tower, which had
purloined from the crazy old doctor. The
been fired by an angry mob. He explains
film ends, as it began, with a funeral - this
time a double one. The manipulation may
be blatant, but it works infallibly: there
were few dry eyes at the Udine screening.
Despite such evident mechanics (not
to speak of the music, which this time adds
the "Pathétique" to the repertory), Maxu's
soaring imagination and vision remain
supreme. In Midnight Song II the influence
right of James Whale is more apparent: a scene
Midnight Song ll's
Mad Doctor (Hong where the Phantom comes upon a crowd of
Jingling), the villain villagers listening to a professional
who destroys
Song's face.
storyteller has something of the look of

Maxu Weibang
Hollywood Transylvania, but this, and Carbon represents Maxu's unqualified above:
The Mad Doctor's
some exotic mountain scenes, apparently masterpiece. Although his career seems to laboratory in
done on location, have a grandeur and have declined following the commercial Midnight Song II,
painterly style that the Universal stages failure of the high-budget The Haunted complete with live
nude models posed
could not rival. Nor is there anything in House and his subsequent three-year as statues.
Whale to match Maxu's moments of withdrawal from production, Maxu
romantic madness, which rather bring to continued to work regularly (on films
mind the Bunuel of Abismos de Pasion. whose titles admittedly included
In his eight remaining years in Resurrected Rose and Booze, Boobs and
Shanghai, Maxu made ten more films, and Bucks) from 1954 to 1961, when he died
in 1949 moved to Hong Kong, where he was after being knocked down by a car.
to make twelve more. Of all this output, his Not everyone forgot Midnight Song. In
first Hong Kong production appears to be 1962, Maxu's former assistant Yuen Chiu-
the only film at present available for feng remade it for Shaw Brothers, as Mid-
viewing, although the others may still be Nightmare - this time to feature a woman
lingering in video catalogues. The Haunted star, Le Ti. In 1995, Ronny Yu directed a
House or A Maid's Bitter Story (Quionglou new version as a vehicle for Leslie Cheung,
hen, 1949} (regarded by Stephen Teo as with the title The Phantom Lover. It is a
Maxu's "Hong Kong masterpiece") intermit- spectacularly lavish and handsome
tently retrieves the old fantasy and expres- production, though one yearns for Maxu's
sionist imagery, and there is a throwback eerie chiaroscuro, and the story does not
to Midnight Song in the story of a tyrannical benefit from the over-elaboration involving
old parent (an Emil Jannings-style the heroine's forced betrothal. Most fatally,
performance) who disfigures the the operatic Romeo and Juliet that is
disapproved lover of his daughter, driving supposed to be Song Danping's
her to suicide. Facial disfigurement clearly masterwork sounds as if it was concocted
remained a special preoccupation: it had of numbers rejected from Cliff Richards's
also featured in Autumn Begonia (Qiu Heathcliff. It is a far, far cry from the
haitang, 2 parts, 1943), which for Julien haunting songs of Xian Xinghai.

Enfant terrible: the terrorful,

wonderful world of Anthony Wong
Lisa Odham Stokes & Michael Hoover
Asking fans of Hong Kong cinema to name Best Supporting Actor nomination for the
their favourite Anthony Wong character latter. Wong followed up that success by
brings an array of responses. There's his winning Hong Kong's 1993 Best Actor
performance as the "bunman" in The award for his aforementioned performance
Untold Story (1993), a brutal murderer who in The Untold Story.
serves the remains of his victims to Ever busy, Anthony Wong has
restaurant diners. Then there's the trucker appeared in over 100 films since his big-
Tong in The Underground Banker (1993), screen debut in 1985. He has directed two
striking back against a local triad boss who feature films, New Tenant (1995) and Top
exploited his wife and tormented his family. Banana Club (1996), and has also released
There's also the deadly virus carrier on a two CDs of self-penned music (Underdog
mission to kill in Ebola Syndrome (1996). Rock and Useless is Useful). Meanwhile, the
And the police detective possessed by an actor has since won a second Hong Kong
evil force bent on destroying the world in Best Actor award for his portrayal of a
Armageddon (1997). Not to mention the police detective traversing the line between
depraved, disfigured, and greedy Mister "good and bad" in Beast Cops (1998). Of the
Kim who controls Hong Kong's fresh water numerous roles he's played, Wong indicates
supply in The Executioners (1993). These that he's partial to the mild-mannered
are among the myriad hyperbolic roles that insurance agent turned killer of taxi cab
have earned wonderful Wong his drivers in Taxi Hunter (1993) saying "I think
reputation as an irascible figure in the it is my best piece of work because that role
Hong Kong film industry. involves a humanized character, it involves
Born in 1961 to a Chinese mother and diversification and is layered." The actor
British father, Wong says the latter "left also favours his Cop Image (1994)
when I was very young and my family was performance; Wong plays a traffic monitor
very poor. I grew up with a Chinese family who dreams of being a super-cop in the
1
and I went to a Chinese school. At that tradition of the characters played by the Anthony Wong,
personal interview,
time, being poor and being mixed led to likes of Chow Yun-fat and Danny Lee whose 2 July 2000. All
many problems. They treated you like a movie posters adorn his walls. Anthony Wong
1
monster." After finishing school, he went quotations are
either this or one of
through a series of low income, working- Sex, horror and cannibalism: the following
class jobs. Wong began formal acting hardcore Hong Kong sources: personal
correspondence, 6
training at the age of twenty-one and upon May 1999, personal
graduation from Ho ng Kong's Academy of Hong Kong filmmaker Ronny Yu, correspondence, 2
Performing Arts spent much of the late May 2001.
commenting on the inevitable return of
1980s in front of television cameras. The Great Britain's colonial possession to 2
Ronny Yu,
actor gained attention in movie circles for Mainland China, has said that "Hong Kong personal interview,
his 1992 performances in John Woo's is the only place in the world where you 17 October 1998.
All Yu quotations
Hard-Boiled (as gangster Johnny Wong) were told as a kid, by 1997 your lifestyle are this source.
and Alex Law's Now You See Love, Now You 2
might end." As the 1970s closed, almost
Don't (as Chow Yun-fat's loyal and opposite:
two decades before the hand-over, nervotis Anthony Wong in
humorous friend), receiving a Hong Kong residents and corporate planners in the The Executioners.

Hong Kong
territory could already be seen and heard. suitable for children) and 24% (403) were
The colony began an irrevocable change assigned a Category IIB (not suitable for
following Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping's young persons and children) classifi-
1979 visit, in which he articulated for the 5
cation. Two years later, when 1,408 films
first time the mantra "one country, two were approved for public screening, 405
systems." British Prime Minister Margaret (29%) were classified as Category III, 294
Thatcher's 1982 trip failed to persuade (21%) as Category I, 274 (19%) as Category
Chinese leaders that Britain should have 6
IIA, 435 (31%) as Category I I B . Categories
some official capacity in Hong Kong after I, IIA, and IIB are advisory, while Category
1997. And the 1984 Sino-British Joint III is enforced by law.
Declaration establishing the terms under Censorship of Hong Kong cinema for
which "the return" would occur did not political reasons was a long-standing
include residents of the colony. As Yu, best practice given Britain's prohibition of anti-
known in the West for 1998's Bride of colonial messages from the industry's
3
Chucky, indicates, "Everybody trying to do outset. In 1928, the chief censor remarked
"Film
Entertainment something, either making money or making to the local American General Consul that
Services", a name, before the deadline... if I can find a his responsibility was to sustain British
www.info.gov.hk way to jump from A to C, I don't care about
(8 July 1997). eminence in a "small settlement of white
the in between... I have no time; I don't men on the fringe of a huge empire of
4
Bordwell, D. want to know. That's why the Hong Kong 7
Asiatics." That same year, a United Artists
(2000) Planet Hong film pace is so frenetic...the audience is likerepresentative in Hong Kong indicated that
Kong: Popular
Cinema and the Art
that. Their daily life is like that." proscribed topics included "armed conflict
of Entertainment. While spectacle and speed in both between Chinese and whites" and depiction
Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, camera and footwork are Hong Kong of "white women in indecorous garb or
155. cinema trademarks in the West, the movies positions or situations which would tend to
5
themselves run the gamut. Gangster and discredit our womenfolk with the
"Film 8
Classification in
martial arts pictures by no means comprise Chinese." Officially, however, political
Hong Kong", the whole of the territory's film industry state censorship of Hong Kong films dates
9
www.info.gov.hk that once ranked first in the world in per to 1953. More than twenty films were
(9 November 1998).
capita production, second to the United subject to film board cuts and demands for
6
"Film States in film export, and third in the world changes between 1974 and 1988 when the
Classification in in terms of the number of films made per "liberalized" code went into effect, including
Hong Kong", 3
year. Lightweight comedies and Akira Kurosawa's Soviet-financed Dersu
www.info.gov.hk
(13 March 2001). meditative dramas are regularly served Uzala (1975) which was considered anti-
fare, as is the horror genre with its free Chinese. The most notable locally-
mixture of Western movie motifs and produced example was Tsui Hark's
7
Shohat, E. and R.
Stam (1994)
Unthinking
Chinese literature. A film censorship Dangerous Encounter of the First Kind
Eurocentrism: ordinance permitting more nudity and sex (1980), an unrelentingly violent urban-
Multiculturalism and in films was enacted in 1988. According to realist, anti-colonial rant. The 1988
the Media. London:
Routledge, 112. David Bordwell, the new rating systems law system, which remains on the books,
"had the effect of creating a safety zone specifically addresses potential harm to
8
Ibid. 4
hospitable to exploitation items." relations with other countries. Obviously
9
Cheuk-to, L.
The result has been widespread intended to placate Mainland China, this
(Summer 1989) production of Category III films (for persons concern has also been useful in mollifying
"Political aged eighteen and above only). The Southeast Asian financiers and govern-
equivalent U.S. classification would be NC- ments, upon which the Hong Kong film
Censorship:
The Fatal Blow",
Cinemaya 4, 44-45. 17 (no one under seventeen admitted); few industry has depended for investments and
Hollywood releases have received this markets. Quite simply, Hong Kong censors
rating since it was introduced in 1990. are more likely to prohibit social and
10
Actor Karen Mok
deplores the
retrograde trend of Since many theatre chains refuse to show political material than they are to forbid
1990s "rape films NC-17 productions, films such as Basic films containing sex and violence.
requiring little
budget and Instinct (1992) are re-cut in order to receive The first Category III films to gain
production" that the Motion Picture Association of America's notoriety were sexploitation flicks such as
manufacture as well R-rating (no one under seventeen admitted Erotic Ghost Story (1990), Robotrix (1991),
as mirror the
ideological notion without an adult). In contrast, 39% of films and Naked Killer (1992). Often campy, such
that men both (662 out of 1,697) approved for 1997 public films sold soft-core porn containing scenes
desire to, and in exhibition in Hong Kong received a with exposed women's breasts, simulated
fact do, violently
control women. Category III classification, almost twice the copulation, and intimate relations between
Karen Mok, number (336) that received a Category I women. Some trucked in graphic violence,
personal correspon-
dence, November
(suitable for all ages) rating. Another 17% generally linking brutality and sex, both in
18, 1998. (296) were classified as Category IIA (not terms of rape as well as rape-revenge. 10

Anthony Wong
But even as the Cat III rating was

becoming identified with more explicit
cinematic sexuality in the early 1990s, a
horrific type of film was about to burst
onto the then-colony's theatre screens.
Termed "Hardcore Hong Kong" by William
S. Wilson, these films revolve around
serial killer characters frequently based
on ostensible real-life murderers engaging
in torture, mutilation, cannibalism and
11
necrophilia. According to filmmaker
Herman Yau, who has directed several
such films, "Cat III movies are not
considered mainstream most of the time.
Sometimes, they become mainstream for a
certain (usually short) period of time if we
have one with a very good box office. The
theatres that show Cat III movies are
mostly the same as those that show other
movies, but some theatres refuse to show
Cat III movies because they think that
showing such movies will ruin their image
12
as 'high class' theatres."
Dr. Lamb (1992), the story of a
deranged cab driver (Simon Yam) who
rapes and dismembers young women, emigrating from the territory in light of the above:
takes photographs of his gruesome acts, events on the Mainland. Not surprisingly, Run and Kill, a
typical Cat III film.
and then stashes body parts in his home, the professional-managerial stratum
ushered in this sub-genre, termed the constituted the largest percentage of those
13
"horror/crime" film by Jeff B e r e s . The able to leave. As Ronald Skeldon notes,
film was the directorial debut of popular references at the time to Hong Kong 11
Wilson, W.S. (13
actor Danny Lee who also plays an emigres as "yacht people" were not March 2001)
earnest cop in the mould for which he is 14 "Hardcore Hong
entirely inaccurate. Moving to overseas Kong", Video Junkie,
well known. Dr. Lamb explains the main enclaves or travelling between home and www.vidjunkie.com.
character's behaviour and the film's enclave were less feasible options for the Several Western
critics have made
misogyny as the outcome of absent working class. In the midst of transition to comparisons to
motherly love: it is the woman who's to a service economy that would eliminate Henry: Portrait of a
Serial Killer, John
blame. Moreover, in what would become 400,000 manufacturing jobs, working McNaughton's 1986
stock-in trade "horror/crime" Hong Kong people` in Hong Kong confronted potential film about Texas
filmmaking, Dr. Lamb expresses both mass murderer
abandonment by footloose industries Henry Lee Lucas
repugnant cruelty and repulsively dark looking elsewhere for cheaper labour. that is based on a
humour, the latter serving to add to viewer Moreover, as public housing construction real-life story and
that features scenes
discomfort. Screenwriter Law Kam-fai and slowed, numbers of low-income people of graphic violence.
director Lee also establish the terrain that found themselves in danger of being
similar films would negotiate, that of a priced out of affordable residences by rent
12
Herman Yau,
working person caught in the Hobbesian- personal correspon-
inflation following the elimination of rate dence, 13 May 2001.
like environment of Hong Kong's compet- controls for all old private buildings. All Herman Yau
itive "cutthroat" capitalism. No minimum quotations are either
Simon Yam's performance in Dr. this or the following
wage, no official poverty line, no full source: personal
Lamb was but one of more than 100
employment policy, and a minimal social correspondence, 12
movies the actor made between 1989 and March 2001.
safety net.
1998, many of them low-budget Cat III
13
The movie (and subgenre) appeared productions in which he was alternately Beres, J. (July
2000) "Horror in
as a side effect of the territory's cultural typecast as a gigolo or a lunatic. Among Crime Films", Horror-
crisis. Three years after the 1989 the latter roles were his portrayals of a wood Webzine.
Tiananmen Square massacre, Hong www.horror-wood.
savage home invading stalker in Insanity com/crime.htm (13
Kongers were still scrambling for foreign and a ruthless tormenting ex-soldier in March 2001).
passports, standing in long lines outside Run and Kill, both 1993; having been 14
Skeldon, R.
of foreign consulates, and calling for accused of signing onto such flicks solely (Winter 1990-91)
abrogation of the 1984 Joint Declaration. for the money, the actor says, "I've tried "Emigration and the
Upwards of 50,000 people per year (out of lots of roles. I understand that I am only Future of Hong
Kong", Public Affairs
a total population of 6,500,000) were interpreting. I've done research in order to 63, 507.

Hong Kong
15
Simon Yam, interpret the character successfully in couldn't entirely carry the "heavy" role set
personal correspon- every single movie. But if Yam was the against Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung
dence, 24
December 1998. "guy who started it all" so far as Hong Chiu-wai. Another prologue to the actor's
Kong splatter films are concerned, it was work would be the sex crazed three-headed
16
Marx, K. (1967) fellow actor and colleague Anthony Wong demon Wu-tung he plays in Erotic Ghost
Capital vol. 1. New
York: International
who came to embody the cinematic Story 2 (1991), a Cat III film of the
Publishers, 763. psychopath. numerous "naked women" kind. Clearly
hamstrung by the limitations of a character
Telling tales: who, buried under a weighty costume,
cooking up The Untold Story mostly grunts and groans, Wong appears
full-frontally nude in one scene that serves
Many Western fans' introduction to as a self-referential comment on his view
Anthony Wong was through his portrayal of that Hong Kong's mainstream suppresses
the greedy, power-hungry Johnny Wong in actors' freedom and creativity. In another
Hard-Boiled. While Wong's character is like instance, the perverse Wu-tung, making
other villains in that he disregards human carnal with a woman's severed sex organs,
life, the gangster's decadent lifestyle of offers viewers a glimpse of the terrorful
expensive clothes, chauffeured luxury cars, Anthony Wong screen persona to come.
and fashionable clubs is far removed from Wong found his metier and his best
the later "blue collar" roles for which the collaborator when he starred in Herman
actor would become known. In Hard- Yau's 1993 'true-crime' drama The Untold
Boiled, Wong's mania is that of the Story (a.k.a. Bunman), based on a case, as
capitalist who, as Marx puts it, "always Yau recalls, that happened in Hong Kong
16
kills many." Ironic in retrospect is that in 1978. The actor plays Wong Chi-hang, a
at the time Woo included a second villain fry cook accused of hacking his
because he feared that Anthony Wong restaurant-owner boss and the boss's
family to death and serving the remains as
'human pork buns.' Director Yau says, "I
don't know whether it is true or not. At the
time, many newspapers and magazines
said the flesh of the victims was made into
buns and were sold in the restaurant. I did
not notice that newspapers retracted that
part. I remember that they all treated it as
big news and exaggerated it very much.
Actually, the 'human pork buns' might
just be a rumour. I don't think that people
chose to believe the reporting. You know,
when people who had eaten buns sold by
the restaurant read about it, it was
enough for them to feel sick even if the
possibility of the reporting to be true was
only one percent."
Yau's research for the film included a
visit to Macau, and numerous interviews
with an inmate who had shared a cell with
the notorious "bunman" from whom he
learned about his behaviour and person-
ality. He also met with reporters who
covered the story. With the facts he
gathered the director used his
imagination to construct the characteri-
zation. Actor Wong worked from an actual
photograph of the criminal to imitate his
face. The Untold Story cost HK$5.19
million (approximately US$600,000).
According to Yau, "the shooting schedule
was nineteen days of 12 hour shoots plus
one month post-production for editing,
dubbing, music, mixing. colour
correction, etc." Grossing HK$15.8

Anthony Wong
million (about US$2 million) during its

initial three week run in theatres, the film
was a commercial success.
What sets Yau's Cat III movie apart
from many others is its arty camera work
and editing in relation to story and
character development. Having worked in
the Hong Kong industry for many years as
a cinematographer, he has the experience
and expertise to visualize and get what he
wants. Yau cites R. W. Fassbinder, David
Lynch, and Roman Polanski as directors
he admires. Of his almost two- decade
friendship with actor Anthony Wong, the
filmmaker says, "He acted in my film when
I was a film student. I think he is a very
talented actor, maybe the best contem-
porary actor of our time. He is very creative
and always adds his own characteristics."
With their collaboration in The Untold
Story, Anthony Wong became the most
notorious screen villain in the Asian
market.
The Untold Story, even before its
opening credits, reveals a world askew. A
bird's eye view of circa 1978 Hong Kong's
crowded tenements swoops and dips 360
degrees to establish the lead character's
environment and his place within it. No
successful business people inhabit this
landscape far removed from the high-
walled private homes, luxury hotels, and
indoor malls that have made the city-state
one of the contemporary world's capitalist
showcases. Rather, poor labourers, sole
proprietors, and street people dwell in a
landscape of sweatshops, storefronts, and physically being taken on an acid trip into above:
shantytowns of unrelieved squalor, with too The Untold Story
17
dread. Yau describes the scene as "kind of
many people for too little land. a flashback, so I wanted the images to be
The establishing shot is followed by a different from normal in some ways. I shot
vicious crime in which Wong Chi-hang (aka with twelve frames per second for that
Chan Chi-leung) brutally murders a man scene and I believe step printing can create
by hitting him over the head with a chair a tempo inside the shots."
and banging his head into the wall while Jump ahead eight years to a beach in
arguing over money as they gamble at mah- Macau where children discover severed
jongg. Next he pours gasoline on him and limbs and stinking body parts wrapped in a
sets him afire. Yau's unusual camera work shopping bag resembling the Union Jack.
and Wong's facial expressions and delivery The police called to the scene are made
as a money-obsessed, crazed character squeamish by the rancid odour; one officer
amplifies the horror. By dutching the rips a finger from evidence that he is
camera, oblique angling makes this a collecting. Danny Lee, the film's producer,
confused and almost indecipherable world. playing a less-than-by-the-books captain,
In contrast to the big picture of the aerial arrives to supervise his investigative unit 17
Nowhere is
shot, here everything's cramped and with a prostitute in tow, the first of several social class polarity
in Hong Kong more
fetishized. We don't see whole bodies, only instances showing Lee in the company of evident than in
close up fragments - hands, arms at hookers. Unsurprisingly, the lone woman residential patterns.
frame's edge, standing legs seen from detective is constantly subjected to the Much of the
population lives on
beneath a table - a portent of the body sexism of her male counterparts, whose less than five
parts to appear later. And the blurring routines alternate between disparaging her percent of the land
effect of step printing photography eerily small breasts and making vulgar in the crowded
towns of Victoria
creates a strobe-like effect as if we are comments about her being "butch." and Kowloon.

Hong Kong
above: The bumbling and incompetent cops The pork bun "delicacy" is the result
Anthony Wong in
award-winning form:
ostensibly serve as comic relief. During a of The Untold Story's second grisly act;
The Untold Story. surveillance scene, for example, they accused of cheating at mah-jongg by the
neglect to sort through the trash that Wong butcher that he has hired, Wong stabs the
has thrown out and are forced to dive into employee in the eye with a receipt holder.
a sanitation truck in a futile attempt to sort Then, inflicting numerous blows to the
through his garbage. head with a ladle, the miscreant bludgeons
Wong Chi-hang's "makeover" following the defenceless man to death. Wong's
the murder of his boss Cheng Lam gives hyper-mania, evident in his face while
him close-cropped hair, big thick nerdy committing the murder, is replaced by the
eyeglasses, and a new identity card. cold, calculated look of someone "doing a
Assuming "ownership" of the Eight job" when he dismembers and skins the
Immortals restaurant that specializes in victim. Both expressions convey the
barbecue pork buns, he unsuccessfully severity of his character and indicate the
tries to convince a lawyer to transfer the complexity of his derangement. Plus, they
business deed to his name, lying that he disclose the quality of Anthony Wong's edgy
paid the previous proprietor who then left performance, as does the earlier incident
the country with his family. Meanwhile, the with the attorney. Rebuffed in his attempt
Macau police have received a letter asking to gain legal possession of the restaurant,
that they look into the disappearance of the character's anger erupts as he screams,
Cheng Lam. Detectives pay Wong a visit, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! You are so fucking
whereupon he repeats the story that he stupid!" Seemingly too furtive to step over
bought the business from Cheng while the line in this "public" setting, however,
denying any knowledge of the latter's his only action is to ruffle some documents.
disappearance. The "kindly" Wong feeds Wong Chi-hang's third killing exacts
them "really delicious" BBQ pork buns; in "revenge" from a woman he believes tipped
fact, he sends some to share with their co- off the police about his shocking activities
workers back at headquarters. Unbeknown while she was working as a waitress at
to the cops, of course, the buns are filled "his" restaurant. Director Yau, extending
with human flesh, not the chicken or pork the length of the savagery and upping the
over which they argue. butchery with each gruesome act, shoots a

Anthony Wong
scene too torturous for all but the most have considerable discretion in regard to the
jaded of viewers to watch. Wong beats and use of force in the exercise of their duties.
rapes the woman before assaulting her a According to Criminal Ordinance Cap 221,
second time with chopsticks and S1101A, police may use "such force as is
mutilating her body. Then, as with his reasonable in the circumstances."20
previous victim, he cooks her flesh into the Allegations of police brutality by the Hong
pork buns responsible for the "rave Kong police are legend. While reported
reviews" and the increasing number of complaints number about 3000 per year,
above:
customers at the Eight Immortals the number of unreported cases is believed Anthony Wong in
Restaurant. Responding to criticism of the to be three to four times higher than that The Untold Story.
film's depiction of violence against women, figure. Most victims of abuse and torture are
actor Anthony Wong indicates, "I don't low-income and working class people who
quite like the movie. I played a role; the may be further intimidated and threatened
character is an anti-hero. Once the job is by the police if they file a formal protest.
given, I just have to make my best effort." The inept and ostensibly humorous
Yau asserts, "it was not my intention investigative unit in the film turns macabre
to perpetuate violence against women. I when Wong is apprehended trying to flee to
executed the rape and murder scenes the China. Danny Lee's character appears
way I did because I thought the 'bunman' willing to use any means necessary to
had a very high possibility to do it like that. extract a confession from the suspect
It is not fair to generalize about the against whom he has limited evidence. The
treatment in the movie as my attitude interrogation of the barbarous Wong is itself
towards the issue. What people see is the barbaric; he is alternately subjected to
behaviour of the 'bunman' according to my physical abuse from the police and fellow
imagination based on the research I did. cellmates in jail. Doctors tie the man to a
The torture that the 'bunman' put on the hospital bed and inject him with drugs
victims were ways to punish them since he following an attempted suicide, as well as a
thought they were bad to him or had failed escape try. As the police beatings
cheated him. Of course, the ultimate continue, Yau accomplishes the
punishment was the death penalty." The unthinkable - he elicits momentary
filmmaker doesn't eroticize the physical sympathy for a psychopathic killer who may
attacks of the woman, and the camerawork be the most appalling character to ever
focuses upon close-ups of the assailant's appear on the screen of a "mainstream" film
twisted face rather than the frightful looks anywhere in the world. Accordingly, the
of his female victim. Still, Arjun Appaduri filmmaker confirms that The Untold Story's
maintains that "fantasies of gendered portrayal of the cops is, "in a sense, an anti-
violence [that] dominate the B-grade police, anti-authority statement."
film...both reflect and refine gendered Eventually a nurse shoots Wong up
18
violence at home and in the streets." If with water causing painful boils to arise on
rape is a means by which men intimidate his back, and he cracks under the
and keep women in fear, The Untold Story collective weight of the authorities'
incident goes beyond male power and treatment. As if the film has not already
phallic domination to link cinematic pushed the boundaries of cinematic
18
Appaduri, A.
voyeurism with sadism. As Laura Mulvey (1994) "Disjuncture
cruelty, the "bunman's" confession consists and Difference in
charges, "Sadism needs a story", a portion of a visual flashback in which we learn that the Global Cultural
of which is punishing women for their he not only murdered his boss Cheng Lam Economy." In
alleged transgressions. 19
And the Williams, P. and L.
at the beginning of the movie, he slaugh- Chrisman (eds.),
waitress's transgression is that she's smart tered the entire family. As with the earlier Colonial Discourse
enough to figure out that there's heat in rape scene, Yau agonizingly draws out the
and Postcoloniai
Theory: A Reader.
Wong Chi-hang's kitchen. Unfortunately for attack, shooting the slaughter in excruciat- New York: Columbia
her, however, she can't escape. ingly vivid detail. After tying up the wife and University Press,
336.
The film departs from the convention children, Wong inadvertently chokes one
of having the cops pursue the perpetrator in son to death with wire wrapped around the 19
Mulvey, L.
a game of "catch me if you can" when Wong boy's neck. Whereupon he stabs the wife in (1989) Visual and
Other Pleasures.
Chi-hang is arrested about halfway through the stomach snarling, "I'm going to kill your London: Macmillan,
the film. One of the world's largest whole fucking family." Then, amidst 22.
operations, in per capita terms, the Hong stomach-curdling children's screams; he 20
chops several daughters to death with a UN Profile -

Kong police force numbers approximately Hong Kong, "World
30,000 officers in a city of 6.5 million meat cleaver, decapitating one young girl as Fact Book of
people, a ratio of about one officer to 200 she crawls around helplessly on the floor. Criminal Justice."
www.ojp.usdoj.gov
citizens. Moreover, the Hong Kong police The death toll stands at ten when the (4 August 1998).

Hong Kong
massacre is over, eight of which are "From the creative point of view, of course
innocent children, and the room is I'm not satisfied, but from the money
drenched in blood. making standpoint, it doesn't really matter
As in the earlier tortured waitress 23
and I don't really care.
scene, Yau was adamant about not wanting Having established himself as the
low-key lighting for the killing of the entire most ghastly screen presence in Hong Kong
family. He avows that "most directors would cinema as the "bunman", Anthony Wong
have it [low-key lighting] for such scenes." plays against type for much of Bosco Lam's
Instead, he made the lighting harsh, and The Underground Banker. The actor's
the killer, meticulous and methodical once trucker character Tong Chi-ming is a
he has determined his actions. Delivering "regular fella" with a wife and son. Tong
an almost clinical expose of relentless owns his eighteen-wheeler but, as is the
brutality, Wong and Yau out-Hannibal case with many sole proprietors, he is
Hannibal Lecter by not having Wong's hardly his own boss. Thus, there is little to
madman merely consume his victims, but distinguish him from those who are
by showing the labour-intensive process of working class. As a sub-contractor, he
Wong carefully preparing and disposing of works long and hard to make ends meet,
the bodies and cleaning up the mess. The frequently on the road for a week at a time.
irrational pleasure the killer receives by He covers the costs of upkeep on the truck
watching the results eaten by others makes as well as family expenses, but has little
the effect even more gruesome. time or money for leisure activities or
Carol Clover has written that slasher material indulgences. Nicknamed
films frequently trade in male killers whose "Marshmallow" because he's easily intimi-
sexual fury is vented against attractive, dated, Tong appears to "go along to get
sexually liberated young women. She has along" as when he says he just wants to
also noted that the assailant often fails to "earn a living" while handing money over to
survive the end of the movie. The Untold some petty-thugs who claim that they
Story is one exception to Clover's first point, control the lot in which he parks his rig.
in that Wong's rage is not rooted in his Early in the film, Wong's character
sexuality but rather in his reaction to the notices flickering hallway lights outside the
powerlessness he experiences as a apartment to which he and his family have
"member" of the working poor. The work just relocated and asks: "Is it a horror film?"
does conform to Clover's second notion, Only partly so, as director Bosco Lam
albeit with a twist. Typically a "final girl" weaves elements of Hong Kong
triumphs over monstrous evil by killing the "horror/crime" flicks into a devilish
21
See Clover's perpetrator, but in this instance, the mass lampoon of them (complete with lame
(1992) Men, murderer commits suicide in jail. 21
Women, and Chain comedy and obligatory Cat III misogyny and
Saws: Gender in Generalizing the cinematic mayhem, sexploitation). For example, there is the
the Modern Horror however, provides clues to the psychosis of notorious serial killer Lam Kuo-jen of the
Film. Princeton:
Princeton University
Anthony's Wong's character. He is frenzied earlier Dr. Lamb movie, played by Lawrence
Press. Hong Kong, caught in a web of magnified Ng this time rather than Simon Yam.
fears wrought by the Tiananmen tragedy, "Rehabilitated" and released into the general
22
Wood, M. (1998) widening income polarization, and population, Ng's Lam displays a sardonic
Cine East: Hong
Kong Cinema increasing pessimism associated with 1997. wit; his character is cryptic, not evil. On the
Through the one hand, he saves Tong's son from a raging
Looking Glass.
Surrey: FAB Press, Human interest stories: collecting debts fire; on the other, he enthuses that "I'm
134. in The Underground Banker really happy" to be killing again when he
23
takes action against a group of thugs. In
Anthony Wong addition, an agitated Tong screams near the
states that "I make Wong says that most of what came his way
only one real film a following the Hong Kong best actor award end of the film that "I'll chop you and make
year - at least what win (for which he admits surprise) were BBQ pork buns" making an all too obvious
I consider to be a
real film." Such a "maniac roles. 22
Representative of this reference to Wong's own "bunman"
movie was Ordinary situation were the deranged intruder who character in The Untold Story.
Heroes (director torments a temporarily blind, self-centred
Ann Hui's 1998 The story line revolves around the
consideration of left- wife of an out-of-town wealthy physician apartment that the mild-mannered trucker
wing political groups that he played in Retribution Sight Unseen and his family have secured in one of the
in the "go-go" days
of 1980s Hong
(1993), and his depiction of a wealthy "new town" high-rise complexes that now
Kong). Wong's businessman whose tastes run towards dot Hong Kong's New Territories. Housing
character was torture, murder, and cannibalism in The
based on a real-life
has been at a premium since the trebling of
Catholic priest with Day That Doesn't Exist (1995). Regarding the population in the years following World
Maoist tendencies. his typecasting as a villain, the actor says, War Two and the Chinese Revolution half a

Anthony Wong
century ago. The government began public helmed a number of "adult" movies,
housing construction following a 1953 including Chinese Torture Chamber Story
Christmas Day fire that left 50,000 people (1994). In this instance, "old flame" Canner
homeless. 1950s and 1960s housing slips an aphrodisiac into Chun's drink and
estates, generally low quality urban rapes her. Then, ignoring her tears, he
structures, failed to keep up with demand beats her into agreeing to become a
driven by a further doubling of the prostitute in order to protect her family
population during those decades. In from harm. A second aphrodisiac and rape
response, Hong Kong's government scene later in the film involves a gang-
initiated residential development of the attack and the presence of video cameras.
New Territories in the 1970s; today, about Shortly thereafter, the salacious Boss Chao
one-third of Hong Kongers live on former is aroused by the youthful spunk of Tong's
farm and swamplands. sister Chi-kwan (Hui Pui), who stands up
The family's name finally reaches the to Canner's voyeuristic violation of her
top of the public housing waiting list friends (he and his cronies surreptitiously
following someone's mysterious plunge film them in various states of undress at a
from an upper-story apartment floor to "modelling school"). As a prelude of events
their death (as a sign of things to come, the to come, Chao's underlings terrorize Chun
individual is suspected of owing money to a and her son; the former is coerced into
'usurer'). But he and his wife quickly turn arranging her sister-in-law's kidnapping
apprehensive about their new residence for the purpose of sexual assault. By
upon learning that they live next door to perpetually upping the ante, the
Lam Kuo-jen. From his eerie yellow-tinted "underground banker" ensures that the
sunglasses, hooded jacket, and ever- liability will never be settled.
present chainsaw, to his dimly lit flat, Tong, obsessed with his sexual
surgical knives, and foreboding kitchen, inadequacy and anxious over his psycho-
Lam exudes a disconcerting aura. pathic neighbour, appears oblivious to
Misgivings begin when the couple discovers what is happening around him for much of
their son playing video games at Lam's the film. In quick succession, however, he
apartment. Subsequently, Lam serves Tong learns that his wife has lost all their
a large plate of spaghetti (reminiscent of money, been forced into prostitution, and
intestines) topped with blood red sauce and betrayed his sister. Tong, seeing no other
says, "even you're biased against me, but solution than to sell his truck to pay the
you're better than the rest as we can be debt, raises most but not all of the needed
friends. I can't imagine they'd release me so cash. He begs Chao to accept the amount
soon. For me, I don't know if it's good or he has as payment in full but the latter
bad. It's very difficult to control myself. I informs the humiliated trucker that he
think I will not kill anymore." must pay an additional $100,000 to keep
During the move into the new flat, sex tapes of his wife off the streets.
Tong's wife Chun (Ching Mai) bumps into Refusing to cower further, Tong leaves the
an old boyfriend named Canner (Wong Chi- usurer's office without paying anything at
yeung). Here the film begins a dark turn as all. Triad members attack him in the street,
Canner exploits the woman's desire for break his glasses, and steal his money.
economic freedom by convincing her to While at the police station reporting the
invest with a stockbroker who buys and crime, Chao's henchmen barricade Tong's
sells on the margin (symbolic of her lot in wife and son into their home, pour gasoline
life). Initial success is followed by loss of under the door, and set fire to the
the family's meagre savings whereupon apartment. Chun dies in the flames and
Canner introduces her to his loan-sharking the boy, saved by Lam who cuts the chain
triad boss Chao (Ho Ka-kui), the blocking entry into the flat, is badly burned
"underground banker" of the film's title. No over his entire body.
longer able to meet the family's basic fiscal Doctors remove the boy's bandages
obligations, much less pay the debt three months later to find him badly
accumulated from failed market transac- scarred and in need of extensive skin
tions, Chun (also called Kitty) borrows grafting. Chi-kwan assumes the role of the
money at an exorbitant interest rate. deceased Chun in asking her pusillanimous
The woman's financial plight becomes brother whether or not he is a "man."
the basis for The Underground Banker's Cat Dabbing tears from his eyes when the
III rating; after all, the film's producer was young boy says he'll never be able to play
Hong Kong cinema's "sleaze king" Wong video games again, Lam tells his neighbour
Jing and its director (Bosco Lam) has that the time for action has come and to

Hong Kong
"call me if you need help." Upon hearing his man has become an "underground
son counsel him to "kill those bastards", banker", a blood-sucking parasite feeding
Tong finally acts and actor Wong's crazed upon the most disadvantaged. Thus the
screen presence that viewers have been horror of the capitalist city about which
awaiting during the film's entirety comes to Friedrich Engels notes: "Every great city
the fore. The remaining footage is violent has...slums, where the working class is
and bloody. Tong, dressed in camouflage, crowded together...where removed from the
shoots off one man's penis, Lam slices and sight of the happier classes, it may struggle
dices through several villains with piano 24
along as it c a n . "
wire, gutting Canner along the way, and
Tong and Chao battle with meat cleavers, Working class rage:
each hacking the other's arms and chest. In spreading the virus in Ebola Syndrome
the final scene, Tong - with Lam's
assistance - castrates Chao. Herman Yau and Anthony Wong capitalized
At movie's end the last camera shot is on the success and sensationalism of The
a pan of the Hong Kong that doesn't show Untold Story with Ebola Syndrome three
up on Chamber of Commerce brochures - years later. Produced by Wong Jing, the
hillside hovel dwellings symbolizing the latter film's shoot took seventeen 12-hour
450,000 households and almost 1.2 million working days but its postproduction was
people who reside in inadequate housing. only a week. "In a hurry", explains Yau,
Poor and lacking what conventional banks "because we had to catch up with the
call "credit worthiness", this segment of the screening schedule in Hong Kong." A
population is vulnerable to lending scams. comparison of the two flicks reveals similar
Tong's voice-over is reciting the terms upon strains, most prominently, of course,
which he will loan money; driven over the Anthony Wong and his characterizations.
edge, the one-time hard working family Both begin with an establishing exterior
above:
Wong's character
during the violent
opening to Ebola
Syndrome.
right:
Hong Kong VCD
cover art for Ebola
Syndrome.
24
Engels, F. (1984)
The Condition of the
Working Class in
England. Chicago:
Academy, 60.

Anthony Wong
shot and crime appearing before the writes, "When one individual inflicts upon
opening credits, and a restaurant serves as another such bodily injury that death
the main scene of the wrongdoing and results, we call the deed manslaughter;
objective for the main character's economic when the assailant knew in advance that
climb. Likewise, he takes on a new identity, the injury would be fatal, we call this deed
food plays a major part in the horror, and murder. But when society places hundreds
there's a close look at the work process, of proletarians in such a position that they
whether preparing food or disposing of inevitably meet a too early and an
corpses (sometimes one and the same). unnatural death, one which is quite as above:
Anthony Wong's role again involves the much a death by violence as that by sword Anthony Wong
murder of his boss' family save for one or bullet... [I]ts deed is murder just as during the climax of
Ebola Syndrome.
young daughter (who, as a grownup years surely as the deed of the single
later, becomes nauseated when she individual..."26
recognizes his smell). Moreover, time and Kai's violent actions result from his
setting change when Ebola jumps ahead a being excluded from Hong Kong's economic
decade and shifts it locale from Hong Kong miracle. Director Yau suggests that "to a
to South Africa. certain extent it was my intention to have
Regarding Ebola, Yau says his interest class resentment in the movies [he is
was "to create a world losing control... an speaking of both The Untold Story and
attempt to create an anarchical situation. Ebola Syndrome]. I always think that the
Ebola Syndrome is not a sequel to The underdogs of society can be very powerful if
Untold Story. But we secured an investor they want to take revenge against the rich
because of the box office success of The men and the people who control the
Untold Story, and the investor found some 27
rules." What if such anger, however, is
similarities in both during the scripting misplaced, as it is in Kai's circumstance?
stage. You know, I don't like the part of That the first onscreen action is sexual
making 'human meat hamburger' in the ("suck it, lick it", Kai tells his boss's wife),
movie, but it was nearly a 'must' in order to and that their activity is interrupted and
25
secure an investor." Audiences perhaps perverted - "pee on him", the husband
felt much the same, as Ebola proved to be directs his wife, and Kai barely avoids
a shadow of the box office draw of the castration - introduces the twisted sexuality
earlier film; costing HK$5 million (almost that follows. Kai masturbates into raw meat
US$600,000) to produce, it played only one and later steams the pork to serve to a
week in Hong Kong theatres, grossing complaining diner. He gets off on
HK$1.6 million (approx. US$255,000). overhearing the restaurant couple loudly
In place of the brutal murders of the engaged in acrobatic sex or by smelling the
25
children witnessed in The Untold Story's wife's bra. He rapes both a weakened Regarding Yau's
comment that Ebola
flashback, Ebola focuses on perverse African villager dying of Ebola and the Syndrome is not a
sexuality and extreme and detailed violence restaurateur's wife. The former spews sequel to The
against women. Women serve as projective vomit in his face (as if other Untold Story, the
latter eventually
scapegoats for the working class (anti)- bodily fluids weren't enough to infect him); spawned two films
hero/horror to go on a virus-spreading the latter struggles but is forced to perform of the same name.
Anthony Wong
rampage. Multiplying ironies, victimization oral sex and have anal sex, and after sloppy appeared in director
at the hands of what actor Wong calls kisses Kai bites off her face and impales her. Ng Yiu-kuen's The
Ebola's "anti-society character" (variously He is unusually literal when the assault is Untold Story II
(1998), Herman Yau
called Kai, Sam, and Chicken in the film) over, bellowing that "both of you bullied me returned to direct
serves as a simulacrum for his and other long enough. I'll screw whoever bullies me." The Untold Story III
labourers' exploitation. First, as a Cat III (1999) sans Wong
The result is a horrifying and often but with Danny Lee
movie, the film is by definition exploitative; nauseating series of violent acts that play (who also
second, the character's sublimated rage upon sexist, racist, and homophobic produced) in the
expresses itself as misogynistic physical role of police
attitudes. With an African setting for much captain.
abuse of women; and, third, Kai victimizes of the story, featuring interludes during
others just as he is being victimized by an which the Ebola virus spreads, viewers
26
Engels, 126.
entrepreneurial class. Both the boss he can't help but think of anecdotal rumours 27
kills in the opening scene (after the man The filmmaker

of the spread of AIDS by a gay European asserts, "I don't
catches him in flagrante delicto with his flight attendant who ostensibly contracted consider myself a
wife) and the restaurateur couple who use the disease on the "dark continent." When political director. I
him for the hard labour that food don't like politics but
a black man comes into the restaurant, the there is no way to
preparation requires - securing animals, wife remarks in Chinese, "I daresay he has avoid it because we
slaughtering and preparing them, cleaning a soft dick" while Kai complains, "the live in a world
surrounded by
up - abuse and underpay him. Engels Negroes are so dark, you never know if they politics."

Hong Kong
Accordingly, Dery asserts that "the body

horror we see all around us is most
obviously a waking dream about the AIDS
pandemic, whose ravages have imprinted
nightmare images on the mass
imagination - bodies gnawed to skin and
bones, flesh mottled by the purple lesions
28
of Karposi's sarcoma."
Kai, it seems, is a working class
survivor of sorts, and after being infected,
recovers from a high fever and body sweats
to become a carrier physically unaffected
by the virus, but mentally and metaphori-
cally a spreader of destruction. Wong's
characterization grows more and more
frenzied as the film progresses, until he
runs wild in the streets of Hong Kong,
Milton Friedman's exemplar of successful
laissez-faire economics. Engels, however,
offers a different perspective: "Capitalist
rule cannot allow itself the pleasure of
creating epidemic diseases among the
working class with impunity; the
consequences fall back on it and the angel
of death rages in its ranks as ruthlessly as
29
in the ranks of the workers."
Herman Yau states that Ebola
Syndrome has a "kind of anarchy and
chaos metaphor. One little man shocks
society. In a way, revolutions in history
above: have expressions on their faces." He share some similarities." At one level, then,
Artwork from the
Dutch DVD cover. wonders whether tribesmen from whom the film's points to a scenario that had
they buy pigs are cannibals, to which his been laid out for Hong Kong's return to
boss replies, "Asshole! No one will eat you. China. At another, it is an explosion before
You're stinky and dirty", a judgment later the expected (but by and large unrealized)
28
Dery, M. (1996) confirmed by an English prostitute. She "tighter and straighter" censorship
Escape Velocity:
Cyberculture at the tells Kai, "Get out of here! I only do it with following the hand-over. While he says that
End of the Century. white people, not yellow crap. Fuck off! he still very much enjoys making movies,
New York: Grove, You're disgusting and smell like shit. Don't Yau notes that he has witnessed "the
233-34.
you people ever wash yourselves?" decline of the Hong Kong film industry from
29
Engels, 43. Besides the murders and inadvertent its climax. The budget for making a movie
cannibalism (restaurant-goers dining on is getting tighter and tighter, the number of
30
Stringer, J . "human meat hamburger" is a wry shooting days allowed is more limited, box
(1999) "Category 3:
Sex and Violence in commentary on the devouring hungers of office is important, critics' comments are
Postmodern Hong consumer materialism that runs rampant always mean, and the audience is
Kong." In Sharrett, sometimes wonderful. People in the
C. (ed.),
in Hong Kong), the depiction of the virus
Mythologies of itself makes this a movie not for the industry are not helping each other and
Violence in squeamish. "The facial muscular tissue is there is keen competition." So in another
Postmodern Media. sense, Ebola's bedlam and ferocity
Detroit: Wayne badly composed", says one examiner of
State University visible bodily remains. "I've never seen foreshadows current industry trends. Film
Press, 362. anything like it. It's as if the muscular scholar Julian Stringer maintains that "it is
3
tissues were trying to eat each other." a truism of capitalist culture that film
* Among his wide-
ranging projects, Oozing mucus, projective vomiting, and industries in decline often turn to sex and
30
the actor did the blood from the hackings makes this a violence." Anthony Wong disagrees. He
voice-over for the reasons that since there are fewer movie
comedic
movie of bodily fluids. Cyber-theorist
DreamWorks Mark Dery recounts that "horror has productions, "only low budget movies will
animation Shrek always taken the body as its central trope" go for this type of strategy. These produc-
(2001), providing tions are fading away and won't last much
the dialogue for the while he declares that "the end of the
title character twentieth century [was] a period of whose longer." Hong Kong millennium horror
(performed by Mike obsession with the body belies a flicks, he feels, "aren't horrifying at all.
Myers in the U.S. They're more like comedy, I think." 31
release). widespread anxiety over the body's fate."

Anthony Wong
Interior decorating: fit, resulting not in a big picture whole, but

terrors of the mind in New Tenant instead contributing to a twilight zone
world of the uncanny. Instrumental in
Like many actors, Wong looked forward to creating the atmosphere of the unknown
directing his own film and in 1995, he (and, possibly, the "we don't want to know,
directed and starred in New Tenant, for but can't help watching" result) is the
which he also wrote the script, and for disjunction between image and sound.
which he used his own music. The movie Along with some voice distortion on the
was made on a shoestring, approximately track, repeated musical cues, and a ticking
HK$3 million (about US$390,000), shot clock, the voice-over or conversation among
over ten days (14 hours a day average characters is intentionally slightly off from
shooting), with a mini-crew, one camera, what the audience sees onscreen, making
one track and seven days of editing and for an uneasy accommodation by the
dubbing post-production. Of the experi- viewer kept on the edge.
ence, Wong says, "Acting is more The two main interior shot locations
comfortable, more fun, more income, and for the movie are the empty apartment
more relaxed. Working behind the scenes in building, mostly one room, and the hospital
Hong Kong is a dying job." Nonetheless, the from which Tam has been released, with a
film provides an interesting experiment in few exteriors thrown in mostly for conver-
Wong's own appropriation of the horror sations between Tam and his physician.
genre and his onscreen image. Both interiors share narrow hallways and
With a limited budget, Wong found small rooms, producing a psychically
inventive ways to get the most out of the cramped and obscurely threatening space.
money. Using lots of close ups and pull The hospital is all light while the apartment
backs, voice over narration and eerie sound building is mostly darkness and shadows.
effects, two primary locations, a small, Shooting in the hospital, Wong says, was
effective cast (plus a couple of cameos), he difficult because "there was another crew
fashioned a dense plot relying on twists making a movie at the same time on the
and turns foreshadowing a revelation from same spot, so basically, the progress was
the beginning. Wong is Tarn Ling-wun extremely slow. Weather was also a
(whose name plays on that of pop singer challenge with the actors' conflicting
Alan Tarn), a newly-released mental patient schedules, and the rainy season made it
who doesn't know whether he can adapt to
the outside world. He has been reassured
by his weird born-again Christian, Tai-chi-
practicing, wormhole theorizing doctor that
he recovered because he forgot everything.
"Are you afraid of darkness?" asks a real
estate agent who laughs maniacally as he
rents Tam an apartment in an empty
building slated for demolition in three
month's time. At film's end, he will be
asked the same question by his soon-to-be
wife Shark, the identical twin to Dolphin
(both played by Dolphin Chan), the woman
he'll remember that he's murdered.
Wong exploits aslant camera angles
that he saw work effectively in his work
with Yau, but unlike the latter, he restricts
what violence he actually shows making
this movie much more an experience of
tension and mood anxiety than in-your-
face horror. Some strange shots, such as
an inexplicable view of Wong and the agent
from the roof of the building as they
discuss rental arrangements, add to the
creepiness and the unexplained
atmosphere. Whereas Yau gives us body
left:
parts in his films, Wong provides pieces of Promotional artwork
evidence in the puzzle as the story for Anthony Wong's
progresses. Some fragments don't exactly directorial debut
New Tenant.

Hong Kong
right:
Anthony Wong
starring with Dolphin
Chan in New
Tenant, which he
also directed.
difficult for us to complete the shots. But Appropriating the clocks which run
the greatest barrier was mainly from post- rampant in Wong Kar-wai films from Days
production, due to the lack of technical of Being Wild (1991) to Chungking Express
support in the Hong Kong industry." (1994), Anthony Wong uses a discarded
Generally, the apartment interiors serve as clock Tam finds in the building to negotiate
a visual metaphor for the claustrophobic the time and space travel the character
clutter of a deranged mind, while the takes between 1984 and 1994. Running
exteriors alongside water, with wind haphazardly, the ticking clock parallels the
blowing, offer a breezy sweep through that unstable character's returning memory.
mind and a respite from gloominess and When the clock is running he can observe
confinement. The penultimate scene, set in the life going on inside the building in the
a maze-like tunnel of darkness and past, but the 'ghosts' can't see him and he
dripping sewers, revels in the murky side cannot interact with them. But he makes
and cancels out the tempered daylight and contact with Dolphin because there is a
macabre humour of the film's end. relationship between them, and tellingly, he
In tandem with the medium and also is perceived by the anthropology
medium-long shots of the corridors and professor (fiance to Dolphin's sister Whale
rooms, along with pull back shots to reveal [Ng Kai-wah) with whom he has a
the character in his environs, there are connection. At one point the "Doctor Lam"-
numerous extreme and medium close-ups like professor confides he's eaten Whale
of Tarn. Wong exploits his wonderful and "out of love... The only way to possess his or
extraordinary ability to believably run a her lover is to eat them so as to make them
gamut of emotions in facial expression part of oneself." Shades of the "bunman"! In
alone. Indeed, the story opens with the a flash, Wong incorporates his previous
character contemplating his face in the persona into this crazed former mental
mirror, a bit bewildered, thoughtful about patient, Dolphin's "Angel."
who he is, reluctant to re-enter the outside Coupled with the clock is a masked
world. Soon, however, he's naive and and bloodied face most often seen in
ordinary, and the strength of the mirrors, as well as a slow moving turtle, a
performance encourages us to identify with departing gift from a fellow mental patient;
him. When Tarn becomes more pained and always appearing in relation to the ticking
confused as memories begin to return to clock, the mask reveals Tarn's true self. And
him, we share his predicament, still always attempting to escape its shell across
unclear ourselves as to the direction the the pages upon which Tam writes his story,
events will take. Ultimately, though, a dream, novel, or movie, the turtle
chilling insanity emerges. disappears when Tam finally discovers who

Anthony Wong
he really is. "Usually, the couple in a competition create unstable social

romantic story will have a romantic ending. relations; conquest, enslavement, robbery,
Dolphin and I, no, I mean Shark, we have a murder, and gangsterism characterize this
romantic ending too..." the voice over phase. Describing its violent genesis, Marx
narrative concludes. Bon appetit! writes that "Capital comes [into the world]
"Like most Hong Kong citizens, you're dripping from head to foot, from every pore,
slightly schizophrenic", a cop tells Tarn, and with blood and dirt. 3 3 Late capitalism, on
of course the description is fitting. the other hand, refers to the process of
Examination of several aspects of Hong globalization and its accompanying
above:
Kong identity discloses Hong Kong in commodification of almost everything. The A battered Wong in
relation to the British Empire and the PRC; accumulation process is increasingly based Beast Cops, one of
a leviathan working class set against an upon finance capital, global markets, and the best millennium-
era action/horror
elite rich; and Anthony Wong in relation to dual labour structures. As economist films to come from
his on-screen characterizations, from Robert Heilbroner notes, '"Made in Hong Hong Kong.
crazed killers to likeable, ordinary Kong' stamped on commodities that
schmucks. In the first regard, being Hong embody the most remarkable capabilities of
Kong Chinese means to be pulled both ways scientific production becomes a symbol of
- between the conditions established in the the ability of capital to move wherever low
colony under British rule as well as towards labour costs or strategic sites for distri-
the homeland; and in 1995 when the film bution offer competitive advantages." 34
was made, the return ever-present in The territory's highly competitive

people's minds. Secondly, the former travel industries - land speculation, real estate
magazine writer Tarn leads a Spartan construction, electronics, apparel and textile
existence in his past and present lives, and manufacture, finance, and tourism -
the dreariness of the apartment building in manoeuvre between two worlds, a local
which he and the others reside points to all proprietary sector and a transnational
the luxuries of contemporary life they are corporate one. "Creative destruction" is on
missing and desire. Perhaps Wong best display everywhere in Hong Kong as
reconciles all perspectives in a judgment industrial factories give way to opulent
made on his characterizations: "I think hotels, which in turn yield to office towers in
nobody is normal. In my eyes everyone is only a few years. Perhaps it is such contra-
crazy. I really want to explore the abnormal dictory and turbulent circumstances that
side of the human being." Anthony Wong speaks of when he says that
Hong Kongers, "are a mad people. Everyone
Hyperbolic Hong Kong: is mad." Novelist William Styron, himself
the political-economic imaginary hospitalized after being diagnosed with
depression, writes that madness is a
Horror film specialist Tony Williams has "simulacrum for all the evil of our world: of
noted that Category III Hong Kong films, our everyday discord and chaos, our
despite their abusive nature, echo motifs irrationality, warfare and crime, torture and
found in dystopian literature. He remarks, violence, our impulse toward death and our 32
Williams, T.
"It is hard not to see a certain social flight from it held in the intolerable (2002) "Hong Kong
35 Social Horror:
relevance in these Hong Kong productions equipoise of history." Wong's ability to Tragedy and Farce
which are not as far removed from our turn that "madness" into creativity sheds in Category 3",
world as we may think." Williams writes of a light on the elaborate relationships of power, Post Script: Essays
in Film and the
"cinematic future whereby capitalist ideology, and representation that wonder- Humanities 21.3,
exploitation and a supposedly primitive fully play themselves out in the terrifying yet 61-71.
mode of cannibalism will logically co-exist fascinating portrayals he has brought to 33
Marx, K. (1967)
in a brave new w o r l d . " Of course, movie and video screens. From The Untold
32
Capital Vol. 1. New

capitalism is, by "nature", human-eating, Story's "bunman" to Ebola Syndrome's York: International
its history strewn with the limbs and bodies deadly virus carrier, Anthony Wong is Publishers, 760.
of working people, its progress built upon hyperbolic Hong Kong, an expression of 34
Heilbroner, Ft.
the flesh and blood of the labouring classes. frantic paranoia in the pre-handover city- (1985) The Nature
Unlike Western nations, however, Hong state; but he also reflects the insanity of the and Logic of
Kong's rapid development has included capitalist mode of production. As an actor Capitalism. New
York: W. W. Norton,
features of early and late capital accumu- and as a performer, Wong doesn't so much 171.
lation simultaneously. tease out the links between literal and
metaphorical cannibalism as he rips them 35
Styron, W .
In the early period, force separates (1992) Darkness
apart, revealing the fear and loathing that
capital from labour, exchange-value in the Visible: A Memoir of
lies beneath his society's ideological Madness. New
market from immediate use-value, and
structures along the way. York: Vintage,
owner from worker. Patterns of ruthless 83-84.

The rain beneath the earth:

an interview with Nonzee Nimibutr
Mitch Davis
The year 1897 marked the very first time a productions dropped dramatically, the
film was screened for public entertainment country's film system slowing to a flickering
in Thailand. Three years later, Prince crawl.
Sanpasartsupakij imported camera gear In 1997, times began changing back
and became Thailand's first cinematog- when 2499 antapan krong muang (Dang
rapher. 1904 saw a new trend, with Japan Blreley and the Young Gangsters) took
exporting their films for Thai consumption. Thailand by storm, smashing box-office
This proved so successful that the records and becoming the first large-scale
Japanese built Thailand's first dedicated event movie that Thai audiences had seen
movie theatre in 1905. In 1916, two years in ages. Its young director, Nonzee
after the start of the First World War, the Nimibutr, hit the international festival
Pattanakorn Cinematograph Company was circuit with the film and returned to
launched. It was Thailand's first foreign Thailand with global cinéaste recognition
film distributor. 1922 saw the Inaugural and the Grand Prize award at the 19th
publication of Parbpayon Siam, Thailand's Festival International du Film Independent
first movie magazine, but it wasn't until in Brussels. Nimibutr's 1999 follow-up was
1927 that the newly formed Bangkok the haunting Nang Nak, a film that broke
Picture Company (alternately known as his own box-office records and, through its
Bangkok Film) produced Choke Song Chan travels on the festival circuit, managed to
[Double Luck), the first bona fide Thai film. put Thai cinema back on the international
Audiences went wild. By 1931, Thailand map - on a larger scale than ever before.
had a full-fledged film industry, complete Nang Nak wasn't just a phenomenal
with government codes and regulations; success; it was a cultural phenomenon,
and with the launching of the Srikrung comparable to what James Cameron's
Sound Film Studio in 1936, film Titanic (1997) was to mainstream Western
production was executed under an moviegoers. That Thailand's ultimate
enormous, Hollywood-like system. blockbuster production would be an eerie,
From that point on, Thailand has tragic ghost story is indicative of the
enjoyed a rich and unusual cinematic country's longstanding fascination with
heritage, one whose very mechanics were supernatural folklore. That the film also
often shaped by crisis. One notable event manages to be an effective love story is a
saw almost every major filmmaker turning testament to Nimibutr's uncanny ability to
to 16mm when 35mm emulsions became create works that are at once deeply
scarce during World War II. This 16mm film personal and widely accessible. His films
wave officially came to an end in 1972. are atmospheric, calculated and
When the global oil crisis hit in 1974, the captivating, the rare works of a genuine
Thai government ordered cinemas to artist with an intuitive knack for
reduce screening times, which in turn commercial survival that allows his
impacted the running times of most preoccupations to be explored freely. opposite:
productions during that period. When The following interview was conducted Artwork used to
Thailand was ravaged by an economic promote the Hong
in late January 2000 at the Rotterdam Film Kong release of
crisis during the late 80s, the number of Festival, the day after I walked into a Nang Nak.

Thailand
screening of Nang Nak with no expectations Woman She's A Man, 1994] and Tian mi mi
and spent the rest of the afternoon in a [Comrades: Almost A Love Story, 1996]).
daze, staring at cracks in the pavement. While Thai productions have traditionally
Since the time of this interview, Nimibutr been exported almost exclusively to other
has gone on to become one of the most Asian territories when they were exported
important figures in the Thai film scene, at all, Nimibutr's films have, without
producing gigantic titles like the Pang exception, been screened in every part of
brothers' Bangkok Dangerous (2000), Wisit the world. Perhaps more than any other
Sartsanatieng's Fa talai jone (Tears Of The contemporary Asian filmmaker, Nonzee
Black Tiger, 2000), Tanit Jitnukul's Bang Nimibutr is pulling his country's cinema
Rajan (2000) and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's culture into the consciousness of the global
Monrak Transistor (Transistor Love Story, film community. And he is doing it without
2001), all of which played with compromising a single frame of integrity.
exceptionally high profiles on the A-list
international festival circuit. Further, the Mitch Davis: Just to get a broad overview,
Pang Brothers' international success with approximately how many features would
Bangkok Dangerous afforded them the you say come out of Thailand per year?
ability to make their unconventional horror
film blockbuster Jian gui (The Eye, 2002), a Nonzee Nimibutr: Almost ten. Ten per year.
picture that has been incredibly well-
received across the world and was immedi- MD: What would their average budgets be?
ately licensed by Tom Cruise for a projected
US remake following its first North NN: The average is middle. It's not huge,
American screening at the Toronto but not small. Often half a million US
International Film Festival.
dollars.
Nimibutr's directorial follow-up to
Nang Nak was the controversially stark MD: Is that what Nang nak (1999) cost?
and equally beautiful Jan Dara (2001), a $500,000 US?
major co-production between Thailand and
Hong Kong. Most recently, he produced, NN: Yes, a half-million dollars.
directed and co-wrote The Wheel - a
chilling chapter of the omnibus horror film MD: Wow.
San geng (Three, 2002), a trail-blazing
anthology co-production comprised of NN: But the half-million includes
three segments, each hailing from a promotion.
different Asian country. (The other
segments in Three come from South MD: WOW. So then before you got to post-
Korea's Kim Ji Woon, best known for production, what was your shooting cost?
Choyonghan kajok [The Quiet Family, 1998]
and Banchtkwang [The Foul King, 2000], NN: About $200,000 US. In Thailand, post-
and Hong Kong director Peter Chan, who production is really expensive. When you
b e l o w was actually born in Thailand, the maker compare it to Hong Kong, it's the same
Nang Nak. of films like Gum gee yuk yip [He's A price. Really expensive in Thailand.
MD: In general, how do you approach the

financing?
NN: Fortunately, I was working in TV

commerclals before. Ten years of TV
commercials. I had a show reel when I went
to the company, and I had a script.
Because I had a reel, everyone trusted that
I could make a film. For me it wasn't
difficult, but for other directors it's
sometimes really hard because if he doesn't
have a show reel, or wasn't already working
before... Maybe someone will go to make a
music video, or a TV program, and also
make up a reel to show to potential
investors. But now Thailand is in an
economic crisis. Investors don't want to

Nonzee Nimibutr
lose money! It's really hard to find

Investors, and really hard to make a film,
because the film company, the distributor
and the financiers will not invest in a Thai
film now. It's really difficult these days. But
my friends and I are trying to fight this
problem. I have to build a film company
myself, and try to find a financier from
another country, or another company, like
a TV channel or something, to make a film.
In Thailand we have only six film
companies.
MD: Which is a lot I'd imagine, if there are

only about ten Thai flms made per year.
NN: But five years ago, in Thailand, we

made two hundred films per year.
MD: Is it common for the directors of above:
MD: Two hundred locally-produced Thailand's larger-sized productions to Nonzee Nimibutr's
Nang Nak is part of
features? emerge from advertising backgrounds? a select group of
contemporary Thai
movies to find
NN: Yes, between six film companies! It's NN: No, no, just three directors, not more. acceptance in the
changed because of the economic crisis. I wanted to make movies when I started in West in recent
And because of Hollywood...it's the same university but I couldn't because when you years.
problem with most Asian countries. The are a filmmaker in Thailand, you can't
good thing about Hollywood movies playing make enough money to live. That's the
in Thailand is that when our production reason why I have to do jobs like make TV
companies want to make a film, they commercials. I can collect money from the
screen like a filter - they screen the script, commercials and that's enough for my
the director, everything. In Thailand, only family, for living. But to answer your
good films are made! question, I don't know if I would want to
make something for my audience. I just cut
MD: How would that fare for the more it off. When I see my film, when the actors
personal films? play their roles, and when I say "that is
enough," I cut it. I know I should be playing
NN: When I started making films, I made for more time, but I don't want it to look
ones that I loved to do. I didn't care if the like a Hollywood movie. That's the reason
audience loved my movie or not, because I that I don't cater to the audience much. No
knew I would make the story the way I more than I want to. The selling point of
wanted to. But I always had the marketing this film [Nang Nak] is atmosphere, and the
in my mind, because I was involved in TV period of the film, the period of the story.
commercials for ten years. After I make a
film, after it is finished, I realise how I can MD: Also, the Nang Nak folk tale looks like
push it to the audience. This happens after it will live forever in Thailand. I've been told
I finish my films, but when I first started that there were over twenty film produc-
making movies I didn't care about anyone. tions made, but that in spite of the fable's
But it's because my first film [Dang Blreley foregrounded supernatural trappings,
and the Young Gangsters] earned a lot of yours was the first film to play the horror
money in Thailand that, when I made the elements straight.
second one [Nang nak], it was really easy to
find financiers. Really easy to get the NN: Yes, well, you know, before my film,
budget. But I have a strong reason to talk Nang Nak had been made in 21 versions in
with the film company - to tell them that I Thailand. In all of these versions, the
want to make my film the way I want. Don't directors never researched the tale as if it
get involved with my movie! There is actually were a real story. Everyone made it like a
another director, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang fairy tale, as if it couldn't be a realistic
[Ruang talok 69 (6ixtynin9, 1999)]. Pen-Ek story. When I saw these films, I didn't enjoy
and I are in the same position and the same them, because it's like the ghost shows up
situation. Pen-Ek is also involved with TV and the people scream and run away or
commercials as a director. something, like a comedy. And the ghost
h o r r o r cinema across the globe 63

Thailand
reason: when the Hollywood movies came

to Thailand, everyone loved to see them;
but one day they became boring, you
know? Because most Hollywood movies
are like technical movies. They're not
talking about real life. When the economic
crisis occurred in Thailand, everyone saw
that. When Nang Nak showed in Thailand,
everyone realised that "Hey, this is Thai
culture. This is Thai tradition." Everyone
here likes to be reminded of Thai history.
MD: And It's become the top-grossing film in

Thai history.
NN: Yes. More than Titanicl (laughs)
MD: It /eels so good to hear something like

that. Would you say that there has always
been a large audience for horror and
fantasy films in Thailand?
NN: I think that, on the inside, Thai

audience love to see horror films. No one
really knows what kind of movie audiences
here want to see. The ten films released in
Thailand last year, every one of them failed.
They all flopped: the action movie, the love
story, everything. Nobody knows what the
audience wants to see; instead, people just
say, "Well, well, well, this movie is not good.
The love story is not good." No one knows,
and I didn't know either. But like I've been
telling you, I don't care because I like to
above: opens its body and goes "bleeeeecchhhhh." make my movies the way I want.
Hong Kong DVD
cover for Nimibutr's One version ends with funny people like
Jan Darà. Ghostbusters sending Nang Nak away! I Everyone in Thailand says the audience for
didn't think that had to be true. Why movies here is young, like a teenager. Just
wouldn't anyone treat this story like it was that. But I don't believe it. That's the
real?! I spent two years researching reason why, in Thailand, everyone makes
everything I could about the legend of Nang films for the audience. For the teenage
Nak, because it's based on a true story. crowd. But it's not the whole. Like me, for
example, now I'm 40. As an audience
MD: To what extent? member in Thailand, when you are 30 and
40 years old, you don't have any films for
NN: There is the house of Nang Nak in you. Before Nang Nak, everyone was just
Thailand, in a temple. There are making movies for the teenagers.
sculptures of Nang Nak for people to pay
their respect to her. When 1 did my MD: So then going to the cinema might be
research, I spoke with historical depressing for a lot of the audience. It could
consultants and everyone that knows the make them feel old or out of touch.
story. I found it very interesting, because I
love the old stories. I love the period films, NN: (laughs) Yes. I didn't have a movie for
and I would like to see Bangkok and me in Thailand. "Ah, wow, what movie
Thailand one hundred years ago. Everyone would I like to see...?" That's the reason
in Thailand knows this tale, but they don't why, when I made Nang Nak, I didn't make
know when it happened. So, if there is any a movie for a teenage audience. I made a
clear reason why the film has become so movie for everyone. I realise that teenagers
successful, it's this one: because it's a like to see my films, but it's for the opposite
period film, and everyone will go to see reason. The teenagers didn't know this
something like this. And here's another story. That's the reason why they wanted to

Nonzee Nimibutr
go see it. The teenagers would like to know, NN: If a spider goes toc-toc-toc-toc and falls
and so they went to see my movie. In the to the floor dead, it means that someone in
beginning, I didn't think the teenage the house has died.
audience would go to see it.
above:
MD: Did you encounter any particular Jan Dara.
MD: But they did. problems shooting some of the more
elaborate animal-driven sequences?
NN: A LOT! (laughs)
NN: Nothing too bad because, fortunately, I
MD: For many of the younger viewers, Nang had a very good team and a good crew. We
Nak would be their first exposure to a Thai rehearsed the animals beforehand. Like the
period film... owl: we practiced with the owl for six
months before shooting.
NN: In Thailand, nobody makes period
films anymore, not for many years. It takes MD: And how do you rehearse an owl?
a big budget. Like my film - it's almost a big
budget (laughs). I had to use the NN: (laughs) We had something like a bird
techniques I learned from shooting TV teacher. A trainer. He rehearsed the owl
commercials to make the film. I prepared until it knew the sequences of movement,
everything in advance. I'm figuring out my where to go. I feel sorry and awful because
film before shooting on the set. I know the many animals died during the shooting.
problems. I know everything before I start
shooting. That's the reason why I didn't MD: Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. What
need a big budget. I could control the was It that killed them?
budget because I was the producer also.
Not everyone can control the budget. I NN: The shooting (laughs)! When I came
wrote the storyboards too, and I knew that back to Thailand on February...February
"in this scene, I would like to see all of this 20...I made an ordain for the animals.
from here to here, so don't change
everything from modern day." So, I could MD: Sorry?
control the budget that way.
NN: I made an ordain. To become a monk!
MD: How much of the film was shot on (laughs)
studio sets as opposed to dressed or
modified locations? MD: What exactly was It that caused the
animals to die during the shooting. Was it
NN: Everything was on a set... Set on simply a question of the general conditions?
location (laughs). I built some sets right on
the locations. This is because I could find NN: The reason was the whole nature of
the locations that I knew from many years shooting. The lighting and the time and
ago, but everything has changed since everything you keep captured for a long
then. time... dies.
MD: You used many animals and Insects in MD: Would you consider Nang Nak to be a
the film as supernatural symbols. Can you religious film? I understand that it's based
explain some of the beliefs behind this on a fairy tale, and a historically-cherished
imagery? one, but the film strikes me as something
that came from a very spiritual state of
NN: In Thailand, everyone believes that mind. How do you see it?
when the lizards go tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk, you
can't go out of your home. Everyone NN: I see it like a Buddhist lesson - like the
believes in the animal action. Just like, Circle Of Life. When you die, your soul
when you see the rat - a lot of rats in your should die together with your body, you
house - you go "Why? Why?" It's like a hint don't stick on someone like Nang Nak
of something. sticks on her husband. The Buddha
teaches something in Thailand: when you
MD: I was particularly struck by the image live on the earth you don't stick to
of the spider acting almost as a door- anything. Like the Circle Of Life, when
knocker, slamming the mass of its body you're born and when you're dead, you
against the door. What do spiders signify to can't bring anything with you. I would like
you? to say that this is also a story of love -

Thailand
because someone was telling me that in gangster movie, inspired by Scorsese's

Thailand they don't believe in love. But I work. Nang Nak was the next step for me,
believe in love. When you love someone but it was actually my first idea. I couldn't
very much, you can do anything. In make it first though, because I thought
another version of the story, after Nang that as a really dramatic film, it would be
Nak goes away, they talk about Mak very difficult to make. So I decided to make
having a new wife, but then Nang Nak is the gangster film first because I thought it
jealous and tries to kill her! In my version, would be easier and I wanted to have that
Mak becomes a monk in the end because experience first. The gangster film is an
that is like a promise. A promise to Nang action film - action/drama - so it wasn't too
Nak that she will always be the one woman difficult to make.
for him.
MD: And also not as risky from a commercial
MD: In the film, Mak has to bend down and perspective.
look between his legs in order to see the
truth through the mysticism. Does this come NN: Yes. After that, I felt like I could make
from the original fable or Is it based on a a dramatic film and go to the next step. As
wider superstition? for the next step after Nang Nak, I think I
would like to talk about the philosophy of
NN: It's a belief. When I was young, my being human. What is inside of the
grandmother told me about it. Upside- human. Everything that is inside of the
down, between your legs, you concentrate human.
your mind until you are thinking with the
Buddha. Everyone in Thailand knows that MD: Where do you see the next few years of
way you can see ghosts (laughs). Thai film going In terms of their financing
and international export?
MD: In the climax of the film, there is great
tension between the monks and the NN: I think that now, fortunately, everyone
medicine man when he tries to dig up Nang would like to make a co-production in the
Nak's grave. Since both sides were Thai film industry. It is really interesting.
ultimately working towards the same goal, For my latest project, I didn't work with the
why were the monks so opposed to the Thai companies, I worked with a foreign
medicine man's ritual? company.
NN: When someone tries to destroy a body MD: From which country?
and hits the skull with a rock, that means
it destroys the soul also. The monks didn't NN: Hong Kong (laughs).
want him to do it like that. When the soul
is destroyed, it can't be controlled. In MD Good!
Thailand, everyone believes that when
your skull is broken and your soul is NN: Yes! And for the next one, I am trying
released, this means you cannot control it. to get funding from France, from
Maybe it means that the soul will become Switzerland, from Sweden. It's possible
a ghost forever. But if the highest monk now. It's possible. Now it's a great
talks with her, that means she might be opportunity for the Thai filmmaker. We
born again. have companies that try to understand the
filmmaker, more than in the past. Everyone
MD: What are some of the films that inspired would like to support the short film to
you as a director? encourage young blood. The new
generation. Like me, when I have the
NN: When I was young I loved to see Thai money, I want to make a fund for the short
films very much - more than Hollywood film. I would like to support this form. I
films, because they were closer to me. But think Thailand should have more young
I like Martin Scorsese very much. I love blood filmmakers than it does right now.
Goodfellas. Then we can shoot. Because the old
filmmakers...their old styles...they can't
opposite: MD: That's an almost perfect film. change! I almost want to say to them,
Promotional artwork "Please, please, don't make any more
for The Wheel, films!" I want to see the young blood.
Nimlbutr's segment
NN: Yes. I love most of Scorsese's films.
of the anthology They are very intellectual and, I don't Something new. I would be really pleased to
feature Three. know, very good for me. My first film was a support them.

Nonzee Nimibutr

Cinema of the doomed:

the tragic horror of Paul Naschy
Todd Tjersland
The Wolf Man cometh could be likened unto the werewolf: men
fighting the enemy without and within and
Doomed love. Twisted desire. Ancient evil. yet ultimately helpless in the face of their
These three themes dominate the cinematic own dark destiny. This type of tragic anti-
landscape that is the career of Spanish hero would prove central to Naschy's
horror legend Paul Naschy. characterizations throughout a career
The Paul Naschy story begins 6 encompassing over one hundred credits
September 1934, in Madrid, Spain, when he and spanning five decades. "I knew that I
was born Jacinto Alvarez Molina, the son of wanted to go into acting", Naschy mused,
small-time industrialist Enrique Molina. He "especially the fantastic and horror cinema,
grew up under the censorious regime of and above all, as the character of the Wolf
General Francisco Franco, where horror Man, by which I was completely fascinated."
films were rarely screened. Life under But Naschy's parents had other ideas
Franco was far more harsh than the and determined that he should pursue a
absence of monster movies; indeed, it is respectable career more fitting to his social
rumoured that the young Naschy nearly status as the son of a successful industri-
lost his father to a firing squad when the alist. His early college studies were in
elder Molina was betrayed by his own agriculture, but he later switched to
brother-in-law. Fortunately, fate intervened architecture, gaining a scholarship to the
and his father was cleared of any charges. prestigious School of Architecture in
From a very young age, Naschy's Barcelona. He received high marks for his
mother, Pilar, would take him on frequent artistic talents and found work designing
trips to the cinema. There, in the hush and record sleeves for major record companies,
quiet of the darkened theatre, the boy including some for Elvis Presley. He drew
delighted in the fantastic, flickering images comics, exhibited his paintings and wrote
on display. "I had entered the world of paperback westerns under the pseudonym
fantasy", Naschy would later recall. His Jack Mills. His energy never flagging, the
cinematic interests at this point consisted ambitious Naschy exercised his body as
primarily of serials, westerns and historical well as his mind, excelling in soccer, javelin
adventures. All of this would change, throwing and weight lifting. It was in the
however, when, at the age of eleven, he saw latter of these sports that he was destined
a rare screening of Universal's Frankenstein to set new records, easily winning the
Meets the Wolf Man (1943), a film which Spanish National Championships in 1958
impacted him deeply. He became obsessed when he was unexpectedly called in to
with the tragic character of the werewolf: a replace another competitor.
lost soul cursed to be half-man, half-beast; With such an impressive physique, it
gifted with savage strength and cunning but came as no surprise that he began to receive
doomed to destroy all those he loves. The work as an extra in movies and television.
dual nature of hero and villain in the same His most prestigious roles as an extra were opposite:
flesh, of rebel and outcast, held a powerful in the Biblical epic King of Kings (1961) and Original Spanish
allure for the young boy. Many of history poster artwork for
in a 1966 episode of the American television Dr. Jekyll versus
and literature's most memorable figures series, I Spy, entitled "Mainly On the Plains", the Werewolf.

Spain
The film was completed and released in

Europe as La Marca del Hombre-lobo (The
Mark of the Woljman, 1968), but it did not
see U.S. release until 1972, where it was
retitled as Frankenstein's Bloody Terror -
despite the fact that there was no
Frankenstein monster to be found in the
film! The American distributor had promised
theatres a Frankenstein movie, and justified
the bizarre retide by inserting a brain-dead
new opening credit sequence informing the
audience that, "The Frankenstein family
had been cursed with lycanthropy and
changed its name to Wolfenstein." The
sequence showed a series of poorly drawn
illustrations of the Frankenstein monster
slowly turning into a werewolf, achieved
through a process of dissolves. The film was
also heavily edited and not presented in its
above: which co-starred one of Naschy's childhood original 70mm, 3-D format.
Naschy drags away
one of his murder horror idols, Boris Karloff. It was shortly La Marca set the stage for establishing
victims in Latidos after this that Naschy decided to try his the conventions of the series: Daninsky is
de Panico, 1982.
hand at screenwriting, and the sole bitten while trying to kill his evil,
inspiration for his first script was lycanthropic ancestor, Count Imre
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf-Man. When he Wolfstein, and therefore cursed to carry on
approached a director friend about the the unholy taint of lycanthropy. He now
project, the friend told him he was insane! bears the mark of the pentagon on his chest,
"The truth is", Naschy admits, "there was no and can never truly die except by an item
tradition for this genre in Spanish cinema." forged of silver (a bullet in the early films,
Eventually, a German company expressed but later it is changed to a cross) thrust
interest in developing the project, but no through his heart by a woman who loves
suitable actor to play the Wolf Man could be him. The pentagonal "mark of the beast"
found. The original Wolf Man, Lon Chaney, and method of destruction requiring a
Jr., was offered the part, but had to decline woman's love were quite different from
due to poor health. With no one to play the conventional werewolf films and folklore,
lead, Naschy was finally offered the role, and having been wholly invented by Naschy. As
it was at this time that he took on his new La Marca's story unfolds, the infected Count
name after he was asked by the German Daninsky seeks out a mysterious Hungarian
producers of the film to come up with a professor to cure him, but the professor and
name that sounded less Spanish. He claims his wife turn out to be evil vampires whom
that he got Paul from a newspaper headline Daninsky is forced to destroy before they
mentioning the then Pope (Paul VI). Naschy can do more harm. Naschy's love interest in
was a germanised version of the name of the film, the stunning redheaded actress
Imre Nagy, who had been a Hungarian Dyanik Zurakowska, would team up with
weightlifter that Molina had got to know on Naschy again as a scheming, sex-starved
the tournament circuit when he was in countess in La Orgía de los muertos (The
competition in the early 1960's. Hanging Woman, 1973), but she is best
Eagerly, Naschy threw himself (for known for her role as the bewitching
what would be the first time of many times) vampire countess in León Klimovsky's
into the part of his doomed protagonist, disturbing La Orgía nocturna de los
Count Waldemar Daninsky. The character's vampiros (Vampire's Night Orgy, 1972).
nationality was chosen to represent the Naschy immediately followed up La
suffering of the Polish people, who were Marca with Las Noches del Hombre Lobo
being oppressed at the time under (Nights of the Werewolf, 1968), but the
Communist rule. The fictional Count picture was never released, having been
Daninsky was also bitter, persecuted and impounded upon the death of director René
misunderstood - a perfect match in Naschy's Govar and never located. Undiscouraged,
mind. He would draw upon the pain those four more Daninsky werewolf pictures
dark feelings engendered to create one of followed in quick succession: Los Monstruos
horror cinema's most long-lived characters: del terror (Assignment Terror, 1969), shot in
Waldemar Daninsky, El Hombre Lobo. just six days, in which Naschy's werewolf

Paul Naschy
was just one of many classic monsters (although astute viewers will note that the
enslaved by a mad scientist; La Furia del animals are merely being thrown at the
Hombre Lobo [The Fury of the Wolfman, actor by offstage handlers, providing some
1970), which recycles stock werewolf footage unintentional hilarity). Swarmed by the
from La Marca; La Noche de Walpurgts biting rats, Gotho sets those within reach
[Werewolf's Shadow, 1970), the success of alight and drives the rest off with his franti-
which would spark the Spanish horror boom cally waving torch. Flaming, shrieking balls
of the 1970s; and Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo of fire are thus sent scampering across the
(Dr. Jekyll versus the Werewolf, 1972), screen, which is all the more unbelievable
featuring Daninsky turning into Mr. Hyde as when seen by the light of today's rather
well as a werewolf! The year 1971 also saw more humane view of animal rights. No
the first of Naschy's attempts to diversify his special effects were used; the animals were
horror output with Jack el destripador de "sacrificed" for the integrity of the scene.
Londres (Jack the Ripper of London), a Naschy himself sustained many bites while
disappointing Jack the Ripper update, with filming, making the pain and panic of his
Naschy playing the prime suspect. performance all the more convincing.
Because of the rat scene, he received the
Raining/Reigning Naschy "Best Acting" award for El Jorobado at the
1973 Paris Convention of Fantastic Cinema.
It was with the 1972-73 releases of a El Gran amor del conde Dracula (Count
veritable flood of Paul Naschy movies that Dracula's Great Love, 1972), directed by
the Spanish actor finally hit his stride and Javier Aguirre, miscasts the decidely
started to achieve the international robust and healthy ex-weightlifter as Count
notoriety he deserved. While Los Ojos azules Dracula. It is nowhere near as elegantly
de la muheca rota (Blue Eyes of the Broken below:
filmed as his other Naschy collaboration French poster for
Doll, 1973) was pure sadistic sexploitation, that year, El Jorobado de la Morgue. The La Noche de
providing Naschy with one of his few non- script of El Gran amor deals with a group of Walpurgis
(aka Werewolf's
monster roles of the period, El Jorobado de travellers trapped in a nursing home by the Shadow), 1970.
la Morgue (Hunchback of the Morgue, 1973)
showed Naschy's attempt to create a
sympathetic killer. As Gotho, the pathetic
hunchbacked morgue assistant, Naschy
truly shines, delivering one of his most
sincere and emotionally riveting perform-
ances. Gotho is a good but simple-minded
cripple driven to do terrible things for a love
he can never hope to possess. When his
childhood sweetheart dies of an illness,
Gotho begs Dr. Orla (Alberto Dalbes) to
"wake her up." The cruel doctor quickly
agrees, but only if Gotho will procure fresh
corpses to feed to his rapidly growing
"primordial one." Dr. Orla believes that his
artificial lifeform, begun as a single-celled
protoplasm, will "grow" into the type of
creatures it eats. The doctor's theory proves
to be correct when the heretofore-unseen
beast breaks out of its prison cell during the
film's climax, resembling a slime-covered
version of the Golem in It! (1966).
Cruelly used and abused by those
around him, eventually Gotho realises he is
being duped and so chooses to redeem
himself. He joins his lover's corpse in the
mad doctor's bubbling acid pit, taking the
primordial one with him. El Jorobado is also
notorious for its brutally gory violence and
the infamous "rat scene", where Gotho
discovers the body of his deceased love being
feasted upon by dozens of rodents. The rats
jump to attack the enraged hunchback

Spain
Count, who needs one of the young women girlfriends, and after fending off some
to consent to becoming his undead lover so bandits intent on raping the women, arrive
that he may reanimate his daughter. When at Hugo's ancestral home. The knight's
the woman refuses, Dracula buries his head, kept alive all these years by black
daughter and thrusts a stake through his magic, uses its fiendish power to enslave
own heart! This is another example of and murder, and eventually succeeds in
Naschy's fascination with the doomed reuniting his head and body. Armand's wife
nature of his characters and his determi- is reborn when a nude girl is sacrificed over
nation to see them come to a ghastly end, her skeleton. Now mobile and hungry to
regardless of logic. devour human flesh, the unholy pair stalk
El Espanto surge de la tumba (Horror the night, seducing and slaying the unwary.
Rises Jrom the Tomb, 1972), one of Naschy's The film falters near the end, when a deus
many collaborations with director Carlos ex machina - a talisman called "The
Aured, was the first film to star Naschy in Hammers of Thor" - is suddenly dredged up
a dual role as both hero and villain. This out of a nearby well and proves effective in
inspired bit of casting treats us to Naschy destroying the undead couple and their
at his most humane and horrifying. As the zombie army. The talisman is never so
devil-worshipping knight, Armand du much as hinted at prior to its appearance,
Marnac, Naschy is suitably malevolent, when the sole surviving female suddenly
and succeeds in projecting a powerful aura "remembers" that it exists. This comes off
of supernatural menace by eye contact as both contrived and poorly thought out
alone. In this respect, Naschy appears to be (what is a Norse talisman doing in France,
taking his cue directly from Christopher and how does an obviously pagan symbol
Lee's portrayal of Dracula in the various have power over the spawn of Satan?). This,
Hammer productions, where the sensuous, combined with Hugo's demise and the less
corrupting evil of the Count is conveyed interesting Maurice unexpectedly taking
more by mere presence than words. By over as the main hero, undermine the film's
contrast, Naschy's decidely more verbose credibility and climax. Despite these
performance as Hugo du Marnac, problems, £1 Espanto remains an extremely
* In the American Armand's doomed descendant, shows him entertaining exercise in Grand Gulgnol
release, we only
see the wife to be weak, vain and spoiled. Hugo would violence, with many memorably unsetding
suddenly upside have to be able to overcome these flaws in and gory scenes to its credit. A sadistic
down, topless and order to have any chance against his semi-sequel, Latidos de panico (Cries of
screaming before
freeze-framing and demonic ancestor, whose list of crimes Terror, 1982), would resurrect the vengeful
cutting to the reads like a veritable grocery list of every spirit of Armand du Marnac once more.
opening credits. The
conceivable blasphemy ever committed:
full frontal nudity La Rebelibn de las muertas (Vengeance
and bisection
sequence are cut,
of the Zombies, 1972), another Klimovsky
though the rest of Armand du Marnac, you are about to hear collaboration, failed miserably, despite
the film's gore and all the evil crimes by which the just Tribunal attempting to follow in the "colonial revenge
nudity seem to be
intact.
of Carcasson has condemned you: You have horror" footsteps of Hammer's outstanding
drunk human blood. Of both the living and The Plague of the Zombies and The Reptile
2
La Orgia de los the dead you have eaten flesh; also, you (both 1966). Not even a horde of zombies
muertos was also have celebrated the Black Mass, with can save this film from Klimovsky's abysmal
released as Bracula
- Terror of the Living bloody sacrifice of the newborn and young direction. Fortunately, Naschy would
Death, which comes girls. You are both the dog and servant of redeem himself and deliver one of the few
as no surprise since Satan! You are vampires and lycanthropes!
it came out the
truly great zombie films in history the
same year as For this, you will be beheaded, and your following year with La Orgia de los muertos.
American head and body buried in separate places, so In La Orgia, Naschy plays the role of insane
International
Picture's more
that never again shall they be joined. necrophilic gravedigger Igor, supplying the
widely known severely misguided Dr. Bracula with bodies
Blacula. In fact, the 2
to reanimate as zombies. Though the film
name "Dr. Bracula"
Upon hearing these charges, Armand
is mentioned only places a curse on his accusers (including is a superior chiller marred only by a
once in the entire his own brother) and is summarily muddled "surprise" ending, Naschy has
English dubbed
version's running executed. Armand's wife is stripped very little to do except peep on naked girls
time, leading one to completely naked, strung upside down and skulk through secret passages. Given
suspect that this from a tree, then cut in half. 1
his scant screen time, Naschy is regrettably
was not the
character's name in In modern day France, the cursed unable to endow Igor with the same
the film's original descendants, Hugo and Maurice (Victor emotional depth as he did Gotho in El
Spanish version Jorobado de la Morgue. Still, we can glimpse
and was added
Alcazar), decide to return to Armand's old
purely for marketing stomping grounds to look for his severed Naschy's attempt to portray his character as
purposes. head. They are accompanied by their more than just a one-dimensional maniac,

Paul Naschy
but as a frustrated man driven to madness

by those who would treat him as nothing
more than a mindless slave. Nowhere is this
more evident than in the scene where he
rejects the lust of the Countess and
descends into the secret catacombs to kiss
and fondle the decomposing collection of
female corpses within, all the while
apologizing to them for dallying with the
living. "I'm sorry", Igor solemnly intones,
"...I love only you." La Orgia de los muertos
also features hallucinogenic lovemaking, an
ever-deepening sense of mystery and eerily
effective zombie make-ups, which appear to
have had some influence on the design of
those later seen in Jorge Grau's excellent
Non si deve prqfanare 11 sonno del morti (Let
Sleeping Corpses Lie, 1974).
La Venganza de la momia (The
Vengeance of the Mummy, 1973) reunited
Naschy and director Carlos Aured in a
misogynistic gorefest detailing the
predictably gruesome exploits of a mummy
who must drink the blood from the slashed
3
throats of young women. The film makes
Women-in-peril; the
motif most strongly
associated with 70s
and 80s European
horror cinema.
above:
Los ojos azules de
la muñeca rota
(aka The Blue
Eyes of the
Broken Doll aka
House of
Psychotic
Women), 1972.
left:
Latidos de Pánico,
1982.
3
The gore scenes
are drastically cut in
most prints.

Spain
the most of its obviously shoestring budget, Exorcismo (Exorcism, 1975) was one of
but still comes off as a crude imitation of many horror films from around the world to
the Universal and Hammer mummy films cash in on the success of William Friedkin's
from which it is so obviously derived. 1973 blockbuster, The Exorcist. Although
El Retorno de Walpurgis (Curse of the allegedly written by Naschy before The
Devil, 1973) continued the Naschy-Aured Exorcist, he was unable to secure financing
collaboration with a seventh entry in the for the script until after Friedkin's film
Hombre Lobo series. Aured's capable became an international hit. Exorcismo
direction rewards us with the best film in the offers nothing new to the demonic
series up to that point. El Retorno wisely possession subgenre. Instead, the picture
mixes in more nudity and gore than its merely reinforces the dangerous notion
predecessors, and includes the first time a that any deviation from what is dictated as
dagger fashioned with a silver cross handle "normal" by societal or church standards is
is used to destroy the werewolf, Waldemar "the work of the devil." Strangely, this
Daninsky. This would quickly become a underlying message is in direct opposition
convention, replacing the traditional silver to the compassion Naschy normally feels
bullet as the preferred method of execution for all rebels and outcasts.
in all future Hombre Lobo pictures. La Maldicion de la bestia (The
El Mariscal del infierno (The Devil's Werewolf and the Yeti, 1975) proved an odd
Possessed, 1974) starred Paul Naschy as but daring sequel in the Hombre Lobo saga.
Gilles de Rais, a French historical figure Waldemar Daninsky joins an expedition to
who was a great war hero but was later the Himalayas, has a lusty menage-a-trois
revealed to be a bloodthirsty sex maniac with skin-ripping female cannibals in a
and cannibal, eventually documented as cave and ultimately battles the Abominable
one of history's most prolific serial killers. Snowman! The fight between the werewolf
Naschy has said that he based the and the yeti, sadly, is delayed until the
below: character of Armand du Marnac from El film's finale. Although somewhat hampered
Inquisición (aka
Inquisition), 1976. Espanto surge de la tumba on Gilles de Rais. by the lacklustre direction of Miguel

Paul Naschy
Iglesias Bonns, a haphazardly chosen stock (1971). Naschy weaves a straightforward

music score and the inability of Naschy to but titillating tale of love, lust and
convey the same sense of brooding, tragic betrayal, filled with scenes of nudity and
intensity inherent in his prior perform- torture. Perhaps the most incredibly
ances as Daninsky, this film remains a fan tasteless scene of his career comes when
favourite. Naschy was unhappy with the he orders an uncooperative young witch's
film, however, not only for the above nipple to be torn off with a pair of metal
reasons, but because Daninsky does not tongs. The satanic orgy scene in Hell
die at the end. Instead, contrary to all (presided over by Naschy as the goat-
conventions of the series before and after, headed Prince of Darkness) is also partic-
Daninsky is cured and walks off into the ularly hallucinogenic and thrilling. Even
sunset with the girl he loves. Despite amidst all of this gratuitous nudity, gore
Naschy's disappointment, he received the and sadism, however, we feel for Naschy's
"Best Acting" award for La Maldición at the character, seeing his tragic end well in
1975 Catalonian International Film advance and wishing he could escape his
Festival in Sitges, Spain. above:
fate. Thus, Naschy succeeds once more in Spanish admat for
The obscure Último deseo {The People promoting his 'doomed antihero' concept, Blue Eyes of the
Who Own the Dark, 1976), directed by the and injects his story with more emotion Broken Doll.
hit-or-miss Argentinian León Klimovsky, and humanity than one would expect from
actually approaches near-classic status as such a film.
a triumph of post-apocalyptic terror. Even Naschy played Satan once again in El
though Naschy has only a supporting role Camtnante (1979), an erotic black comedy
as a self-serving and utterly unsympathetic about the devil in human guise leading
adventurer (who gleefully sacrifices anyone people to ruin. For his "cultural contri-
if it will extend his life), his presence serves bution to film" with El Caminante, Paul
to further bolster an already excellent film. Naschy received the Award of Honour at
The story of Último deseo tells of a the 9th Annual Festival of Fantastic
mysterious group gathering beneath a Cinema and Science Fiction in Paris. That
remote mansion. The group is dedicated to same year, El Caminante received a special
the perverse sexual philosophies of the award from the International Festival of
Marquis De Sade, and a wild party ensues Imaginary Cinema and Science Fiction in
on the night of a nuclear attack. Madrid for innovative work within
Miraculously, the group survives and fantastic cinema.
leaves the ruins of their mansion. While El Retorno del Hombre-Lobo (Return of
exploring the surrounding countryside, the Wolfman, 1980) was the first
they discover to their horror that whoever Waldemar Daninsky outing to be directed
wasn't killed or sheltered underground by Naschy himself. His script for El
from the blast has become a blind, zombie- Retorno is a throwback to the simpler
like maniac, eager to rip out the eyes of Universal monster movies of the 1930s
anyone "normal." The film is tense and and 40s, albeit with nudity and graphic
terrifying, echoing the themes of such violence thrown in. The story remains
horror/sci-fi classics as Night of the Living completely faithful to the conventions of
Dead (1968), The Crazies (1973) and the Hombre Lobo series. Perhaps
Soylent Green (1973). unsurprisingly, there are some striking
similarities to La Noche de Walpurgis, El
Branching out, all over Retorno de Walpurgis and El Espanto
surge de la tumba, all of which Naschy
Inquisición (Inquisition, 1976), easily one wrote. The devil-worshipping vampire
of Naschy's best pictures - and the first to Countess Bathory from La Noche returns,
be directed by him - features the multi- as does the deus ex machina "all-purpose
talented actor in a surprising yet perfect talisman" of El Espanto, this time in the
dual role: that of the Inquisition-era witch form of the silver cross/dagger needed to
hunting Judge de Fossey and Satan! Like end Daninsky's lycanthropic curse (now
fellow Spaniard Jesus Franco's Les effective in warding off vampires as well as
Demons (The Demons, 1972), Naschy's werewolves).
film borrows heavily from the three The story concerns three German
landmark "witchcraft hysteria" pictures women searching for Countess Bathory's
preceding it: Michael Reeves's Witchfinder tomb, one of whom is a murdering witch
General (1968), Michael Armstrong's who needs her unsuspecting companions
Hexen bis aufs Blut gequalt (Mark of the as sacrifices for a satanic ritual which will
Devil, 1969) and Ken Russell's The Devils reawaken the countess. In an unrelated

above: incident before the women arrive, some El Carnaval de las bestias (Human
Una libélula para
cada muerto graverobbers foolishly remove the silver Beasts, 1980) was the first of Naschy's
(aka A Dragonfly cross from Waldemar's heart, reviving him Spanish-Japanese co-productions, and
for Each Corpse), and ensuring their immediate and messy turned out to be a routine gore movie. The
1973
deaths. Since Waldemar was enslaved by plot concerns a jewel thief (Naschy) who
Bathory's black magic before being killed, double-crosses his Japanese partners and
now that he is free he does not wish to escapes to Spain, only to end up trapped in
come under her spell again. Thus, he a house full of cannibals.
fights to prevent the witch from restoring Naschy claims to have done the
her back to (un)life. Naturally he fails in musical kiddie comedy, Buenas noches,
this attempt, and after a few skirmishes, sehor monstruo (1982) strictly for the
the vampires and the werewolf fight to the money, starring once again as his beloved
death. Boasting the best make-up, Wolf Man. This time, he menaces four kids
soundtrack and sets of the entire series, trapped in a castle by famous movie
El Retorno served as a breath of fresh air monsters. Picture Home Alone (1990)
in the slasher-dominated horror market of meets Mad Monster Party? (1967) and you
the early 1980s, skillfully succeeding as a get the idea.
modern update to the classic horrors of Lattdos de panlco, an erotic horror
the past. Perhaps because of a failure to picture, was Naschy's attempt to recover
cater to changing market tastes, however, from the financial disaster of El Retorno del
El Retorno was a major international flop, Hombre-Lobo. It was made with the crew's
nearly bankrupting Naschy's production agreement to defer payment unless and
company. El Retorno was released on until the picture turned a profit. The story
video in America as The Craving in order begins in the sixteenth century, with
to capitalise on the popularity of Joe Armand du Marnac of El Espanto surge de
Dante's The Howling, which came out the la tumba murdering his unfaithful wife. His
same year. Aside from being werewolf ghost then returns once every hundred
movies, though, the two pictures have years to visit painful death upon the
little in common. immoral women of the du Marnac clan. The

Paul Naschy
film is mean-spirited and pessimistic, As The Unliving indicates, the new above:
La bestia y la
though beautifully shot. millennium certainly hasn't slowed Naschy espada magica
La bestia y la espada magica (The down any. In 2001 he had a lead role in the (aka The Beast
Beast and the Magic Sword, 1983) was Spanish slasher flick, School Killer. Since and the Magic
Sword), 1983.
Naschy's tenth outing as the reluctant then, he's appeared in no less than four
werewolf, Waldemar Daninsky, and his features, two shorts and a TV series!
second Spanish-Japanese co-production. Naschy has also written his autobiography,
Daninsky is here transplanted to Memoirs of a Wolf Man, published in the
sixteenth-century Japan, where he is United States by Midnight Marquee Press,
seeking a cure for his cursed condition. with an extra chapter not included in the
Unable to find this remedy, he returns to original Spanish edition. Earlier in 2001,
Europe with a beautiful Japanese lover Naschy was presented with Spain's highest
who, after numerous lycanthropic honour, the Gold Medal Award, which
transformations and attacks by Daninsky, carries with it the title of "Senor
ends up killing him with a silver sword. La Excelentisimo" (similar to the title "Sir"
Bestia benefited from a larger-than-usual acquired by being knighted in Britain). The
budget for a Naschy production, and the award for his lifetime achievement as one of
film takes full advantage of it. Equally Spain's most important actors was
atmospheric and impressive, La Bestia presented by none other than King Juan
could have served as a fitting end to the Carlos I himself.
series. However, La Aullido del diablo A dedicated and passionate horror
(Howl of the Devil, 1987), co-starring fan, Paul Naschy deserves praise and
Naschy's son Sergio, and Licantropo: El recognition for pushing the envelope of sex
asesino de la luna llena (Lycanthropus: and violence in horror, for defying the
The Moonlight Murders, 1996), both conventions of Spanish cinema and
followed. And in Fred Olen Ray's The perhaps most importantly, for caring
Unliving, which filmed in March 2003, enough to endow his characters with a level
Naschy returns once again to play the part of emotional depth and intensity unseen in
of the troubled wolf man. most of the world's horror films.

Spain
Paul Naschy filmography 1970 EL VÉRTIGO DEL CRIMEN (The

Vertigo of Crime') Dir. Pascual Cervera. Actor
1960 KING OF KINGS Dir. Nicholas Ray. 1971 DR. JEKYLL Y EL HOMBRE LOBO
Extra (uncredited) (Dr. Jekyll versus the Werewolf) Dir. León
1960 EL PRÌNCIPE ENCADENADO (The Klimovsky. Actor, writer
Chained Prince' / King of the Vikings) Dir. 1971 JACK EL DESTRIPADOR DE
Luis Lucia. Extra (uncredited) LONDRES (Sette cadaveri per Scotland
1963 55 DAYS AT PEKING Dir. Nicholas Yard / Jack the Ripper of London) Dir.
Ray, Guy Green (uncredited), Andrew José Luis Madrid. Actor, writer
Marton (uncredited). Extra (uncredited) 1972 LOS CRÍMENES DE PETIOT (The
1966 MAINLY ON THE PLAINS (episode of Crimes of Petiot') Dir. José Luis Madrid.
US TV series I SPY) Dir. David Friedkin. Actor, co-writer
Extra (uncredited) 1972 DISCO ROJO ('Red Light') Dir. Rafael
1966 OPERACIÓN PLUS ULTRA Romero Marchent. Actor, co-writer
('Operation Plus Ultra') Dir. Pedro Lazaga. 1972 EL ESPANTO SURGE DE LA TUMBA
Extra (uncredited) (Horror Rises from the Tomb) Dir. Carlos
1966 LAS VIUDAS ('The Widows') Dir. Aured. Actor, writer
Pedro Lazaga ("Luna de miel"); Julio Coll 1972 EL GRAN AMOR DEL CONDE
("El Aniversario"); José María Forqué DRACULA (Count Dracula's Great Love /
("Retrato de regino"). Extra (uncredited) Dracula's Virgin Lovers) Dir. Javier Aguirre.
(segment "Luna de miel") Actor, co-writer
1967 AGONIZANDO EN EL CRIMEN 1972 EL JOROBADO DE LA MORGUE
('Agonizing in Crime') Dir. Enrique López (The Hunchback of the Morgue / The Rue
Eguiluz. Actor Morgue Massacres) Dir. Javier Aguirre.
1967 AVENTURA EN EL PALACIO VIEJO Actor, co-writer
('Adventure in the Old Palace') Dir. Manuel 1972 LOS OJOS AZULES DE LA MUÑECA
Torres. Assistant director ROTA (The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll /
1967 CRÓNICA DE NUEVE MESES House of Psychotic Women) Dir. Carlos
('Chronicle of Nine Months') Dir. Mariano Aured. Actor, co-writer
Ozores Jr. Assistant director 1972 LA REBELIÓN DE LAS MUERTAS
1967 DOVE SI SPARA DI PIÙ (La furia de (The Rebellion of the Dead Women /
Johnny Kid / The Fury of Johnny Kid / Vengeance of the Zombies) Dir. León
Ultimate Gunflghter) Dir. Gianni Puccini. Klimovsky. Actor, writer
Actor 1973 L'ORGIA DEI MORTI (La orgía de los
1968 LA MARCA DEL HOMBRE LOBO muertos / Bracula - The Terror of the Living
('The Mark of the Wolf Man' / Death / The Hanging Woman / Return of
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror / Hell's the Zombies) Dir. José Luis Merino. Actor
Creatures / The Wolfman of Count 1973 EL ASESINO ESTÁ ENTRA LOS TRECE
Dracula) Dir. Enrique Lopez Eguiluz. (The Murderer is One of the Thirteen') Dir.
Actor, co-writer Javier Aguirre. Actor, co-writer
1968 LA ESCLAVA DEL PARAÍSO (Sharaz 1973 LAS RATAS NO DUERMEN DE
/ 'The Slave of Paradise' / 1001 Nights) NOCHE ('Rats Don't Sleep at Night' /
Dir. Joe Lacy [José María Elorrieta). Actor Crimson) Dir. Juan Fortuny. Actor
1968 LAS NOCHES DEL HOMBRE LOBO 1973 EL RETORNO DE WALPURGIS (The
(The Nights of the Wolf Man) Dir. René Return of Walpurgis / Curse of the Devil)
Govar. Actor, co-writer (note: Lost film; Dir. Carlos Aured. Actor, writer
though on most Naschy filmographies, there 1973 TARZÁN EN LAS MINAS DEL REY
is no current evidence for its existence.] SALOMÓN (Tarzan in King Solomon's
1968 PLAN JACK CERO TRES ('Plan Jack Mines) Dir. Jose Luis Merino Boves. Actor
03') Dir. Cecilia M. Bartolomé. Actor 1973 UNA LIBÉLULA PARA CADA
1969 LOS MONSTRUOS DEL TERROR (The MUERTO (A Dragonfly for Each Corpse)
Monsters of Terror' / Assignment Terror / Dir. León Klimovsky. Actor, writer
Dracula Vs. Frankenstein) Dir. Tulio 1973 LA VENGANZA DE LA MOMIA (The
Demichelli, Hugo Fregonese. Actor, writer Vengeance of the Mummy / The Mummy's
1970 LA FURIA DEL HOMBRE LOBO (The Revenge) Dir. Carlos Aured. Actor, writer
Fury of the Wolf Man) Dir. Jose Maria 1974 LA DIOSA SALVAJE (The Savage
Zabalza. Actor, writer Goddess' / Kilma Queen of the Jungle) Dir.
1970 LA NOCHE DE WALPURGIS Miguel Iglesias Bonns. Actor
CWalpurgis Night' / The Werewolf Vs. The 1974 EL MARISCAL DEL INFIERNO (The
Vampire Woman / Werewolf s Shadow) Dir. Marshall of Hell / The Devil's Possessed)
León Klimovsky. Actor, co-writer Dir. León Klimovsky. Actor, writer

Paul Naschy
1974 LOS PASAJEROS (The Passengers') 1978 MADRID AL DESNUDO ('Naked

Dir. José Antonio Barrero. Actor Madrid') Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director,
1974 TODOS LOS GRITOS DEL SILENCIO actor, co-writer
('All the Cries of Silence') Dir. Ramón 1979 AMOR BLANCO ('White Love') Chief
Barco. Actor, co-writer of production
1974 EXORCISMO (Exorcism) Dir. Juan 1979 EL CAMINANTE (The Traveller') Dir.
Bosch. Actor, co-writer Jacinto Molina. Actor, co-writer
1975 LA CRUZ DEL DIABLO (The Devil's 1980 LOS CÁNTABROS (The Cantabrians')
Cross) Dir. John Gilling. Co-writer Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director, actor, writer
1975 DOCTEUR JUSTICE (Ambición 1980 EL CARNAVAL DE LAS BESTIAS (The
fallida / Doctor Justice) Dir. Christian- Carnival of the Beasts / Human Beasts /
Jaque. Actor. The Pig) Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director,
1975 LA MALDICIÓN DE LA BESTIA (The actor, writer
Curse of the Beast / Night of the Howling 1980 MISTERIO EN LA ISLA DE LOS
Beast / The Werewolf and the Yeti) Dir. MONSTRUOS (Mystery on Monster Island)
Miguel Iglesias Bonns. Actor, writer Dir. Juan Piquer Simón. Actor
1975 MUERTE DE UN QUINQUI ('Death of 1980 EL MUSEO DEL PRADO (The Prado
a Hoodlum') Dir. León Klimovsky. Actor Museum) Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director,
1976 INQUISICIÓN (Inquisition) Dir. writer
Jacinto Molina. Director, actor, writer 1980 EL RETORNO DEL HOMBRE LOBO
1976 SECUESTRO ('Kidnapping') Dir. (The Return of the Wolf Man / The Craving)
León Klimovsky. Actor, co-writer Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director, actor, writer
1976 ÚLTIMO DESEO ('Last Desire' / The 1981 LA MASCARA (The Mask') [Spanish
People Who Own the Dark) Dir. León TV) Actor.
Klimovsky. Actor 1981 EL PALACIO REAL DE MADRID (The
1977 COMANDO TXIKIA (Muerte de un Royal Palace of Madrid') [Japanese TV
presidente) Dir. José Luis Madrid. Actor documentary] Dir. Jacinto Molina.
1977 EL FRANCOTIRADOR (The Sniper') Director, writer.
Dir.Carlos Puerto. Actor, co-writer 1982 LATIDOS DE PÁNICO ('Panic Beats' /
1977 EL HUERTO DEL FRANCÉS (The Cries of Terror / Heart Beat) Dir. Jacinto
Frenchman's Garden') Dir. Jacinto Molina. Molina. Director, actor, writer
Director, actor, co-writer 1982 LA BATALLA DEL PORRO (The Battle
1977 PECADO MORTAL ('Mortal Sin') Dir. of the Dullard') Dir. Joan Minguell. Actor
Miguel Ángel Diez. Actor 1982 BUENAS NOCHES SEÑOR
1977 EL TRANSEXUAL (The Transsexual') MONSTRUO ('Good Evening, Mr. Monster')
Dir. José Jara. Actor, co-writer Dir. Antonio Mercero. Actor

Spain
1982 LAS CUEVAS DE ALTAMIRA ('The 1992 STATE OF MIND Dir. Reginald
Altamira Caves') [Japanese TV Adamson [Reginald Van Severen]. Actor
documentary] Dir. Jacinto Molina. 1994 EL NECROFAGO [short] Dir.
Director, writer Gonzalo J. Fuentes Actor
1982 LA ESPADA DEL SAMURAI ('The 1995 LOS RESUCITADOS (The
Sword of the Samurai') [Japanese TV] Actor Resurrected') [unfinished] Actor
1982 INFIERNO EN CAMBOYA ('Hell in 1996 EL ANGEL MAS CAIDO (The Angel
Cambodia') [Japanese TV documentary] Has Fallen Very Far') [short] Actor
Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director 1996 CIENTIFICAMENT PERFECTES
1982 LA MASCARA DEL JUYO (The Mask (Scientifically Perfect) Dir. Francesc Xavier
of Juyo') [Japanese TV documentary] Dir. Capell. Actor
Jacinto Molina. Director, writer 1996 HAMBRE MORTAL ('Mortal Hunger')
1982 EL MONASTERIO DE EL ESCORIAL Actor
(The Escorial Monastery') [Japanese TV 1996 MALA ESTRELLA ('Bad Star') [short]
documentary] Dir. Jacinto Molina. Actor
Director, writer 1996 LICANTROPO (Lycantropus) Dir.
1983 LA BESTIA Y LA ESPADA MÁGICA Francisco Rodriguez Gordillo. Actor, writer
(The Beast and the Magic Sword) Dir. 1998 EL OJO DE LA MEDUSA (The Eye of
Jacinto Molina. Director, actor, writer the Jellyfish') Dir. Jose M. Cabanach.
1984 MI AMIGO EL VAGABUNDO ('My Actor
Friend the Vagabond') Dir. Jacinto Molina. 1998 QUERIDO MAESTRO ('Dear
Director, actor, writer Teacher') [Spanish TV] Actor
1984 LA TERCERA MUJER (The Third 1998 CUANDO EL MUNDO SE ACABE TE
Woman') [Japanese TV] Actor SEGUIRE AMANDO (Til Still Love You
1984 EL ÚLTIMO KAMIKAZE (The Last When the World Ends') Dir. Pilar Sueiro.
Kamikaze') Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director, Actor
actor, writer 1999 RONDADORES NOCTURNO 2 (Night
1984 OPERACIÓN MANTIS ('Operation Prowlers 2) [short] Dir. Aure Roces. Actor,
Mantis') Dir. Jactino Molina. Director, co-writer
actor, co-writer 2000 ANIMAS [short] Dir. Daniel Ortiz-
1986 PEZ (Fish) [short] Dir. Santiago Entrambasaguas. Actor
Aguilar, Raúl Barbe, Luis Guridi. Actor 2000 ERASE UNA VEZ (Once Upon
1987 MORDIENDO LA VIDA ('Biting Life) Another Time) Dir. Juan Pinzas. Actor
Dir. Martin Garrido. Actor 2000 LA GRAN VIDA (The Great Life' /
1988 EL AULLIDO DEL DIABLO (The Howl Living It Up) Dir. Antonio Cuardi. Actor
of the Devil) Dir. Jacinto Molina. Director, 2000 ANTIVTCIO [Spanish TV] Actor
actor, writer 2000 EL COMISARIO (The Commissary')
1988 SHADOWS OF BLOOD Dir. Sydney [Spanish TV] Actor
Ling. Actor 2000 EL LADO OSCURO (The Dark Side')
1988 EL ÚLTIMO GUATEQUE II (The Last Dir. Luciano Berriatua. Actor
Party II) Dir. Juan José Porto. Actor 2001 SCHOOL KILLER (El vigilante) Dir.
1988 SHH [short film] Dir. Escuadra Carlos Gil. Actor
Cobra [Santiago Aguilar, Luis Guridi, Raúl 2001 DESENLACE [Spanish TV] Actor
Barbe]. Actor 2001 EL CORAZON DELATOR (The Tell-
1990 AQUÍ HUELE A MUERTO . . .(¡PUES Tale Heart') [short] Dir. Alfonso S. Suarez.
YO NO HE SIDO!) ('It Smells Like Someone Actor
Died Here . . . (But it Wasn't Me!)') Dir. 2001 EL QUINTO RINCON (The Fifth
Alvaro Sáenz de Heredia. Actor Corner') [short] Dir. Mischa Miiller
1990 BRIGADA CENTRAL ('Central Brigade') Thyssen. Actor
[Spanish TV] Dir. Pedro Maso. Actor 2002 OCTAVIA Dir. Basilio Martin Patino.
1990 LA HIJA DE FU MANCHU (The As himself
Daughter of Fu Manchu') [short] Dir. 2002 MUCHA SANGRE ('Much Blood') Dir.
Santiago Aguilar, Luis Guridi. Actor Pepe de las Heras. Actor
1990 HORROR EN EL MUSEO DE CERA 2003 COUNTESS DRACULA'S ORGY OF
(Horror in the Wax Museum) Dir. Jactino BLOOD Dir. Donald F. Glut. Actor
Molina. Director, actor, writer 2003 THE UNLIVING Dir. Fred Olen Ray.
1991 OLLA DE GRILLOS ('Bedlam') Actor
[Spanish TV] Actor
1992 LA NOCHE DEL EJECUTOR (The Ftlmography compiled by Francis Brewster,
Night of the Executioner) Dir. Jactino with reference to the excellent 'The Mark of
Molina. Director, actor, writer Naschy' website (www.naschy.com)

Sex and death, Cuban style:

the dark vision of Jorge Molina
Ruth Goldberg (article), Steven Jay Schneider (interview)
How to describe Molina's films? Irreverent In scrutinising this legacy, however, it

and very Independent Caribbean style would seem that Test bears a much closer
cult/horror. Think Jess Franco, an 80s resemblance to later variations on the Old
dominatrix, Coffin Joe and Lydia Lunch all Dark House theme, including the camp
getting drunk together in Dario Argento's reworking of that narrative in The Rocky
living room. Horror Picture Show (1975) and Paul
1
- Karyn Riegel Schrader's more recent The Comfort of
Strangers (1990). The basic plot is familiar:
We go to the Cinema to feel, not to disoriented, a young couple in transit take
understand. refuge in a strange house and are
-Tsui Hark 2
transformed by their experiences there. It
is well worth noting that in virtually all
An old dark house in Cuba reworkings of the Old Dark House
narrative, the couple in question are either
The small screening room upstairs at the recently married or facing the prospect of
Chaplin Cinema in Havana is packed to marriage. They find themselves suddenly
capacity. In the middle of the afternoon an "not on any map," in a nightmare world
audience of well-known filmmakers, critics, where their bond is tested and in which
actors and students have turned out for past conflicts and sexual ambivalence are
the premiere of Molina's Test (2001); a embodied, taking on the urgency of
short film which received no advance confrontation.
publicity and which was made, unusually Molina's Test accesses the uncanny
enough, entirely independently of the state- potential of this formulaic tale by a disarm-
run Cuban film industry. At the eleventh ingly circuitous route. It does not begin on
hour, it had been yanked from competition a dark and stormy night, but rather in the
in the prestigious International Festival of broad Caribbean daylight of Central
New Latin American Cinema in Havana Havana. Luis (Leandro Espinoza) has
when a special committee deemed the film arranged to borrow a motorcycle to take his
to be "not representative of Latin American fiancee Sara (Rachel Pastor) away for the
Cinema." weekend to an inn they visited five years
The audience gets what they've come earlier. He arrives to find that the
for. Molina's Test, the latest effort by motorcycle has instead been rented to an
maverick Cuban director Jorge Molina, is a Italian tourist (Benny Casas) who has 1
Karyn Riegel,
bloody spectacle; full of all of the dark, engaged the services of Leticia (Indira "Ocularis
transgressive elements that Molina fans Valdez) the "jinetera" - or prostitute - for the Newsletter"
(29 April 2002):
look for, and laced with enough diverse day. The Italian paid for the rental in www.galapagosart-
cinematic references to keep "trash film" dollars. Under such lucrative circum- space.com.
scholars busy for a long time to come. stances, the owner of the bike could not 2
have been expected to honour his promise As quoted by

One can trace the genealogy of Jorge Molina,
Molina's Test back across film history, to lend Luis the bike for free. We see the first personal interview
through a direct line of descent from James of many brief, shimmering moments-out-of- with author.
Havana, Cuba (10
Whale's classic The Old Dark House (1932). time filmed in slow motion - an image of the December 2001).

Cuba
right: dread, they are soon passed on the road by

The character of
Madame Tsu in the Italian tourist and jinetera heading back
Molina's Test. towards Havana on the coveted motorcycle.
The jinetera is no longer laughing. Rather,
she looks zombified, blood trickling from
behind her ear. Without speaking, the
equally zombified tourist points Rachel and
Luis in the direction from which he has just
come. Mystified, the couple set off on foot,
and, as night falls, they arrive at a Chinese
pagoda in the middle of the forest. ("Who
lives here? Fu Manchu?!" Luis says,
laughing.) What ensues is transgressive
enough to ensure that Jorge Molina will
never receive any money from the Cuban
government to make a film.
The inhabitants of this bizarre
domicile are the sinister "fake Chinese"
couple Mister Wong and Madame Tsu,
played by veteran Cuban actor Luis Alberto
Garcia and newcomer Zulema Clares. The
house and its inhabitants are a halluci-
natory homage to tacky Hollywood stereo-
types of Chinese villains throughout film
history, with Madame Tsu revelling in her
part as the insanely over-the-top dragon
jinetera laughing on the back of the lady, and Mister Wong representing the
motorcycle - a nod to Wong Kar Wai. Luis unctuous Chinese torturer-cum-
somehow manages to procure a car, and the philosopher. Molina celebrates the
couple sets off for the country, excitedly trash/camp aesthetic while pushing deeper
3 A term which planning their upcoming marriage. Along and deeper into uncharted transgressive
came into vogue in the way, Rachel is seen reading Tropical territory as he probes various Asian stereo-
describing one types. This effect is heightened by an
tendency of Latin Animal, one of Cuban author Pedro Juan
American literary Gutierrez's fictional works of "dirty expansion of the film's narrative structure
fiction in the 1980s 3
realism," and she comments dryly that the to include all possible actions, real or
and 90s. The term imagined. An intentional ambiguity is
indicates both the book, a sordid exploration of life and sexual
central focus on the arrangements in greater Havana, is not created as to whether Luis and Rachel are
everyday lives of published in Cuba. fantasising, hallucinating (possible victims
individuals and the
regionalist bent of Up until this moment, the film is of the so-called "Chinese Restaurant
this literature. indeed representative of Latin American Syndrome") or actually witnessing what
cinema, and of Cuban cinema in particular, follows, as the "realistic" sequences are
4
The birth of the intercut with nightmare visions of sex and
New Cuban Cinema in the kinds of references it makes to the
dates back to the jaded realities and daily hardships of Cuban violence: M. Wong, practically in drag in
creation of the
life - jineterism and the tourist trade, the heavy makeup, a kimono and four-inch
Cuban Art Institute press-on nails, clinks Qigong balls to
and Cinemato- two-money economy, a subtle reference to
graphic Industry, what the state-controlled press will or will announce that dinner is served, wields a
known interna-
not print, etc. - that might be found in giant cleaver with quiet menace and
tionally as ICAIC, in
March of 1959. virtually any Cuban film. This characteristic philosophises about love while first
Although Cuban rootedness in the everyday, the natural, fondling and later having intercourse with
filmmaking has a goat. M. Tsu, equally outrageously
evolved in a number easy quality of the interaction between
of different characters and the emphasis on social attired, alternately smokes an opium pipe,
directions since
realism, all so typical of "Nuevo Cine slurps at the carcass of a baby bird and
1959, and sodomises a rapturous Mister Wong with
unarguably Cubano," raise the troubling question of why
represents a range Molina's work has been and continues to be an enormous cucumber.
of practices 4
including farce and so marginalised in his country of origin." In the midst of all of this, one
fantasy, the national "Why" soon becomes apparent. The fantasy sequence stands alone. Searching
cinema of Cuba
continues to be a couple lose their way in a forest and pause for Sara, Luis finds himself at a raucous
contemplative to, as Rachel puts it, "fuck like rats" in the party-turned-orgy somewhere in the
cinema and to car. The engine refuses to start up again, tire house. Pedro Juan Gutierrez, the author
utilise the strategies
of realism as a map gives no indication of where they are of Tropical Animal is there, casually
central tendency. and, compounding the sense of impending engaged in sex with Leticia the jinetera.

Jorge Molina
Pedro Juan tells Luis where to look for the ubiquity of sex and squalor in Cuba that
Sara, and we watch as Luis, in slow- tourists rarely see but which is brought to
motion, arrives to find his fiancee dressed light in Gutierrez's works, that puts him on
in a bridal gown, being groped by equal footing with Molina, an artist who, in
Madame Tsu in a bathroom stall. The his own way, is committed to exposing an
women laugh at him, taunt him. The unseen interior world.
worst is yet to come.
This small film, overtly violent and A reverence for reference
sexual and ultimately pessimistic about
the bond of intimacy, achieves a profound Molina's films, although rooted in his
subtlety through these slow-motion experience in Cuba, reflect a worldliness
sequences. They are used to illuminate from other frames, a testament to his
moments of the characters' transfor- encyclopaedic knowledge of film history.
mation of vision. The narrative, rooted in (He has taught courses on subjects as
stories of the body, slows down to betray diverse as Blaxploitation, Alejandro
Luis's inner vision moving at a different Jodorowsky, the oeuvre of Billy Wilder and
pace, a different level of paranoid detail the American Underground Tradition.)
than that of exterior reality. This is where Perhaps more than any other, one sees the
the film most classically plays on themes influence of Hong Kong cinema in Molina's
of horror, as it reveals the idea that reality work. Test is, in its own extremely low-
and inner vision can be inconsistent; that budget way, as over-the-top as Ronny Yu's
your inner eye might reveal that you are The Bride with White Hair (1993), at
helpless and exposed, trapped in a moments as intentionally silly as Ching Siu
nightmare of fulfilled suspicions, as each Tung's A Chinese Ghost Story (1987); given
of Luis's fears are played out one by one. the budget, surely Molina's characters
In each retelling of the Old Dark House would be flying through the air. In speaking
narrative, it becomes clear in exactly this of this influence on his work, Molina has
dreamlike way that the journey the said that what attracts him to the cinema
characters thought they were on - the one of Hong Kong is its quality of total creative
which led them to these bizarre liberation; the ethic it transmits that a
encounters in the first place - is only a filmmaker should be faithful to the
pretext for their actual journey. As soon as integrity of their own imagination at all
the couple find themselves "not on any costs. In this particular case, Molina allows
map" the viewer is signalled that they his imagination to run amok in Test in a
have entered the realm of the uncanny, kind of wild homage to world cinema. It is
and that this is, in fact, an interior this vision which makes Molina's films
journey which will reveal the full horror most decidedly, proudly "not representative
and ambivalence of intimacy, the fear of of Latin American Cinema."
betrayal.
By making horror movies, something
Pedro Juan Gutierrez's cameo which had not even been attempted in a
appearance gives the sequence a further mainstream Cuban production since before
dreamlike integrity. His presence is not only 1959, and moreover, by insisting on
a reference to an earlier waking idea, but pushing his films well beyond the accepted
also embodies this division of perception, Cuban film lexicon - beyond the official
between the calm one sees on the surface borders of realism, beyond the familiar
while underneath a storm rages. It is the territory of the absurd or the stylised
revelation of this storm, the desperate acts tactics of magical realism or even the
people commit every day in Central Havana, symbolic works of Fernando Perez - Molina
adds a facet to Cuban cinema which Cuba
may not be ready for. His films always
begin realistically enough, but then
immediately plunge the viewer into a world
of cinematic cross-reference: the dark
world of the giallo, the "trash" visions of
Mojica Marins, Fulci and Franco, the
cynical underworld of classic Hollywood
noir - a sort of cinematic cyberspace
contained within the skull of the director,
ready to break out at any moment. left:
A quick taste before
Perhaps the best evidence of this the real test:
innate referential quality is that the few Molina's Test.

Cuba
writers to have tackled the task of The Old Dark House the journeying couple
describing Molina's work have been encounters a "monstrous" counterpart in
unable to do so except by comparing him the strange house; a bizarre couple or
to other directors. If screenwriter Ramiro family in whose company the travellers feel
Garcia Bogliano's words can serve as an uncannily exposed, and in front of whom
example: "Maybe Test isn't Jorge Molina at any ambivalence between them is made
his best, but it is, without a doubt, a manifest and carried to its most twisted
highly disturbing movie that moves extreme. The lesson is simple: ambivalence
weirdly but successfully between the is fatal. In horror cinema, at least, it results
influences of Jess Franco, Jose Mojica in the monstrous transformation of fear
5
Marins and the finest Ken Russell." and desire, with unknowable
(I am, obviously, equally guilty of consequences.
taking this easy way out of describing Whale ends his seminal Old Dark
Molina's difficult work. The first time I sit House on an "up" note. Roger Penderel
down to watch Molina's Test I scribble (Melvyn Douglas) and Gladys DuCane
lamely, "Wong Kar Wai shooting with Jess (Lillian Bond), having weathered the storm
Franco's lens. Shanghai Gesture and The and all manner of weirdness, and having
Old Dark House remade by Fulci.") Most survived attacks by brutes and madmen,
remarkable is the sheer range of profess their love for one another in "the
conscious references and the strength of cold light of day" and head towards
Molina's instincts as a filmmaker. This matrimony as the credits roll, brought
mix of talent and education combined closer together by their ordeal. Molina
with his natural inclination towards leaves us with no such romantic vision of
provocation is what makes the work at the enduring power of love. After glibly
once engaging and unsettling. This is the responding to Mister Wong's inquiry
art of a man who has lived and breathed "What would you be capable of doing for
cinema ever since he was very young. one another? Would you give your lives for
Molina tells the story that his mother each other?" Luis and Sara are made to
took him to see Kurasawa's The Bad Sleep take a long hard look at the true nature of
Well (1960) in his hometown of Palma their bond. They emerge transformed,
Soriano when he was ten years old, and their future uncertain.
that he emerged from that experience Most enigmatic of all is Molina's own
certain that he would dedicate his life to stance on the subject. When asked about
making movies. He went on to study the cynical, tortured vision of love
filmmaking in Moscow before returning to portrayed in Test, he responds with a
Cuba and completing a degree in directing wink, "I believe in love. With love anything
at the International School of Film and is possible.
Television in San Antonio de los Banos.
His appetite for film took on a life of its
own early on, and he developed eclectic
tastes: an absolute reverence for Billy
Wilder, an unusual level of familiarity with
the work of filmmakers as diverse as
Seijun Suzuki, Carlos Sorin and Nick
Zedd, and a not-so-secret penchant for
police porn. Despite this range, the
5
Ramiro Garcia themes in his work remain constant: sex,
Bogliano, The death, desire, and monstrosity.
Internet Movie
Database (IMDB), The recurrent themes of sex and the
26 June 26 2001: monstrous-feminine in Molina's work have
http://us.imdb.eom/T
itle?0280957#comm been much discussed. What remains
ent. unexplored is his treatment of love, the
overt theme of this most recent film. It is a
™ I am referring dark vision of love, in which those who love
here to Molina's
fiction films only. His are tested and ultimately punished for it. In
6
filmography also Molina's other films as well (Molina's
includes a number Culpa [1993]; Dolman 2000 [2000]), love
of documentaries,
including always comes at a price - and often that
Machurrucutu II: price is humiliation. It is to this territory
Haz Lo Incorrecto
(1991) and Sidoglio
that Molina returns once again to play on
Smithee (1998). classic themes of horror. In each remake of

Jorge Molina
Testing Molina: a candid interview with more time for movies. Because none of the
Cuba's underground auteur girls were interested in me at all, my
partner was the cinema.
Steven Jay Schneider: What got you
interested in becoming a filmmaker? SJS: Didn't you get your training in Russia?
JM: It's all my mother's fault! My mother JM: I went to Havana to study education
was a tremendous clnephlle and she began and fine arts: I had to be in Havana at that
bringing me to the cinema when I was a point because there was nothing
baby. She said that I never cried - I would happening in regards to cinema in Oriente.
just stare intently at the screen... So I came to Havana to be closer to what
was possible to do in cinema, but no
SJS: Where was this cinema? opportunities presented themselves. Then I
found out that there were special scholar-
JM: I grew up in Palma Soriano, a small ships provided for children of Cuban
town in the province of Santiago de Cuba. military personnel to go and study film in
It's on the Eastern part of the island, more Russia. (I'm the son of a captain in the 7
As Ruth Goldberg
commonly known as Oriente de Cuba. army.) They finally sent me to the school in explains, "The
mobile cinema
There was a mobile cinema that would Moscow after taking the exam two movement came out
come and show movies against a sheet in times...there was a lot of bullshit before of Russia and came
7
front of a store. When I was around eight they let me go... I was 19 years old, and I to Cuba right after
the Revolution in
or nine years old I began to see classic films was there for 15 months. 1959; the first
by Kurosawa, by Fellini, Soviet cinema - all What I learned most of all in Russia is cultural act of the
the classics. The one that struck me first Revolution was to
how to look at cinema, how to appreciate create a film
was The Bad Sleep Well (1960) by where the camera is positioned - all the industry. Many parts
Kurosawa. That was the one that really technical elements. And I studied acting of Cuba at that point
didn't have
trapped me and made me say to myself, "I there as well. It was the happiest time in my electricity, didn't
have to dedicate myself to this." life. The only time I felt completely free to do have any knowledge
of cinema at all...so
what I wanted to do, without anyone caring. they mobilised
SJS: So how did you begin pursuing your cinema by strapping
dream? projectors on to the
SJS: You didn't Jeel like a stranger in a back of donkeys
strange land? and they put them
JM: It was impossible to study film in on trains, on boats
and most often on
Cuba - there was no film school at that JM: No! They loved the Cubans there. It trucks, and they
point. You had to go to the University and was such an exciting time. Capitalism was took them out into
study Humanities or Literature. I decided about to invade Russia, and there were all all these parts of
Cuba where people
one day that I was going to make a film, these things coming in that I had never had never seen
though I didn't know how I was going to do been exposed to before. All these directors movies before. They
it. A friend of mine sold me an 8mm were making bizarre cinema than I had installed electricity
and they also
camera for a ridiculously low price...and I never experienced - Polish directors, brought these
began just filming everything. My friends Japanese directors... mobile generators
used to escape to this nearby river, and I and then they began
to show movies up
began shooting them. We were about 10 or SJS: When did you start getting interested in against the walls,
11 at the time. It's really prominent in that the horror genre? against sheets, and
it created this
part of the country for one's first sexual tremendous appetite
experiences to be with animals - mares, JM: Ever since I was a kid horror films for cinema. ...And
goats, chickens. Adolescent adventures. I really scared me. I loved that. Classic along with that
there's this
began filming this. The footage has been horror films...even the bad ones! I still television show
lost...my friends are very happy about remember watching Kronos (1957). And called 24 Frames
that! Too bad, as it could have been a good The War of the Worlds (1953) was one of my Per Second which
has been on the air
document of what adolescent life is like in favourites - the way the machines moved in continuously for
this place. It was filmed without any that film scared the hell out of me. more than thirty
cinematographic knowledge, but it's fun to years to educate the
Cuban public about
talk about. SJS: Who are some of your favourite horror how cinema works,
so that they can
At that age, I used to go alone to the filmmakers? more fully
movies because my friends weren't appreciate it and
interested. For example, when I wanted to JM: Robert Wise for The Haunting (1963). also so that they
can't be taken in by
see Jaws, I said to a friend "Why don't we James Whale. Romero. Tobe Hooper. the propaganda of
go see Jaws?" and he said "No, I'm going Cronenberg. I also love Jodorowsky - I'm Hollywood."
with my girlfriend to the park." I was the something of an expert on him. I really love Interview with the
author (12 May
only one without a girlfriend so it left me El Topo (1970)... 2002).

Cuba
SJS: What about the horror elements in your

own work?
JM: I don't think I've made "pure" horror

films. I've made films that have elements of
horror in them. My real interest is in fact
the horrific, but it's broader than horror:
it's all of the dark elements of human
nature.
SJS: So it's not generic? There's no concern

with making something conventional to Jit
within a particular category?
JM: Not really. If there was a specific

project that I fell in love with that really
above: SJS: What about European? required that I stay within one genre, I
Molina's alter ego?
Mister Wong (Luis would certainly do it. But my main
Alberto Garcia) JM: Jess Franco for one. And Bava, Franju, emphasis is to enjoy the project and to
preparing the tools Argento, Fulci, among others. make it have integrity. And to try to
of his trade in
Molina's Test. provoke sensation. If the sensation is of
SJS: And at home? What has there been in horror, then fantastic - I love to provoke
terms of Cuban horror? fear in the audience! But the main idea is
just to make the audience feel.
JM: I think what's horrifying in Cuban When I'm making a film I do what I
cinema is how bad it is! [Laughs.] In the feel is right. I'm not always consciously
sense that it is too contemplative and thinking, "I'm doing this to make the
superficial, for export more than anything audience feel this at this moment." It's more
else. There are some very old Cuban films organic than that. It comes out of what I
that have maybe some elements of horror in think I should do at that particular
them, like The Red Serpent [1939, dir. moment as director.
Ernesto Caparros], Cuba's first feature film I'm not the kind of artist who creates
with sound. But since 1959 there has been something to have an effect. I do it because
nothing - no one has made a real horror film it feels good when I'm doing it. And then
in Cuba. Unfortunately, the Utopian idea of once it's done it has it's own life, and often
a New Cuban Cinema that began in 1959 it does in fact have an effect on people.
was very idealistic - they worked to negate
genre - and it did a lot of damage. There SJS: But you like the fact that it has an
were a lot of directors who wanted to make effect. Do you see that as posing any
genre pictures but because they knew they conflict?
couldn't get support they ended up making
films that were apologetic and didn't really JM: I'm really thinking about myself when
come out of what they felt. Films about I make my films; I'm thinking about what
Cuban "reality," which wasn't what they I'm feeling, that I'm enjoying it. It's a
really wanted to do. For that reason the problem: you do things because you feel
films were bad, or just silly. In animation them. You don't always know if they're
directors had better luck, because going to work. You're really happy when
animation allowed them a little more they do. But really I'm thinking about
creativity. The Cuban Film Institute didn't whether it works for me. I love exploring
pay a lot of attention to what was happening themes of sex and death and bloody
in this area. People were able to do really fun spectacle. These are themes that always
things with genre and animation. interest the public, but they are themes
There are plenty of directors in Cuba that have interested me since I was a kid
who would like to do horror, but they're and so I keep exploring him for that reason,
cowards. They go so long in between projects not because they're going to interest other
and are so desperate to work that they get people necessarily.
involved in projects they don't really care
about - that they don't really love - and it SJS: In addition to the violence and the
turns out badly. The resulting works are horror elements in your films, there is clearly
"safe." They won't provoke or bother anyone, an effort to turn people on. And there's also
but they are insignificant as a result. humour...so this is part of It as well?

Jorge Molina
JM: Cubans have a very good sense of

humour. They make comedic films about
their own tragedies. All of these recurring
themes...sex, death...in my work, I relate it
to my childhood. I was a shy kid. Very shy.
Even though my father was always really
clear with me about sex, that it's a good
thing and nothing to be ashamed of. I was
always obsessed with women, naked
women. As a kid I spent a lot of energy
getting a hold of porn, pornographic
magazines in particular - which are still
illegal in Cuba, by the way. When I was
sixteen I was arrested for having porno
mags, for having prurient tastes.
SJS: I'm glad you feel comfortable talking

about this! Based on your films, I would be
surprised if you were embarrassed talking
about anything. And we should get to that - SJS: Can you explain the end of Fria Jenny? above:
the confessional nature of the material, and Molina at work
What turns out to be the case? There's a behind the scenes.
the non-exploitative presentation of sexuality, woman who stops by again and again at
masturbation...it's all just kind of "there." this guy's apartment. It's kind of humorous,
actually - she borrows all his stuff. Finally
JM: At times I would really like my films to they have sex and then she leaves. At the
be more exploitative, to play around with end, he goes upstairs to find her but she
that, to see what it's like, because I'm so seems to have been in a coma for a long
influenced by Franco and all these kinds of time. It's ambiguous, though, because she is
directors. But my work doesn't really come still holding on to a stuffed animal that he
out that way. I don't put sex scenes in so gave her...
that people will say, "Wow. What a crazy,
'out there' guy for Cuba." JM: It's inspired by a story that shows up
Everything that comes out in my films in a lot of different cultures. A woman
stems from an early feeling... one appears - she shows up hitchhiking or
important early experience I had in an something like that (it depends on the
orange grove as a kid, when a girl went to country) - and there's a romance. As soon
kiss me and I fled from the scene. Women as the man falls in love and goes to look for
often turn up in my work as monstrous or her, it turns out that she's been dead for
menacing. twenty years. It's the ghostly maiden who
turns out not to be alive.
SJS: But in Culpa (aka Molina's Culpa, This is the film of mine that the
1993) it's the man who kills the woman. audience liked best when I recently showed
Does that make it different to your other, my work in Miami... It was just three
laterfilms? people having fun with a camera, not
planning it at all. It demonstrates to me
JM: They're different stories, different that seeing a lot of films really helps a lot as
contexts, but it's really the same woman. a director. My friends wanted to show that
There is always a woman who shows up we could do something good, cheap and
and changes the life of the man. There's fast. As good as something planned out and
always a sexual element. The man in Culpa made with a lot more money.
has never had sex; he's devoted himself to
prayer. Then this woman shows up...he SJS: You yourself have a starring role in Fria
would never have killed her had she not Jenny. What's it like to direct yourself as an
effected a change in his life. actor?
In Fria Jenny [the segment in the
three-part Dolman 2000 (2000) directed by JM: It's strange. It's fun but it's very
Molinal, the guy's life is kind of fucked up. strange. Because I don't know until later if
A woman shows up like this ray of light, I'm doing a good job! So I become
but then she has this sort of decaying dependent on the photographer while
influence. She's not really there...she's not shooting. I ask him all the time, "Did I
really alive. really do it okay?" And he keeps telling me,

Cuba
JM: It appeared in various national

festivals with a lot of success. People were
surprised by it - they didn't think a Cuban
would make something like this. In
Camaguey, the Catholic Church wrote a
letter of protest to Juan Antonio Garcia
after he showed Culpa at the Annual
Conference of Cuban Film Critics. But I
said, "Look I don't believe in God. I can't be
at fault!"
SJS: At some points, the sex scenes look

almost hardcore...
JM: And so? What's your question?
SJS: There's no question. I'm just

mentioning it!
above: "Yes, you did fine." But I feel bad about it

The Last Supper:
JM: It's an homage to hardcore cinema. I
Molina directing his and say, "Let's do it again" - and I do it know it's strong for anywhere, but it's time
actors in Molina's worse every time! to change all that.
Test.
SJS: Let's go back to Culpa for a moment. SJS: Molina's Test (2001). This film seems
What's the synopsis of this film? much more advanced technically and stylis-
tically than your previous works.
JM: The way I define it...it's about a young
man completely - but in a disturbing way JM: Yes, technically it's much better. But I
- involved in his faith. By accident he feel like I'm missing the drive that I once
comes to know a prostitute, which results had. It's not that it lacks the same passion,
in an unexpected passionate encounter. It it's just that it took so long to finish. It took
all takes place in a small town that's four years to make Molina's Test. By the
plagued by violence - there's a serial killer time we got everything together to make it,
on the loose who kills young women. The I was less interested than I had been
idea was to bring together two people from originally. To wake up your passion again
totally different worlds into one room. The is complicated. But I hope you can see from
story really begins when they come to the the film that it is passionate.
guy's house, because then the two What I love most about Test is the
characters really start to reveal scene in the bamboo forest when the sun is
themselves. It was completely intentional falling. It's just one little grove of bamboo.
to set it up as a tragedy. You can tell right Behind it is a cafeteria! In general,
from the beginning that someone is going filmmakers are absolutely too tied up with
to die as a result of this encounter. the idea of location. I learned that from
Actually, any audience member can tell Orson Welles...and from Jess Franco. You
from the start that he's going to kill her, can shoot one thing in Switzerland, one
because he's so repressed and she's thing in New York, cut them together and
so...overt. make it look like you did it all in one place.
I've got that very clear: that you don't need
SJS: Except that earlier on, she looks like a to spend a lot of time and money searching
temptress - she's mocking him, laughing at for the perfect location.
him - and seems just as capable as he is of
doing something bad. Maybe even more so. SJS: This film reminds me a lot of early
David Cronenberg, Shivers (1975) and
JM: What she's capable of is making things Rabid (1977) in particular. In the end.
up. You never know when she's telling the everybody ends up a zombie, but life
story of how she became a prostitute just...goes on. It's very ambiguous in terms
whether she's telling the truth, or making of what will happen once the story ends.
fun of him. What happens with the young couple after
the film is over? It's interesting to think
SJS: What was the reception of Culpa in about: I guess life just keeps going for
Cuba? them.

Jorge Molina
JM: But it's not the same - it's a different from Fu Manchu on. But to make that
life that goes on. That's when their real life stereotype my own: to transform it through
begins, at the end of the film. Until that my own vision.
moment they really didn't know each other. What bothers me now after making
Everything had been very superficial... the film is that the two Chinese characters
are too similar: I would have liked them to
SJS: Very romantic... be more different. It would be much more
interesting if they embodied a conflict
JM: But a modern romance. Not in the true between them. If, for example, when Mr.
spirit of romanticism. At one point, in the Wong says to the male protagonist, "I can
re-editing of the film, I began to talk with prove to you that your love is not real,"
my editor and ask, "What story are we Madame Tsu had taken the opposite
really telling here?" We reduced it down to position. But you know, in hindsight...
this idea of a tragic love story: a couple that Maybe next time I'll have the foresight to
thinks life is one way, but it's really another make the two villains more complimentary,
way entirely... What interested me most more interesting as a pair. That just shows
was to leave the couple a pair of zombies - me that I still have a lot to learn.
to zombify them. So that the audience
would think, "Well, what's going to happen SJS: This couple, whom you refer to as
to them now?" And they would be clear that villains, but who don't seem to me to be
these people are not the same. particularly villainous... they seem to offer
the possibility of a kind of opening up of new
SJS: Do you think the film is pessimistic, or realms of sexual experience. Both non-
cynical? It begins with an attractive young traditional sexualities and different
couple both members of which claim they partners. And that's very liberating. In this
would die for each other. They go through an respect, Molina's Test is precisely the
ordeal - maybe it'sfantasy, maybe it's drug- opposite of cynical.
induced, whatever it is - but at the end it
turns out that they wouldn't die for each JM: It's funny - in Cuba, when someone is
other. That might be taken to signify a loss opened up sexually, we call it being "de-
of Innocence - they no longer have any avocadoed"! In that sense, yes, they aren't
ideals about what love Is - but also that this villains, because the young couple is
is the realtty of relationships, that people are fascinated by them and the possibilities
ultimately not willing to make the ultimate they offer. They are opened up by all these
sacrifice. In that sense, the film seems de- new sensations. But that same source of
romanticising. knowledge brings suffering as well. They
see that it's not all as romantic as they first
JM: Yes, it is a de-romanticisation. But it thought.
below:
doesn't necessarily reflect my own vision of An Escheresque
love - I believe very much in love. But the SJS: But It might be more exciting... What view of Molina's
already strange
film was intended to provoke these was the budget for this film, by the way? mise-en-scene.
questions. If I make a totally romantic film,
no one is going to care about it...nobody is
going to want to see my version of Romeo
and Juliet! It would be much more
interesting if, at the end of the play, Juliet
wakes up, sees Romeo dead and then says
"Asshole! Why did you do such a stupid
thing?" and then goes and has sex with the
priest.
SJS: What was the thought behind the

Chinese couple, which I'm sure people find
very funny and unexpected in this context?
JM: I'm fascinated by China. I always have

been. Hong Kong cinema is the best cinema
in the world! So I was interested in the idea
of making the villains Chinese: it's like an
homage. I'm playing around with the
classic stereotype of the Chinese villain.

Cuba
right: JM: $3000 (US). I never saw a dime of it!

Jorge Molina.
SJS: Having discussed a Jew oj yourjllms in

some depth, how would you characterise
your directorial style?
JM: I love that question! I don't really think

that I have a style yet. I like certain shots in
films. Often something will happen in a
movie...I'll really love a certain image...and
I'll say to myself, "I'm going to put this in
mine. I'm going to transform it to make it my
own, but it's going to be inspired by this
shot." My films therefore are an accumu-
lation of shots that I've liked in other films. funds together, I'll do it. But I'll probably
Of course I take them beyond the original have to be the protagonist because I
shot: I don't simply transpose the shot. wouldn't be able to afford to pay the actors.
That's how I would define my style if I had
to: a love of reference. Cinema for me is SJS: You've done a lot qj acting. How many
totally referential. And certainly constancy Jilms have you been in?
watching films helps me make better ones.
It's possible that I have a particular way of JM: More than 90 shorts and 6 features. I'm
telling a story. But I think that's due to the the graduate of the International School of
sheer volume of images that I have stored Film and Television that has been most
away from other films, and that come out on filmed.
their own, involuntarily. I have a storyboard
that I almost never use. Whenever I'm on
SJS: What is your current position at the
location I throw it away. I put the camera
school?
wherever my intuition tells me to put it.
When the producer comes and says, "We
JM: I'm Head of the Department of the
have an hour to shoot twenty shots," I say,
School called "Cultural Integration." I'm
"Okay, I'm going to shoot it in five shots."
responsible for bringing in all the foreign
And it comes out much more interesting in
professors, for creating a schedule of events
five shots than in twenty.
so that we can be sure there is a rich life on
campus. And to make sure that the
SJS: So you prefer longer takes? students are exposed to what's happening
culturally in Cuba. And I teach sometimes
JM: Long shots are fine as long as they don't as well.
get boring. What you have to know is where
to cut...when to stop shooting. Films have to SJS: Judging Jrom the host of references and
have a rhythm - the action can't ever stop. homages in your films, it would seem that
your tastes are incredibly broad and varied,
SJS: What is the next project that you have in that you don't make firm distinctions
mind, or that you are working on right now? between high and low cinema, between art
and trash, etc. Is that accurate?
Editor's Note:
JM: The next immediate project is a highly
This interview took sexualised version of Little Red Riding Hood. JM: I agree with you totally. That comes
place in New York With elements from Lolita. I'm going to shoot through in my films. I learn more from bad
City on 12 May
2002.1 would like to
it on digital video. I don't want to do films than from good films.
extend my sheerest anything else on 35mm until I have the
thanks to Ruth security that I can finish it correcUy. I have SJS: Why is that?
Goldberg for
translating and on the shelf a project called "Panic in the
assisting in all Cathedral" that's sort of a variation on Jekyll JM: The bad ones let you understand what
phases of the and Hyde. That one I would really love to do. you shouldn't do. But even in the bad films
preparation of this
joint chapter. My It is truly a horror film...sexual horror. The you sometimes see something involuntary
thanks as well - it dark side of human nature - de-avocadoed! on the part of the director that really
goes without saying
• to Jorge Molina,
It would be a feature length film, a departure amazes. And you think, "How can such a
i/vhose talent, spirit for me. I presented it to the Institute of brilliant idea, such a brilliant shot, come
and love of cinema Cinema in Cuba and they said it was very out of this person with no talent." And
s immediately
apparent to anyone good but they're not interested in producing that's when I ask myself, "What can I take
who meets him. that "sort" of film. If I can get even minimal from this?"

Part Two:
Films, Series, Cycles
Fantasmas del cine Mexicano: the 1930s horror film cycle of Mexico 93
- G a r y D. R h o d e s
The cosmic mill of Wolfgang Preiss: Giorgio Ferroni's Mill of the Stone Women 105
- David Del Valle
The "lost" horror film series: the Edgar Wallace krimis 111
- Ken H a n k e
The exotic pontianaks 125

- Jan Uhde & Yvonne Uhde
Playing with genre: defining the Italian giallo 135

- Gary Needham
The Italian zombie film: from derivation to invention 161

- D o n a t o Totaro
Austrian psycho killers & home invaders: the horror-thrillers Angst & Funny Games 175
- Jiirgen Felix & M a r c u s Stiglegger
films, series, cycles
Fantasmas del cine Mexicano:

the 1930s horror film cycle of Mexico
Gary D. Rhodes
Mexican cinema has long been famous for Caligari (1919) and The Golem (1920).
its horror films of the 1950s and 60s, Mexican audiences of the 1920s also saw
particularly due to the familiar name of various US horror films, including The
actor/director Abel Salazaar and the Phantom of the Opera (1925) with Lon
familiar masked face of horror film Chaney. Indeed, most films of any genre
actor/wrestler of El Santo. Bizarre, that Mexicans viewed during this decade
atmospheric and sometimes silly, the films were Hollywood product. By 1928, ninety
of that period possess a unique charm that percent of all films screened in Mexico and
continues to spawn books, articles, fan Latin America as a whole were imported
clubs, websites and even T-shirts. But the from the U S . 1
fandom which supports continued interest However, the sound film era created
in those films, as well as the cinema problems for a Hollywood used to exporting
scholars and academics that write about its product to Mexico. Subtitles were techni-
them, generally overlook the roots of horror cally possible, but illiteracy rates in Mexico
in Mexican cinema: a cycle of some twelve were very high and thus eliminated that
movies produced in the 1930s, constituting option. And yet, the early years of talking
probably the largest body of horror put out pictures were among the least productive for
by any national cinema during this decade the Mexican cinema. The first Mexican
except for the United States. These films sound film was Mas Fuerte que el Deber
deserve an extended examination for many (Stronger Than Duty, 1930), but it was one of
reasons beyond sheer numbers, however. only eight films made in the country between
They exhibit the work of some of the most 1930-32, presumably due to financial opposite:
gifted directors (e.g., Juan Bustillo Oro, reasons as well as a lack of trained sound Pablo (Joaquin
Fernando de Fuentes) and onscreen talent 2
technicians. Recognising the country's Busquets), his
(e.g., Cantinflas, Carlos Villanas) in Mexico disfigured face
need for product, Hollywood studios began hidden by a hideous
at that time. They represent undeniable making Spanish-language films. mask, spies on her
cinematic achievements in mood and mise- beloved Angélica in
The most famous of these attempts is El misterio del
en-scene. And they also echo the
Universal Studios' Dracula (1931). After the rostra pálido (Juan
sentiments and shifting attitudes of the Bustillo Oro, 1935).
crew for the English-language film directed
Mexican people during a pivotal period in
by Tod Browning finished each day, another ' Hershfleld, J. and
their country's history.
crew came onto the same sets at night to D. Maciel (eds)
film an alternative version in Spanish. (1999) Mexico's
Cinema: A Century
Beginnings Carlos Villarias portrayed Count Dracula, of Film and Film-
and Lupita Tovar portrayed Mina Harker. makers. Wilmington,
Horror films had actually been known in Both actors would soon make their way Delaware: Scholarly
Resources, 2.
Mexico for many years before the country from Hollywood to Mexican film studios,
produced any of its own. For example, each garnering a degree of renown from the 2
Riera, E.G. (1998)
during the silent film era producer German horror film in which they had starred. Breve Historia del
Cine Mexicano:
Camus imported movies from various While praised by many modern film Primer Siglo, 1897-
countries to screen in Mexican cities and critics for its visual style, fluid cinematog- 1997. Zapopan,
towns. Among these were German Mexico: Instituto
raphy, and erotic imagery, the Spanish- Mexicano de
Expressionist efforts like The Cabinet of Dr. language Dracula was not a major hit with Cinematografía, 78.

Mexico
Mexican audiences in 1931. Villarias had storytelling codes in a genre crystallize,

overacted in the lead role, but even more filmmakers must experiment with both
problematic was a pervading air of form and content. The classical Hollywood
unreality, caused not by the supernatural style - meaning the narrative, visual, and
storyline but by the conflicting regional editing conventions of Hollywood studios -
accents of the Spanish-language actors. clearly influenced this trio of films, almost
The novelty of sound film and the certainly a result of the dominance of US
geographical immobility of many Mexican silent films in Mexico. At the same time,
viewers meant that many had never even however, these three films seem essentially
heard some of the dialects used in the film. untouched by the influence of 1930s
Director George Melford, who was not Hollywood horror films.
Spanish and used an interpreter on the Instead, La Llorona, El Fantasma del
Hollywood set, could scarcely have realized Convento, and Dos Monjes act as an
this difficulty. And the problem that important and fascinating barometer of the
plagued Dracula was one repeated in other Mexican cultural experience of the early
3
Spanish-language films of the period. 1930s. However different in some respects
During the silent era, competition the films are from one another, they each
from imported product and the difficulties share a debt to the reality of Mexico and
of indigenous movie production had kept Mexican life as it existed at the time. For
the Mexican film industry from emerging as example, during the 1933 production of La
a major force. But Hollywood's Spanish- Llorona, the revolutionary spirit in Mexico -
language movies helped to spur the talking which had burst forth in a major way
era of Mexican film production into motion. during 1910 - was weak and dying. The
Though the problem of mixed dialects in Mexican Constitution of 1917 had created
the US-made films existed, some Spanish- a kind of peace in the country, but also
speaking cast and crew members learned a spawned a series of political leaders more
great deal from their experiences in interested in personal gain than in effecting
5
Hollywood, enabling them to contribute improvements in their country. Those
their experience and knowledge to politicians caused years of discontent
Mexican-made films. For example, Lupita among the Mexican people.
Tovar went to Mexico to star in the sound Pivotal to the Mexican political
film Santa (1932). Though by no means a landscape of the 1920s and early 1930s
3
Mors, C. (1982) perfect movie when compared to the was Plutarco Ellas Calles. Performing a
Mexican Cinema:
Reflections of a
technological standards of Hollywood in variety of governmental tasks during the
Society, 1896-1980. 1932, Santa proved very successful at the twenties, his power grew at the time of the
Berkeley: University Mexican box-office. More talkies went into
of California Press, assassination of Alvaro Obregon, the
32. See Chapter 6 production, with the Mexican film industry unopposed presidential candidate of 1928.
of Skal, D. (1990) quickly growing during the 1930s. For Rather than attempt to become president
Hollywood Gothic: example, though only seven sound movies
The Tangled Web of himself, Calles preferred to maintain his
Dracula From Novel were produced in Mexico in 1932, the position as principal leader of the official
to Stage to Screen number increased to 21 in 1933, 23 in state party, the Partido Nacional
(New York: W.W.
Norton) for an in-
1934, 22 in 1935, 24 in 1936, 38 in 1937, Revolucionario. As head of the PNR, he
4
depth examination 55 in 1938, and 36 in 1939. effectively controlled Mexico from 1928 to
of the 1931
Spanish-language It was during this period of growth 1934, pulling the strings of a series of
Dracula. that the Mexican horror film cycle began. puppet presidents. Historian Robert E.
However, to speak of these films collectively Quirk claims that, "...by the early 1930s,
4
Ibid, 146-52. risks overlooking the stylistic gulf between the revolutionary spirit seemed to have
5
Kirkwood, B.
the earliest horror films and those that fallen prey to the corruption and cynicism
6
(2000) The History followed. The first three - La Llorona [The of Calles's strong-arm rule."
of Mexico. Crying Woman, 1933), El Fantasma del
Westport, CT:
Life for the everyday Mexican in the
Greenwood, 155. Convento [Phantom of the Convent, 1934), early 1930s was harmed not only by the
and Dos Monjes [Two Monks, 1934) - political grip of the PNR, but also by
6
Quirk, R. (1971) represent very different filmmaking styles wretched economic conditions. The Great
Wex/co. Englewood and narrative forms than the subsequent
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice- Depression devastated Mexico, particularly
Hall, 102. movies in the cycle. Given that they were in the years 1931-32. Important exports
the first ones, and also that they appear at like oil and food diminished, and economic
' Hamnett, B. an early stage of major sound film
1999) A Concise
problems were exacerbated by the US
History of Mexico. production in Mexico, this fact is hardly deportation of over 400,000 Mexicans and
Cambridge: surprising. The early efforts within a given Mexican-Americans back to Mexico. 7
Cambridge narrative film form often illustrate a kind of

Jniversity Press, These financial woes, together with
¡37-38. generic indeterminacy; until the visual and anxieties over the political situation,

fantasmas del cine Mexicano
caused disappointment, malaise, and

confusion among the Mexican people.
But these feelings also provided a rich
cauldron of emotions for the filmmakers of
La Llorona, El Fantasma del Convento, and
Dos Monjes. All three films feature
breakdowns or potential breakdowns of
trust between family members and/or
friends. Deceit and distrust run rampant,
creating situations where characters must
(or should) call into question their best
friend, their wife, and their own
grandmother (literally). Loyalties are
displaced, and the one who implicitly says,
"trust me" simply cannot be trusted. These
themes mirror Mexicans' frustrations with
their economy and their government.
Directed by Ramón Peón, La Llorona
tells the story of the "Crying Woman", a
character from Hispanic folklore who
mourns her dead child. At least one critic
has noted the similarity to D.W. Griffith's
Intolerance (1916) in La Llorona's narrative
framework, though Peon's film is certainly
less epic in scale and less complex in
8
structure. A modern framing story shows
the kidnapping of a young boy, the son of
the respected Dr. Cortés (Ramón Pereda);
the cloaked villain turns out to be the boy's
own grandmother on his father's side. A
flashback to an earlier La Llorona
encounter comes when Cortés's father-in-
law reads him a tale from an old book. In it, Hollywood horror film depiction, the above:
a woman kills her bastard child and then The Indian Princess
females of La Llorona (with the exception of Ana Xicoténcatl
commits suicide while her lover and suitor Dr. Cortes's wife) are portrayed as (Adriana Lamar) in
fight a duel; their costumes suggest an dangerous, even evil. La Llorona, holding
Elizabethan-era setting. The second the stone knife with
Visually, La Llorona features both which she kills his
flashback comes when Dr. Cortés finds a cliched and unique imagery. Able son and herself,
book belonging to the villainous cinematography and mobile camerawork is after learning that
her Spanish lover -
grandmother. In what appears to be more complimented by the frequent use of music and father of the
traditional Mexican costumes, a woman on the soundtrack. Though seemingly child- has married
commits suicide after her baby is stolen another woman
untouched by the influence of 1930s (Ramón Peón,
from her. The commonality between all Hollywood horrors, the film does show the 1933).
these women is an Aztec-style ring they all influence of silent works such as The Bat
wear, as well as the fact that their damned (1926) and The Cat and The Canary (1927).
spirits visibly rise from their dead bodies. For example, the villain (dressed very
In its themes and depictions of similarly to the Bat) uses hidden
gender, La Llorona is a fascinating film. It passageways to reach Cortes's father-in-law,
begins ominously with the sound of a whom she murders. But such influences
woman wailing as a man collapses and hardly detract from La Llorona's more
dies, an act that leads Dr. Cortés (who unusual imagery. For example, a sense of
examines the body) into the world of the irony pervades the birthday celebration from
"crying woman." Close-ups of the man's which Cortes's child is kidnapped, its table,
hand, with his fingers slowly clutching chairs, and cake all designed as four-leaf
inward, set up the recurring image of the clovers - generally signifiers of good luck.
hand as a symbol of death; later in the film, And the three times the "Crying Woman"
the hand of the crying woman is shown in dies in the three stories, a superimposed 8
Hardy, P. (ed.)
close-up on several occasions. And in her ghost rises up from the corpse and walks (1995), The
various incarnations, she causes (or at away. In each case, the ghost walks with Overlook Film
somewhat jerky movements, creating a Encyclopedia:
least attempts to cause) death and Horror. Woodstock:
mourning. Rather than the typical 1930s particularly eerie effect. The first occasion Overtook Press, 56.

Mexico
even features the ghost taking to flight monastery, he pauses when he hears
across the night sky, causing the duelling groans coming from behind a barricaded
lovers to cease their fight. This ethereal cell. After entering, he sees a corpse whose
image is one of the most memorable in hand drips blood and moves slowly,
Mexican horror film history. pointing to a diary. It is the deceitful and
Fernando de Fuentes, one of the three disloyal monk discussed at dinner. Alfonso
screenwriters of La Llorona, followed his then sees his own face on the monk's body,
work on the film by directing El Fantasma a doubling that frightens him into
del Convento on location at a Teotzotlan unconsciousness. When he awakes the
monastery. The narrative begins in the next morning, he no longer considers
dark of night; a shadowy figure directs a having a sexual tryst with Cristina.
trio of wandering young friends to an old Reunited with the married couple, Alfonso
monastery for their evening's shelter. As an discovers that the monastery has become a
old monk escorts them to their rooms, tourist attraction. The three learn that no
tension between the three becomes monks have lived in the building for years,
obvious. Cristina (Marta Ruel) has plans to and that their bodies exist only as
seduce Alfonso (Enrique del Campo), the mummies; the monks of the prior evening
close friend of her naive husband Eduardo had evidently been spectres.
(Carlos Villatoro). At dinner, Cristina slyly From the standpoint of a horror
makes clear her intentions to Alfonso; narrative, the film offers a fascinating
medium shots of her and Alfonso (on group of characters. For example, the
screen right) are juxtaposed with shots of monks are not counterparts to the
her and Eduardo (on screen left), visually supernatural figures in US horror films of
and geographically reinforcing her the 1930s. While ominous in appearance,
narrative placement between the two they are actually present not for the sake of
friends. The three have little chance for causing conflict and fright (as in the case of
conversation at dinner, as a number of Hollywood's supernatural characters, e.g.,
silent monks are eating at the same table. Dracula of 1931, the Mummy of 1932, and
The skeletal hand of one of them can be Dracula's Daughter of 1936), but to prevent
seen extending from his sleeve. At the head the potential horror and conflict stemming
below: of the table is the monk who escorted the from Cristina. Similar to La Llorona, it is
The supernatural three inside; he tells a story about one of
atmosphere of the the female who is the villain here. As much
monastery fn the prior monks who seduced the wife of as anything else, Cristina signifies the
El fantasma del another man. At death, the wicked monk's greed and wanton behaviour that
convento
(Fernando de
spirit returned to his room at the consumed many of the by-then institution-
Fuentes, 1934) monastery, unable to move peaceably into alized Mexican revolutionaries, aparticu-
terrifies Alfonso the next world.
(Enrique del larly Calles.
Campo), Cristina Despite the tale he hears, Alfonso El Fantasma del Convento exudes an
(Martha Ruel) and
Eduardo (Carlos seems to fall under Cristina's spell later atmosphere of dread, decay, and death.
Villatoro). that evening. While wandering around the Rather than being punctuated with
moments of high and low intensity, an
uneasy mood is effectively created and
sustained throughout. The constancy of
mood is coupled with a very slow tempo.
But rather than becoming listless, the
pacing creates a deliberate and brooding
quality rarely matched by 1930s horror
films of any national cinema. Actor's
movements and expressions, editing style,
and camera motion together function to
achieve this effect. The unmoving shadow
of a bat on the monastery wall, the
deliberate movements of the dead monk's
hand dripping blood as it slowly reaches for
its diary, and the methodical camera pan of
the mummies at the film's conclusion are
all fascinating examples of this pacing.
Throughout the film, mtse-en-scene
reinforces the feelings of dread engendered
by the slow pace. While string music plays
early in the narrative, the age and decay of

the monastery becomes more and more The narrative of Dos Monjes concerns above:
Javier (Carlos
obvious. Moving camerawork reveals ancient a love triangle in which two friends, Juan Villatoro) is tortured
hallways and we soon see the minimal (Victor Urruchua) and Javier (Carlos by delusion in the
amounts of furniture in the trio's bedrooms. Villatoro), both seek the affections of Ana climactic scene of
Dos monjes (Juan
Costumes create additional anonymity for (Magda Haller). After she is shot and killed, Bustillo Oro, 1934).
the monks, as they are all dressed in the they become monks. An unusual
same robes and all are silent at dinner save perceptual effect is created by the two
one. The look of the film thus shares the different versions the audience sees of
brooding and direful quality of its mood. Ana's demise. First the audience witnesses
Juan Bustillo Oro's film Dos Moryes the story from Javier's point of view, in
also represents a fascinating use of mise- which Juan accidentally shoots Ana after
en-scene, but one more directly inspired by trying to charm her away from Javier. In
the works of another national cinema. The his version of the story, he is costumed in
film borrows heavily from German white and Juan in black. Then the same
Expressionism, at least in its visual story is repeated through Juan's eyes; in it,
sensibilities. Exaggerated makeup, deep he and Ana were estranged lovers, reunited
shadows, abrupt camera movements, and by fate at Javier's house. They decide not to
distorted angles mark the film. Whether re-ignite their affections, but unfortunately
Oro and cinematographer Agustín Jiménez Javier believes otherwise and accidentally
were referring directly to the silent German shoots Ana. In Juan's story, he is the
films that they had seen years before in character dressed in white and Javier is
Mexico (e.g., The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or dressed in black. The film ends with Javier
Schatten [Warning Shadows, 1923]), or suffering from ominous visions while
were in part inspired by the mise-en-scene getting closer and closer to death.
of the Spanish-language Dracula is Dos Monjes was innovative in its
unknown, but the result was definitely a storyline, with its complex use of narrative
clear adoption of the Expressionist vision. point of view anticipating films like Welles's

country
right:
Dr. Monroy (Manuel
Noriega) and Dr. del
Valle (René
Cardona) look for
signs of life in Alicia
(Esther Fernández)
after defeating the
mad Dr. Renán in
El baúl macabro
(Miguel Zacarías,
1936).
Citizen Kane (1941) and Kurosawa's historian Robert E. Quirk has noted, "...for
Rashomon (1950). Thematically, the story the first time in Mexican history a strong
conveys Ideas like distrust and deceit, populist executive committed his adminis-
which would have resonated strongly with 10
tration to effective social reform." Great
Mexican audiences. At the same time, the enthusiasm surrounded Cârdenas's
film features a ponderous pace and various achievements, which included the
sometimes juvenile dialogue that keep it restoration of religious peace, the
from reaching the aesthetic heights of El remodelling of the PNR into a more populist
Fantasma del Convento; as Mexican film party, the creation of a new labour
historian Federico Dávalos Orozco has said federation, and the engineering of various
of the film's experimental style, "...the 11
industrial transformations. As a result
9
public's disapproval was evident." of these and other reforms, the people of
Despite the unenthusiastic reception Mexico did not generally feel the same kind
of Dos Monjes, the Mexican public of the of despondency as they had before
period apparently had an interest in horror Cârdenas's rise to power.
films, as many more were made between While reflecting these changing
1935 and 1939. But these films were very attitudes, from 1935-39 Mexican horror
different than their three predecessors; films also feature a far stronger influence
though morbid and at times grisly, they do from Hollywood horror films. The impetus
not reflect the same kind of cultural for this might have been due to Mexican
malaise and uneasiness as films like La filmmakers viewing US product rather
Llorona and El Fantasma del Convento. The more than the everyday Mexican audience
narrative differences are due in part to the member, who likely had not seen the sound
changing political and economic landscape horror films of Hollywood. But more
of Mexico, in which a degree of trust was importantly, the narrative modes that
restored between the people and the politi- dominated US horror at the time were
a
cians. readily adaptable to Mexican films made
Hershfield, 27.
after Calles's control had ended. Generally
10
Quirk, 103. Explorations positive and clear-cut story resolutions,
frequent comic relief, and a greater
11
Suchlicki, J . The election of PNR candidate Lázaro emphasis on science gone wrong than on
(1996) Mexico:
From Montezuma to Cárdenas during the presidential campaign the supernatural - these aspects of the US
NAFTA, Chiapas, of 1934 brought major changes to the horror film provided narrative prisms
and Beyond. country. Rather than becoming yet another through which Mexican filmmakers could
Washington:
Brassey's, 126; puppet, Cárdenas gained the loyalty of the examine the changing sensibilities of their
128-30. army and moved to exile Calles. As own country.

For example, the use of science and an Pereda) in El Baul Macabro [The Macabre above:
The monster (Raul
emphasis on man rather than supernatural Trunk, 1936) dies alongside his wife after Urquljo) attacks
forces were major narrative components spending the entire film killing a series of Sóstenes (Leopoldo
that Mexican horror films borrowed from young women. Dr. Dyenis (Carlos Villarias) Chato Ort(n); on the
left, Margarita
their Hollywood counterparts. Though in El Superloco [The Crazy Nut, 1936) dies (Consuelo Frank)
standout exceptions like Browning's when his own ape throws him out of a takes care of Dr.
Dracula and Freund's The Mummy (1932) window after seeing the doctor menace the Mont (Ramon
Armengod) who has
exist, US horror cinema of the 1930s was heroine. The insane Dr. Duarte (Miguel been knocked out
mainly obsessed with science, whether in Arenas) in La Herencia Macabra (The by the creature In
El superloco (Juan
conflict with God (e.g., 1931's Frankenstein, Macabre Legacy, 1939) injects his wife's José Segura, 1936).
1933's The Invisible Man, 1935's Bride of lover with a disfiguring virus. The use of
Frankenstein), or as a tool for personal gain science in Los Muertos Hablan {The Dead
(e.g., 1935's Mad Love and The Raven), or as Speak, 1935) - which features a scientist
part of the evolutionary process (e.g., 1932's who believes that the last image a person
Island of Lost Souls and Murders in the Rue sees is frozen on their eye like a photograph
Morgue). In all of these examples, and in - also becomes subjugated for personal gain.
many others that could be given, the driving These Mexican efforts also share
force is the use of scientists in the horror another similarity with Hollywood horror:
film narrative. thematic uncertainty. The mad scientist
Much like their US inspirations, the films of both countries feature chaos
scientists in Mexican horror films generally created by a particular individual. Life is
meet their doom after pursuing some life- disrupted for those around him, as well as
long obsession. El Misterto del Rostro Paltdo (potentially, at least) for society itself.
[The Mystery of the Ghastly Face, 1935) Upheavals occur as the traditional
features a scientist (Carlos Villarias) who parameters of acceptability are violated.
disfigures his own son due to an ill-fated Religion and the law are ignored or else
experiment, and then kills those who challenged outright. And at the film's
discover his secret. Dr. del Vialle (Ramon conclusion, normalcy is restored. But it is

Mexico
right:
Dr. Duarte {Miguel
Arenas, left), and
his assistant, Luis
(Luis Aidas, right),
look at a disfigured
Rosa - Duarte's
treacherous wife
(Consuelo Frank) -
in Herencia
macabra (José
Bohr, 1939).
restored at the heavy cost of all that has The Mexican horror film also adopts
occurred narratively, and this restoration Is the sympathetic but horrifying creature of
not always a clear and unequivocal the US horror film, the "freak" of society.
endorsement of the status quo. The deaths Dr. Frankenstein's eponymous monster and
of the Frankenstein monster in the title characters in Tod Browning's
Frankenstein (1931) and the giant ape in Freaks (1932) are examples from the 1930s,
King Kong (1933), for example, hardly possessing some of the qualities of Lon
suggest that the rule of man is perfect. Chaney, Sr. in his silent era films The
Goodness prevails, but what that means is Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The
typically not explored. Instead, after the Phantom of the Opera (1925), and The
villain is vanquished the credits quickly Unknown (1927). The horror stems from his
appear and the film is over. Films in the US appearance, but in turn this horror spawns
such as Dracula, Murders in the Rue sympathy. Such an uneasy combination of
Morgue, and The Raven end very quickly emotions proved important in the US horror
after the foe is destroyed, with the greatest film, just as it would in Mexican horrors
majority of these films' running time like El Misterio del Rostro Pálido, where the
devoted to a detailing of his power and scientist's disfigured son hides his face
control. The same could be said of a film behind a waxen mask and strolls through
like El Baúl Macabro or El Superloco. the family estate wearing a cape and
Other characters in these mad playing sad music on his violin. His ghostly
scientist efforts also echo Hollywood. The mask peers in through the window of the
depictions of women in La Llorona and El home, anticipating a similar image in the
Fantasma del Convento illustrate wicked US film Scared to Death (1946). And in a
traits, but by El Misterio del Rostro Palldo clear and poignant reference to The
a different kind of major female role Phantom of the Opera, the son's mask is
emerges. The female characters in this removed by the film's heroine. His ugly face
film and in subsequent mad scientist is exposed to her, and then to himself when
movies are stereotypically good in he stares at length into a mirror. After the
intention but weak in stamina. They are heroine faints, he carries her limp body
the quarry of the villain, and must be through the estate. He finally falls to his
valiantly rescued by a hero. The heroines death after running along the top of a
fit very much the narrative conventions of mountainous cliff, his accursed mask lying
their US compeers. beside his lifeless body.

Flourishes these Mexican films. The US horror film of

the 1930s was heavily dependent on these
On a lighter note, Mexican horror films of two factors. Some movies would hardly
this era also feature a good deal of comedy. have been possible without a major use of
Much to the chagrin of many modern special effects, such as The Invisible Man
viewers, US horror movies of the 1920s and King Kong (1933), but others more
and 30s regularly employed comic relief. narratively aligned with the Mexican
Charles Gerrard in Dracula, Robert horror films were also dependent on such
Armstrong in the The Most Dangerous effects. The electrical devices of Kenneth
Game (1932), Maude Eburne in The Strickfaden in films like Frankenstein and
Vampire Bat (1933), Charlie Ruggles in Bride of Frankenstein are among the most
Murders In the Zoo (1933), Ted Healy in prevalent images of the US horror film,
Mad hove - all of these actors provide that influencing the mise-en-scene of most
element of humour, just as, e.g., Creighton other Hollywood mad scientist films of the
Hale had in The Cat and the Canary the period. The mad scientists of Mexican
prior decade. If we can believe the reviews cinema, however, make little use of
printed in industry trades, fan magazines, elaborate laboratory sets. Labs they do
and newspapers of the period, the original work in, but ones more comparable to the
audiences of these films much appreciated lowest budget Hollywood horrors: little in
the comedy as a counterpoint to the horror the way of equipment, sparking or
scenes, gaining a modicum of relief from otherwise. For example, the labs in films
the tension they felt. like El Mtsterio del Rostro Palido, Los
If anything, the sheer amount of Muertos Hablan, El Baiil Macabro, and El
comic relief in several Mexican horror films Superloco are drab and appear almost
exceeds that present in Hollywood empty. And the laboratories, as well as the
product. Despite the horror framework of sets of most other locations in these films,
El Superloco, for example, much of the feature a generally high key lighting style
film's running time is spent following a that is completely removed from the
comical drunk (Leopoldo Ortin) who is German Expressionist-inspired lighting of
friends with one of the scientists investi- most Hollywood horror, or even of an
gating the mad Dr. Dyenis. More notably, earlier Mexican film like Dos Monjes.
El Slgno de la Muerte [The Sign of Death, Perhaps the only standout moment for sets below:
in the films after Dos Monjes comes in El Eduardo Molina
1939) features a comical Aztec detective (Julián Soler)
story with a heavy use of low-key lighting. Misterio del Rostro Palido. Though not prepares some
Chano Urueta directs Cantinflas, the expressionistic by any means, the formula, while
scientist's home features a fascinating art- Simón (Isidro
master of Mexican comedy, in the wild and D'Olace) and Dr.
humorous story by Salvador Novo. From deco design, but one that is limited by a Jiménez (Manuel
offering crazy expressions to dressing in cinematography that rarely highlights its Noriega) take a
picture of the pupils
drag, Cantinflas delivers a wonderful uniqueness. of a corpse's eyes
performance. Much as horror in the US by Special makeup effects and costumes
in Los muertos
hablan (Gabriel
1939 was sometimes dominated by are also at a minimum in the Mexican Soria, 1935).
comedy (e.g., The Cat and The Canary, The
Gorilla), the same had happened with El
Slgno de la Muerte in Mexico.
Though the comic relief is sometimes
visual, these mad scientist films are
heavily laden with dialogue. To be sure,
the advent of the talkie required films to
talk, and to talk extensively. At the same
time, a sharp contrast can be seen from an
early film in the cycle like El Fantasma del
Convento, which features a relatively
limited use of dialogue, and in the series of
mad scientist films that follow it, which
often feature an overabundance of
dialogue. Los Muertos Hablan, El
Superloco, and particularly Herencia
Macabro are built far more on dialogue
than mood, for example.
In tandem with the overuse of
dialogue is the lack of special effects in

Mexico
horror cycle. However much a film like El Hollywood horror: stars. The importance of
Misterio del Rostro Pálido draws on The star personalities to the US horror film of
Phantom of the Opera, the character the 1930s was pivotal, to the degree that
Pablo's makeup is not only far less audiences of the time and historians in the
effective than Lon Chaney's, it is also far present sometimes use them to establish
less adventurous. He certainly appears generic identity. Films like The Black Room
different than before his face is harmed, (1935) become identified as horror films at
but only to a minor degree. And yet this is least in part because of their association
the major example of makeup usage in with Boris Karloff. The same could be said
these films to create a "monster." There are of Murder By Television (1935) with Bela
no Frankensteinian monster makeups, Lugosi, or The Sphinx (1933) with Lionel
and even the mad scientist costumes are Atwill. The reverse case is a film like The
just standard laboratory coats; the more Most Dangerous Game (1932), one that
unusual appearances of, say, a Dr. Mirakle bears many narrative commonalities to the
(Bela Lugosi) in Murders in the Rue Morgue horror film but is not always recognized as
are nowhere to be found. As with the near- such, due mainly to its lack of a horror
total absence of special effects in general, personality. The coterie of US horror actors
the lack of makeup effects and more in the early to mid-1930s (Karloff, Lugosi,
outlandish costumes was likely a result of and Atwill chief among them) proved
the extremely low budgets of the Mexican important to genre identification and thus
horror films. to marketing.
Nevertheless, isolated scenes in these But the construction and repetitive
films feature a grisly quality unmatched by use of horror personalities in Mexico never
their US counterparts. For example, the really occurred in the 1930s. We might
standout horror image of El Misterio del mention Ramon Pereda, who appeared in
Rostro Pálido is certainly not Pablo's both La Llorona and El Baiil Macabro, but
disfigured face, but a bizarre native in the former film he stars as not the
ceremony that he witnesses with his villain but the hero. Carlos Villarias of
father. Dancers circle a fire as the camera Hollywood's Spanish-language Dracula
pans down from the drummers' faces to represents the closest the Mexican cinema
reveal that they are beating on human had to a Karloff or Lugosi. He appeared as
skulls to keep rhythm. In El Baúl Macabro, the villain in El Misterio del Rostro Palldo,
the police find the "macabre trunk" and in El Superloco, and in Juan Bustillo Oro's
have to place scarves over their noses and Nostradamus (1936). Perhaps he was
mouths as soon as it is opened; the chosen for these films because of his work
decaying flesh inside is not shown, but its in Dracula; regardless, no evidence has as
putridity is made clear from the character yet been unearthed to suggest he was a
reactions. The most disturbing image in box-office draw for audiences in anything
the film, however, is perhaps the goriest like the way Karloff or Lugosi was, or that
one in the entire era of the Mexican horror his appearance in a film helped mark its
film. When a bum opens a sack discarded genre identity as horror. But in a sense the
by Dr. del Vialle, he unknowingly pulls out lack of the Mexican cinema's creation of
the severed arm of one of the scientist's horror stars works to its advantage. El
young female victims. Fantasma del Convento plays with a partic-
In addition to their more gruesome ularly eerie and elegiac quality that would
segments, the Mexican mad scientist films be minimized or absent had it been the
offer other memorable moments that break vehicle for a star carrying the intertextual
from the otherwise dialogue-laden visual remains of prior films and the extratextual
plainness. Pablo in cape and mask playing baggage of fan magazine articles and the
his violin at night in El Misterio del Rostro like.
Pálido. Photographic close-ups of a single Horror stars or not, the first Mexican
eye in Los Muertos Hablan. Mourning of horror film cycle ended in 1939. But as the
the dead viewed through a funeral wreath decade itself ended, Mexican cinema
in La Herencia Macabra. A wizard-like blazed a more exciting trail than ever
figure at an altar in the moonlight of El before. The forties brought on what is often
Signo de la Muerte. Beautifully haunting referred to as a "Golden Age" of cinema. 12
images amidst numerous forgettable The rise of the ranchera and rumbera
scenes. genres in Mexican film (genres which were
However forgettable or unforgettable, never explored by the Hollywood studio
the images in these Mexican films system) coincided with the rise of actors
12
Hershfield, 33. generally ignored one constant of like Joaquin Pardave, Pedro Armendariz,

and many others. At the forefront of this returned, but in a vastly different manner above:
Dr. Gallardo (Carlos
new talent was Cantinflas; though hardly than existed in the 1930s cycle. Orellana) is also the
known at the time of El Slgno de la muerte, And so what can we make of the sinister hooded
his film Ahi està el detalle (That is the Mexican horror films of the 30s? Rather priest, descendent
of Quetzalcóatl, that
Point) scored internationally in 1940 and than what would at first appear to be intends to revive
propelled him to a career of major merely a body of works inspired by human sacrifice
rituals in El signo
importance. With popular onscreen talent Hollywood horror, the films in question de la muerte
like Cantinflas came a flurry of new provide many fascinating moments, and at (Chano Urueta,
producers and directors. All of these times classic stories (like El Fantasma del 1939).
various elements - as well as historical Convento) that are essentially untouched
factors such as World War II - combined to by external influence. Even when
create an enormous flowering of checkered with the stamp of Hollywood by
fascinating Mexican movies in the 40s and the mid-to-late thirties, the Mexican
beyond. horrors still emerge sporting unique
The Mexican horror film did not enunciative techniques and visual motifs.
disappear after El Slgno de la muerte, as They are often more subtle in mise-en-
several were certainly produced during the scene than their US counterparts, and
1940s. But it would not be until the late occasionally more grisly in narrative
1950s that horror returned as a major execution. For modern viewers, they
force. These came in the form of US and represent an untapped reserve of classic
British-inspired efforts; vampires (notably horror. For scholars, they are basically
Fernando Méndez's 1957 El Vampiro), uncharted territory to explore; their
monsters, werewolves, and even a remake landscape at present yields important
of La Llorona (directed by René Cardona in insight into the Mexican experience of the
1959) filled the screens. Horror also came time. But maps still need to be sketched in
in the guise of El Santo and unlikely cross- this important and overlooked cycle of
genre efforts that combined monsters and 1930s horror to understand more fully
wrestling. The horror film had clearly what they have to offer.

The cosmic mill of Wolfgang Preiss:

Giorgio Ferroni's Mill of the Stone Women
David Del Valle
Immortality is a clock that never runs down, Leni's Das Wachsflgurenkabtnett (Wax-
a mandala that revolves eternally like the works), in which a wax effigy of Jack the
heavens. Thus the cosmic aspect returns Ripper magically comes to life in order to
with interest and compound interest. kill. Maurice Tourneur's While Paris
- CG Jung, Psychology and Alchemy (1944) Sleeps (1923) has a sculptor (played by
Lon Chaney) who is also a madman and a
Welcome to the Mill would-be killer. The advent of the 1930s
with its own Golden Age of horror
In 1956, Riccardo Freda's groundbreaking brought us Mystery of the Wax Museum
I Vamplrl gave rise to the Golden Age of (1933), Mad Love (1935) and Midnight at
Italian fantascienza, with masterworks like Madame Tussaud's (1936). Each of these
Mario Bava's La Maschera del demonlo (aka films focuses on the theme of corpses
Black Sunday, 1960) and Antonio being displayed as works of art; Mad Love
Margheriti's Danza macabra (aka Castle of is the most delirious of the trio, with a
Blood, 1963), not to mention Freda's own pale and bald Peter Lorre longing for his
magnum opus, L'Orriblle segreto del dottor Galatea.
Hitchcock [The Terror of Dr Hitchcock, 1962) This tradition would reach an
to follow. Among the more intriguing epiphany in 1953 with the introduction of
results of this influence would be Giorgio the 3-D process in Warner Bros.' House of
Ferroni's II mulino delle donne di pietra (Mill Wax, starring Vincent Price. One of the
of the Stone Women, 1960). An obsessively film's most macabre moments is repeated
romantic homage to the expressionistic shot for shot in Mill of the Stone Women as
horror films of the silent era, its bravura we witness the figures of wax weep tears of
set-piece - a life-size musical clock of their own substance while they perish in
opposite:
historic statues in strange poses - creates a the flames. This image of the corpse viewed Lionel Atwill
compelling dialectic of the animate/ as a work of art would also play in a black menaces Fay Wray
inanimate. in a gag shot offset
comedy from Roger Corman entitled A in Mystery of the
Derived from Pieter Van Weigen's Bucket of Blood (1959), culminating with Wax Museum
short story of the same title from his the sado-masochistic Crucible of Terror (Warner Bros 1933).
collection "Flemish Tales," the image of the (1971) and most recently M.D.C. - Maschera 1
Cf. Steven Jay
water mill recurs in Scandinavian and di cera (The Wax Mask, 1997), the latter of Schneider, "Murder
Finnish mythology as a cosmological which comes full circle in paying a most as Art/The Art of
symbol of the three realms of heaven, earth obvious homage to both Mystery of the Wax Murder:
Aestheticizing
and hell. One may postulate that Van Museum and House of Wax from the Violence in Modern
Weigen was influenced by a poem based on viewpoint of the generation obliged to Dario Cinematic Horror."
1 In Dark Thoughts:
the legend of two giant women and the mill Argento. Films such as these, which are Philosophic
of Grottasongr - the mill being a convenient invested with replicas of the human face in Reflections on
trope figuring prominently in the creation all of its incarnations and fallacies, drives Cinematic Horror,
ed. Steven Jay
myths of the author's native land. us deep into a mythic nerve of fear that Schneider and
Mill of the Stone Women evolved from binds us together as human beings fearful Daniel Shaw
(Lanham, MD:
a tradition in cinema that captured our of what lurks beneath the myriad of masks Scarecrow Press,
imagination as early as 1923 with Paul we wear in everyday life. 2003), 173-96.

Italy
above: The medico-Gothic Romeo and Juliet. Clearly, the father

Wolfgang Preiss
with Scilla Gabel in figures in all of these films are simultane-
Mill of the Stone Ferroni's film is an atmospheric fusion of ously fascinated and appalled by their
Women. medical and Gothic motifs, the daughters' sensuality.
opposite top: guilt/obsession of the father towards a Though shot in colour, Mill of the
Orfei Liana is about long-suffering and tragically ill daughter a Stone Women remains steeped in the
to have her worst literary conceit found in Nathaniel
fears realized within
mythology of the 1960s black-and-white
the cobwebs and Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter" and horror film. Jess Franco's masterful Grttos
shadows of the Hanns Heinz Ewers's "Alraune." The film en la noche [Screams in the Night, aka The
haunted Mill.
versions of these popular tales inevitably Awful Dr. Orlqff, France/Spain, 1961)
opposite bottom: invest the father's motives with a perverse carries the same subtext of sex and death.
Pierre Brice is about sexual ambivalence. In all five film adapta- Ferroni uses a rich and colourful palette,
to discover the
deadly secret of the tions of "Alraune," for example, a mad yet his frisson with Franco is unmistakable
clock tower. scientist artificially inseminates a street- in that the visual motif carries the narrative
walker with the sperm of a murderer, adds in both films. In Screams in the Night, the
a dash of mandrake root and - voila! - an chiaroscuro lighting combined with an
emotionless siren of evil! Both the "father" oppressive atmosphere reinforces the
and numerous suitors are eventually German expressionistic look more than the
destroyed by her sensuous charm. The film's pulp narrative. Ferroni, while
definitive 1928 version directed by working in colour, does much the same
Germany's Henrik Galeen contains an thing, utilising a macabre and dreamlike
amazingly incestuous seduction scene atmosphere that allows the delicate hues to
between Brigitte Helm and Paul Wegener project a Gothic feel no script ever could. A
still shocking today. In "Rappaccini's similar eroticism can be found in the silent
Daughter," the child created from cinema, and was revived in the 1960s - an
poisonous plants is "given" a mate by her era filled with emotional dislocation and
demented father, who poisons his system erotic acts performed in the presence of the
to match hers - a horticultural version of spectre of death.

Mill of the Stone Women
Mill of the Stone Women begins in the

Holland of 1912. The flat countryside
dotted with canals and windmills provides
a Grimm's fairytale delicacy to an
obsessive-romantic narrative. The protag-
onist, Hans von Arnam (Pierre Brice), while
physically heroic, is decidedly lacklustre.
Fortunately for viewers, the daughter, Elfi
Wahl, is played with a perverse sensuality
by Scilla Gabel. If denied, her sexual
appetites can bring about a cataleptic
semblance of death, a unique situation in
films of this period.
The gothic flame is ignited by the
presence of Wolfgang Preiss, a splendid
actor who resembles Rudolf Klein-Rogge
and who achieved some notoriety in the
mid-1960s as Dr. Mabuse in Fritz Lang's
Mabuse sequels. His turn here as a mad
scientist and father who exsanguinates
young women in order to give his daughter
life is essential gothic. Equally obsessed is
Herbert Bohme's Dr Loren Bolem, who
assists Preiss (as Professor Gregorious
Wahl) in his endeavours. As with Pierre
Brasseur and Alida Valli in Georges
Franju's like-minded medico-Gothic
classic, Les yeux sans visage {Eyes without
a Face, 1959), the pair are accomplices in
murder and both are blinded by love for the
sensuous Elfi.

V
above: From Expressionism to Surrealism the characters played by Catherine

Wolfgang Preiss
prepares another Deneuve are trapped inside a world of
sacrifice in the Although Mill of the Stone Women resonates sexual longing and emptiness not unlike
name of Science! with Expressionism, there is a nod to the that of Elfi - a fairytale princess forbidden
golden age of Universal horrors with the to leave her tower.
rivalry between Dr. Bolem and Elfi's father. Drawn to Elfi's beauty and mystery,
During a key exchange towards the film's Hans ultimately succumbs to her
end, Bolem advises Professor Wahl that he advances. Soon after a night of passion he
plans to marry Elfi, as he has perfected a rejects her declarations of love, thereby
formula to correct her diseased blood. This inducing a seizure. However, after
causes Wahl to lose control and kill the witnessing Elfi in her death throes, the
doctor, and in doing so he destroys the very young man flees the mill only to find her
antidote needed to save his daughter. The alive and well upon his return. Professor
sequence recalls Lambert Hillyer's The Wahl convinces Hans that he could be
Invisible Ray (1936), in which Dr. Janos losing his mind and advises him to leave.
Rukh's (Boris Karloff) own mother smashes But the disappearance of several young
author's note: the lifesaving antidote with her cane rather girls in the vicinity of the mill eventually
I would like to
dedicate this article to than let him live the life of a monster. As jars our hero back to reality. Aided by a
my late friend Alan Oscar Wilde was fond of saying, "each man fellow student, the pair investigates the
Upchurch, who was kills the thing he loves." sudden disappearance of a music-hall
so fond of Mill of the
Stone Women. Ferroni also invokes Bunuel by singer, tracing her to the mill and
And I would like to utilising the Surrealist writer-director's ultimately thwarting the mad scientists at
thank Sergei their own game. Ferroni imbues these
Hasenecz for theme of entrapment. In such Bunuel films
research. as Belle de jour (1967) and Tristana (1970), proceedings with a weirdly poetic delirium.

Mill of the Stone Women
The poetry of horror Likewise in Mill of the Stone Women, where above:
Hans is the final strain on a mill groaning Wolfgang Preiss
cradles the lifeless
Ferroni has granted equal parts beauty, under the pressure of Professor Wahl's sins. body of his
terror and madness to his film. Its magic Mill of the Stone Women's finale is a daughter at the
lies within its imagery creating genuinely climax of Mill of the
visually surrealistic mix of fire and Stone women.
nightmarish set-pieces lit with brooding brimstone enacted by Preiss's Professor
colours and Rembrandtesque shadows: the Wahl in full flood - a King Lear minus the fop left:
Pierre Brice rescues
poetic language of horror typified by the howls! With the mill in flames, he takes his true love from
lyrical image of Elfi standing in an alcove of his Cordelia to the roof to die for the last Preiss's clock tower.
the mill holding a single red rose longing time, and as the flames eat away at the
for her lover, while Professor Wahl works musical clock of stone women a danse
nearby in a makeshift laboratory littered macabre is set in motion. The figures twist
with severed limbs and mutilated corpses, and writhe to a discordant melody as
an unholy mixture of eroticism and sadistic skulls and bones are liberated from their
surgery. The windmill itself stands as a masks and costumes. With the flames
hideously beautiful music box filled with consuming the Professor and his below:
the corpses of beautiful women - a shrine daughter, uniting them forever in blood Scllla Gabel
to the altar of death and decay. and death, the cosmic mill of Wolfgang appears to have
expired from lack of
Elfi's denied sexual appetites, Preiss has at last come full circle. blood.
resulting in her catalepsy, brings to mind
Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of
Usher," wherein the implied incest between
Roderick Usher and his sister Madeline
leads to the latter's catatonic state and
subsequent premature entombment by her
guilt-ridden brother. Roger Corman's
adaptation of this novella was released the
same year as Mill of the Stone Women.
Interestingly, in Poe's original story, the
outsider does not cause Madeline's
catatonic state, nor does his presence
trigger the House's fall. In the movie
version, however, the outsider is a suitor of
Madeline's, and while he does not seem to
bring about her catalepsy (as Hans does to
Elfi), he is in part the catalyst to the fall of
the house, already teetering under the
weight of the Ushers' transgressions.

The "lost" horror film series

the Edgar Wallace krimis
Ken Hanke
The body of movies that make up the to capture a horror fan's attention, even if
German adaptations of the crime thrillers few people took them with any degree of
written by Edgar Wallace (1875-1932), seriousness for many years.
once an immensely popular and prolific What none of us knew - or even began
novelist (there are some 180 books to his to guess - at the time were the peculiar
credit), is one of the most under-explored origins of these films or how they were
areas of the horror genre, and quite viewed in their source country. First of all,
possibly the ultimate in the realm of the question arises as to just why a
"international horror cinema." After all, German movie studio should have been
these films - called "krimis," a term derived mining the works of a once wildly popular
from the word "taschenkrimi" (pocket crime English writer of thrillers. Certainly, it
novel) - are about as international as you would have been far easier - and a great
can get. Produced in West Germany deal cheaper - to make movies that were
between the years 1959 and 1972, they not populated with British characters and
were set in a studio-created England were not set in London and other English
(beefed up with rear-screen stock shots locations. In order to begin to understand
and Hamburg streets passing for London's this, it's necessary to realise that Wallace's
Soho), based on the works of an English writings, while popular in Great Britain
writer, utilised actors from several and America, had always enjoyed an
different countries, and incorporated a unusual popularity in Germany.
strong American influence.
If you were a horror fan growing up in Krimi conventions
the 1960s, it was almost inevitable that
sooner or later - once the Shock Theatre In his landmark article on the German
package and its minor offshoots were Edgar Wallace films, Tim Lucas cites a
exhausted - you'd come across at least 1927 letter from Wallace to a friend: "For
some of the odd West German film adapta- some extraordinary reason, there is a
tions of Edgar Wallace's novels. The Wallace vogue in Germany." Lucas goes 1
dedicated horror movie enthusiast of that on to suggest that this was not as extraor-
era knew the name Edgar Wallace for his dinary as Wallace made it sound, since the
story credit on King Kong (1933) and as writer was no stranger to self-promotion in
author of the source novel for the British Germany. "Wallace's fictional universe of
Bela Lugosi vehicle. The Dark Eyes of colourful crooks, dapper detectives, and opposite:
London (aka The Human Monster, 1939, lurking ladies coincided well with the Harald Reinl's
dir. Walter Summers). As a result, increasingly corrupt atmosphere of pre- Der Frosche mit
der Maske (aka
Wallace's name on these dubbed imports Nazi Germany," notes Lucas, going on to The Fellowship of
imbued them with an immediate curiosity compare Wallace's work with such German the Frog), 1959.
value. They weren't horror pictures in the films of the era as Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse - 1
Tim Lucas, "Dial
more literal sense associated with the films The Gambler (1922) and Spies (1928). (One W for Wallace: The
from American studios like Universal, but might broaden this to include the depiction West German
they were instead what might be called of the underworld in Lang's M [1931], too, Krimis," Gorezone,
November-
horrific. And they were sufficiently bizarre and it's no stretch to add G. W. Pabst's The December 1989.

Germany
above: Threepenny Opera [19311 to this list.) In a fairly constant factor in these adaptations
Alfred Vohrer's
Die Tur Mit Den 7 peculiar way, the very British Wallace - a stress on the mystery element rather
Schlössern tapped into something that had a great than the horrific, which perhaps goes a
(aka The Door with appeal for the German people - and long way toward explaining why so few of
Seven Locks),
1962, starring Heinz perhaps informed certain aspects of these films have proved to have any lasting
Drache (left) and German pop culture of that era. (The interest. This is borne out by the fact that
Sabine Sesselman situation is not wholly dissimilar to the the two best-remembered Wallace adapta-
(centre).
German response to the work of British tions of the era - The Dark Eyes of London
opposite: composer Edward Elgar, whose music was and The Door with Seven Locks (aka
Harald Reinl's embraced in Germany before it was wholly Chamber of Horrors, 1940, dir. Norman
Der Frosche mit
der Maske (aka appreciated in his own country.) A footnote Lee) - are the two that can most accurately
The Fellowship of in Margaret Lane's Edgar Wallace: The be called horror films, though in all
the Frog), 1959.
Biography of a Phenomenon stresses fairness it must be noted that the mere
Wallace's popularity in Germany: "Miss presence of stars Bela Lugosi and Leslie
Cicely Hamilton in her book Modern Banks has more than a little bearing on
Germanies (1931) describes Edgar Wallace these films' longevity.
as the 'dominant English writer in The German explosion in Wallace
Germany' and more popular than Shaw or adaptations didn't occur until 1959, when
2
Galsworthy." the Rialto Film Company made Der Frosche
Just how far the impact of Wallace's mit der Maske [The Fellowship of the Frog),
fiction might have gone is impossible to directed by Harald Reinl. Viewed today, the
say. After two German adaptations of his film is not especially horrific, but it remains
novels were made in the early 1930s, a marvellously entertaining crime thriller
Hitler's rise to power and nationalisation of and establishes much of the basic format
German cinema ended the possibility of for the series that followed, including many
2
further film adaptations of an English of the actors. The standard premise is
Margaret Lane,
Edgar Wallace: The novelist. At this point, the translation of certainly there: a dashing hero (Joachim
Biography of a Wallace to the screen fell to British and, to Fuchsberger), a heroine in distress (Eva
Phenomenon.
.ondon: Hamilton,
a lesser extent, Hollywood studios, with Anthes), a dryly humorous Scotland Yard
1964. varying results. There was, however, one inspector (Siegfried Lowitz), a comic relief


Germany
sidekick for the hero (Eddi Arent) and a example, the hero of Fellowship of the Frog
mysterious super criminal. Those are the tools around the countryside in an MG-A,
basics and nearly every krimi that followed a then fairly common and inexpensive car,
adhered to them, since it proved a making the fact that characters act like
successful formula. That formula needs to it's the ne plus ultra of pricey sports
be clearly explained in order to understand vehicles more quaint than convincing. The
aspects of the series' popularity in results, instead of evoking a real England,
Germany, since many of the elements - not create a delightful fantasy world that
the least of which was the comedy of Eddi affords the films a wholly unique quality.
Arent - are difficult to judge in the dubbed If anything, this works in their favour,
versions of the films. since the unrealistic events seem far more
The elements that made up the basic plausible in this world than they would in
krimi, however, do not in the least tell the a more believable one.
whole story, since they do not account for Despite the more "legitimate"
what makes these pictures unique, and pedigree of linking the krimi with the work
reveal little or nothing about how they of Fritz Lang, it would be ingenuous to
paved the way for much of what we now suggest that the antics and style of the
accept as the modern horror film. The master criminals in these films are exactly
krimis' hybrid nature actually gave them a in that league, having just as much in
great deal of their tone. The romanticised common with the colourful "hooded killer"
German notion of England never success- of the more comic-strip diegesis of the
fully conveyed an accurate depiction of the serial film. (At the same time, it can be
country in which the films were persuasively argued that Lang's own The
supposedly taking place. Stock shots of Testament of Dr. Mabuse [1932] is not that
London, oceans of fog, and the far removed from the serial film's narrative
below:
importation of British cars are hardly universe.) It is hard to believe that Lang
Jürgen Roland's enough to make the films' Britishness would have ever settled for a master
Der Rote Kreis convincing; indeed, these things often criminal as lovably cheesy as "The Frog"
(aka The Crimson
Circle), 1959. undercut the sense of reality. For (bearing the decidedly improbable real
name of Harry Lime, no less). Decked out
in something resembling a scuba diving
outfit with a cape, sporting a black face
covering and ping-pong ball-looking
goggles over his eyes - not to mention very
stylish elbow-length rubber gloves - the
arch-villain of Fellowship of the Frog is a
few light years away from Dr. Mabuse or
Haghi (the master criminal in Spies; both
characters played by Rudolf Klein-Rogge)
in terms of seriousness of appearance.
Visually, the Lang villains are consid-
erably more intimidating, but the krimi
villain makes a major - and startling -
departure in terms of personal, extrav-
agant, over-the-top violence. And this is
where a good deal of the krimis' relation to
the realm of modern horror cinema lies.
While relatively tame by later
standards (indeed, all the krimis pale in
this regard when compared to the modern
horror film), it is nonetheless shocking to
see The Frog at his most maniacally
unhinged late in Fellowship of the Frog.
Threatening to brand a voluptuous female
victim (Eva Pflug) he has tied to a chair, he
quickly changes his mind when her
annoyance factor exceeds his patience.
Rather than merely torture the victim, he
opts to dispatch her altogether with
frankly alarming overkill, pulling out a
machine gun and blasting away until the

f
chair she's tied to falls over. Not content

with this, he merrily fires away,
continuing to splinter the chair long after
she is most surely very dead. It's so over-
the-top - and the dubbed performance of
The Frog so clichéd ("And you'll get the
same treatment if you don't behave. You're
coming with me. No one can stop me. I'm
stronger than anyone!" he tells the
hapless heroine) - that it's almost comic.
But it remains unsettling all the same,
and marks a clear path to the horror films
of Italian auteur Dario Argento in
particular, and to the modern horror film
in general.
The fantastic horror of the old
Universal films and even the contem-
porary Hammer movies is replaced in the
krimis with what, as I indicated earlier,
might better be termed the "horrific," with
its greater emphasis on human horror and
the sadistic. Despite the admittedly
fanciful world of the films, and the
retention of certain horror staples that
were inherent in Wallace's work (such as
the obligatory old dark house and certain
gothic trappings), this emphasis consti-
tuted a significant break with the horror
genre as it was typically perceived. And
Fellowship of the Frog was merely the tip
of the iceberg.
Fellowship of the Frog was successful
enough to spawn two more films almost
immediately - Der Rote Kreis (The Crimson
Circle, 1959, dir. Jurgen Roland) and Die
Bande Des Schreckens (The Terrible People,
1960, dir. Harald Reinl). Very much in the
same mould as the first film, the stress was, if anything, more over the top than above:
was again on the horrific. The Crimson Harald Reinl's
that of his Rialto predecessors. Any film Die Bande Des
Circle, in fact, offers a "body count" of that starts off with two old ladies finding a Schreckens
some 25 persons, though of course not all severed head in a box on the roadside is (aka The Terrible
People), 1960.
the murders are depicted on screen. The most certainly not interested in restraint!
only comparable films in classic American And it didn't end there, with its in-your-
horror are isolated instances like face horrors of a guillotine (referred to by
Columbia's Night of Terror (dir. Benjamin the French slang name of "The Widow")
Stoloff) and Paramount's Terror Aboard and the inclusion of a hulking African
(dir. Paul Sloane), both significantly from "monster" called Bhag (Al Hoosmann), the
1933, the year prior to the inception of the "Hairy Arm" of Wallace's original title
Production Code that brought sweeping (though in the novel, the arm belongs to
censorship restrictions to the industry. an actual orang-utan). Certain aspects of
The krimis were very much a different type the Rialto series were directly copied, for
of horror with a markedly different example the hero is again given an MG
approach - one that was not lost on others sports car to reinforce his Britishness. All
in the movie business. in all, the film did a good job of replicating
Independent producer Kurt Ulrich the Rialto product.
was the first to attempt to cash in on In fact, it might be said that Ulrich
Rialto's success with the Wallace adapta- did too good a job - at least so far as
tions, coming out with Der Rácher (The Rialto was concerned. They were
Avenger), based on Wallace's novel The sufficiently impressed by The Avenger
Hairy Arm, in 1960. Director Karl Anton's that they threatened to sue Ulrich if he
approach (whose last film this would be) attempted to make any further films in

Germany
above: the series. Just exactly how Rialto viewed probably the essential film in the series,
Karl Anton's Der
Rächer (aka The Wallace's entire body of work as their and a thorough understanding of it and
Avenger), 1960. exclusive property is a little vague, but the manner in which it is designed and
their threats successfully caused Ulrich to executed provides a solid base for
back down. In the process, Rialto opted to assessing the series on the whole and how
hire some of Ulrich's actors - notably Heinz it departed from horror as it was generally
Drache (who tended to alternate leading considered at the time. This is very
man status with Joachim Fuchsberger in evident if we compare Dead Eyes of
numerous subsequent krimis) and Klaus London with the story's original cinematic
Kinski (a valuable addition usually as a incarnation. The two versions of the story
stock minor villain in the Dwight Frye are interesting both for their similarities
mould) - thereby expanding on their and their differences.
original roster of krimi players.
With everything in place, the krimis The Dark and the Dead
fully came into their own with Alfred
Vohrer's Die Toten Augen Von London (The The 1939 UK version, while first and
Dead Eyes of London, 1961), arguably the foremost designed as a Lugosi vehicle, is
best film in the series and the one most remarkable for the way it pushed the
people immediately think of when they envelope of what was and was not
think of krimis. Some of the film's fame acceptable in a horror film. The picture is
may stem from the fact that it's a remake almost unbelievably sadistic for its time,
of the most famous of all pre-krimi Wallace with Bela's Dr. Orloff gleefully drowning his
adaptations, Dark Eyes of London - not to victims, mercilessly deafening a blind man
mention that it's one of Wallace's so the police can't question him, etc. - and
strongest stories. Considering the sheer laughing all the while. Dark Eyes of London
scope of the body of films that make up even ignored the then-censorable taboo of
the krimis, I've opted to devote the largest having a woman in bondage and took it a
section of this essay to an examination of step further by allowing her to be touched
Dead Eyes of London, since it is quite (censors at the time seemed to think this

made a significant difference). In terms of of horror pioneered in the earlier entries, above:
Walter Summers's
plot, the two films are virtually identical. Vohrer showcases a stronger, more The Dark Eyes of
For that matter, in terms of stretching the creative visual style that is strikingly London (aka The
permissible, they are certainly soulmates, reminiscent of Hitchcock's early British Human Monster),
1939.
though occasionally it is the older film that films. This is particularly notable in the
packs more of a punch. But in other ways, manner in which Vohrer cuts from scene
there's a huge difference. to scene. A "shock cut" from a whistle to a
Of course, Dark Eyes of London's doorbell ringing insistently is very like
status as a Lugosi vehicle is the most Hitchcock's cut from the screaming
notable difference, since that fact meant a woman's face to the train whistle in The
different focus to the film. Lugosi is at the 39 Steps (1935). Dead Eyes of London is
centre of the proceedings and in a dual full of such touches, giving the movie a
role (more accurately, he spends a good strangely antiquated feeling that is both
bit of the film in disguise with a dubbed atmospheric and pleasing. It is also a very
voice). Dead Eyes of London, on the other conscious style, and one that Vohrer -
hand, spends far more time concentrating unlike Hitchcock - can't always pull off
on Inspector Larry Holt (Fuchsberger) and without seeming forced. It doesn't help
the investigation of the case, as well as matters that he has a tendency to
splitting the Lugosi role into two different embellish only the beginnings and
characters. As a result, the later film is endings of his scenes, allowing the bulk of
considerably more complex in terms of a sequence to play rather indifferently. (In
events and characterisation - and much this respect, Vohrer is more reminiscent of
nearer Wallace in the bargain. That's not some of Lewis Milestone's lesser efforts at
surprising, since in the world of the krimi grafting style onto a film. And that's part
Wallace is the star, more so than any of the problem - the style sometimes
individual actor. seems more of an add-on to the picture
Alfred Vohrer brought a slightly than something that naturally grows out
different look and approach to the series. of it.) Moreover, some of these embellish-
While still revelling in the more overt style ments are awkwardly achieved, for

Germany
above: example requiring actors to move objects - Walter], and there his villainy is not
Alfred Vohrer's Die
Toten Augen Von a hat, a glass, etc. - in unnatural ways immediately apparent) sets the tone for
London (aka The toward the camera. At other times, Vohrer the movie's horrors, and the addition of an
Dead Eyes of is just too tricky for his own good (the obvious conspiracy afoot via Jack's
London), 1961.
famous POV shot from inside a man's accomplice in the matter puts the later
mouth as he uses a WaterPik, for film far more solidly into the krimi realm of
example). But on many occasions, master criminals and criminal gangs.
Vohrer's efforts pay off nicely, and the very As with Dark Eyes, it is the finding of
fact that he went the distance to make the body that sets the plot in motion,
Dead Eyes of London something special is especially the discovery of a bit of Braille
in itself noteworthy. writing on the corpse. Since this is not the
Dead Eyes of London opens on a first such "accidental" drowning,
strong note, with a murderous attack on Inspector Holt becomes convinced that
an unknown man by "Blind Jack" (Adi this is murder and part of a pattern -
Berber) in an almost impossibly foggy "Always a foggy night, always men who
London (so foggy, in fact, that some of the wear glasses and can be easily attacked,
players' credits that follow are difficult to and always rich men from abroad without
read!). Compared to the macabre, but a family in England." While not entirely
relatively tame, opening of Doric Eyes of buying into his theories (one wonders
London with a corpse floating in the why, since the circumstances are
Thames (in essence, Dead Eyes backs up suspicious to say the least), Holt's
the action to the point of the attack that's superior has at least gone so far as to
already happened in Dark Eyes), this is recruit someone to read the Braille. This
much more compelling. Our early turns out to be Nora Ward (Karin Baal),
introduction to Blind Jack (it is many who becomes an almost immediate
minutes into Dark Eyes before the viewer romantic interest for Holt and figures
is introduced to Blind Jake [Wilfrid rather more prominently and with greater

- and less believable - complexity than her Chicago policeman in London studying
counterpart in the earlier film. The Braille Scotland Yard's methods. In both cases,
writing is in such bad shape, unfortu- the men are the creations of filmmakers
nately, that Nora can only make out bits of putting forth their own ideas of a
it - "Crime...murder...the blind monster character who is foreign to them. O'Reilly
and his master..." That much, however, is is quite obviously a British screenwriter-
enough to make Holt conclude: "It director's idea of an American policeman
certainly looks as if the blind killers of grounded entirely in ideas cobbled from
London are at work again." He further Hollywood movies. Sunny, on the other
explains, "They're a band of thieves and hand, is just as obviously a wholly
killers, blind peddlers who commit crimes German notion of a very proper English
in the dead of night." With typical krimi policeman, and one who is grounded far
logic, this concept is accepted without more in the movies than in reality.
question or even notable shock. The plot having been set up, Dead
At this point, Dead Eyes of London Eyes of London proceeds along its
introduces Eddi Arent's Sgt. "Sunny" remarkably convoluted path with speed
Harvey, who wanders onto the scene and assurance - not to mention an
greeting Nora with, "Not since the hatchet abundance of nice, often bizarre, touches.
murderess, Lady Mixedpickles, was here One wonders, for example, just what
for questioning have we been honoured prospective clients make of the fact that
by such beauty." Since Arent fulfils the insurance broker Stephen Judd (Wolfgang
function of comic relief in these films (and Lukschy) keeps a human skull that
was a significant factor in their success in dispenses cigarettes! Even in its dubbed
Germany), his contribution to the series version, the official police description of
is easy to overlook. In part this stems Blind Jack (delivered by Arent, of course)
from the fact that it is difficult to judge a is extremely thorough - "Age about 50,
great deal of his comedy in the dubbed height six foot four inches, occupation
versions of the films. Not only are we peddler, has unusually great strength,
deprived of his actual dialogue delivery, tends toward acts of violence, mentally
but there's no guarantee that we are even retarded, easily subject to bad influences"
hearing the jokes as they were originally - and is beautifully economical in ending
written. As a result, the English-speaking with, "Last known address: 25 Blossom
viewer is left with variable comedy Lane," followed by a jump cut to the
dubiously delivered and a handful of Blossom Lane street sign with the camera
Arent's physical schtick by way of outre panning down to Holt, Sunny and Nora
costuming (here he removes his trench arriving on the scene.
coat to reveal a garish plaid suit that Unlike the straightforward narrative of
makes one glad the film is in black and Dark Eyes of London, Dead Eyes is simply
white) and whinnying effect he seems to filled with various plot tangents and a wide
have appropriated from Huntz Hall. array of shady underworld characters. Most
However, Arent's characters are quite of it works, though some of it strains viewer
unusual in that they are usually there to credulity, especially in terms of characteri-
provide more than just comic relief. In sation. It's one thing in Dark Eyes to buy
Dead Eyes, his absurdity is undercut by the idea that Diana Stuart (Greta Gynt)
the fact that he's presented as a very would agree to spy on the comings and
capable buffoon, one who is constantly goings at Dr. Feodor Dearborn's (Lugosi)
offering useful information about the case home for blind vagrants, since she knows
- and not, as might be expected, acciden- there is a connection between the place and
tally or unconsciously. In this sense, the murder of her father. In Dead Eyes, it's
Arent's characters are perhaps unique in more of a stretch to accept Nora taking on
genre film. Indeed, it is Arent's legwork this task, since she agrees before her father
that leads Holt onto the path that is murdered and, for that matter, doesn't
ultimately solves the mystery by revealing even know who her father is or if he's still
that the drowned man had a life alive. (This aspect of the plot is very telling,
insurance policy with the Greenwich since Wallace was himself an illegitimate
Assurance Company. child.) She agrees to worm her way into
There is an intriguing parallel Paul Dearborn's (Dieter Borsche)
between Arent's "Sunny" and Edmon confidence solely as a favour to Holt, whom
Ryan's Lieutenant O'Reilly in the original she has known a scant few hours!
film. Both characters serve roughly the Presumably, her devotion is very easily
same function, though O'Reilly is a aroused.

Germany
The collection of colourful In the end, however, the original

underworld characters, on the other hand, film's Jake is both more memorable and
is quite a nice addition to the later more menacing. Not only is the execution
version, especially the dapper blackmailer, of Blind Jack long before Dead Eyes'
Fleabite (as the dubbed dialogue has it) or conclusion something of a mistake, since
Flicker (as the cast list has it) Fred (Harry it robs the climax of a level of peril that it
Wüstenhagen), and the immediately badly needs, but Blind Jack (at least as
indispensable Klaus Kinski (given special far as the dubbed version is concerned) is
"and KLAUS KINSKI" billing) - looking for far too articulate and cagey, pleading too
all the world like the bastard child of coolly and even off-handedly for his life in
Dwight Frye and Jean-Paul Belmondo - as the execution scene. This is a case where
yet another blackmailer. Blackmail figures Dead Eyes of London settles for a bit of
quite prominently in the plot, and the overt gruesomeness - Jack shot point
blackmailers invariably come to a bad and blank in the head several times and left in
generally grisly end; Fleabite Fred, for a garbage dump for a grisly close-up - and
example, is dropped down an elevator undermines itself in the process.
shaft, but suffers the indignity of first The usual krimi procession of serial-
catching himself, only to have one hand like events - the attempted murder of the
burned with a cigarette and the other one person who knows the truth about
stepped on to ensure his speedy descent. Nora's ancestry (complete with last-
Of course, the most spectacular of the minute rescue), a trick gun hidden in a TV
villains is Adi Berber's Blind Jack. Without set to dispose of intruders, the bound hero
a doubt, this is one of the series' most tortured with impending drowning in a
memorably grotesque characters. A Tor laundry vat - make up the film's last
Johnson-like figure (both men had been section and provide some compensation
professional wrestlers) minus an ear, for the ill-advised disposal of Blind Jack.
boasting an improbably hirsute body, and The climax, however, for all of its sadistic
"dead" eyes, Blind Jack is certainly thrills (Dearborn tormenting Nora with an
unsettling and more than a little daunting acetylene torch and the delightful
(anyone who gets the upper-hand on his warning, "A corpse is ugly when it's been
sighted victims by crushing light bulbs burned") feels slightly empty. The story
with his bare hand is not to be trifled with). leading up to it is just deserving of a much
Interestingly, his relationship with Lew more spectacular finale than it is afforded
Norris (Bobby Todd) is quite different from here.
that between Jake and "Blind Lou" (Arthur
E. Owen) in the original film. In Dark Eyes, Another Door opens
the arrangement is a fairly traditional one
(in horror film terms) of a "monster" and One has to wonder if the success of Dead
his simple-minded devotion to one other Eyes of London had a bearing on the
person. In Dead Eyes, however, there is choice to follow it up with a new version of
evidently no love lost between the two. The Door with Seven Locks (German title:
Here - and this is very much in keeping Die Tur Mlt Den 7 Schlbssern), also
with the tone of the krimis - Blind Jack is directed by Vohrer, as this was the less-
completely unsympathetic and sadistically successful follow-up to Dark Eyes of
forces Lew into assisting him in his crimes London as well. (Leslie Banks made an
(indeed, it is Lew who is slipping the Braille effective villain in the 1940 UK version,
notes to the police via the corpses). Blind but he lacked the drawing power of Bela
Jack is also a much more active and Lugosi, and the resultant tepid response
reasoning participant in the crimes than killed off what might easily have developed
was Jake; this latter is a strange point into a home-grown Wallace series at the
considering the fact that the description time.) Whether or not this was the case,
drags in the idea that he is mentally the resulting film in the krtmi series
retarded. While Lugosi's Orloff merely uses turned out to be one of the best - and
Jake as a strong-arm henchman, the quite possibly the strangest.
villains here allow him to undertake the
The original Door with Seven Locks
elaborate murders himself - strapping a
had been a fanciful, if rather simple, story
large block of salt to the victim and
about defrauding an heiress - hardly the
dumping him into the Thames, assuring
most original concept ever to come down
drowning in such a way that the body will
the pike. Vohrer's film is an altogether
float to the surface when the salt dissolves
different matter, though a scheme to
in order to collect on the insurance.
defraud is still the basic plot. However, the

new Door with Seven Locks manages to

bring in a Langian master criminal (not
hard to spot), a mad scientist with a desire
to graft a man's head onto a gorilla, a
hulking brute and more. Vohrer's
direction is as creative as in Dead Eyes of
London, but minus most of the more
awkward effects. It's just as well, since the
storyline is so wild and woolly on its own
merit that all it needed was the right
atmosphere.
The entry replaces Joachim
Fuchsberger with Heinz Drache and Karin
Baal with Sabine Sesselman, but
otherwise it draws heavily on the elements
that made Dead Eyes of London a success:
Eddi Arent's comedy, a great (albeit brief)
bit for Kinski at his twitchy best, Adi
Berber (now billed as Ady) as a murderous
simpleton - minus the extra hair, and with
both ears, but sporting scars instead -
etc. The idea quite obviously was to take
the best features of Dead Eyes of London
and expand upon them. To a great extent,
the effort is successful. Berber's
character, for example, works better this
time round, since he's given no dialogue
to speak of, and while it may be a cliché,
making him a sympathetic monster is
strangely more satisfying. Moreover, the
script shrewdly allows him to interact
with the leads, keeping him less on the
fringe of the proceedings. If nothing else,
this results in a wonderfully bizarre
moment where he attacks Eddi Arent
(here playing a secondary cop with the
name of Holmes!) and very matter-of-
factly tries to bury him alive. woman's head onto the animal. above:
Poster for Alfred
The most intriguing aspect of The Nonetheless, it's of some note that this Vohrer's Die Tur
Door with Seven Locks, though, is almost idea - one that Browning never managed Mit Den 7
certainly the addition of Pinkas Braun's to bring to fruition - should here see the Schlössern (aka
The Door with
Dr. Staletti, the aforementioned mad light of day. Seven Locks),
scientist. This brings the series a bit Even when it isn't successful as 1962.
closer to something like traditional horror. horror, the film is so much fun that no
Staletti - who turns out to be more mad one is likely to complain; where Dead
charlatan than mad scientist - is given a Eyes of London had been frequently
great secret laboratory (some of the props chilling, The Door with Seven Locks is just
are recycled from Dead Eyes of London's too fanciful not to be amusing. And in
secret drowning room), wonderfully many ways, that is the story of the krimis
improbable dialogue (at least in the to come. Dead Eyes of London may be the
dubbed version) and the most lovably closest the series ever came to making a
hokey man-in-a-gorilla-suit ever to grace horror film in the classic sense, but taken
the screen. What is especially interesting as a body, the films have a place in the
about all this, though, is the nature of history of horror that has never been
Staletti's proposed experiment. Whether adequately explored.
by accident or design, the idea of grafting The growing success of the series on
a human head onto a gorilla was the a purely popular level led Rialto's rival
dream of the father of the American horror studio, CCC (Central Cinema Company) to
film, Tod Browning, though Browning's try their hand at a blatantly imitative
concept was somewhat kinkier in that he series. However, CCC had learned a lesson
was specifically interested in grafting a from independent producer Kurt Ulrich's

Germany
above: run-in with Rialto, and, after risking one change with the times - through 1972, by
Edwin Zbonek's
Das Ungeheuer bona fide Wallace adaptation, Der Fluch which time it had been overtaken by the
Von London City Der Gelben Schlange (The Curse of the works of Italian director Dario Argento,
(aka The Monster Yellow Snake, 1963, dir. Franz Josef the most famous horror filmmaker to be
of London City),
1964. Gottlieb), they opted to buy the rights to directly influenced by the krlmis. While
the works of Wallace's son, Bryan Edgar Argento's early pictures, L'uccello dalle
opposite top: Wallace, for their source material. The plume dl cristallo (The Bird with the
Franz Josef
Gottleib's Das younger Wallace, who had adapted his Crystal Plumage, 1970) and II gatto a nove
Phantom Von father's work for the screen back in 1937 code (The Cat o' Nine Tails, 1971), are
Soho (aka Murder
By Proxy), 1963.
with William K. Howard's The Squeaker perhaps only krlmis in a purely nor' by
(aka Murder on Diamond Row, UK), had nor'west sense, they were certainly
opposite bottom: then taken it on himself to write mystery influenced by them and were co-produced
Franz Josef
Gottleib's Der novels in his father's style. CCC's offerings by CCC, who marketed the films in
Fluch Der Gelben were very nearly as successful with Germany with the use of the Bryan Edgar
Schlange (aka audiences as the Rialto films, and soon Wallace name. These films mark the
The Curse of the
Yellow Snake), the studio imported Wallace himself to direction the actual series itself would
1963 craft original screenplays for them. Some have needed to move toward in order to
of the films from CCC, such as 1963's Das survive any longer than they did. Much
Phantom Von Soho (The Phantom of Soho, like the Universal horrors of the 1930s
aka Murder By Proxy, dir. Franz Josef and 40s, and even like the Hammer
Gottleib) and the following year's Das horrors of the 1950s and 60s, it was a
Ungeheuer Von London City (The Monster case of that which once seemed fresh and
of London City, dir. Edwin Zbonek), are daring starting to pale as newer, bolder,
considered to be on a par with the genuine though not necessarily better approaches
Rialto article. to the genre came into being. The German
The series continued in various film industry was giving way to the Italian
forms - often unsuccessfully attempting to one for the continuance of this particular

brand of realistic horror film. The final

film from Rial to, Massimo Dallamano's
Cosa avete Jatto a Solange? (What Have
You Done to Solange?, 1972), was
ultimately less a krimi than it was an early
gtallo, the form that took over from the
krlml in many ways. Old Rial to favourites
Joachim Fuchsberger and Karin Baal were
in the cast and the film claimed to have
been "suggested" by Wallace's The Clue of
the New Pin, but it was a different sort of
film for a different audience and a
different time, and might best be viewed
as an homage to the krimis rather than a
true member of the series.
The unfortunate thing about the
krimis is that they are insufficiently known
and appreciated, even by fans of the
stronger gialli, and, as a result, have never
really gained a foothold in the history of
the development of the horror film. This
essay, which is really little more than a
primer, is an attempt to at least suggest
that the films in question are deserving of
a closer look than they have generally been
afforded. The films are so numerous and
their history so rich that a book-length
survey is really the only way to do them
justice. Hopefully, the misbegotten krimis
will one day attain sufficient interest to be
afforded such a study.

The exotic pontianaks
Jan Uhde & Yvonne Ng Uhde
The horror film, rooted in the dark vision of offs which brought to the screen other 1
In 1946,
German Expressionist cinema of the post- monsters, including the formidable "oily Singapore became a
British Crown colony;
WWI era, is unquestionably one of the most man" (orang mlnyak in Malay). In all, seven the former Malayan
extensive and influential genres of film pontianak movies were produced in Union became
history today. Thanks in particular to Singapore between 1956 and 1965, during
1 Federation of Malaya
in 1948. Singapore
Hollywood's shrewd interest, it spread and the "golden age" of Singapore cinema, in the obtained self-rule in
crossbred, blending with other genres such two leading studios of the region, Shaw 1959, and in 1963 it
joined the new
as the thriller, science fiction, action- Brothers' Malay Film Productions (MFP) and Federation of
adventure, film noir and even comedy. One Cathay-Keris (Cathay Organisation's Malay Malaysia. In 1965, It
of its more salient subgenres, the vampire filmmaking arm). The immense popularity of left the Federation
and became an
film, ushered in eight decades ago by these pictures was virtually a phenomenon independent
Friedrich W. Murnau's unforgettable in Singapore's Malay film production of the Republic.
Nosferatu (1922), has also swollen time. Many people in the region, especially 2
Judaeo-Christian
enormously. Yet the image of the vampire in Singapore and Malaysia, still retain fond cultural tradition
as perceived by most Western audiences memories of the excitement and terror they offers legends
comparable to those
hardly extends much beyond that tall, felt upon viewing the pontianak films of the East-Asian
fanged creature from the deep woods of the decades ago. langsuyar. Putting
aside the relatively
Transylvanian Alps. recent, reality-rooted
In fact, other less well-known Vampires of the East and West story of the blood-
thirsty Hungarian
manifestations of the vampire exist in the Countess Báthory,
tropics on the other side of the globe. The Like the mythologies of most cultures, old those about Lilith,
Adam's first wife
name Pontianak might ring a bell for Malay and Indonesian legends are according to some
readers of National Geographic magazine populated with a variety of supernatural Jewish legends,
who would recall the capital city of West creatures, not least bloodthirsty vampires. appear to be
especially relevant.
Kalimantan, lying exactly on the equator, in The latter include the penanggalan (aka The American art
the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo. penanggal or penaggalan), the langsuyar historian L.C.E.
Witcombe (2002)
How the city got its name is unclear but for (also spelled langsuir) and the pontianak; characterises Lilith
many in the region, the word "pontianak" the equally nocturnal and violent oily man "as a winged female
demon who kills
denotes something much more sinister is not a bloodsucker but a violator of infants and
than just a geographical location; it is women. Of these four spirits, the pontianak endangers women in
inextricably bound to the image of a female became the most prominent, thanks to its childbirth. ...As a
female demon, she is
vampire. Pontianaks were - indeed for temporary movie stardom. In contrast to closely related to
many still are - feared revenants of South- their Western counterparts such as Lamashtu whose
evilness included
East Asia, particularly in Malaysia, Dracula (Nosferatu), the Malay/Indonesian killing children,
Singapore and Indonesia. vampires - the penanggalan, the langsuyar drinking the blood of
2 men, and eating their
In the same way that Hollywood's and the pontianak - are female. flesh. Lamashtu also
Universal Studios and later Hammer Films Other Eastern cultures such as the caused pregnant
women to miscarry,
in England struck box-office gold with their Chinese, Japanese and Korean are also disturbed sleep
Dracula and monster films of the 1930s, 40s familiar with female spirits. These ghosts and brought
and 50s. Singapore's filmmakers, on a much too have found their way from legends into nightmares."
more modest scale, kept the till ringing with films, including works by well-known
opposite:
their own versions of the vampire film. Like directors such as Kenji Mizoguchi's Ugetsu Fadzlina Mohamad
their Western counterparts, the success of monogatari (1953) and Akira Kurosawa's Shafie, star of
Return to Pontianak
the early pontianak movies spurred spin- Dreams (1990). Female phantoms in China (2000).

Singapore
and Japan are often associated with foxes treated in the same way to prevent it from
and may appear in their likeness. In a turning into a pontianak. Some believe that
typical set-up, a beautiful woman would the effect of these rites is temporary as they
lure a young man into her lavishly only ensure that the dead woman or child
appointed house; after spending the night will not transform into a langsuyar or
with her, the man wakes up in a dilapi- pontianak until forty days after burial.
dated, abandoned dwelling and eventually The penanggalan, one of the most
discovers that his lover was a phantom or famed and feared Malaysian and
fox spirit. Such "one-night stands" can in Indonesian ghosts, is a woman who was
fact last quite long, sometimes a year or interrupted during prayer, causing her
more. In South-East Asia, however, the head to separate from her body, along with
most notorious female spirits are the all the innards. The head with the entrails
pontianaks. Featured in countless ghost in tow then flies through the air, looking for
stories, it was just a matter of time before the blood of newborn babies or pregnant
they appeared on the movie screen. women. The entrails' pestilential fluids
The pontianak and the langsuyar are spread disease. Pregnant women and small
closely related. The langsuyar is supposed children were kept inside at night to protect
to be the ghost of a woman who died in them from the penanggalan. Unlike the
childbirth or from shock upon discovery pontianaks, the penanggalan never
that her child was stillborn. She may appeared in Singapore Malay movies,
assume different physical forms (especially although its bloodcurdling potential has
4
a night owl with long claws). However, she been tapped by other Asian filmmakers.
usually appears as a beautiful woman with Movies also extended the popularity of
long fingernails and long hair; the hair another Malay legend, that of the oily man.
conceals a hole behind her neck through As his name implies the oily man is male.
which she sucks the blood of infants. She During the day, he behaves like an
can be tamed, though, when her hair and ordinary person but at night, he rapes
fingernails are cut and stuffed into the hole young women whom he first hypnotises
behind her neck; the man who manages into submission with his bewitching stare;
this feat can become her husband and they often, he kills his victims. Before setting
can have children - as long as she is kept out on his nocturnal adventures, this sub-
away from dancing and similar social human covers his half-naked body with oil
activities. Otherwise, she will become what to make it slippery so that he cannot be
J
Francis 2002. she was before and fly away. caught easily. He is very strong and makes
4
In 1977, the Hong
According to the legends, the frequent use of his supernatural powers to
Kong director Lian pontianak is the stillborn child of a leap through air or to vanish from sight
Sing Woo made langsuyar. Although its gender is not quite when pursued by the villagers or the law.
The Witch with
Flying Head; Leak clear in traditional folklore, it is always In a modern twist on the old legend,
(aka Mystics in Bail) depicted in female form on the silver screen, ordinary rapists have been reported to
was directed by most probably because it is often confused exploit these old beliefs and fears by
Indonesian 5
filmmaker H. Tjut with its mother. Like the langsuyar, it behaving like the "oily man."
Djalil in 1981. drinks infants' blood and can also appear in Indeed, many of the Malay and
5
the form of a night owl; it is believed to live Indonesian vampire legends and black
One such incident
was published by a
in kapok trees (white silk-cotton trees) magic practices are still very much alive.
Malaysian during the day and attack at night. There The traditional help against all evil spirits
newspaper in 2001, are several etymological explanations of the
under the heading
comes from the bomoh, essentially a witch
"Man attacked in word pontianak, none of which appears to doctor called in to suggest the best way of
'oily man' case." It be conclusive: "anak" means "child" in getting rid of the plague. Some of their tools
was reported from Malay (and in the Malay-derived Bahasa
Kuala Kedah in are similar to those of their Western
Northwestern Indonesia). The word "ponti" is sometimes counterparts (stakes for example), minus
Malaysia that a man explained as "unknown"; according to this, the Christian religious symbolism, while
was seized and "pontianak" would mean "unknown child" 3
beaten after trying the proverbial garlic is replaced by local

to steal a talisman ; in Malaysia, the pontianak is also called plants and fruits.
from a female "mati-anak"; "mad" means "death,"
bomoh who had
apparently caught
therefore "dead child." First Pontianak films
an oily man. (The To prevent a woman who dies from
Star, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia. 23 childbirth from becoming a langsuyar, her The first pontianak film appeared in 1957,
September 2001). body must be laid to rest by putting glass and in many ways it set the stage for most
according to the beads in her mouth, needles in the palms
report, four "orang
of those to follow. Entitled Pontianak, (The
minyaks" were of her hands and an egg under each Vampire), it was produced by the Cathay-
eventually caught. armpit. Her stillborn child would also be Keris Studios in Singapore and directed by

the exotic pontianaks
Balakrishna Narayan Rao (b.1908 in This success prompted Cathay-Keris

Tellicherry, Kerala, India). Rao was an to make a quick follow-up, Dendam
experienced filmmaker with over thirty Pontianak (Revenge of the Vampire, 1957).
films to his credit. He had been working in Here, the female vampire returns from the
the film business for more than twenty grave seeking vengeance. The circum-
years when he made his first pontianak stances of her death at the end of the
movie. In all, he directed four of the seven picture were left unclear by the filmmakers,
pontianak movies, and these were also the which offered them the possibility of
6
most successful ones. another sequel, Sumpah Pontianak (The
Pontianak was, like most of the Curse of the Vampire, aka Blood of
Singapore-based productions of the 1950s Pontianak) in 1958. That year, Cathay-
and 60s, a Malay-language film shot in Keris's feature production output almost
black and white. Against the rural setting tripled, compared to three in 1957 and four
of a traditional Malay kampong (village), a in 1956; this significant achievement
young female hunchback (Maria Menado) is helped the company to compete with its
transformed into a beautiful woman by rival and the dominant producer of Malay
magic forces. She marries but enduring features, Shaw Brothers' Malay Film
happiness eludes her: when her husband is Productions, on equal footing.
bitten by a snake, the venom she sucks out No less important was the pontianak
causes her to become a pontianak. She films' multi-cultural appeal. The
then tries to turn her daughter into a Singapore-based Australian lecturer and
vampire but is destroyed after a nail is historian Kevin P. Blackburn quotes
driven into her skull. Cathay-Keris director and a pioneer of the
It Is quite evident from the old Malay Malay film industry Laksamanan
legends that the "pontianak" In this film is Krishnan, who claimed that the Pontianak
in fact a langsuyar. The true pontianak - the series made even more money than the
vampiric baby of the langsuyar - is not part films of the multi-talented director and
of the movie at all. Whether due to a Malay cinema's greatest star P. Ramlee 6
B.N. Rao worked
confusion among the filmmakers over these because it attracted not only the Malays in India in Tamil,
two closely related phantoms, or what is but the Chinese as well. As a result, Hindi, and Telugu
more likely, to a common semantic "because the Chinese came everybody language movies.
He started his
inconsistency, this factual error did not walked into the cinema." 9
career as an actor
discourage the film-going public in the least. in 1926: later he
In all probability, most never even realised became assistant
New Pontianaks and other monsters director and
there u>as a mix-up. The power of popular assistant
misconception gave the old folklore another Most of the pontianak movies were made in cameraman. His
twist and so the term "pontianak" stuck. first feature as
1957 and 1958, all of them out of Cathay or director was the
The release of the first pontianak film Shaw studios in Singapore. Noting the Hindi Veer Kumari
must have been a pleasant surprise for (1935). Rao moved
overwhelming success of Cathay's to Singapore to
Cathay-Keris, which had seldom seen its pontianak films, Shaw persuaded work for Shaw
Malay feature productions turn a profit. As Pontianak scriptwriter Abdul Razak to pen Brothers' Malay
Film Productions
the Malaysian scriptwriter and historian a vampire screenplay for its organisation as (1953-56); in 1957,
Hamzah Hussin recalls, the movie was well; and so, in addition to the three he joined the
originally scheduled to open at Singapore's Cathay-Keris titles already mentioned, Shaws' chief rival,
the Cathay-Keris
prestigious Cathay Cinema at Dhoby Ghaut Malay Film Productions released Anak Studios. He stayed
for the Muslim holidays Hari Raya Puasa; Pontianak (1958), directed by Filipino there until 1964
after two days, it was to be moved to the Taj, filmmaker Ramón A. Estella. Unlike the after which he
returned to India.
in the city's predominantly Malay area of original pontianak movie, this version He directed his last
Geylang Serai. However, the long line-ups featured the vampire's son - a bodiless film in 1974, the
caused it to remain at the Cathay flagship Telugu movie Nitya
monster called Polong - as the film's Sumangali. His
theatre for two months, after which it played demon, together with Hnatu, the snake Singapore career
for another three months at the Taj. Similar devil. It seems quite likely that the penang- includes the remake
of the first
success was recorded throughout Malaya, galan legend played a part in contributing Singapore-made
7
Sarawak and Brunei. International distri- to Anak Pontianak's narrative. Without the movie, Laila
bution followed. In 1958, Pontianak was attraction of Menado's pontianak, however, Majnun, released in
1962.
dubbed into Cantonese and released in this vampiric tale failed to catch on at the
Hong Kong, the first Malay feature to do so. box office. 7
Hussin, 41.
Two years later, it was subtitled in English 1958 was also the year that saw the
to be shown on television in the United arrival of three oily man films, starting with
8
Ibid.
States as part of an Asian film showcase, Cathay's Orang Mlnyak (Oily Man), directed 9
8 Blackburn 2002
representing Malaya and Singapore. by L. Krishnan. While Cathay exulted over [A].

Singapore
The Pontianak in person: Maria Menado
The big crowd-puller, the real star of the

pontianak films, and the secret of their
record-breaking success was the pontianak
herself, portrayed by the attractive
Menado. Born Libeth Dotulong in Menado
(Sulawesi, Indonesia) in 1931, she came to
Singapore as a teenager looking for a job.
She won a "Kebaya Queen" beauty contest
(the kebaya is a figure-hugging tunic worn
with a long sarong), which helped her land
her first film role with Shaw Brothers,
Penghidupan (Livelihood, starring P.
Ramlee, 1951). Later, she switched to
Cathay-Kerls studios where her role in
Cathay's pontianak films, scripted by her
first husband, Abdul Razak, catapulted her
to fame. The most eagerly awaited moment
came when the audience saw her screen
character - an ugly hag - magically
transformed into a beautiful woman.
Indeed, for Menado, who had received little
attention from previous films, her first
pontianak role was the breakthrough in
her acting career. After Pontianak, her
name became synonymous with the
vampire and she became a star overnight.
Menado appeared in four pontianak
films, all of them produced by Cathay -
Keris. The first three, Pontianak, Dendam
Pontianak and Sumpah Pontianak were
above: its Pontianak profits, Shaw found its own directed by B.N. Rao; the fourth, Pontianak
Maria Menado, the
Indonesian-born horror goldmine in the sexually rapacious, Kemball, was made by the Filipino director
star and the most greasy human monster. The Shaw Ramón A. Estella. Menado often played
famous "Pontianak" Brothers' release, Sumpah Orang Minyak powerful female characters; in addition to
of them all.
(courtesy of Cathay- (The Curse of the Oily Man), was directed by the pontianaks, she portrayed characters
Kens Film Pte Ltd) P. Ramlee, who also played the main from Malay literature such as Sltl Zubaidah
character. The film introduced the young (1958) and Tun Fatimah (1961). She also
actress Sri Dewi and featured Salleh Kamil set up her own production company, Maria
as Buyong and Shariff Dol as Satan. The Menado Productions. This unusual career
well-written tragic story of a hunchback for a woman in South-East Asia in the
cast out by the community had a 1950s has been noted by Blackburn, who
philosophical depth which went far beyond commented on this aspect in his article
10
most of the other Malay-language vampire "Maria Menado; Feminist Film Maker?"
films of the period. Not without flaws, this Menado's film career ended abruptly when
was nevertheless a remarkable film, beauti- she married the Sultan of Pahang in 1963.
fully photographed by A. Bakar Ali; it won The departure of the one and only
the "Best Black and White Photography" pontianak star had a significant impact on
award at the 5th Asian Film Festival in the future and profits of the Malay vampire
Manila in 1958. film in Malaysia and Singapore. Moreover,
Eager to cash in on Shaw Brothers' the Sultan's palace had prohibited the
success, Cathay lost no time in producing screenings of those films featuring the star-
their own oily man sequel. Entitled turned-Queen. As a result, Malaysian
Serangan Orang Minyak (The Oilyman television (RTM) programmes were also
Strikes Again, 1958), the film was directed affected. This must have been of great
by L. Krishnan and starred M. Amin and concern to Ho Ah Loke, one of the two key
Latifah Omar. This "modernised" version of Cathay-Keris producers who, upon leaving
the mythical subject, however, was stylisti- the company in 1960, had the first two
10
Blackburn cally quite incoherent, lacking in creativity pontianak films in his custody. The hot-
2002 [B]. and imagination. tempered Ho, in a moment of despair or, as

Hamzah Hussin suggests, "out of diversions filmmakers use to relieve

11
disappointment and defiance," disposed accumulated suspense and dramatic
of these two films among others, both tension. Nevertheless, they do not serve to
negatives and positives; rumour has it that change the film into a full-fledged vampire
they were thrown into Kuala Lumpur's comedy such as Roman Polanski's The
Gombak river. It hardly needs to be Feadess Vampire Killers (aka Dance of the
stressed that these events have contributed Vampires, 1966).
to the serious information shortage and The humorous sketches became the
frustrating factual confusion regarding the road to fame for a remarkably gifted
early pontianak films, a situation made comedian, Wahid Satay, who had originally
more difficult with the passing of the years. worked as a set designer. In Pontianak, he
was given the supporting role of a satay
Unique stylistic blend seller where the expressiveness of his
pantomimic facial gestures, his nimble
The second film in the Cathay-Keris series, body movement and his amusing singing
Dendam Pontianak, also made in 1957, was style quickly endeared him to the audience.
even more successful at the box office than This success secured him similar roles in
the first. The critical reaction too was more Dendam Pontianak and Sumpah Pontianak.
favourable, with the filmmakers' successful According to Hussin, Wahid was a "most
13
effort at blending traditional horror with unique star" of these films.
elements of comedy and song especially In the pontianak films the lyrical
pointed out. According to Hussin, this was intermezzos are usually reserved for the
also the first time that a Malay-language young heroine or other main characters.
film included comical characters from the The camera would follow the characters
12
Bangsawan Malay opera. during their leisurely walks through
The third pontianak film - and the first beautiful natural scenery. These moments,
Singapore Cinemascope movie - was made which virtually cause the action to stop,
by Cathay-Keris shortly after the first two may remind the viewer of the familiar
successes. The director, the story, the techniques of the film musical. A closer
setting and the cast of Sumpah Pontianak look at these musical numbers will show
were largely the same as in the earlier films, that they are rooted in the unflagging " Hamzah, 97.
as was the presence of the comical and potency of popular Indian cinema.
'* Bangsawan is
lyrical scenes. The latter were characterised This is not surprising, as it was mainly a form of Malay
by the daughter Maria (Salmah Ahmad) Indian directors, cinematographers, editors opera developed
calling for her vampiric mother Chomel through various
and other experienced film craftsmen - stages from the
(Menado) through her songs. This film including B.N. Rao and B.S. Rajhans - who Indian Parsi
actually has a happy ending, as the mother were invited to Singapore to help set up the Theatre, which was
brought to Penang,
saves both her daughter and herself: she local film production. These filmmakers Malaysia by visiting
overpowers the truly evil spirit, the "wild brought with them the stylistic attributes of troupes from India
man" Hantu Raya, in mortal combat, saves during the last
Indian cinema, including the musical quarter of the 19th
Maria and regains beauty for herself. component. They fused these with Malay, century. From
The integration of antithetical generic Indonesian, Chinese and Hollywood artistic Penang the genre
spread to the rest of
components - violence, suspense and horror traditions, eventually developing the style the Malay Peninsula
on one hand, comedy, song and dance on characteristic of the Singapore Malay as well as to
the other - is not a common feature of the cinema of the 1950s and 60s, reflected in Singapore and
Indonesia.
Western vampire film, but it became one of the pontianak films and which no doubt Bangsawan is
the typical features of the Singapore- contributed to their success. improvisational in
produced Malay pontianak pictures. Here, character, with
These structural characteristics were stereotyped roles
the comical and lyrical elements are quite different from the techniques used in and acting, and an
inserted as semi-autonomous parts which the classical Hollywood paradigm. According extensive repertoire
of stories derived
constitute digressions from the main action. to the National University of Singapore film from several
The humorous scenes usually assume the historian Timothy White, what could be sources, including
form of colourful village conflicts of minor Indian, Western,
seen as stylistic inconsistency in Western Chinese,
importance, such as quarrels between eyes, "...is not unusual in Malaysian films; Indonesian, and
competing satay and noodle sellers. The obviously, one reason for this is economic, Malay. Music and
comical characters also blunder at night incidental dance are
but its acceptance is indicative of a culture optional. See Tan
into the jungle and experience "pontianak" that, unlike most Western cultures, does not Sooi Beng
attacks, which are usually revealed as cases seek absolute verisimilitude in the consis- 1993/1997.
of mistaken identity, practical jokes, or the tency of mise-en-scene. Such cultures tend 13
Hamzah, 43.
result of general confusion. These scenes to value performance, or presentation, over
are longer than the customary comic 14
'realistic' representation..." 14
White: 14-15.

Singapore
A dialectical vampire The decline
An Interesting element of the pontianak In 1963, Ramón Estella directed the last
subgenre, and one which can also be pontianak movie with Maria Menado,
detected in some of the related oily man Pontianak Kembalt {The Vampire Returns),
films, is the fact that these phantoms - the produced by Cathay-Keris and Maria
pontianak and the oily man - are not Menado Productions. The following year,
completely evil; often they are persons Cathay-Keris once again engaged the
wronged or rejected by the community, or experienced B.N. Rao to make Pontianak
else they are victims of its customs. For Gua Musang (The Vampire of the Cave,
example, a woman's death in childbirth and 1964). Set in a kampong, this was virtually
the death of her baby may be directly or a comedy version of the vampire film and
indirectly caused by others; or the one of the more interesting pontianak
unfortunate individual may be ostracised movies of the 1960s.
because of his unappealing looks or In general, however, the quality of the
physical impairment. The pontianak or the pontianak productions declined in this
oily man then comes back to haunt the decade. Perhaps the most conspicuous
community. change was the "modernisation" of the
One of the most appropriate examples genre formula. The traditional - and in a
illustrating the phantom's dialectical nature way timeless - kampong setting was
can be seen In Sumpah Orang Minyak. replaced by an urban one; the main
Although the film does not bring up the characters shed their colourful sarongs for
pontianak legend, and features instead a western-style attire; Malay tunes gave way
male protagonist, its narrative structure is to jazz and pop music. More importantly,
similar to those of the early pontlanaks. The the supernatural activities of the monsters
film's main character, Si Bongkok (P. were replaced by events that could be
Ramlee), was born a gifted artist but an ugly explained rationally.
hunchback. Because of this, he is frequently A typical case illustrating these
taunted by the villagers. When he reveals his structural changes was Estella's Pusaka
love for a beautiful maiden, he is chased out Pontianak (The Accursed Heritage, 1965),
of the village. Upon his appeal to God about which was also the last of the pontianak
this injustice he is taken to a magic kingdom series. The film tells the story of a group of
where he is made beautiful after taking a urban, money-hungry contenders for a
bath in a magic pool. He will remain so upon dead magnate's fortune. To make
one condition: he must never kill anyone. Si themselves eligible, they must follow the
Bongkok's return to his village provokes a rich man's will and spend a couple of weeks
confrontation and his rival cowardly kills the in his mansion on a secluded rubber
girl he had loved. Enraged, Si Bongkok plantation. There, they are subjected to
challenges his rival to a duel and kills him. nocturnal attacks by a deadly "pontianak."
Made invisible as a punishment. Si Bongkok However, it is revealed at the end that the
is approached by Satan who promises him whole thing was only a diabolical plot
physical beauty again if he rapes twenty-one hatched by a pair of criminals trying -
girls within seven days. Thus the protag- Agatha Christie-style - to eliminate the
onist begins his hideous career as the oily lawful heirs and secure the magnate's
man, with no way out. millions for themselves. To emphasise the
Not only is Sumpah Orang Minyak a atmosphere of contemporary sophisti-
beautiful and poignant tale, with cation, the characters drive swanky sports
resonances of the Thousand and One Nights cars and dress-up in sexy clothes, while
and the great tragedies of antiquity, but it the musical numbers are provided by The
also points out the community's complicity Swallows, a pop group striving to emulate
in the fate of the doomed protagonist. Such the Beatles.
stories, minus the supernatural elements, The orang minyak movies, like those
tend to be fairly accurate reflections of of the pontianak, reflect similarly
everyday life and its problems, and therefore unsuccessful attempts at modernisation.
have an undeniable moral purpose. This The second entry in the Cathay-Keris
may be one of the less obvious reasons for series, L. Krishnan's Serangan Orang
these films' unusual popularity, in addition Minyak, focuses on a young Singapore
to the fact that many of the old superstitions police inspector whose life, and that of his
have survived until today, despite the high- family, is threatened by a vengeful oily
tech veneer of the region's metropolises like man. One of the few original generic
Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. elements in this film appears in the

prologue, in which the oily man asks his

mysterious "master" - an invisible
character living inside a banana tree - to
grant him supernatural powers to
accomplish his revenge. After that, the
film's plot switches gears and seems
closer to a watered-down cops-and-
robbers movie than to its vampiric
cousins. In one scene, which was
presumably not meant to be comical, the
inspector dresses like Marlon Brando in
The Wild One (1954) - complete with
leather jacket and beret. Serangan Orang
Minyak is less than a pale reflection of P.
Ramlee's Sumpah Orang Minyak, which
uses traditional plot and settings.
It would seem that the main problem the emergence of a Singapore production above:
and the eventual demise of the Singapore A publicity float for
with the tantalising title Return to Pontianak Gua
Malay vampire film was the precipitated Pontianak (2000). Written and directed by Musang (aka The
disappearance of the traditional kampong Djinn (Ong Lay Jinn), the 81-minute Vampire of the
community in which it was rooted and Cave), 1964.
feature was shot on digital video on a (courtesy of Cathay-
which had provided it with both subject shoestring budget of US $20,000 and Keris Film Pte Ltd)
matter and setting. The second half of the transferred onto 35mm for the silver
1950s ushered in a period of political screen. Like the pontianak movies of the
turmoil: the pullout of the British from its 1960s, the film attempts to breathe new
colonies in the region; the short-lived life into the ancient legend by giving it a
period of Singapore as a member of the contemporary setting. As a sign of how
Malaysian Federation (1963-65); and the modern things have become, the Malay
establishment of the independent Republic language is now replaced by English.
of Singapore (1965). This was followed by a In this tale, an Asian American girl,
period of intense urbanisation and Charity (played by Vietnamese actress
economic growth. In Singapore, there were Hiep Thi Le, the lead actress in Oliver
no longer enough kapok trees where the Stone's 1993 Heaven and Earth), together
pontianaks could hide. The attempts at with four other young city dwellers,
modernisation of the pontianak genre, venture into a Malaysian jungle in search
mostly synonymous with the grafting of of a lost village, the place where her
Western models onto local cultural founda- biological parents were said to have died.
tions, could not be successful and the Instead of the village, they come across a
pontianaks and oily men disappeared from dilapidated hut inhabited by an old Malay
the film screen, along with Singapore film man and make the startling find of a
production, to be resuscitated only in the beautiful if dishevelled young woman,
1990s, after two decades of production living under the hut. Disturbed by this, the
standstill. urbanites decide to find their way out of
the jungle but not before the grisly
Return of the Pontianaks? discovery of the decapitated body of one of
their friends. While the group had
In the mid-seventies, director/producer previously thought they were being
Roger Sutton made a valiant attempt to followed by the mysterious white-robed
pull the pontianak film out of its grave by girl, they now realise they are being slowly
releasing his version of Pontianak, a hunted down.
modernised and bloodier variation of the Thanks to the nostalgic longing for
familiar 1950s theme, including the the old pontianak movies, and to a deeply
humorous and musical breaks. Shot in full ingrained cultural regard for the
widescreen, this was the first colour feature supernatural, there was no lack of
in the Malay-language subgenre, which did interest in the new pontianak feature.
little to salvage a movie plagued by Return to Pontianak premiered at the 2001
weaknesses such as rough editing and bad Singapore International Film Festival
post-synchronisation. Not surprisingly, the (appropriately on Friday the 13th of April)
film fell quickly into obscurity. to a full house eagerly waiting to be
More recently, interest in the terrified. What the audience saw instead
pontianak horror film was rekindled by was a less-than-impressive imitation of

Singapore
right:
VCD cover artwork
for Return to
Pontianak (2000).
the hugely successful American Appendix 1: Pontianak films

independent horror film, The Blair Witch
Project (1999). Djinn's pontianak, played 1. Pontianak {The Vampire, 1957). Director:
by 17-year-old Fadzlina Mohamad Shafie, Balkrishna Narayan Rao. Producer: Cathay-Keris
is beautiful, subtle and mute, with a (Ho Ah Loke). Cast: Maria Menado, M. Amin,
menacing stare. Atmospheric though the Salmah Ahmed, Dollah Serawak, Arninah Yena, N.
film may be, it never quite manages to Kassim. Malay language, b / w . Prints presumed lost.
hold the audience in a grip of terror. On
the positive side, Return to Pontianak was 2. Dendam Pontianak (Revenge of the Vampire,
among the first film experiments in the 1957). Director: Balkrishna Narayan Rao.
city state shot on digital video. Despite Producer: Cathay-Keris. Cast: Maria Menado,
general disappointment with the new Puteh Lawak, S. M. Wahid, Mustapha Maarof,
pontianak film at home, the movie has Salmah Ahmad, Rahimah Alias. Malay language,
been making its share of rounds at b / w . Prints presumed lost.
international film festivals, particularly in
Asia and North America. 3. Sumpah Pontianak (The Vampire's Curse I
With the advantage of half-a-century's Blood of Pontianak, 1958). Director: Balkrishna
distance, one can view the transparent Narayan Rao. Script: Abdul Razak. Producer:
horror special effects of the faded Cathay-Keris. Cast: Salmah A h m a d , Mustaffa
pontianak and oily man pictures with the Maarof, Maria Menado. Malay language, b/w
benevolent smile of one who knows better. Cinemascope, ca 90min.
However, there is more to these old B-
movies than first meets the eye: they are in 4. Anak Pontianak (Son of the Vampire, 1958.)
fact unintentional witnesses of a vanished Director: Ramón A. Estella. Script: Abdul Razak.
world of lost customs and lifestyles of a Producer: Shaw MFP. Cast: Kemat Bin Hassan,
recent past. The best of these movies Sofia Dyang, Hasimah, Jins Samsuddin, Haj Sattar.
exemplify the inventive craftsmanship, Malay language, b / w .
imagination and artistic honesty so
difficult to find in much of today's 5. Pontianak Kembali (The Vampire Returns. 1963).
commercial film production. Director: Ramón A. Estella. Producer: Cathav-Keris

and Maria Menado Production. Cast: Maria Education at Nanyang Technological University.)
Menado, Malik Selamat. Malay language, b / w . 23 March 2002.
6. Pontianak Gua Musang [The Vampire of the Cave, Blackburn, Kevin P. [B). "Maria Menado: Feminist
1964). Director: Balkrishna Narayan Rao. Producer: Film Maker?" www.arts.nie.edu.sg/his/blackburn/
Cathay-Keris. Cast: Suraya Haron, Ghazali Menado.htm. (National Institute of Education at
Sumantri, Malek Siamat, Ummi Kalthoum. Malay Nanyang Technological University.) 29 March 2002.
language, b / w 121min.
Francis, Sean D. "Malayan Vampires," www.stygian-
7. Pusaka Pontianak {The Accursed Heritage, 1965). labyrinth.net/forvampires / lifestyleculture / malayan
Script and Director: Ramón A. Estella. Producer: .html, 17 March 2002.
Shaw MFP. Cast: Sa'adiah, Ahmad Mahmud,
Dayang Sofia, Sallen Kamil, Normadiah, Aziz Sattar, Gladwin. Stephen. "Witches, spells and politics: the
Ahmad Daud, Ibrahim Pendek. Malay language, horror films of Indonesia." In Fear Without Frontiers:
b / w , 100 min. Horror Cinema Across the Globe, ed. Steven Jay
Schneider. Surrey: FAB Press, 2003, 219-29.
8. Pontianak (ca 1975). Director and Executive
producer: Roger Sutton. Producer: Hamid Bond Hussin, Hamzah. Memoir Hamzah Hussin. Dari
Organisation and Kobe Trading Company. Cast: Ken's Film ke Studio Merdeka. Kuala Lumpur:
Hamid Bond, Ah Leng, Herdawati (Indonesia), Piya Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia.
Johnny (Thailand), Sharif Medau (Singapore). V C D
release Lokasari (Malaysia). Malay language. Colour, Lim, Kay Tong. Cathay: 55 Years of Cinema.
cinemascope, 89 min. Singapore: Landmark Books, 1991.
9. Return to Pontianak (aka Voodoo Nightmare, Mohamed Anis Md Nor. Zapin: Folk Dance of the
2000). Script and Director: Djinn (Ong Lay Jinn). Malay World. Singapore: Oxford Uni. Press, 1993.
Cast: Hiep Thi Le, Fadali, Eleanor Lee, Fadzlina
Mohamad Shafle, Steven Banks, Victor Khong. Skeat, Walter W. Malay Magic: Being an Introduction
English language, colour, digital, 81min. to the Folklore and Popular Religion of the Malay
Peninsula. 1900. Reprint, New York: Benjamin
Blom, 1972.
Appendix 2: Orang Minyak films
Tan Sooi Beng. Bangsawaw A Social and Stylistic
1. Orang Minyak [Oily Man, 1958). Director: L. History of Popular Malay Opera. Kuala Lumpur:
Krishnan. Producer: Cathay-Keris. Cast: Salmah Oxford University Press, 1993; and Penang: The
Ahmad, Noordin Ahmad, Roomai Noor, Latifah Asian Centre, 1997.
Omar, M. Amin. Malay language, b / w . Prints
presumed lost. Uhde, Jan and Yvonne Ng Uhde. Latent Images:
Film in Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University
2. Sumpah Orang Minyak [The Curse of Oily Man, Press, 2000.
1958). Script, Director: P. Ramlee. Producer: Shaw
Brothers MFP. Cast: P. Ramlee, Sri Dewi, Salleh Wazir Jahan Karim (ed.) Emotions of Culture: A
Kamil, Marion Willis, Daeng Idris. Award: Best Malay Perspective. Singapore: Oxford University
Black and White Photography (Abu Bakar Ali). Press, 1990.
Malay language, b / w , ??min.
White, Timothy: "Historical Poetics, Malaysian
3. Serangan Orang Minyak [The Oilyman Strikes Cinema, and the Japanese Occupation." Klnema: A
Again, 1958). Script, Director: L. Krishnan. Journal jor Film and Audiovisual Media 6, Fall 1996,
Producer: Cathay-Keris. Cast: M. Amin. Latifah 5-23.
Omar, Noordin Ahmar, S. M. Wahir. Editor and
Music supervision: Hussain Haniff. Chinese White, Timothy. "Pontianaks, P. Ramlee and Islam:
number: S. K. Law Wah. Malay language, b / w , ca The Cinema of Malaysia." The Arts (Centre for the
112 min. Arts, NUS) June 1997, No 4, 18-21.
Witcombe, L.C.E. "Eve and the Identity of Women"

Appendix 3: Literature on Singapore http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/7evelilith.html,
cinema (including works cited) 24 March 2002.
Blackburn, Kevin P. [ A ] . "The Golden Days of Zinjuaher H . M . Ariffin, Sharifah. Serajan Filem
Cinema in Singapore." www.arts.nie.edu.sg/his/ Melayu/The History of Malay Motion Pictures. Kuala
blackburn/Singapore.htm (National Institute of Lumpur: Sri Sharifah, 1980.

Playing with genre:

defining the Italian giallo
Gary Needham
In 1929, the Milanese publishing giant to be taken seriously by Italian intellec-

Mondadori launched a line of books in tuals, particularly those on the left
yellow cover, hence "giallo" - the Italian influenced by Gramsci. Today, gialli
word for yellow - as part of a large continue to be written by Italians,
campaign to promote, specifically, tales of Umberto Eco's II nome della rosa (The
mystery and detection. These works Name of the Rose) in 1984 being the most
consisted primarily of imported transla- famous and prestigious outside of Italy.
tions of British "rational-deduction" There are also numerous translations into
fictions of the Sherlock Holmes variety Italian of novelists such as Thomas
and the early twentieth century American Harris, Patricia Cornwell, et al.
quasi-fantastic murder mysteries built on It is the giallo on film that concerns
the Edgar Allan Poe model. us here, however, and it emerges during
Before 1929, the notion of the the "Golden Age" of Italian cinema in the
detective was something unknown to the early 1960s. One interesting point about
Italians, but that isn't to say that works of the giallo in its cinematic form is that it
detection, mystery and investigation were appears to be less fixed as a genre than its
not in circulation; rather those sorts of written counterpart. The term itself doesn't
fictions were to be found under the indicate, as genres often do, an essence, a
banner of adventure. The publication of description or a feeling. It functions in a
gialli increased throughout the 1930s and more peculiar and flexible manner as a
40s, however the importation and conceptual category with highly moveable
translation of the 1940s "hard-boiled" and permeable boundaries that shift
detective fictions from the U.S. were around from year to year to include
prohibited from publication outright by outright gothlc horror (La lama nel corpo
Mussolini on the grounds that their [The Murder Clinic, Emilio Scardimaglia,
corrupting influence and glamorisation of 1966]), police procédurals (Milano, morte
crime would negatively influence "weak- sospetta di una minorenne [Sergio Martino,
minded" Italians. 1975]), crime melodrama (Cosi dolce, cost
It wasn't long before Italian authors perversa [So Sweet So Perverse, Umberto
began writing under anglicised pseudo- Lenzi, 1969]) and conspiracy films (Terza
nyms their own gialli based on the early tpotesi su un casa di perfetta strategia
British and American models of rational criminale [Who Killed the Prosecutor and
thought and logical deduction. Only after Why?, Giuseppe Vari, 1972]).
the war did a truly Italian form of the It should be understood then that the
fiction began to emerge, principally in the giallo is something different to that which
work of Leonardo Sciascia. Not only did is conventionally analysed as a genre. The
Sciascia write his own important gialli Italians have the word Jllone, which is
(including II gtorno della civetta [The Day often used to refer to both genres and
opposite:
of the Crow] and A ciascuno il suo [To Each cycles as well as to currents and trends. L'uccello dalle
His Own]); he also published two This points to the limitations of genre piume di cristallo
polemical articles in the 1950s on the theory built primarily on American film (aka The Bird with
the Crystal
specificity of the Italian giallo and its need genres but also to the need for redefinition Plumage), 1970.

Italy
right: can be argued that the Italian giallo pre-

L'occhio nel
labirinto dates Bava's film, as the term has
(aka The Eye in the frequently been used to associate Luchino
Labyrinth), 1972 Visconti's Ossessione (1943) with the
opposite: tradition. However, the reason why Bava's
Lo strano vizio film is the "true" starting point of the
della Signora giallo is its explicit and successful
Wardh (aka Next!),
1970 attempt to say to the spectator, in effect,
"The Italian glallo has arrived."
The opening sequence has Nora
Davis (Leticia Roman) reading a giallo
novel on an airplane. The entire scene is
essentially a foundational gesture that
brings together several elements all at
once: the staging of the giallo's literary
1
origins through mise-en-abime (also
central to Dario Argento's Tenebre
[Tenebrae/Unsane, 1982]); the foreigner
coming to /being in Italy; the obsession
with travel and tourism not only as a
mark of the newly emerging European jet-
set (consider how many gialli begin or end
in airports), but representative of Italian
cinema's selling of its own "Italian-ness"
through tourist hotspots (initiated by the
murder on the Spanish Steps in Bava's
film as well as countless deaths in or
1
Though in George concerning how other popular film- around famous squares, fountains and
Pollock's Murder producing nations understand and relate monuments throughout the giallo); and of
She Said (UK, course fashion and style.
1961), which to their products. This introduction to the
predates the Bava giallo, therefore, begins from the I am confident in suggesting that the
by two years, we
see Miss Marple
assumption that the giallo is not so much familiar black raincoat associated with
(Margaret a genre, as its literary history might the giallo killer stems from continental
Rutherford) get on indicate, but a body of films that resists fashion trends in the 1960s and has since
the 4:50 from
Paddington (the generic definition. In this respect it is shifted its meaning over the decades to
original title of unlike the Italian horror and poliziotto become the couture choice of the assassin
Agatha Christie's (police) genres yet, at the same time, the by default in addition to serving as one of
source novel); as
she settles down to giallo can be understood as an object to be the giallo's most identifiable visual tropes.
read her murder- promoted, criticised, studied, etc. Bava's Sel donne per I'assassino (Blood
mystery novel, she
glances out the By its very nature the giallo and Black Lace, 1964), set in a fashion
window at a passing challenges our assumptions about how house, confirms this observation as the
train to see a black- non-Hollywood films should be classified, use of a black Macintosh for disguise
gloved and black
raincoat-wearing going beyond the sort of Anglo-American purposes potentially means it could be
killer strangling a taxonomic imaginary that "fixes" genre any number of the models and, at the
beautiful blonde both in film criticism and the film same time, situate itself on the pulse of
woman in a passing 2
train. (In the novel, industry in order to designate something fashion.

it is a friend of Miss specific. As alluded to above, however, Returning to La ragazza che sapeva
Marple who sees
this.) Thanks to
despite the giallo's resistance to clear troppo, the American title of the film is
Mikel Koven for this definition there are nevertheless identi- The Evil Eye, illustrating the giallo's
example. fiable thematic and stylistic tropes. There obsession with vision and the testlmone
2
is a stereotypical glallo and the giallo-fan oculare, or eye-witness. La ragazza che
Cf. Humphries, R. has his or her idea of what constitutes the
(2001) "Just another
sapeva troppo (The Girl Who Knew Too
fashion victim: glallo canon. The following points Much) might have been called The Girl
Mario Bava's Sei therefore, are an attempt to clarify and Who Saw Too Much, but that would have
donne per
I'assassino (Blood
define familiar aspects of this "canon." betrayed the allusion to Hitchcock in the
and Black Lace, title. Nora questions the authority of her
1964)", Kinoeye.A own witnessing of a murder on the
Fortnightly Journal
Early efforts
of Film in the New Spanish Steps in Rome. She ends up
Europe 1.7, 26 In 1963, Mario Bava directed the first true unconscious and delirious in a hospital,
November,
www.kinoeye.org/01/ Italian giallo: La ragazza che sapeva and is subjected to scrutiny by both the
07/humphries07.html. troppo (The Girl Who Knew Too Much). It police inspector and her doctor - the twin

Italy
agents of naming sickness and of Italian directors, not only for the giallo but
doubting female testimony. also for the Italian horror film. The early- to
The hybrid medico-detective mid-60s giallo didn't exhibit the strength of
discourse is a popular one in the giallo. other genres of the period such as the
Hallucinations and subjective "visions" western, the horror and the peplum
are central both to the protagonists and ("sword-and-sandal" movie). However, one
the narrative enigma in Una lucertola con remarkable thing about the giallo is its
la pelle di donne {Lizard In a Woman's longevity; even if its presence has been
Skin, Lucio Fulci, 1971) and Lo strano slight at times, it has still spanned over
vizio della slgnora Wardh (aka Next!, four decades of Italian cinema with the
Sergio Martino, 1971) and are part of the latest Dario Argento film, Nonhosonno
glallo's inherent pathologising of (Sleepless, 2001). Not only does Sleepless
femininity and fascination with "sick" constitute a return to form for the director,
women. Hysterics are in abundance here: but it signals a revisting of his own debut,
films such as Il coltello di ghiaccio {Knife of L'uccello dalle plume di crtstallo (The Bird
Ice, Umberto Lenzi, 1972) and Tutti i colon with the Crystal Plumage, 1970). Perhaps
del buio {They're Coming to Get You, Sergio again the giallo's staying power can be
Martino, 1972) anchor their narratives reduced to a resistance of the
around the collapse of the "sickness" and homogenising constraints that traditional
mystery, albeit through the conduit of genre membership often imposes on bodies
femininity. of films by making them fit particular
The 1960s made a slow but sure historical and critical categories.
below: inroad for the giallo in Italian cinema. The Instead of defining the giallo in
II gatto a nove
code (aka The Cat
period following 1963's The Evil Eye was generic and historical terms, I would like
O'Nine Tails), 1970 clearly a mapping out of new territory for to suggest that we understand it in a
more "discursive" fashion, as something
constructed out of the various associa-
tions, networks, tensions and articula-
tions of Italian cinema's textual and
industrial specificity in the post-war
period. It happens that the giallo revolves
around murder, mystery, detection,
psychoanalysis, tourism, alienation and
investigation. Therefore, I would like to
tentatively flag the following issues as a
starting point for future study.
Psychoanalysis
The giallo literally begs for psychoana-

lytic inquiry and at the same time stages
both the "analytical scene" and the
"classic symptoms." As usual, this
staging occurs through the conduit of
femininity but in some cases - as in
(almost) every Dario Argento film -
masculinity becomes the focal point. The
typical Argento protagonist is the
victim/witness of trauma who must keep
returning to the scene of the crime (the
Freudian "nachtragltchkeit" or retran-
scription of memory; popularly
represented via flashback sequences),
often committed by a killer who just can't
resist serial murder (the psychoanalytic
"compulsion to repeat").
L'occhio nel labirinto (The Eye in the
Labyrinth, Mario Caiano, 1972) is about
the murder of a male psychoanalyst by
his female patient who confuses him as
lover, doctor and father. L'occhio nel

labirlnto also goes so far as to open with psychic discontent has to be Edwige above:
Gatti rossi in un
a cryptic quote from Borges, from which Fenech, whose performances confirm labirinto di vetro
the film constructs the triple analogy of that hysteria is always histrionic when it (aka Eyeball), 1974
labyrinth:mind:narrative before structu- comes to Italian cinema.)
ring the old Freudian war-horse of The giallo is a paradigm case in
"woman as mystery." Many of the giallo's defence of psychoanalysis. It solicits
female protagonists are either in therapy, psychoanalytic interpretation and stages
have had therapy or are told that they every oedipal scenario literally and
need therapy. (The giallo queen of spectacularly.

Italy
obscured; the entire area is brightly lit.

However, despite all of these supports
aiding Dalmas's vision, he fails to see (or in
psychoanalytic terms, he misrecognises)
the truth of his gaze. Other gialli which
foreground the eye-witness narrative
strand are Passi di danza su una lama di
rasoio (Death Carries a Cane, Maurizio
Pradeaux, 1972) and, of course, La ragazza
che sapeva troppo.
Quite related to the theme of eye-
witnesses and unreliable sight - and in
3
the spirit of Carol Clover - are the
numerous incidents of violence done to
the eyes (including those in Gatti rossi in
un labirinto di vetro [Eyeball, Umberto
Lenzi 1974] and Opera [Dario Argento,
1987]) and the generous amount of titles
with "git occhi" in them, whether this
refers to the eyes of detectives, victims,
killers or cats (e.g., I gatto dagli occhi di
giada [The Cat's Victims, Antonio Bido,
1976] and Gli occhi freddi della paura
[Cold Eyes of Fear, Enzo Girolami
Castellari 1971]). The giallo eye is both
penetrating and penetrated.
Detection
As a work of detection, the giallo is less a

set of conventions than a playful resource
about them. Detection is often the point of
entry for an exploration of how to sort out
the normal from the pathological through
identity and representation. Along with
psychoanalysis, detection was one of the
above: Testimone oculare great ends of nineteenth-century episte-
La dama rossa
uccide sette volte
mology and it is by now a cliché to make
(aka The Lady in The Italian term for the eye-witness of a the analogy between detective and
Red Kills Seven crime. Those who watch their gialli in analyst.
Times), 1972
Italian will hear these two words frequently. Many gialli clearly define the
opposite: The giallo makes a point about the failings pathological other, including Sette scialli di
Giornata nera per
l'ariete (aka The
of vision as a source of authority and seta gialla (aka Crimes of the Black Cat,
Fifth Cord), 1971 knowledge. II gatto a nove code (The Cat O' Sergio Pastore, 1972) and La bestia uccide
Nine Tails, Dario Argento, 1971) goes as far a sangue freddo (aka Slaughter Hotel,
as to create an "aural mystery", a restaging Fernando Di Leo, 1971), and it is the sole
of Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954), purpose of these particular films to exploit
including a blind crossword-puzzle maker this characterisation. The detective's job
as one of its detectives. thus becomes one of uncovering, naming
All sorts of vision/knowledge and containing otherness as something
dynamics are explored in the giallo, but socially and morally threatening. However,
never to such great effect as in L'uccello several progressive gialli (again mostly
dalle piume di cristallo, whose foreigner those of Argento, but also Giornata nera per
abroad, flaneur Sam Dalmas (Tony l'ariete [aka The Fifth Cord, Luigi Bazzoni,
3
See Clover, C. Musante), is eye-witness to a knife assault 1971]) play with the conventions of
(1994) "The Eye of in a chic Roman art gallery. The gallery is detection and investigation procedures in
Horror." In Viewing explicitly concerned with maximising order to explore issues of masculinity and
Positions: Ways of
Seeing Film, ed clarity and vision: the space is minimal so identity. Key themes in such gialli include
Linda Williams there are no distractions for the gaze other alienation, failed detection, otherness and
(1994). New the well-worn European concept of the
Brunswick: Rutgers
than that of the crime; the doors/facade
University Press. are enormous glass panels: nothing is "subject in process/on trial."

141
Italy
right:
La bestia uccide a
sangue freddo
(aka Slaughter
Hotel), 1971.
Camp "masterpiece", thanks to Alexander Doty's

example of making things queer^ and
While many giallo viewers await the wardrobe departments whose creativity
ubiquitous Susan Scott's next undressing and expression at times exceeds that of
scene, many many others are waiting to the director.
see her next fabulous outfit. Such is the How many gialli are set in and
* See, e.g., Doty, A. giallo that it panders to both readings: around fashion houses and photogra-
(1993) Making
Things Perfectly
erotic anticipation and camp sensibility. phers' studios? Set donne per l'assassino,
Queer: Interpreting The giallo is a document of 60s and 70s Nude per l'assassino [Strip Nude for Your
Mass Culture. style that years later can be seen as Killer, Andrea Bianchi, 1975) and La
Minneapolis:
University of utterly camp. Even the most tired of gialli dama rosa uccide a sette volte [The Lady
Minnesota Press. is capable of being resurrected as a in Red Kills Seven Times, Emilio P

Miraglia, 1972), just to name a few. How

many of the gialli's victims are fashion
5
models?
The literary-
Referring back to the giallo's origins in the
1930s with the translations of British and
early American murder mysteries, it
appears that the cinematic giallo has
never quite forgotten its debt to the
literary. The most explicit examples
include the staging of the giallo book as an
object in La ragazza che sapeva troppo
and the author/reader of the giallo as
central to the narrative in Tenebre. In the
latter film, Peter Neal (Anthony Franciosa)
is an American gialli author, and Giuliano
Gemma's detective is an avid reader of
Sherlock Holmes stories who even quotes
what is perhaps the mantra of the giallo's
denouement: "whatever remains, however
improbable, must be truth" (from Arthur
Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four).
Although uncredited, Agatha Christie
is the main source of inspiration and airlines that bookend the giallo, not to above:
A pile of corpses:
imitation for Concerto per pistola solista mention the promos for every traveller's archetypal giallo
[The Weekend Murders, Michele Lupo, favourite drink - a J&B whisky. This must Imagery from
1970) and 5 bambole per la luna d'agostso be the most plugged product in the history Slaughter Hotel.
[Five Dolls for an August Moon, Mario of European Cinema. Look out for it.
Bava, 1969). Edgar Allan Poe is also When the giallo is set in Italy it
represented in gialli such as Sette note in typically takes one of three different
new (aka The Psychic, Lucio Fulci, 1977), routes. Sometimes it promotes "Italian -
not to mention Argento's ineffectual cut- ness" through a foregrounding of identi-
and-paste of Poe's world in the "black cat" fiable tourist spots that often halt the
episode of Due occhi diabolici (Two Evil narrative and serve as sheer spectacle.
Eyes, Dario Argento and George Romero, Other times it strives to erase Italian-ness
1990). by establishing the setting as an(other)
anonymous European city, avoiding 5
See Humphries,
distinctive signifiers of Italy altogether. op cit.
The postcolonial question
And still other times it constructs a "rural- 6
See McClintock,
Travel, tourism, exoticism, hybridity and historical" locale as a place of the A. (1995) Imperial
Leather: Race,
foreignness are all familiar features of the uncanny, as in La casa dalle finestre che Gender, and
giallo. The textuality of Italian cinema ridono [The House with the Windows that Sexuality in the
after the 1950s has many features that Laugh, Pupi Avati, 1976). Colonial Contest.
New York:
seem to open up queries problematising Italian popular cinema tends to Routledge.
the concept of a national film movement promote the non-national, and this
7
and a national identity. The main protag- variably results in a tendency to For more on
colonisation and
onist of the giallo is often the foreigner in exaggerate and exploit the "foreign" (post-)colonial
Italy or the Italian on holiday. "Exotic through the tropes of travel and the issues in the giallo,
locations" include Dublin [L'iguana dalla tourist's gaze. Ugo Liberatore's Incontro see Burke, F. (2002)
"Intimations (and
lingue difuoco [The Iguana with a Tongue d'amore a Bali (1970) and the Black more) of
of Fire, Riccardo Freda, 1971]), Haiti (Al Emanuelle series (1975-83) instigated a colonialism:
trópico del cancro [aka Death in Haiti, L'uccello dalle
whole filone of soft-porn desert island and piume di cristallo
Edoardo Mulargia and Giampaolo Lomi, globe-trotting adventure films, fueling (The Bird With the
1972]) and Africa (L'uomo piii velonoso del what Anne McClintock calls the "porno- Crystal Plumage,
1970)", Kinoeye:
cobra [Human Cobras, Bitto Albertini, 6
tropics", and which in turn influenced A Fortnightly
1971]). Characters don't seem fixed to a the direction of the giallo towards a more Journal of Film in
home or location; they are always (in) pan-exotic exploration of mystery, the New Europe
2.11,10 June,
between different places. This justifies the detection and murder to sustain the www.kinoeye.org/02
advertisements for various transatlantic public's interest and changing tastes. 7
/11/bu rke11.html.

Italy
right:
L'iguana dalla
lingua di fuoco
(aka The Iguana
with a Tongue of
Fire), 1971.
below:
Passi di danza su
una lama di rasoio
(aka Death Carries
a Cane), 1972
opposite:
La dama rossa
uccide sette volte
(aka The Lady in
Red Kills Seven
Times), 1972
Conclusion
The giallo is quite difficult to pin down as a

body of films. Criticism tends to gather
around auteur directors or singular
examples. However, if we can understand
the giallo discursively, we may begin to
make interesting connections between its
textual, industrial and cultural features.
Such a strategy would allow us to open the
giallo up rather than close it down. One final
note specifies the giallo's discursive potential
in everyday criticism. A recent Japanese
animated feature, Perfect Blue (Satoshi Kon,
author's note:
This essay originally 1997) was referred to as an animated
appeared in Japanese giallo. There is also a frequent and
Kinoeye: A
fortnightly Journal
longstanding tradition of appropriating
of Film in the New Spanish (Una libélula para cada muerto [A
Europe 1.6, 12 Dragonfly Jor Each Corpse, Léon Klimovsky,
November 2001,
vww.kinoeye.org/02/ 1973]), Belgian (Die Potloodmoorden [The
I1/needham11.html. Pencil Murders, Guy Lee Thys, 1982]),
Reprinted here by Japanese, French and Dutch films for
kind permission of
the publisher. inclusion in the gialli tradition.

above:
Two visions of Hell as imagined by Coffin Joe
in This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse.
(Brazil)
ail other images this page and opposite:

More delirious cinematic magic from the
incredible José Mojica Marins in
Exorcismo Negro.
(Brazil)
Promotional artwork for Paul Naschy movies (Spain).
opposite: Human Beasts (1980), top: Howl of the Devil (1987),
above: El vertigo del crimen (1987), right: Latidos de panico (1983).
The Italian zombie film:

from derivation to reinvention
Donato Totaro
Setting the table Although one rightly thinks of the

late 1970s and early 1980s as the prime
Since the late 1950s, with Riccardo Freda period for the classic Italian zombie film,
and Mario Bava leading the way, Italy has the idea of the walking or reanimated
produced some of cinema's most dead has been a mainstay of Italian horror
excessively stylised and passionate horror cinema since its first modern incarnation,
films and cycles: from the giallo thriller to Riccardo Freda's I vampiri (Mario Bava
the mondo film, the Third World cannibal uncredited, 1956). In this film an 'over-
epic, the Devil possession film and the achiever' doctor named Julien Du Grand
gut-wrenching zombie movie. Even with (Antoine Balpêtré) feigns his own death by
this impressive genre pedigree, however, filling his coffin with the murdered body of
the Italian horror industry has contin- his "Renfield", Joseph Seignoret (Paul
ually struggled against cultural stigmati- Müller). After the funeral, the doctor
1
satton, financial constraints, industry smuggles Seignoret's corpse into his
apathy and the overbearing presence of laboratory to continue his research in
American cinema. Because of this latter human reanimation. While attending to
fact, the industry developed a parasitic some laboratory machines he relates his 1
For example,
relationship with American cinema. Italian audiences
medical philosophy to his assistant: "I'll never could accept
Sometimes out of financial necessity, use this device to artificially oxygenate the Italian filmmakers
sometimes out of creative laziness, Italian blood, with no need to rely on the body as being able to
make fantastic films.
cinema became (especially in the 1980s) itself, which now lies dead and inert. I'll Riccardo Freda
extremely derivative of popular American discover the very energy that creates life once claimed that
cinema. But the Italians, with their spirit and make it flow forever through my he saw a group of
Italians outside the
of reconciliation and ability to make the subjects." Then in a subsequent scene, theatre marquee of
best of a situation ("arte di arrangiarsi"), which foreshadows Asa's (Barbara Steele) I vampiri (1956), but
managed to turn a negative into a positive reanimation in Bava's La maschera del they walked away
when they saw that
by adapting their own cultural and demonio (Mask of Satan, 1960), Seignoret, it was made by an
artistic temperament to an American lying motionless on a table, opens his eyes Italian, believing
model. that an Italian could
and slowly rises to a seated position. not make such a
A case in point is the Italian zombie In the next scene, Seignoret is seen film. Hence his
adopted pseudonym
film. It would be ludicrous to deny the groping his way along the mansion's of Richard
influence of American cinema, especially grounds, where he meets a reporter, Pierre Hampton, and the
George Romero's, on this cycle. Romero - subsequent tradition
Valentin (Dario Michaelis). The frightened of Americanised
whose key films in this context are Night of Seignoret pleads with the reporter to take pseudonyms for
the Living Dead (1968), The Crazies (1973) him away from the doctor's estate. The Italian actors and
directors.
and Dawn of the Dead (1978; an Italian reporter brings him to the police station,
co-production with Dario Argento) - where he is queried by a detective about opposite:
clearly moulded the template for the the doctor's activities. Seignoret replies, Poster from Belgium
advertising
modern zombie film. As I hope to show in "They forced me to help them, and then La Regina dei
what follows, however, the more talented they killed me!" Understandably, the Cannibali (aka
of the Italian directors learned to recast perplexed detective replies, "What! You're Zombi Holocaust
aka Dr. Butcher
the mould. crazy!" Although a distant cry from his M.D.), 1980

Italy
2
later flesh-eating and blood-drinking
Keeping track of
the alternate release
brethren, Seignoret represents Italian
titles of most Italian cinema's first reanimated corpse. Bava's
zombie films is a own revenge-seeking demon couple Asa
laborious task in
itself. For example, and Yavutich (Arturo Dominici) in Mask of
Jorge Grau's Italian- Satan can be seen as transitional figures
Spanish co-
production Non si between Seignoret's victimised, human
deve profanare il zombie figure - representative of the pre-
sonno dei morti (aka 1950s American voodoo zombie-as-slave
No profanar el sueho
de los muertos, film - and the aggressive predatory
1974) has been zombies of the late 70s and early 80s: the
retitled as The Living
Dead at Manchester slumbering, decaying, flesh- (and brain-)
Morgue, Breakfast at eating 'undead'.
Manchester Morgue,
Don't Open the
Window and Let Seminal works: establishing an Italian
Sleeping Corpses
Lie. zombie film lexicon
3
De Rossi set the The seminal modern Italian zombie film of
standard for zombie
make-up effects in the latter variety is Lucio Fulci's Zombie
Italy with his work on Flesh-Eaters (1979). Although it was
the first outstanding released as Zombi 2 in Italy to capitalise
Italian zombie film,
The Living Dead at on the popularity of Dawn of the Dead,
2
Manchester Morgue, which was known there as Zombi, Zombie
and the four Fulci
zombie films, Zombie Flesh-Eaters has less in common with
Flesh Eaters, Paura Romero's classic than one would assume. parts, the eyes being the most common.
nella città dei morti To begin with, it is far more relentless in
viventi (The City of Zombie Flesh-Eaters signals this in a scene
the Living Dead, its nihilism, lacking any of the former's where Dr. Menard's (Richard Johnson)
1980), L'aldilà (The comic tone or black humour. This is partly
Beyond, 1981) and wife has her right eye pierced by a jagged
Quella villa accanto due to the zombie make-up effects by piece of shattered wood lattice in a series
al cimitero (The Giannetto De Rossi who, along with the of unflinching close-ups. This single
House by the
Cemetery. 1981).
film's cinematographer Sergio Salvati, is moment has achieved cult status in the
The latter four films one of the seminal creative figures of the annals of Italian horror cinema. Moreover,
were also all 3
Italian zombie movie. In contrast to
photographed by it derives from a larger scene whose
Sergio Salvati. make-up artist Tom Savini's garish, blue- structure forms part of another
tinged zombie pallor (and more identi- unmistakable element of the Italian
4
De Rossi made a fiable clothing) for Dawn of the Dead, De
conscious effort to zombie film: the protracted or elaborate
distinguish his make- Rossi's muddier earth tones and ashen set-piece. In fact, Fulci's four zombie
up from that of Dawn frocks render the zombies a homogeneous entries - Zombie Flesh-Eaters, plus his
of the Dead. He
explains, "...[Fabrizio]
mass of undead beings who have, in some zombie trilogy Paura nella città dei morti
De Angelis and cases, just risen from the bowels of the viventi (City of the Living Dead aka Gates
Fulci...wanted to earth - a more direct and Catholic locali-
make a remake of 4
of Hell, 1980), E tu vivrai nel terrore...
Romero's Dawn of sation of Hell and the apocalypse. l'aldilà (aka The Beyond, 1981) and Quella
the Dead and asked
me to copy Tom Zombie Flesh-Eaters established villa accanto al cimitero (The House by the
Savini's zombie and/or perfected much of the Italian Cemetery, 1981) - have been pillaged for
make-up, which I gore sequences and set-pieces by a
hadn't particularly
zombie lexicon, some of which was taken
liked, because the from Romero, some not. Included among veritable legion of lesser-skilled
extreme patlor of the these filmic elements, thematic-narrative craftsman, from Andrea Bianchi to
zombies' faces on
film gave them a conventions and visual iconography are Aristide Massaccesi.
bluish tinge. And so, the following: a pulsating soundtrack that A set-piece is a choreographed scene
realizing that our film
was going to be a establishes dread and drives the film's that usually, though not exclusively, takes
low-cost imitation, I rhythm; extreme levels of viscerality place in one location. By an "elaborate"
decided to at least try (through both violence and grotesque
and give the special set-piece, I mean a situation or set of
effects a touch of imagery); the mixture of zombies in a actions where narrative function
originality and if the Third World setting (which stems from the
box-office takings are
(character development, plot exposition or
5
anything to go by, I mondo genre ); an unresolved or open- key story point) gives way to 'spectacle'. In
think I did the right ended conclusion; and a philosophical other words, the scene plays on far longer
thing." In Palmerini,
bleakness which can be best described by than what Is strictly necessary for the
L. and G. Mistretta
(1996) Spaghetti the motto, "Nobody gets out of here alive." narrative purpose. The Italian zombie film
Nightmares. Key Aligned with the element of extreme set-piece typically involves one to three
West, Florida:
Fantasma Books, viscerality is the penchant for inflicting characters, builds toward an anticipated
119. violence on particularly vulnerable body danger, takes particular relish in the

the Italian zombie film
left:
Non si deve
profanare ¡1 sonno
dei morti (aka The
Living Dead at
Manchester
Morgue, aka Let
Sleeping Corpses
Lie), 1974.
depiction of pain and anguish and pretext for spectacle. The Italian zombie
climaxes with a violent death. For film set-piece serves the same function as
example, the 'mutilated eye' scene the showdown in a Sergio Leone spaghetti
mentioned above consumes approximately western, the dance number in a musical,
six minutes of narrative/screen time just the car chase in an action film or the fight
to kill off a minor character. The scene sequence in a martial arts movie: 5
As Neil Jackson
begins with voyeuristic subjective camera entertainment as pure spectacle. explains,
"the 'mondo'
shots outside a house, first from afar Although Fulci's Zombie Flesh-Eaters documentary (or
through foliage, and then through the is often associated with Romero's Dawn of 'shockumentary')
bathroom windowpane as Mrs. Menard ...mixed documen-
the Dead, a more accurate and thorough tary and staged
(Olga Karlatos) takes a shower. The assessment would also consider the footage, presented
camera then tracks her nervous pacing as travelogues
influences of Erie C. Kenton's Island of which purported to
across the adjoining central room as she Lost Souls (1932) and Jacques Tourneur's demonstrate the
hears loud shuffling and breathing noises I Walked With a Zombie (1943). Zombie lifestyle conditions
outside her window. The atmospheric and peculiarities of
Flesh-Eaters, in fact, positions itself cultures in underde-
build-up ends with a zombie arm between two discourses represented by veloped nations.
smashing through a boarded window to Initiated in 1962 by
each of these films: scientific experiments Gualtiero Jacopetti's
grab her by the hair and slowly draw her [Island of Lost Souls) and voodoo Mondo Cane, and
eye into the splintered wood fragment. witchcraft (I Walked With a Zombie). A film characterized by
titles such as Africa
Consequently, every well-meaning Italian which is more indebted to George Romero Addio (1966),
zombie film would include at least one (especially his Night of the Living Dead), Ultime Grida Dalla
such 'Buhuelian' attack on the eye. Savana: La Grande
but which distinguishes itself Caccia (aka Savage
This manner of set-piece typifies an nonetheless, is the Italian-Spanish co- Man, Savage Beast,
1974), the mondo
aspect of the transformation that perhaps production by Catalonian director Jorge film is not strictly
best differentiates the Italian horror film Grau, Non si deve prqfanare il sonno del Italian in origin but
from its American counterpart, which is mortt [The Living Dead at Manchester developed there as
a distinct sub-form,
more character-based, plot-driven and Morgue, aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, showcasing footage
attentive to verisimilitude. The focus on 1974). Although there are many similar- of tribal initiation
ceremonies, animal
spectacle as a mode of entertainment ities between the films, such as the first deaths, and human
often comes at the expense of narrative zombie attack in an open field and the executions." In
senseless death of the hero at the end, Jackson, N. (2002)
coherency and characterisation, but is a "Cannibal
conscious decision based on many varied Morgue represents a clever colour re- Holocaust, Realist
factors (economic, aesthetic and stylistic). working of Night of the Living Dead. Horror, and
Reflexivity." Post
Therefore, when mainstream critics Grau transplants the mainly rural Script: Essays in
complain about the 'weak' narratives in American location to a mainly rural Film and the
Humanities 21.3
Italian horror films, they are missing the English setting, and brings to surface the (Summer 2002):
point. In most cases, narrative is merely a anti-establishment sensibility lurking 320-45.

Italy
within Romero's b&w classic. Whereas (aka Frank Martin) blends as many
Romero's film merely hints at nuclear scenarios as possible by featuring both
radiation as a possible cause of the science-made zombies and 'real' mondo-
zombie outbreak, Grau places the cause style native cannibals. 6
squarely on the government's agricultural A common formal method for ending

program of "ultrasonic radiation the Italian zombie film is the freeze-frame,
pesticide", reflecting a distrust of the which helps to underscore the often
political establishment which is much ambiguous or open-ended conclusion. The
more endemic to Italian (and European) following films, for example, all conclude
above: culture than American. Grau also brings with a freeze-frame: The Living Dead at
Zombie Holocaust
is the English
to the forefront the generational conflict Manchester Morgue, Nightmare City, Burial
language re-titling between the young, long-haired hero (Ray Ground, The City oj the Living Dead, Zombie
of Marino Girolami's Lovelock) and the ageist, redneck Creeping Flesh, Dawn of the Mummy and
La regina dei
cannibali (1980). detective (Arthur Kennedy). Zeder. An obvious explanation is the
In terms of the evolution of the Italian continuing influence of Night of the Living
zombie subgenre, The Living Dead at Dead's bleak photographic freeze-frame
Manchester Morgue is important for its ending. But the freeze-frame also provides
foregrounding of the ecological and environ- a suggestive form/content fusion, since the
mental aspect of the zombie mythology. effect of ending with paralysed time and
Subsequent to the post-Night of the Living narrative indeterminacy is a perfect match
Dead, Manchester Morgue and Zombie to one of the central thematic drives of the
Flesh-Eaters period, the majority of Italian Italian zombie film: the fear of death in its
zombie films explain the cause of the most brutal and primal bodily sense. Since
zombie contagion in one of two ways: (1) we can only put an end to this fear at the
science (ecological, environmental, moment of our own death, the freeze-frame
geological or biochemical) or (2) supra- is a natural formal means of keeping this
nature (voodoo, witchcraft, alchemy or primal fear alive (in suspended animation,
religion). Examples of the former Include like our own death). In
Incubo sulla città contaminata (Nightmare addition, the sense of
City, aka City of the Walking Dead, 1980), prolonged fatality
6
The American Virus (Night of the Zombies aka Inferno del afforded by the
version of this morti-viventi aka Apocalipsis caníbal aka freeze-frame is
picture, Dr. Butcher
M.D., includes a Zombie Creeping Flesh, 1980) and Zombi 3 especially fitting for the
pre-credit sequence (1988). Examples of the latter include The
filmed in the US by bleak philosophical
Roy Frumkes. Beyond, Le notte del terrore (Nights of Terror, outlook on life offered in
aka Burial Ground, 1980) and Dawn of the the Italian zombie film.
below: Mummy (1981). In some instances, the two
Zombie Flesh- Given the nature of the
Eaters (1979).
causes - science and supra-nature - are beast (death and the
combined, as in The House by the Cemetery undead), a handful of
and Zeder: Voices From the Beyond locations consistently
(aka Revenge of the Dead, 1983). reappear in this subgenre.
One of the oddest concoctions The western has Death
is La regina del cannibali Valley, the saloon, the
(aka Zombi Holocaust I church, the ranch and the
Dr Butcher M.D., 1980), campfire; the Italian zombie
where director film has crypts, catacombs,
Marino Girolami cemeteries, necropolises,
ossuaries, mortuaries and
hospitals. The latter may
appear an odd inclusion, but
not if one considers the hospital
as a place where people are most
vulnerable, and as a place which
represents a type of terrestrial
purgatory between life and death.
The list of zombie films which
feature hospital scenes is surprisingly
long, and includes The Living Dead at
Manchester Morgue, Zombi Holocaust,
Nightmare City, Zombi 3, The Beyond and
Dellamorte Dellamore (1994).

The summit: "Elders." A forbidden book, the Necronomlcon,

Lucio Fulci's zombie trilogy holds the key to the tenuous portal
separating our world from the world of the
Fulci exploits the hospital setting to Ancients. An Important character in this
interesting effect in The Beyond, the middle myth is the "researcher-seeker" who dabbles
instalment of a gothic trilogy that represents in the unknown and unleashes the
the pinnacle of the Italian zombie film. From primordial, amphibian-like "Ancient Ones"
the moment in The Beyond when a plumber on earth. These Lovecraftian elements appear
unwittingly opens a gateway to hell in the throughout Fulci's zombie trilogy. For
basement of a Louisiana hotel, spatiotem- example, there is Dr. Freudstein's (Giovanni
poral narrative order begins to go out of De Nava) "chemical reanimation and
whack. This spilling over of the irrational into cannibalism", his amphibian-like appearance
the rational world is represented through and the "researcher-seeker" Dr. Peterson
several hospital scenes. At one point, the (Ranieri Ferrara) in The House by the
dead plumber is brought to the town Cemetery; the forbidden book of Eibon in The 7
Not only Fulci, but
hospital, but we next see him as a zombie Beyond; the portals that open up between life Italian horror films in
and death, past and present in all three films; general have a
emerging from a bathtub in Liza's (Catriona fondness for endirg
MacColl) home. The most striking subversion and the zombies themselves as earthly with voice-overs
of spatiotemporal order occurs in the film's representations of the "Ancient Ones." At the and textual
citations.
final scene, as the protagonists Liza and John base of Fulci's zombie trilogy, as in
(David Warbeck) seek safety from the Lovecraft's Cthulhu myth, is a metaphysical below:
marauding zombies through an exit door horror that comes from the haunting Classic comic-book
style promotional
along the hospital corridor, only to find revelation that there is another, artwork for Paura
themselves immersed within the hotel's 'unspeakable' world living parallel to our own. nella città dei
surreal basement landscape. morti viventi (aka
In Fulci's trilogy, evil is given its richest City of the Living
Fulci's treatment of temporal and and most sustained treatment in The Dead), 1980
spatial disorientation is part of a larger
metaphysical subtext that makes his zombie
trilogy a landmark achievement. While in
Zombie Flesh-Eaters he introduced the
physical destruction of an eye which would
be copied ad infinitum in subsequent Italian
zombie films, in The Beyond eye fetishism
goes beyond mere graphic sensationalism to
achieve thematic and philosophical
relevance. The blindness of one of the central
characters, Emily (Sarah Keller), is accorded
powerful visual significance through her
blank, blue-grey, eggshell eyes. Devoid of any
identity, her eyes become a central
metaphorical image in The Beyond: an act of
looking' that goes 'beyond' the physical to the
metaphysical. When at the end of the film
Liza and John find themselves trapped in the
apocalyptic Hellscape, they turn to the
camera and reveal (for the first time) the
same blank, lifeless eyes as Emily. These
de/void eyes mirror the surreal, ashen
landscape that expresses Death and/or Hell
as eternal nothingness. As the concluding
voice-over confirms: "And you will face the
sea of darkness and all therein that may be
7
explored."
Another distinguishing feature of Fulci's
zombie trilogy is its impressive depiction of a
form of evil associated with the fiction
tradition of H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937).
According to Lovecraft's "Cthulhu" myth, the
Earth was once inhabited by a previous race,
the "Ancient" or "Old Ones", who turned to
evil and were kept at bay by the goodly

Etaly
Beyond. The film's opening and closing The good, the bad and the terrible
scenes serve as paradigmatic examples
here. In the pre-credit sequence, we are led In this section, I will discuss some
to assume that the man named Schweik representative works that are perhaps of
(Antoine Saint John) is an innocent painter lesser quality, but certainly not without
hunted down by superstitious, torch- interest; films that are good, bad and
bearing townsfolk. Our understanding of terrible, sometimes all at once. I will begin
good and evil is thwarted, however, when we with two films which borrow heavily from
realise that the Hellish "Sea of Darkness" in George Romero's zombie iconography,
the final scene bears a striking similarity to Nightmare City and Zombie Creeping Flesh.
the crucified Schweik's canvas. The artist The latter, directed by Bruno Mattei, opens
whom we initially thought was the innocent with a leak at a nuclear power plant in
victim of mob mentality has apparently Papua New Guinea, whose undisclosed
played a key role in opening one of the gates mission is an experimental project called
to Hell. Hence, in retrospect, the townsfolk "Operation Sweet Death." The leak causes
were playing the role of Benign Elders in the plant workers to attack and
attempting to stop the painter's Hell- cannibalize each other, and ends with the
invoking brushstrokes. The opening and plant manager leaving behind a cautionary
closing scenes suggest two forms of evil: tape message: "May God forgive us for
physical and metaphysical. While the chain what we have produced here...."
whipping, crucifixion and eventual zombies Throughout this opening scene, we hear a
represent physical horror and evil, the soundtrack from the musical group
ending depicts evil as a boundless sea of Goblin, which is a direct lift from their own
quiet emptiness. The blank eyes and expres- Dawn of the Dead score.
sions on the faces of Liza and John do not The next scene continues the Dawn
express physical horror, but rather of the Dead connection by introducing a
existential terror at the prospect of infinite trigger-happy SWAT team gleefully killing
nothingness. A passage on the nature of evil a terrorist gang at a hostage-taking. The
from Paul Oppenheimer's 1996 book Evil film then shifts gears as the SWAT team
and the Demonic captures quite well the join up with a couple of television
sense of metaphysical evil in the closing reporters in search of the nuclear plant.
scene of The Beyond: "The final effect of evil Once at the nuclear site we discover that
is not one of horror. It is of a pathetic the plant's operative mission "Sweet
helplessness... The very physics of the Death" was a response to the problem of
universe, their natural laws, have devoured Third World overpopulation: turn the
8
themselves, to leave a silent state of nil." natives into zombie-cannibals and let
right:
Incubo sulla città
contaminata
(aka Nightmare
City, aka City of
the Walking Dead),
1980.
8
Oppenheimer, P.
(1996) Evil and the
Demonic: A New
Theory of
Monstrous
Behavior. New York:
New York University
Press, 7.

them eat each other! Zombie Creeping zombies that come bursting out faster than above:
9 Inferno dei morti-
Flesh belongs at the bottom of the Italian a team of Olympic sprinters. A radiation viventi (aka Night
zombie heap. The film makes a token anti- leak appears to be the cause of the of the Zombies,
colonial statement ('white man meddling contagion, but these undead - sporting aka Zombie
Creeping Flesh),
with native culture') and a thinly-veiled perhaps the shoddiest zombie make-up of 1980.
political point concerning the practice of any film in the cycle - seem driven by a plan
First World nations setting up military to overthrow the government, as they
training camps, air strips or nuclear attack high-ranking military officials and
testing sites in Third World countries. But strategic locations (TV station, military
this message is hard to swallow given the airbase). This is brought out in one of
unconvincing representation of Papua several clunky dialogue exposition scenes
New Guinea: terrible canned sound between Miller and his wife Ann (Laura
effects, ill-matched animal stock footage, Trotter), where Ann likens the military's
etc. Or the scene where the white, blond, 'create and obliterate' mentality to the
female reporter strips nude and applies actions of the zombies. Ann sees in the
colourful face paint so she can move about actions of both groups a search for power
among the natives 'unnoticed'. ('will to power'). As one military official puts
A notch above Zombie Creeping Flesh it, "We've got to get control back!"
is Nightmare City, if only for its jaw- This subtext on military-patriarchal
10
dropping opening airport sequence where power is reaffirmed by the film's subtle
tf
director Umberto Lenzi turns the homage/reference to Stanley Kubrick's Dr. The undead are
also fast moving in
convention of the zombie as lumbering and Strangelove (1963), a classic satire on the Fuici's City of the
slow-thinking on its head. Reporter Dean phallocentric nature of military might. In Living Dead.
Miller (Hugo Stiglitz) is sent to the airport to the scene in question, a romantic liaison 1 0
All of the
interview a nuclear physicist. Tension between Major Warren Holmes (Francisco zombies that come
reigns when an unauthorised plane lands Rabal) and his wife is rudely interrupted bursting out of the
and is quickly surrounded by airport when he receives an emergency phone call plane in the opening
scene are male, as
security. The plane's door slowly draws ordering him to report to work. This recalls are all of the military
open and lets out a gang of armed 'terrorist' a similar scene in Dr. Strangelove where officials.

Italy
above: Major Turgidson (George C. Scott) is taste for blue blood, munching on a group
Le notte del
terrore (aka Burial
interrupted by an emergency phone call of Italian bourgeois who have been invited
Ground), 1980, during a romantic hotel liaison with his by a professor /scientist to stay at a villa. In
secretary. To push the link even further, the opening Etruscan catacomb scene, the
the person placing the order to Major professor's research into necronomics
Holmes in Nightmare City is named Major reanimates the dead. He quickly becomes
'Murchison' (Mel Ferrer)! their first victim, after which the undead
The film climaxes at an amusement turn to the guests. Burial Ground is a Night
park, with Miller and his wife taking refuge of the Living Dead clone, minus the
from the zombies on top of a rollercoaster. character development and social import.
A failed helicopter rescue mission sees Ann Characters simply arrive at the villa to
fall to a gruesome death. However, after her serve as zombie fodder. Under proper
fall the shot cuts quickly to Miller waking conditions, this is more than enough to
up from a bad nightmare, his wife sleeping constitute a decent zombie film, but where
safely next to him. Borrowing a page from it falls here is in the uninspired set-pieces.
William Cameron Menzies's Invaders from In a good set-piece, the moment of death is
Mars (1953), Miller leaves for the airport in only icing on the cake. The build-up is
a deja vu scene following which his equally important. But Bianchi's direction
11
De Ossorio's nightmare will become reality. Nightmare is lazy, as he relies exclusively on the
cycle of Spanish
zombie films include City may lack the subtle touches necessary depiction of blood and entrails to achieve a
all of the following: for the build-up of proper horror film sense of climax.
La noche del terror atmosphere, but it is well-paced and earns
ciego (Tombs of the The one exception - and the film's best
Blind Dead, 1971), points for being the only true Italian scene - comes with the killing of the maid.
El ataque de los 'zombie-action' film. For once, Bianchi stretches out the scene
muertos sin ojos
(The Return of the In contrast to Lenzi's fast-moving with moments anticipating the violence to
Blind Dead, 1973), zombies, the undead in Andrea Bianchl's follow. A group of zombies roost beneath a
El buque maldito
(Horror of the
Burial Ground are appropriately slumbering bedroom window, and the maid opens the
Zombies, 1973) and and ceremonial, owing more to Spanish shutters to investigate the noise. A zombie
La noche de los director Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead throws a stake that pins the maid's hand
gaviotas (The Night
of the Seagulls, films than previous Italian zombie up against the wooden shutter, with her
11
1975). pictures. In this film, the zombies have a torso caught in a bent position over the

window sill. The zombies slowly make their absurd (in the good sense) chase scenes in
way to her hanging torso and proceed to all of Italian zombie cinema. With the
decapitate her with a scythe. The shot cuts camera positioned at the end of a dimly-lit
to an overhead angle looking down at the hallway, we see a weak-legged Katya,
headless, blood-splattering maid, with the supported by the wall, inching along
zombies perched below using her head as a slowly, and a few paces behind her the
blood cauldron. The only thing that comes blind zombie, arms flailing as he cautiously
close to passing for characterisation in moves forward. The image is ludicrous and
Burial Ground is the Oedipal relationship sublime at the same moment, made all the
between a young boy, Michael (Peter Bark), more bizarre within the context of an
and his "Mamma", Evelyn (Mariangela otherwise mainly terrible movie.
Giordano). In a twist on Night of the Living The climax of Absurd sees the priest
Dead, Michael returns as a zombie and is reappear to confront his monster. While
encouraged by his mother to suckle her Mikos strangles the priest, Katya picks up
breasts; suffice to note that junior does not a fallen axe and, framed from below, strikes
keep his teeth in his mouth for long. repeatedly at the zombie's neck. The
Keeping Zombie Creeping Flesh touchstone for this odd film is not Romero,
company at the bottom of the Italian but John Carpenter's Halloween (1978):
zombie heap is Aristide Massaccesi's from the priest who is clearly modelled on
sequel to his cannibal atrocity Donald Pleasence's Sam Loomis, to the
Anthropophagus the Beast (1980), Rosso little boy who refers to the zombie as "the
sangue (Absurd, aka Zombie 6: Monster boogeyman", to the final shot which follows
Hunter, 1981). Mikos Stenopolis (Luigi the scene described above, where a blood-
Montefiori, billed as George Eastman) drenched Katya stands on the porch in
returns as a bland killing machine stalking front of her homecoming parents, holding
a quiet community. Hot on his trail is the the zombie's head in one hand like a
Greek scientist-priest (Edmund Purdom) modern-day Judith of Bethulia holding the
responsible for his present physical state. severed head of Holofernes.
Recalling the words of Dr. Julien Du Grand In just a few short years (1979-81),
from I vampiri, the priest tells the local the Italians had so exhausted the zombie
authorities that Mikos's dead body became formula that they attempted to 'redress' it
contaminated in his laboratory and with films such as Dawn of the Mummy
attained the ability to regenerate dead (Frank Agrama with Armand Weston
cells. Absurd has a certain morbid realism uncredited, 1981), an Italian, US and
due to its budgetary-enforced static long Egyptian co-production which is nothing
takes and gruesome, over-the-top but a zombie film in mummies' clothing.
moments of gore: a medical drill is worked The crypt of a 3000 BC Egyptian Prince
through a nurse's head from temple to named Zevraman is desecrated by treasure
temple; a butcher's head is sliced through seekers and an American fashion photo
a band-saw (both of these death scenes are crew. The film groans along with insipid
derived from Fulci's City of the Living characterisation and bland plot
Dead); and a woman's face is burned in an development until the Prince and his army
oven (lifted from Hitchcock's Torn Curtain, of slaves come to life for payback. The first
1966). But the dull narrative padding
overwhelms the shock effects.
However, in a subgenre where women
are either victims or utterly useless In
combating the source of terror, it is
refreshing to see this films' bizarre
narrative twist, in which a crippled teenage
girl, bedridden for most of the film,
becomes the heroine. Mikos has entered
the house and murdered the nanny,
leaving the invalid Katya (Katya Berger)
and her younger brother Willy (Kasimir
Berger) to fend for themselves. As Willy
bangs on her door for help, Katya finds the
strength to untie her bed straps and walk.
When confronted by the zombie she gouges left:
him in both eyes with a compass Le notte del
instrument. This leads to one of the most terrore (aka Burial
Ground), 1980.

Italy
right: desert resurrection scene is the film's most

Dawn of the
with the Windows that Laugh, 1976) and
Mummy, 1981. impressive moment. The lumbering, foreshadow his later horror film L'arcano
bandaged mummies rise up from the tncantatore [Arcane Enchanter, 1996).
ground in the foreground in soft silhouette, Stefano's trail leads him to a necropolis in
while an orange sunrise burns behind the Northern Italy town of Spina, and a
them. Once resurrected, the mummies derelict building with an unusual history.
move and behave like zombies, attacking In the narrative present, the building is site
the jugular and devouring human entrails. of a byzantine research project run by an
From this point on, the film becomes a elite French consortium, who claim the
gorefest of mummy mayhem, up until the area as one of the most fertile K-zones they
proverbial open ending. The final few have yet come across. We learn from a
survivors think they have trapped and priest that sometime after World War II
burned the mummies. The camera films until 1956 the place was run by the
the burning houses from a distance, Catholic Church as a "kid's holiday camp."
lingering just long enough for the inevitable Before then, we hear from a local that the
mummy hand to burst into the bottom building was used by the Germans during
12
Unlike other foreground of the frame. The film ends on a World War II to house prisoners: "There
Italian horror
auteurs (Fulci,
freeze-frame of this 'pregnant' image. were Germans here during the war,
Bava, Argento, Although even the lesser-quality rounding people up, but some found a way
etc.), Avati has to save themselves." When Stefano asks
never embraced the works discussed in this section have their
horror film and feels moments of interest, by 1982 the Italian about investigating the building, the local
his best work is zombie film had run its course. It would be warns him: "They [the French researcher
outside the genre.
When asked in a a few years before the dormant subgenre consortium] put up a kind of electrified
published interview would itself be resurrected by one of the fence, like Auschwitz." Through another
if he agrees that his most compelling and unusual of all Italian local, we learn that the building contained
1976 giallo, La
Casa dalle Finestre zombie films, Zeder: Voices From the an "incinerator." Collectively, these
che Ridono (The Beyond (1983). snippets of information recall the Nazi
House with the concentration camps.
Windows that
Laugh) is his Invention and innovation: Zeder's frightening climax includes a
masterpiece, he
replies, "Please!
two late-period zombie classics scene where Stefano enters the K-zone
...As a horror film it and comes across a room with a television
did its work, but I Zeder, directed by Italy's reluctant horror set tuned into a video camera placed
would not count it 12
among my favourite auteur, Pupl Avati,'' is in effect an anti- within the lit coffin of a dead defrocked
films." Avati sees zombie film, relying not on traditional priest. As Stefano watches transfixed, the
himself much more zombie imagery but on deliberate plotting
as a director who
priest opens his eyes and begins to laugh
does his best work and an escalating sense of paranoiac dread maniacally, then comes crashing up
when not driven by a relentless minimal score by Rlz through the floorboards. Stefano escapes
constrained by Ortolani. It is also the most despairing and
genre. In the same and entrusts the videotape to his wife, but
interview he states, bleakest of films in a subgenre known for the consortium murders her before she is
"I experimented with its distinct fatalism, largely because its able to pass on the incriminating
almost every film
genre without ever
horror obliquely recalls one of human evidence. In the final scene, Stefano
fossilizing myself in history's darkest moments, the Holocaust. buries his wife in the K-zone and waits for
any one." So even A writer named Stefano (Gabriele Lavia) her return. She does not disappoint, in a
though most critical
writing on Avati's receives an old typewriter as a gift from his moment whose setting and action recalls
films concentrate on wife Alessandra (Anne Canovas). He Jean Cocteau's classic 1950 film version
his horror work, he becomes obsessed with the words he finds
does not see them
of the Orpheus myth, Orphee (in which a
as being any more imprinted on the old ribbon, which lead man enters a limbo realm between life and
important than his him to a bizarre, quasi-scientific/religious death called the "zone" to retrieve his
non-horror work. It
is the fans and
cult attempting to incarnate the writings of wife). The still-beautiful Alessandra
genre critics who a 19th-century author named Paolo Zeder. embraces Stefano. As they turn, Stefano
refer to him as a According to Zeder, there are geological faces the camera and we only see
horror auteur.
(Quotes from spots on earth ("K-zones") where time, Alessandra's back. Stefano's face slowly
Palmerini, L. and G. space and death are suspended. A person forms a look of horror and he lets out a
Mistretta, Spaghetti buried in a K-zone could, theoretically, primal scream as, we must assume,
Nightmares (M&P
edition, 1994 & attain immortality. Alessandra bites into his neck. The disqui-
1996; reprint The film's deliberate yet engrossing eting ending dissolves to the closing
Pubbliprint Service
s.n.c, Roma, 1997), pace, detailed plotting and concern with credits scrolling over a distant freeze-
32 (page citation is questions of textuality (the arcane frame view of the concrete building facade
to the reprint housing the K-zone.
edition), my
sentences inscribed on the typewriter
translation from ribbon) recall Avati's earlier giallo classic La The Italian zombie film rarely
Italian.) casa dalle finestre che ridono [The House inscribes profound social and /or political

Italy
right:
Zeder: Voices
From the Beyond,
1983.
messages (nor am I implying that they titular Francesco Dellamorte and French
should). When they do, it is of a general pop star Francois Hadji-Lazaro as his Curly
nature, such as the superficial (and Howard-like sidekick Gnaghi). Dellamorte
usually compromised) references to Third Dellamore - literally "of death, of love" -
World policy or Western attitudes to native deals ostensibly about death, necrophilia
cultures noted in some of the films above. and impossible love, but from a decidedly
In Zeder, however, there is a veiled lyrical and metaphorical perspective.
reference to Italy's historical past in the The narrative concerns a young,
scattered bits of plot information that handsome introvert, Francesco Dellamorte,
allude to World War II and the Nazi concen- who works as a cemetery custodian with
tration camps (Germans housing prisoners his dim-wit sidekick Gnaghi in the fictional
there, incinerator, electrified fences, Italian community of Buffalora. But this is
analogy to Auschwitz, the physical not your average cemetery, as certain of
appearance of the building itself, the Buffalora's dearly departed have a
setting in Northern Italy, etc.). The bothersome habit of returning to life as
clandestine nature of the K-zone operation, flesh- and blood-seeking zombies on the
coupled with the secretive experiments seventh night after burial. The laconic
being conducted there, is yet another echo Francesco and the indifferent Gnaghi re-
of the concentration camps. Given the kill the "returners" in time-honoured
implied textual parallels to Italy's history, zombie-film fashion: via a blow or shot to
one wonders how it is that the Church the head. They act not out of a sense of
assumed ownership of the building after survival, however, but as guardians of the
the Nazis. And might they still have a outside world. In keeping with the film's
connection to the current owners of the tragic romanticism, both Francesco and
building, or be aware of the experiments Gnaghi suffer fatal love affairs with
being run there? With a bit of interpretive "returners." While bound to their role of
muscle one can read into this and other earthly guardians, both characters dream
plot fragments a possible political subtext of escaping their dreary cemetery existence
relating to the Roman Catholic Church's to discover (or re-discover) "the rest of the
place in World War II vis-a-vis Nazis, anti- world." But the world is of their own
Semitism and the Holocaust itself. making and they stand no better chance of
After an even longer hiatus of approx- escaping it (or society), as do the two
imately ten years, the Italian zombie film lifeless figures standing side-by-side in the
returned once again with a creative glass snowball seen at the beginning and
vengeance. Michele Soavi's Dellamorte end of the film.
Dellamore (1994, US re-release title Although perfectly enjoyable as a
Cemetery Man, 1996) is clearly a zombie zombie picture, Dellamorte Dellamore
film of a different ilk, introducing a dark becomes infinitely richer when also seen as
humour previously absent in the subgenre, a tragedy and a parable. The film's use of
and for the first time featuring strong nearly every imaginable authority figure -
characterisation (Rupert Everett as the mayor, bureaucrat, policeman, doctor and

nun - gives credence to a reading of the directors left the neo-realist legacy by 13
The analogy to
cemetery as a microcosm for social decay in exploring the inner realities of their 8 1/2 is apt when
one also considers
the outside world, and one person's characters (Michelangelo Antonioni, the breadth of
inability to adjust to it. Soavi plays this Roberto Rossellini) or themselves (Federico Dellamorte
Dellamore's intertex-
metaphor as a subjective world-within-a- Fellini). But many clung to neo-realism's tuality, drawing from
world, a world contained in a dark, circular allegiance to external social realism, only a broad range of
void. The circular motif is underscored in moving away from neo-realist aesthetics horror and non-
horror films alike.
many ways: the glass ball seen at the ("realism") by employing a more expressive One key film from
beginning and end; the earth-shaped form visual style (Mario Monicelli, Alberto which Soavi draws
creative inspiration is
at the top of the cemetery gates; the glowing Lattuada, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Luchino Orson Welles's
moon; the 360-degree camera movements; Visconti, Pietro Germi, Nanni Moretti). Citizen Kane (1941).
Some brief textual
the many repeated lines of dialogue; and Soavi is going through a similar process examples: in both
the three returning "she" figures (all played with the zombie film, attempting to exorcise films we have two
by Anna Falchi). The over-the-top hospital the spirits of Riccardo Freda, Mario Bava men who isolate
themselves from the
sequence includes a scene in which and his son Lamberto, Lucio Fulci, Aristide 'outside' world; Kane
Francesco, visiting his comatose Massaccesi, Umberto Lenzi, et al., by isolates himself in a
cemetery-like
namesake/alter-ego Franco, nonchalantly employing an 'external' surface compound, Xanadu;
shoots, in succession, a nun, doctor and resemblance to the zombie film - traditional and both films have
nurse. Francesco's social isolation and zombie makeup, behaviour, killing method, an early scene with a
glass snowball
invisibility is reflected in the next shot, an etc. - to explore an inner, lyrical-subjective whose meaning will
overhead angle that zooms out until the reality. In so doing, Soavi takes the risk only be dispelled at
the end. Though it
room is a tiny enclosed circular speck that all directors take when deciding to would take far too
within a black hole - a pointed world- challenge or subvert genre expectations, much space to fully
within-a-world metaphor which makes it namely fan alienation. This chapter explicate, the other
key influence on
clear that we have fully entered into accounts for a nearly forty year history Dellamorte
Francesco Dellamorte's fantasy state. spanning from 1956 to 1994, a legacy Soavi Dellamore is Alfred
Hitchcock's classic
Many of the film's apparent narrative both invokes and manipulates. A decade study on male
inconsistencies make sense when viewed later, the Italian zombie film still awaits its psychic breakdown,
Vertigo (1958).
as part of Francesco's subjective next reincarnation.
dreamscape. The film opens as if in mid-
dream, with the camera pulling back out of
a dark void (a skull's eye) and dollying
backward through the physically
impossible space of a coiled telephone cord.
This receding motion from within the literal
space of a skull can be read as a symbolic
descent into/out of the unconscious. By
film's end, we can assume (though not with
certainty) that Buffalora is but a figment of
Francesco's existentially-challenged imagi-
nation, a 'dream-fantasy' reality that
makes Dellamorte Dellamore the 8 1/2
13
(1963) of Italian zombie f i l m s .
Fellini's masterpiece may seem an
esoteric reference for a zombie movie, but
Dellamorte Dellamore is proud of its rich
Italian heritage. A film not ashamed of its
horror pedigree, neither is it confined by
its generic boundaries. Though many
critics and fans reacted positively to
Dellamorte Dellamore, the fact that it veers
into rather alien terrain for a zombie film
also left many viewers befuddled or
indifferent. The indifference stems largely
from not wanting to accept, emotionally or
intellectually, the generic rejuvenation
accomplished by Soavi.
In the decades following World War II -
and to some extent even today - every
Italian director felt the need to exorcise the
rich legacy of Italian neo-realism. Some

Austrian psycho killers and home invaders:

the horror-thrillers Angst & Funny Games
Jürgen Felix & Marcus Stiglegger
The horror genre is virtually non-existent Deadly passions of a home invader

in Austrian cinema. Well-known especially
for their avant-garde and experimental Angst is based on an actual case of triple-
productions, everyday topics and murder, the "Kniesek case", which is as
problematic dramas, Austrian films are famous in Austria as the Fritz Haarmann
comparable to the art films of New German and Peter Kiirten trials in Germany, or the
Cinema or to the kind of German TV Ed Gein case in America. Like these and
movies that share a similar "anti- other serial killers, Werner Kniesek from
cinematic" take on the medium. Therefore, Salzburg - who killed three people out of
it should come as no surprise that at the pure lust in 1980 - stands as a threatening
time of writing Gerald Kargl's serial-killer symbol of senseless death and destruction
film Angst [Fear, 1983) has never been for its own sake. "I just love it when women
distributed commercially outside of shiver in deadly fear because of me. It is like
selected North European territories, not an addiction, which will never stop", said
even on videotape or DVD. Even today this Kniesek in front of the judge. His psychia-
disturbing horror-thriller - which follows trist classified him as "extremely abnormal
the bloody course of a twice convicted but not mentally ill" - an explosive mixture
serial-killer through the Austrian of lust for destruction and addiction to
countryside - is hard to watch because of physical violence. He probably should never
its disgusting crime scenes. In contrast to have been set free.
Kargl's only film to date, Michael Haneke's Kniesek was born in 1946, the spoiled
Funny Games (1997) was shown at film son of an Austrian widow and an African-
festivals all over the world (from Cannes American soldier. His mother used to call
and Munich in 1997, to Rotterdam and him a "cute little black baby", and as a child
Miami in 1998), and could be considered he really was what his mother expected: a
something of a box-office hit. But even if nice young boy. In his adolescent years, he
writer-director Haneke - born in Munich, developed a criminal Instinct, which lead
Germany in 1942 - had already received him to commit a number of burglaries in his
several prizes for Der Siebente Kontinent hours off school. In 1962, Kniesek planned
(The Seventh Continent, 1989), Nachruffur to leave the country. First he took a great
elnen Morder (1991), Benny's Video (1992), amount of money from his mother, then he
Die Rebellion (1992) and 71 Fragmente stabbed her several times with a bread knife.
etner Chronologte des Zufalls (71 Fragments Kniesek was then sixteen years old. He left
of a Chronology of Chance, 1994), his films behind his critically wounded mother and
have been heavily criticized, even by young took the train to Hamburg. Two days later he
Austrian film critics, for their didactic was caught by police, convicted, and sent to
approach to the mass media and prison. Only two years later he managed to
mainstream cinema. Nonetheless Haneke's obtain his release. He married a prostitute,
"Kammerspiel"-like Funny Games is a rare committed several house break-ins, and
and important example of the Austrian again tried to kill a woman, but his 73-year-
horror-thriller, as is Kargl's semi- old victim survived. For the second time in opposite:
documentary psychodrama Angst. his short life, Kniesek was locked up in jail. Hunting for Humans
in Angst.

Austria
from prison three years later. During this

period of public outrage, the possibility of
reintroducing the death penalty in Austria
was discussed more seriously than ever.
Inside the mind of serial killer
In Angst, Gerald Kargl's cinematic

adaptation of the Kniesek case, some of the
authentic facts are changed, the names of
the people and cities altered, and certain of
the events modified. The most obvious and
significant change is the director's decision
to add the killer's voice-over, as he quotes
passages from other serial killers' confes-
sions, especially those of Peter Kiirten, the
so-called "Vampire of Diisseldorf." This
strictly subjective one-person drama is shot
with a strong use of high-angle shots and
handheld camerawork, and the minimal
In 1980, a few weeks before his narration shows similarities to Aristide
sentence was up, Kniesek got the chance to Massaccesi's Italian stalk'n'slash-epic Rosso
go free to search for some work. Immediately sangue [Absurd, 1981). But in fact, Kargl
he drove to Upper Austria, the town of St. manages to direct a European counterpart
Poelten, where he broke into the villa of a to John McNaughton's Henry: Portrait of a
middle-aged widow named Gertrud Altreiter. Serial Killer (USA, made 1986): irritating,
There he found the son of the family, who gory, and absolutely hopeless.
was dependent on a wheelchair. In his Angst is exceptional in Austrian
confession, Kniesek explained that he knew cinema for at least two reasons: it is both a
he would kill the boy, but not at that "true crime" semi-documentary, and a
moment. Later that day the mother and her horror-slasher film resembling those from
daughter returned home from a shopping the Italian tradition. Yet it is different as
trip. Kniesek threatened the two women well. The film confronts the viewer with the
with a gas-pistol, bound and gagged them, most horrible details of the authentic case,
and carried his helpless victims into two and stands as the collaborative effort of first-
different rooms. In self-defence the daughter time-director Kargl and his writer-
tried to seduce Kniesek, but the cold- cameraman Zbigniew Rybczynski; the third
blooded killer just stated that soon they "author" is composer Klaus Schulze (from
would all be dead. His first victim was the the "Krautrock"-group Tangerine Dream),
disabled son whom Kniesek strangled to whose cold yet haunting electronic rhythms
death, subsequently showing the corpse to add a great deal to the alienating
the panicking mother before killing her as atmosphere. The soundtrack mainly
well. The horrifying chain of events climaxed consists of pre-existing pieces, most notably
in the violation and torturing of the 25-year - the charming melody of "Freeze" - a track
old daughter for several hours. Finally, also used to great effect in the moonlight
Kniesek murdered her, along with the family love scene of Michael Mann's serial killer
cat, whose crying had bothered him. drama Manhunter (USA, 1987).
Afterwards, the killer spent the night side-
Angst uses real-time narration nearly
by-side with his dead victims.
all way through; only a few ellipses appear in
"I killed them simply out of the lust for the second part, but most of the film is
murder", Kniesek later stated. "I even gave staged in detailed on-screen action, filmed
the elder woman some medicine so that she with long handheld shots, sometimes even
would live longer." His attempt to commit in planned sequences. Dialogue scenes are
suicide in his single cell failed. During the extremely rare, due to the concentration on
trial, the killer expressed the wish to be a subjective, one-person drama. The film
jailed in a special institution for pathological starts in a prison cell, establishing the killer
criminals, because from childhood on he (Erwin Leder) through an off-screen
had felt the desire to kill people, and given monologue in which he reflects about his
the opportunity he would commit murder past, his deeds, his needs, his sexual
again and again. The case escalated again desires, and his supposedly lost childhood.
when Kniesek nearly managed to escape The film's irritating atmosphere is

Angst & Funny Games
established via clear, often high-key, but

always greyish visuals - only broken by
some stylish chiaroscuro in the cell. When
released from prison ten years later, the off-
screen narration leaves the viewer with no
illusions: the killer will be stalking his next
victim soon. When he enters a small diner
we are forced to "scan" the guests through
the killer's eyes. Every human being is a
potential victim. First he enters a taxi,
directs the female driver into a forest, and
tries to strangle her. But he fails, as she has
sensed something weird the whole time. His
potential victim manages to kick him out of
the car and escapes. The killer flees through
the forest until he reaches a huge villa. He
breaks into this supposedly empty house
and meets - here the semi-documentary
begins - a disabled and mentally retarded
young man in a wheelchair (Rudolf Gotz). "death" would appear to be the only and last above and below:
Soon the other occupants of the house taboo. Interestingly, the disabled son seems Angst
arrive: a middle-aged woman (Silvia to be "hidden" by his own family in this villa
Rabenreither), and her adolescent daughter by the edge of the forest.
(Edith Rosset). As noted earlier, Angst's dramatic
Accompanied by his own quietly structure is reduced to only a very small
spoken voice-over, the killer starts his amount of narration: we are simply shown
bloody "work": the son is drowned in the the killer's murder spree on his one and only
bathtub, and the mother gets strangled in day of freedom. What might cause some
her bedroom. The daughter tries to escape, empathy with this dangerous character - his
but the killer hunts her down in the own first-person-narration - in fact
basement garage and viciously stabs her functions to alienate the viewer even more.
with a bread-knife. Here the most disturbing This because the voice-overs simply double
sequence of Angst runs its course: after on the verbal level the monstrous incidents
massacring the young woman in a total shown to us in all their graphic horror.
frenzy, the killer rapes the corpse post- Through the use of this technique, the film
mortem. All of this is shot in real-time. After creates a distance between audience and
this disturbing climax, the film returns to its protagonist that never really subsides. The
low-key narrative, and shows us the killer's murder sequences may be visually
actions after the murders: having slept at shocking, but they are also deeply reflective.
the crime scene, he washes himself, stuffs Kargl avoids providing any type of
the corpses in the trunk of the family's car, entertainment, conventional thrill, or
and - once again - visits the diner from suspense. In fact, both Kargl and Haneke
earlier in the picture. While there, he seem to believe that entertainment through
behaves so suspiciously that immediately stalk'n'slash splatter films is a sign of
the police are on to him. Finally they force cynicism and should be avoided. As a result,
him to open the trunk, a sequence filmed in
the long, circling tracking shots Hollywood-
cameraman Michael Ballhaus would later
become popular for, symbolizing the circle of
crime and punishment in which the killer is
so consciously trapped.
What is so frightening about Angst,
what makes the film a horror film in the true
sense of the word, is that the killer is charac-
terized as a threat to every human being
crossing his path. To be seen by him is to be
his potential victim. He easily invades the
residence of a bourgeois household - a place
that is normally synonymous with warmth
and safety. And he brings murder to a
dispassionate middle-class society in which

Austria
right and below: invaders - for example the psychopathic

Angst.
criminal in Cape Fear, played by Robert
Mitchum in 1961 and by Robert De Niro in
Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake - Funny
Games confronts the viewer with a pair of
seemingly harmless, almost innocent
looking young men. They aren't much older
than eighteen, and they look just like
regular boys from a bourgeois neighbour-
hood. They are both wearing white sweaters
and short trousers; only their white gloves,
which may remind viewers of the "horror-
shows" in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork
Orange (1971), don't fit in with the fresh
both have tried to develop directing methods boyish look. Peter (Frank Giering) and Paul
marked by intellectual distance. Austria is a (Arno Frisch) - who refer to themselves with
true middle-class society, and the greatest nicknames such as "Tom and Jerry" or
fear of the middle class is the invasion of the "Beavis and Butthead" - seem well-
bourgeois home by unpredictable elements, educated, talk eloquently, and act politely.
be they of foreign origin - this is where At least at the start. They are not the "usual"
racism comes into play - or be they mentally criminals who will break into a house to
ill. To make his fable even more extreme, steal money, or to commit rape. They are
Kargl avoided the African-American origins just boys who want to play games. Only
of the real Werner Kniesek; in his film, the their kind of game is a very disgusting and
killer looks more like a "normal" guy no one ultimately deadly one.
would recognize or pay much attention to in First of all, Peter and Paul (two
the streets. Angst's killer belongs to virtually Christian names, as we know) have to
the same bourgeois background as his choose their "teammates", and the newest
choice of victims. This would seem to be the member of the cast is the Schober family,
real Austrian nightmare, one which Michael who has just arrived at their holiday
Haneke has used as inspiration for several residence. Anna Schober (Susanne Lothar)
of his films. is preparing supper in the kitchen, while
husband Georg (Ulrich Miihe) and son
Trapped in fear Schorschi (pronounced "Georgi", Stefan
Clapczynski) are busy fixing the sailboat for
The situation is quite simple, clearly tomorrow's voyage. Meanwhile, Peter waits
structured, and well known from numerous at the entrance, and when Anna finally
thrillers and horror films: an upper-class notices the shy-looking, embarrassed boy at
family (father, mother, son) is trapped in an the front door, he introduces himself as a
isolated house (their own luxurious holiday guest of the Berlingers, a neighboring family,
home nearby some Austrian lake), captured and kindly asks if he might borrow some
by two dangerous criminals who turn out to eggs. Unlike the family dog, a German
be serial killers. But unlike other home shepherd named Rolfi who instinctively
attacked him in the garden earlier, Anna
doesn't recognize the danger posed by Peter.
So she believes it is an accident, mere
clumsiness - not bad will or a calculated act
- when he drops the eggs in the hallway and
a little later on the mobile phone in the sink.
Soon the awkward-looking boy is joined
by a pert and insolent friend. First, Paul
asks Anna if he may use one of her
husband's golf clubs (with which he will kill
the dog a little later), then he begins to
patronize her harshly. At first the woman is
irritated, and then she is frightened, but she
is not willing to be in a "game" she does not
know and the rules of which she cannot
understand. In a first act of resistance, Anna
bravely orders the home invaders to leave.
But Peter and Paul won't go, leaving Anna

Angst & Funny Games
feeling upset, insulted, and humiliated. She

attacks Paul. Just at that moment, father
and son return from the lakeside. Georg
doesn't understand what is going on, and is
willing to believe in a kind of "unfortunate
misunderstanding", as Paul puts it.
Although Peter and Paul are back to
behaving very politely, the situation is
already strange, explosive, and threatening -
getting out of control. So it comes as little
surprise to the viewer when Paul threatens
Georg with physical violence after being
ordered to leave, and that Georg reacts by
slapping Paul's face, like a father might do to
punish his naughty child. But it comes as a husband dies by knife or by gunshot; or above:
total shock when Peter responds by striking two, she can take his place and die first - Funny Games.
Georg with the golf club, shattering his all of the "games" are based upon physical
kneecap and sending the entire family into a torture and psychological humiliation,
state of utter panic. From that moment, right beginning with Paul's killing of the family
up to the end of the film, we are all involved dog with a golf club (off-screen), and
in a "game" that we cannot accept or explain, reaching a dramatic climax in Peter's
one which isn't "funny" at all - not for the murder of Schorschi with a hunting rifle.
terrorized family, and not for the viewer who We do not see the shooting of the little boy,
is terrorized as well because he or she can't because the camera stays with Paul calmly
help but identify with the victims. making some sandwiches in the kitchen.
All the way through the film - and But we can hear the shot, despite the fact
increasingly as Georg, Anna, and their that the television set is roaring the whole
young son Schorschi are degraded, tortured, time. And we can hardly ignore the
and eventually "dehumanized" by the cold- screams of Georg and Anna, filled as they
blooded home invaders - one thinks about are with grief and despair.
how this innocent family might escape from Haneke and his cinematographer
their horrible, inhuman, and apparently Jurgen Jiirges - who worked with Rainer
fatal situation. Although there appear to be Werner Fassbinder several times in the
several chances for a happy ending (e.g., 1970s, and with Helma Sanders-Brahms on
some friends come along with their boat, Deutschland Blelche Mutter [Germany Pale
Schorschi escapes from the house, Peter is Mother, 1980) - withholds from the viewer all
shot by Anna), in the end we come to realize the familiar images of blood and gore. As
that there is no way out, just as there is no opposed to Kargl or (to mention just one
real reason for the brutal and cynical example of a prominent and ambitious
actions of the assailants. For Schorschi, Hollywood auteur) Oliver Stone, Haneke
Georg, and Anna - and for the viewer as well seems to have no confidence in the cathartic
- the "game" goes on and on, until the family effect of violent images. Haneke's films
finally loses the "bet" made on their behalf instead force the viewer to listen to, and
by the young men: that, as Paul says, "in imagine, violent action, its effects discovered
twelve hours, you three will be kaput." It is afterwards, reflected on the victims' faces. In
a bet the family is forced to accept, and one Funny Games, it is Anna's ravaged face
it never had a chance to win. especially that we must stare at again and
First the family has to guess why Paul again: a face that gradually loses - torture by
still has a golf ball in his pocket, even torture - all traces of human dignity,
though he has already used the club (to kill destroyed by escalating acts of humiliation
the dog). Afterwards, Anna must search for forced upon her by her tormentors.
Rolfi's corpse with Paul - who leads her When Paul returns to the living room
around by saying "hot" or "cold" - acting as after Peter's killing of Schorschi, all we see at
her guide. Later she has to take off her first is the blood-splattered screen of the
clothes in order to stop the torturing of her blaring TV set. We can't see the perpetrators
son. Her husband too must participate in or the hostages; we just hear the
this "game": "Take off your clothes, my broadcasting of an auto race, and Paul
sweetheart", he is forced to say. Up to and talking with Peter about the latter's "bad
including the final "Good Wife" game, in timing." With a simple cut, the entire
which Anna is presented with two options - perspective changes. From a distance, the
one, she must choose whether her camera now shows us the whole room,

Austria
1
opposite: revealing the immediate aftermath of a himself believes - the satisfaction of that
Funny Games.
horrible act of senseless brutality. The boy's pure, sadistic lust typically evoked and
dead body lies on the floor; Anna, legs fulfilled by mainstream sex-and-crime
bound and hands tied behind her back, cinema, and especially by horror movies.
squats in a corner, staring motionless at the Paul is upset about the premature
floor; and Georg lies between two sofas, tied killing of the boy, but only because Peter's
up and semi-conscious. For almost ten rash action reduces the perverse possibil-
minutes - what seems like an eternity - we ities of their sport. When Georg begs him to
are forced to stare at this scene, without any finish the deadly game because "it's
cuts to alleviate our discomfort. We watch enough", Paul replies that "We are still
Anna hop about helplessly, first to the under feature length." Directing himself to
television set in order to turn it off, then out the viewer, he continues: "Is it already
of the room, into the kitchen. The killers enough? You want a proper ending with a
have left (but only for a while); their victims plausible development, don't you?." The
are all alone. When Anna returns to her rules of the game determine the action, and
bound and injured husband, she puts her the supreme rule is to obtain pleasure from
arms around his tortured body. Georg starts humiliating one's captives. As soon as the
crying, filled with a despair so intense that victims can no longer stand the torture, and
he quickly reaches a point of near-total so submit to their predicted fate - as soon as
exhaustion. It is during the moment of they surrender unconditionally - the lustful
silence that follows that we as viewers might possibilities of the game are exhausted, and
begin to understand what Colonel Kurtz these "teammates" aren't of interest
(Marlon Brando) could have meant by the anymore. Only now can the dehumanizing
phrase, "the horror", at the end of his play be finished. Georg, lying tied up and
journey through darkness in Francis Ford practically unconscious on the sofa, is shot
Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). In a with the hunting rifle, just like his son
situation that is both terrible and absurd, before him. Anna is thrown overboard off the
one that exists beyond the pale of all boat in the morning, her legs bound together
reasonable behaviour, psychological and her hands tied behind her back; "Ciao,
motivation, or logical explanation, monsters bella", is Paul's cynical farewell. All dead,
rule the imagination - monsters of a game over, time to start a new game, maybe
deranged mind which can be evoked but not a variation of the last game or perhaps just
exorcised by violent pictures. Imagination is the same old game once again. It is 8 a.m.
thus the true home of horror. when Peter and Paul arrive at another
luxurious holiday home on the same
Welcome to the circle Austrian lake. This time it is Paul who gently
asks for some eggs, and as the young man
Haneke's The Seventh Continent confronts enters this next victim's house the frame
us with the suicide of a family. Benny's freezes, with the home invader's diabolic
Video presents a young video freak, played look staring directly into the camera, right
by Arno Frisch ("Paul" in Funny Games), into the viewer's eyes.
who first watches the killing of a pig several "I try to find ways of representing
times, then murders a young girl just "to see violence as that which it always is: as
what killing is like." In 71 Fragments of a unconsumable", Haneke says. "I give back
Chronology of Chance, a confused boy runs to violence that which it is: pain, a violation
amuck in a bank. In Funny Games, Georg 1
of others." Most of his films, not only the
asks his torturers at least two times, "Why well-known Benny's Video and Funny
are you doing this?", but Paul's replies can't Games, are reflections on violent life in a
be taken seriously. He is just playing media saturated society, or, to be more
"answer the question", and repeating the precise: reflections on mediated life in a
kind of psychological verbiage offered in violent society. Haneke studied philosophy,
numerous crime stories again and again: his psychology, and drama in Vienna, then
parents got divorced, and therefore the boy became a playwright with the Siidwestfunk
became homosexual, or had an incestuous Theatre Company from 1967-70 before
relationship with his mother, or became a writing scripts for German television. As a
drug addict because of the brutalizing milieu filmmaker, he uses generic topics as experi-
in which he lived, etc. But none of these ments in which the protagonists - the good
1
Haneke, M. more or less "politically correct" explana- ones as well as the bad ones - are forced to
"Director's tions fits the "game" being played here. The behave like laboratory rabbits. There is no
Statement": only aim and motivation of these killers is
www.attitude. hostra such thing as free will allowed, and no
ck.net/AttitudeFilms/ fun, pleasure, amusement, or - as Haneke "emotional development" either.

Angst & Funny Games
The characters we watch in Funny

Games are just figures ("experimental
subjects", one might say) playing roles,
testing the limits of the human subject.
When Anna shoots Peter in an act of
desperate resistance, Paul panics. Having
lost control over the "game", he hysterically
grabs the TV remote control and rewinds the
scene - the same dlegetic episode we have
just witnessed. This sequence, criticized for
its obvious didacticism, may remind us of
Pirandello, or it may be understood as a
kind of "class-action revenge" taken by the
director against all those viewers who fast-
forward through the "boring" parts of movies
watched on video (as David Bartholomew
puts it). Nevertheless, the sequence does
make sense within Haneke's vision du
monde. The issue is not whether the viewer
mixes up fact and fiction. For the fact of the
matter, according to Haneke, is that fiction
is real and reality a fiction. During their
sailboat ride on the way to their next
victims, Peter tells a science-fiction story
which deals with two "parallel" universes,
one real, the other fictional. The hero of the
story lives in cyberspace, in the "anti-
material world", while his family remains in
the "real" world. There is no communication
between these two worlds, and if there is any
difference between them, one has no way of
telling what it is. The fiction you see in a
movie is as "real as reality", Paul says, a
reality you can observe "as well as a movie."
In today's mass mediated society, the
"ecstasy of communication" just doesn't
make sense anymore.
Shock value
Kargl's almost unknown psycho-thriller

Angst and Haneke's notorious
"Kammerspiel"-like horror-drama Funny
Games are separated by a gap of almost
fifteen years. During this time, cinema itself
underwent major changes. In the early
1980s, when postmodernism emerged as a
dominant cultural form, the last lethal
whimpers of the sexual revolution which
took place in the late 60s-early 70s finally
led to the success of the slasher genre. In
Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980)
and the like, juvenile bodies, once engaged
in "free love", were stalked and slashed by
perverts who represented the restrictive
morality of a "new conservatism." In effect,
the psycho-killers of these films act as moral
executors to punish the lustful behaviour of
a sinful youth. At their hands, the "sexual
body" experienced its total destruction.
"Free love" was shown to be a risk -

Austria
corresponding to the era's new conservative the will to resist. But unlike him, they are
politics, especially in the USA - in the age of not driven by destructive instincts; in fact,
an ever-growing HIV plague. Kargl's Angst they don't seem to have emotions at all, save
appeared shortly after the slasher genre perhaps a desire for amusement. Here, all
reached its height with Lucio Fulci's graphic efforts at psychological explanations fail, all
and disturbing ho squartatore di New York negative emotions expressed are simulated,
{The New York Ripper, 1982). But the just strategies in a game. Haneke doesn't
Austrian director was not willing to join the show the gruesome act of murder itself - the
ranks of his exploitation horror peers. His destruction of the body actually happens
work is contrary to the likes of Fulci's outside the frame. This makes a kind of
misogynistic thriller or Ruggero Deodato's sense, considering that the death of the
home invader-class drama ha casa sperduta victims marks the end of the "game."
nel parco (The House on the Edge of the Park, The pleasure of these (not at all funny)
1980). Angst avoids any moralistic subtext games lies precisely in breaking the victim's
in its pursuit of depicting the ultimate in will to resist. When that will is broken, the
alienating, antisocial behaviour. The killer killers loose interest, get bored. Killing
embodies the precise opposite of the utopian becomes a mere triviality. Thus, the end of
sexual being the 60s so desperately the film marks the beginning of a new circle.
attempted to invoke: his sexual pleasure is Playing with the last taboo of Western
the termination of life. civilization, the taking of life, the killers
Funny Games also employs the theme manage to rise up against the unwritten
of bourgeois-home invasion, but in a very laws of materialistic society. Their "game"
different way. Haneke's film was made produces nothing but morbid entertain-
around the same time that Wes Craven ment. What makes no sense, what lacks any
began his comeback with the semi-ironic productive value, may not be, and probably
high school slasher Scream (1996), in which never has been. The fatal system of the boys'
two boys terrorize and finally kill their game reflects the Sadean orgies of
classmates just for the fun of it, and destruction: every living body is just another
2
corresponding to genre rules. Scream may toy in the hands of the "master." What is
be seen as the sensationalistic, mainstream truly shocking about this cold and cynical
companion to the Austrian film. When the film is the fact that two well-educated,
"master narratives" of bourgeois morality sometimes seductive young killers are
have all but disappeared, the killing game shown to embody the apocalyptic, self-
becomes party event - nihilistic but destructive side of a society that has already
entertaining. Like the Kniesek character in lost its ethical values: if "anything goes",
Angst, the killers in Funny Games enjoy the nothing will preserve the Utopian dreams of
"angst" of their victims, so long as they show the reasonable, moral human being.
right:
Angst.
2
For more on the
slasher/stalker
subgenre and its
revival in the wake
of Scream's
phenomenal
success, see Dika,
V. (1987) "The
Stalker Cycle, 1978-
81", In Waller, G.
(ed.), American
Horrors: Essays on
the Modem
American Horror
Film (Chicago:
University of Illinois
Press), and
Schneider, S.J.
(2000) "Kevin
Williamson and the
Rise of the Neo-
Stalker", Post
Script: Essays in
Film and the
Humanities 19.2,
73-87.

Part Three:
Genre Histories and Studies
Coming of age: the South Korean horror film 185

- Art B l a c k
Between appropriation and innovation: Turkish horror cinema 205

- Kaya O z k a r a c a l a r
Witches, spells and politics: the horror films of Indonesia 219

- Stephen Gladwin
The unreliable narrator: subversive storytelling in Polish horror cinema 231

- Nathaniel T h o m p s o n
The Beast from Bollywood: a history of the Indian horror film 243
- Pete T o m b s
In a climate of terror: the Filipino monster movie 255

- M a u r o Feria T u m b o c o n , Jr.
French revolution: the secret history of Gallic horror movies 265

- David Kalat
genre histories and studies
Coming of age:
the South Korean horror film
Art Black
The essentials of f j l m are to surprise people,

dissimilar plot, sharing only the setting of
to touch people and to give them pleasure. a girls' high school and a palpable concern
Those three essentials are all in horror films. for the social pressures haunting the
1
- Kang Je-gyu protagonists, both living and dead. The
original Whispering Corridors was
On 24 December 1999, one day before structured far more conventionally along
Christmas, one week before Y2K failed to the lines of a traditional scare flick,
wipe out civilisation as we know it, a film however it struck a deep chord with young
opened in Korea that set a new standard Korean audiences by virtue of its familiar
for the horror genre both locally and academic setting and postmodern slang.
internationally. Memento Mori takes place Capitalising on its teenage viewers'
in one of Korea's unimaginably oppressive cultural apprehension and anxiety, it
girls' high schools, where the pressure to became the second-highest grossing
conform, to perform, to succeed drives domestic release of 1998 (seventh overall,
teenagers to desperate acts. A pair of trailing American juggernauts like Titanic
outsiders, Yoo Shi-eun (Lee Young-jin) and and Armageddon).
Min Hyo-shin (Park Yeh-jin), form a Together the two pictures helped fuel
lesbian alliance and together create an a renaissance of fright films in Korea,
intricate and elaborate piece of art that spawning everything from scholastic
functions as diary, suicide note and portal creepers [School Legend, Harpy) to teen
into the metaphysical and hallucinatory. slasher flicks [Bloody Beach, Rec) to
Unfolding in layered, nonlinear supernatural romances (II Mare, Calla,
fashion, the film interweaves the girls' Ditto) to violent serial killer psychological
tragic romance with the voyeuristic tale of mysteries (Tell Me Something, Say Yes) to
a fellow student who discovers their dark sadomasochistic surrealism / hyperrealism
secret. Intrinsically criticised in the (The Isle, Sorum) and various combina-
narrative is the strict, cruel, sexist and tions thereof. Whispering Corridors and
debasing Korean scholastic system and, by Memento Mori are also highly indicative of
implication, the misogynistlc nature of the recent wave of Korean films by
Korean society as a whole. Memento Mori innovative, young directors intent on
simultaneously utilises numerous horror pushing the envelope, powering their
conventions while slyly inventing a whole productions with inventive style and
new mode of storytelling, becoming in the provocative content, challenging old
process a horror film with few outright conventions and positing Korean film as
frights and fewer deaths - a psychic, the highest profile "new Asian cinema" of
psychological dissection of youth the third millennium. Neither picture
struggling for identity against infinite odds. could have been made as recently as a few
Memento Mori is theoretically a years ago, with censorship still pervasive 1
Kang Je-gyu,
sequel, albeit in the loosest sense of the in Korean cinema. Memento Mori, in fact, interview with the
term. Also known as Whispering Corridors 2, was scripted with considerably more focus author.
it was made by different filmmakers, on the lesbian relationship, but both the
opposite:
featuring new characters and an entirely government censorship board and the The Ring Virus.

South Korea
releasing company insisted on cuts. Many college professors, who protested the film
of the best Korean films of the past few as an insult to their profession. Director
years have fought similar battles; some Lee Man-hui [Seven Woman Prisoners)
have won, many have lost, but all have endured far greater adversity when he was
helped to change the topography of the prosecuted by the government in 1965 for
battlefield. violation of the Anti-Communist law.
That same year, Yu Hyon-mok, a
Golden times, early horrors highly-stylised director credited with
creating Korea's first avant-garde film in
Following the ceasefire between North and 1956 and introducing the techniques of
South Korea in 1953, the South Korean counterpoint and psychological interac-
government reorganised the film industry tions to local cinema, released his film The
with the aid of technology and assistance Martyred, only to have a group of
from the United States. Modern studios Presbyterian clergymen sue to have one-
were established, new equipment brought third of the picture cut, claiming that it
in, and in 1955 a landmark was defamed the clergy and encouraged
established when Ch'unhyang-jon was seen communists. The film, based on a best-
by 200,000 viewers in Seoul alone - one selling novel, escaped censorship due in
tenth of the city's population - sparking the part to strong support from liberal factions,
first "golden age" of Korean cinema, lasting but Yu's follow-up, Ch'unmong ("Spring
through the 1960s. One of the most Dream") wasn't so lucky. A psychological
enduring of Korean folk tales, the story is fantasy with parallels to The Cabinet of Dr.
often referred to as the local version of Callgari (1919) and Spellbound (1945),
Romeo and Juliet, albeit with torture and consisting in part of expressionistic,
revenge. The focus of the narrative is in fact surrealistic dream sequences, the picture
on the torment and abuse endured by ran afoul of the censors as a result of
young Ch'unhyang as she struggles to supposedly "sadistic" sequences and a
remain loyal to her absent man despite the simulated nude scene. Yu countered that
evil intentions of a lustful local lord. The certain foreign films had been distributed
story, likened by some to a symbolic with equally strong sequences, but the
retelling of divided Korea and its rape by government countered that while the
foreign powers, has formed the basis for foreign releases (Edward Dmytryk's The
about a dozen films, Including Korea's first Carpetbaggers, the Italian nudie Adam and
features with sound (1935), colour (1958) Eve) were works of art, Yu's was not.
and cinemascope (1961), along with a black Ch'unmong was exhibited in a scissored
and white satire in which the characters, version and Yu was indicted on charges of
clad in period costume, cavort with booze, making an obscene movie. He has since
jukeboxes and convertibles. Following the demurred from making anything remotely
hit 1955 version, female rape became an contentious.
enduring genre unto itself in Korean film.
Of course, the bulk of Korean produc-
"A Korean movie in which the heroine is not
tions during this period were anything but
routinely stripped and ravished by the
controversial. Gangster and juvenile
third reel can be quite refreshing,"
2 rebellion films and the ever-popular
commented The Economist, years later."
melodramas made up most of the country's
Shin Sang-ok was one of several releases during the golden age. Sadism
notable directors to begin challenging may have been cause for indictment when
convention with bolder and more artistic presented in the form of an Intellectual
works during this period. His 1958 film discourse, but usually it was "mere"
Flowers of Hell was the first to show a kiss entertainment - just like rape. In Yi Yong-
on-screen and his pictures frequently min's Gate of Hell (1962), for instance, an
included erotic elements, influencing later evil tyrant is given to all manner of torture
generations of filmmakers. Shin has and cruelty, including drowning an enemy
remarked that although the country was and his son in the palace cesspool.
poor in the 1960s, there was considerable Naturally the tyrant gets his comeuppance
freedom of speech - a statement belied by when he and his minions die and wind up
the fact that he was one of three directors In Buddhist hell. High-quality special
booked on charges of obscenity in 1969 (for effects and colour filming ensured that
Eunuch). Indeed, ideological filmmaking audiences got their money's worth with the
could be a dangerous venture in Korea. As graphic torture scenes.
2
The Economist
early as 1956, director Han Hyong-mo's Supernatural elements suffused such
1985: 82. Chayu Puin ("Free Wife") raised the ire of golden age films as Shin Hyeon-ho's A Man

coming of age
Sells His Life (1966), as well as A Flower of churches and the media. Any hint of
Evil (1961), A Devilish Homicide (1965) and dissent was met with imprisonment,
A Bridegroom From a Grave (1963), all three torture, forced confessions and/or
from Lee Yong-min. The latter film hinges executions. This naturally sparked a
on a honeymoon during which a bride digs dramatic increase in student protests
up the corpse of a child to suck its blood. calling for democratic reform, paralleled by
Monsters made appearances in Gweon filmmakers petitioning for changes to the
Hyeok-jin's Wang-Magui ("King-size restrictive regulations strangling the
Monster") and Kim Ki-duk's Grand Evil industry. Government strictures continued
Monster Yonggary (released in America by to limit artists' ability to create original and
AIP as Yongary, Monster From the Deep), challenging works, even as the lack of good
both from 1967. Wang-Magul, cited as equipment and shortage of skilled techni-
Korea's first science-fiction film, stars a cians and writers (along with the exploding
giant ape that is dropped from a flying popularity of TV) resulted in a marked
saucer by belligerent aliens and proceeds decrease in the size of audiences.
to kick its way through a cardboard Seoul. Further amendments to the Motion
At one point a youngster jumps onto the Picture Law, intended to strengthen the
creature's head, crawls into its ear and industry, resulted in exactly the opposite
watches through one nostril as the ape effect. Recognising that larger-budgeted,
stomps the city. The sequence ends with more slickly crafted imports were vastly
the monster stopping to slap itself and more popular than local films at the box
bellow, and the scene cuts to the youngster office, the government modified the quota
urinating inside its head. system so that in order to gain a license to
Whereas Wang-Magul proved a import one foreign film, filmmakers were
commercial flop, Yonggary went on to sell required to produce four local ones. below:
over 100,000 tickets in Seoul alone (one of Additional import incentives were given to Artwork for the
producers who managed to export films to US/South Korean
only fourteen films to achieve those sales in co-production
1967). Engineered to cash in on the foreign countries. As a result, film A*P*E.
Godzilla craze, Yonggary was made with the
participation of Japan's Daiei company and
is a camp gem featuring a flame-spitting
rubbersuit giant with a rhino nose, a pre-
pubescent hero with an "itch ray" and an
unforgettable scene of the title creature
doing the twist. Nine years later, the
US/South Korean co-production A*P*E
would similarly swipe from the 1976 King
Kong remake, beginning with a scene of a
silly-looking ape flopping around
pretending to fight with an equally
oversized rubber shark. An interminable
mess, the 3-D film features characters
tossing things at the lens (including rubber
snakes that hit the camera and cause it to
wobble), along with countless dull scenes of
bad models crumbling to the ground, toy
planes and tanks, and the title beast giving
his attackers the finger.
Kim Ki-Young: Korea's horror auteur
By this time the South Korean film industry

was in steep decline, due in part to the
increasingly oppressive dictatorship and
stricter censorship regulations. In 1972,
President Park Chung-hee announced that
due to the Communist threat from North
Korea, he was declaring a state of
emergency, suspending all civil rights. The
Korean CIA established a network of spies
and conducted surveillance of schools,

South Korea
production boomed as companies began remade by Kim in 1984 as Carnivore), Iodo

cranking out "quota quickies" in the late (1977) and Killer Butterfly (1978). An art-
1960s and early 1970s; movies were made house curiosity, Iodo posited a murder
for pennies and sold for export without ever suspect on an island populated by native
seeing a screen, in order that the producers women. Killer Butterfly (roughly translated
could import profitable foreign films. Local from Korean as "A Woman Chasing
productions were chintzy looking, poorly Horrible Butterfly") is an episodic murder
written and flatly directed, with out-of- story mixing science fiction, horror,
focus scenes, excessive use of zooms and melodrama and various other genres as a
bad post-dubbing. Following the Bruce Lee man survives an attempted
hysteria, kung-fu pictures flooded the murder /suicide only to find himself
market in co-production with Hong Kong engaged in a desperate bid to kill another
and Taiwan. Most were cheap throwaways, man. Unfortunately the victim won't stay
although there were more prestigious dead, even as a skeleton. Kim apparently
offerings from Hong Kong's Shaw Brothers didn't want to make the fdm (it was written
3
studio. In 1971, noted Chinese director by someone else) and in later years would
King Hu travelled to South Korea to shoot dismiss it off-handedly. Although it doesn't
his ghostly tale of an evil spirit seductress, quite fit with his other, more personal
Legend of the Mountain. For the most part, works, it is nonetheless an entertaining
however, Korean horror fans had to settle slice of pan-genre filmmaking. "Kim Ki-
for the usual tragic melodramas disguised young wasn't really a horror director," says
as cheaply-made ghost stories. playwright and filmmaker Kim Ji-woon,
Among the most notable local "but he has a sense of horror that's
directors during this period was Kim Ki- pervasive in his films. (He was) Korea's
young. Born in 1919, Kim went to medical only director of cult movies. I think his
school before becoming a writer-director of ideas and thoughts were a step ahead back
maverick genre pictures. Melding excessive then. Because his films were unique they
B-movie sensibilities with deeply personal were kind of commercially successful, but
psychodramas, Kim created a highly his real philosophy toward his work,
influential body of work that both typifies because he was very advanced, wasn't
4
and surmounts Korean film melodrama. In really embraced by the society." Sadly,
the typical Kim Ki-young scenario, a Kim's work was essentially forgotten over
family's domestic bliss falls victim to the years, before a 1997 film festival
uncontrollable sexual desire and a retrospective in Korea reintroduced his
menacing, vengeful woman. A husband is shocking and singular visions to the world.
likely to commit rape; the rape victim is As the accolades began to pour in and his
likely to become obsessed with her star began to rise once again amidst
attacker; the rapist's wife is likely to find screenings at various international
herself battling fiercely to keep her family festivals, Kim and his wife died tragically
together while the "other woman" manipu- in a house fire on 4 February 1998.
3
These including
lates the weak husband and tears apart
Yueh Feng's The the matrimonial bond. In addition to his Real-life horrors
Last Woman of wild proto-gothic visuals, Kim made liberal
Shang (1964) - a
grand costume epic use of rats, poison, shamans, necrophilia, In 1978, the same year that Kim Ki-young
of warfare and bizarre dialogue, extraordinary characters made Killer Butterfly, director Shin Sang-
vengeance starring and an idiosyncratic juxtaposition of styles
screen goddess Lin ok encountered a very different type of
Dai and Korean and generic conventions to create a wholly horror. Long regarded as one of Korean
actor Shin unique cinematic universe. cinema's leading lights. Shin often cast his
Yungkyoon - and
the spiritual fantasy Following his 1955 debut The Box of wife, popular actress Choi Eun-hee, in
Goddess of Mercy Death, Kim finally found success with his starring roles. After being offered a
(1967), co-directed
by Shin Sang-ok in ninth film, The Housemaid (1960), a lucrative film contract, Choi visited Hong
two versions with modernist film noir with naturalistic Kong and promptly disappeared. Shin
the same locations opening and closing scenes bookending went looking for her and soon he too
and cast, starring
Chinese superstar the expressionistic main story, in which vanished - kidnapped by agents of Kim
Li Li-hua for the the manipulative title character seduces Jong-il, son of North Korean leader Kim II-
Hong Kong release her boss and goes to work destroying his
and Shin's wife
sun. A notorious cinema aficionado (and
Choi Eun-hee for family. In 1971, Kim remade the story as future leader of his country), the younger
the Korean one. The Woman of Fire; eleven years later he Kim firmly believed in film's persuasive
4
remade it again as The Woman of Fire 82. powers and authored the polemical book,
Kim Ji-woon,
interview with the During the 1970s Kim triumphed with "Cinema and the Art of Directing." He
films such as The Insect Woman (1972, argued that the industry should be

coming of age
controlled by government and advocated violent and political corruption more

heavy-handed propagandist filmmaking prevalent. An underground film
with politically correct, anti-Japanese, movement ("open cinema") evolved out of
anti-elassist messages. Spirited to North university film clubs of the 1980s, as
Korea, the idealistic Shin Sang-ok young directors began to make illegal
allegedly spent four years in prison before movies on campuses. Many of them began
he and his wife agreed to help Kim improve by making shorts, creating a thriving
his country's film output. The couple lived short film Industry that remains to this
lavishly for the next three years, directing day a healthy training ground for new
and acting in about half a dozen pictures talent. A distinct counterculture evolved
on a stipend of US $3 million per year. among artists as the new wave of
Meanwhile, South Korea underwent dissident filmmakers began to produce
dramatic changes. In December 1979, works with deeper cultural and political
military dictator Park Chung-hee was consciousness, addressing current social
assassinated by his close ally, the Director issues with increased realism. As a result,
of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency. the modern independent Korean cinema
The "Seoul Spring" began, as the came into being; a rebellion modelled
succeeding president released many after France's Nouvelle Vague and
political prisoners and promised genuine eventually dubbed mlnjung ("the masses")
political reforms. P'Imak (aka House of films. Commercial filmmaking felt the
Death/The Death Cottage, 1980) brought impact as subject matter became more
Korean shamanism to the Venice Film mature, with newcomers producing
Festival, in the story of a sorceress enlisted important social dramas that brought
to exorcise the curse that is killing all the local cinema to the attention of the
male children of a local aristocrat. In a international festival circuit.
convoluted tale of sexual frustration and Genre films generally fell by the
ghostly vengeance, a woman becomes wayside during this period, although Shin
infected after repeatedly stabbing herself Sang-ok managed to make a notable
in the thigh to stem her carnal desires (a contribution from his new home of North
perversely common image in Korean lore Korea. In 1985, he directed the giant
and films, in keeping with the traditional monster movie Pulgasari, a remake of Kim
focus on wounds and torture). Taken to Myeong-jae's 1962 film, Bulgasari. In the
the Death Cottage, she recovers remake, oppressed peasants find a new
unexpectedly and has a child with the champion when the local blacksmith crafts
keeper of the house. When the lovers are a protective talisman named Pulgasari. It
killed by the aristocrat's family, they find turns out that the golem-like creature has
their revenge through supernatural an appetite for metal, which causes It to
means, leading to a violent climax grow, and before long it is knocking over
involving the shaman sorceress and her cardboard temples and chasing enemy
hidden secret. armies. Produced with the participation of
But cinematic horror paled before Toho's original Godzilla team, the rubber
reality. In May 1980, Korea was monster suit gives a commendable
devastated by the Kwangju Massacre. performance and the film has a cheesy
Students at Chonnam National University sense of spectacle that goes nicely with the
were demanding release of an opposition storyline. It was nearing release when
leader who had been imprisoned for director Shin, in Vienna with his wife to
political activities, when black-bereted promote North Korean filmmaking,
paratroopers began to indiscriminately managed to make his way to the US
kill protesters. In a parallel to the Embassy and eventually received political
Tiananmen Square incident, civilians asylum in Hollywood, where he has since
joined the students and succeeded in worked on the Three Ninjas movie series
driving the army out of the city, but on 27 under the name Simon Sheen. Pulgasari
May, the 20th Army Division returned in went straight into obscurity following its
force. The official number of dead was initial North Korean release, only to be
declared to be about 200, although resurrected once again in 1998 to play
witnesses claimed the figure to be closer Japan as old-school competition against
to 2000. General Chun Doo-kwan used Hollywood's shiny new-tech Godzilla. In
the incident to cement his power base and 2000 it flopped miserably when released in
seized control of the country for the next South Korea to complement the
seven years, while anti-government establishment of tentative relations with
demonstrations continued to grow more the country's northern neighbours.

South Korea
New blood in the 90s By this time the educational opportu-

nities for filmmakers in Korea had
Although the quota system ensured that increased exponentially as film schools
locally-produced films were given proliferated and expanded, with even the
substantial screen time in South Korea, government becoming interested in
foreign releases still ruled the box office. promoting this developing product. Along
Nonetheless, by the mid-1980s the tide was with the outstanding technical improve-
slowly beginning to turn. For decades, ments in South Korean filmmaking, a
Korean filmmakers had been stifled by constitutional court ruled that film
outdated equipment, lack of schooling and censorship violated constitutional law,
governmental policies restricting film theoretically allowing for an increased
imports to a precious few commercial freedom in subject matter and approach.
releases, effectively limiting local exposure The governmental screening authorities
to innovative and challenging international were replaced in 1996 by a civic body, the
works. The 1990s saw the rise of a new Korean Performing Arts Promotion
generation of filmmakers, schooled overseas Committee (KPAPC), which promptly
and with a vast knowledge of cinema clamped down on director Jang Sun-woo's
history. Director Kang Je-gyu found himself Bad Movie (aka Timeless, Bottomless, Bad
the poster-boy for this new breed of Korean Movie, 1997). Jang, a former student
talents. A former student at New York activist who was jailed for six months in
University, Kang was a photographer 1980 and allegedly tortured, had made a
turned award-winning, pan-genre screen- name for himself as the controversial
writer (mystery, noir, political thriller) who creator of such films as Seoul Jesus (1985)
found himself constantly disappointed with and A Petal (1996), the latter centering on
the films made from his scripts, eventually the psychological aftermath of the Kwangju
deciding to take the reins himself. Massacre. Bad Movie was conceived as a
"When I established my film company semi-documentary about troubled teens
in 1993," says Kang, "we made a film, an and was cast through open auditions with
omnibus film, sort of like three short films, "real-life juvenile delinquents." Jang and
and I directed two of them. Those two were his crew spent a year with a group of
horror films. Recently, Chosun Dally, one of punks, and in addition to handing over the
5 the biggest newspapers, did a feature on cameras and allowing them to create their
Kang Je-gyu,
interview with the rare videos, and it was one of them. Really, own autobiographical vignettes, he shot
author.
really hard to find. It's called Horror footage of them stealing, breakdancing,
below: Express Train but it was never translated in having sex with strangers, getting molested
The Gingko Bed. 5
English." Kang debuted as a full-length and being beaten by their teachers.
director in 1996 with the genre opus The 1997 was perhaps the biggest turning
Gingko Bed. This film - a supernatural point for South Korean cinema, what with
romance about reincarnated love and the popularity of crime films like Green Fish
pursuit from beyond the grave - began with and the viciously funny gangster satire No.
a rewrite of The Terminator's (1984) famous 3, and particularly the surprisingly
opening and went on to include numerous successful romantic drama The Contact. In
effects hitherto unseen in Korean cinema. November of that year, Kim Sung-hong's
It quickly became the highest-grossing The Hole brought horror home with wit,
South Korean film to date. That same year, polish and a uniquely Korean perspective
the Pusan International Film Festival was on traditional family values. When a new
inaugurated. In no time at all, it became bride moves into the house where her
one of the pre-eminent festivals in Asia, husband lives with his widowed mother,
attended by masses of cinema-literate the newlywed must kowtow and serve mom
Koreans with a thirst for as the lowest and most subservient
innovative work. member of the household.

coming of age
barbed satire, The Foul King (2000), about left:

The Hole.
a downtrodden office worker who gets out
his frustrations as a brutal, rule-breaking
masked pro-wrestler. "Basically life is a
horror," Kim says, "life is fear. Actually my
movie The Foul King is also about the fear,
you know, of facing...reality. I think that
this horror element is going to be in my
7
films all the time."
In August 1998, The Soul Guardians
provided a showcase for the newly opened
Seoul Cinema Complex, a facility designed
in part to provide state-of-the-art optical
Unfortunately, as hard as she tries to win effects for local filmmakers. The story first
mom over, she is rebuffed, reviled, saw light of day as a series of short, linked
despised, degraded and ultimately much episodes by Lee Wu-hyeok on a Korean
worse for her efforts. The Hitchcockian website. The hugely popular tales were
twists mount as the bride discovers the then crafted into a blockbuster novel
secrets in her new family's closet, resulting followed by a screenplay by the same
in a taut and claustrophobic bloodbath. author. Debut director Park Kwang-Chun 6
The Hole is a superbly mounted example of skewed the original story slightly by The film
has been remade
domestic horror, made all the more focusing on the handsome twentysome- by maverick
appealing by the distinctly Korean flavour thing hero (Shin Hyun-jun, previously of Japanese director
Takashi Miike as the
of the relationships. The Glngko Bed) and relegating his battling horror musical
The following year, the Korean cinema cohorts - a young kid and an older, Katakuri-ke no
industry underwent a seismic generational embittered priest - to lesser roles. The kofuku (The
Happiness of the
shift, as the box office was dominated by nominal plot concerns evil supernatural Katakuris, 2001),
young, first-time directors, completely forces pursuing a girl, while the heroes put complete with
themselves in harm's way to protect her. It dancing zombies,
eschewing the traditional protege approach and in Hong Kong
to a career in filmmaking - i.e., starting off begins superbly with a SWAT team by Mok Kei Ying
as a production assistant and slowly intruding on the eerie scene of a mass- Hung as a direct-to-
suicide, and proceeds with excellent CGI video film entitled A
working one's way up the ranks. It has Mysterious Murder
been noted that the country currently has effects and tremendous set-pieces, making (2002).
the youngest filmmakers in the world and a for big local box-office. But the truly
cinematically astute audience comparable standout horror event of the year was the 7
Kim Ji-woon,
interview with the
to Paris in the 1960s, fuelled by numerous release of Whispering Corridors on 30 May. author.
film magazines and TV programs about
movies. Advertising and distribution
methods have developed in pace with
production capabilities, and screening
conditions have improved as multiplexes
proliferated. Young audiences have
increasingly flocked to theatres to catch the
new wave of releases by brash, modern
filmmakers, and in 1998 horror connected
with Korean movie fans in a major way.
In April of that year, Kim Ji-woon above:
debuted as director with the self-written Kim Ji-woon,
director of The
black comedy The Quiet Family, about a Quiet Family.
peculiar clan whose guesthouse in the
mountains is failing for lack of visitors. To left:
Promotional flyer for
make things worse, once guests do start to The Quiet Family.
arrive, they mysteriously drop dead, and
the family must cautiously dispose of the
bodies in order to avoid arousing the
curiosity of the police. Complications arise
as the family, by now involved in murder
and routinely engaging in ritual burials,
discover that construction is about to begin
6
on the land where the bodies are buried.
Kim would go on to direct an even more

South Korea
above: Education over-kill: So-young (Park Jin-hee), the number one

Lobby card for
Whispering Whispering Corridors student in the school - with an arrogant
Corridors. attitude to match - and Kim Jung-sook
The Korean title Yo-go-kuei-dam translates (Yoon Jy-hye), a strange, quiet girl who
as "Girls High School Ghost Story," with seems to spend her entire life studying.
kuel-dam a traditional Korean genre of Mad Dog blatantly favours So-young, while
ghost stories in which the souls of those constantly berating Jung-sook for not
who have died nasty deaths are not being good enough. He literally attacks Ji-
permitted to proceed to the next world. oh, heaping verbal and physical abuse on
Whispering Corridors is in many ways a her, insulting her as the child of a shaman
traditional story, updated with a mother.
thoroughly contemporary setting and Mad Dog, naturally, is next to die.
concerns. Schoolteacher Mrs. Park (Lee After he vanishes from the campus, Miss
Yong-nyeo), known to her students as Old Hur questions what part her former best
Fox, discovers something strange while friend Jin-ju may have played in Old Fox's
reviewing school materials late at night. As death. Eventually the sad tale of Jin-ju is
she makes a frightened phone call, a revealed in flashback; her untimely death
shadowy figure in a school uniform and the reason for Miss Hur's guilt and
unexpectedly confronts her and the next shame. Back in the present, Ji-oh, with her
morning Old Fox is found dead. shaman ancestry and ability to contact the
New to the faculty is Miss Hur (Lee Mi- dead, wonders if she is somehow respon-
Youn), a former student of Old Fox. It was sible for the current unpleasantness, while
she that Old Fox was calling to warn that Jung-sook lurks forever in the background
Jin-ju was back - Jin-ju who died nine like a vengeful wraith.
years earlier. Old Fox's replacement as Debut director Park Ki-hyung
teacher is the abusive and sadistic Mr. Oh presents the story as supernatural
(Park Yong-su), known as Mad Dog. Among mystery, offering numerous suspects in the
his current class are Lim Ji-oh (Kim Kyu- murder of the teachers. His delivery is dark
ri), a troubled student with average grades, and humourless, sober and conservative.
and the wallflower she befriends, Yoon Jae- Windows and doors slam shut on their
yi (Choi Se-yeon). Also in the class are Park own, a stalker is always directly in front no

coming of age
matter which way one runs, and the films palette knife given to Ji-oh as a parting gift,
of Dario Argento are recalled in details while Mad Dog is supernaturally assassi-
such as the location (a deserted girls' nated and left dead amidst the dual
school at night) and the bleeding walls symbolism of a severed ear, obviously
toward the end. What sets the film apart, recalling Van Gogh while metaphorically
then, is not so much the execution as the illustrating the teacher's disregard for his
situation. The Korean school system is students' needs and feelings.
among the harshest and most punishing in Although Ji-oh is the film's anchor,
the world. Students regularly sleep for less the character of Miss Hur provides the
than half a dozen hours and spend every necessary link between present and past.
waking moment in class or studying. The The quintessential parallel, she is not only
pressure to achieve high scores is a former student and artist but the best
overwhelming, the competition for college friend who betrayed Jin-ju in the past at
admission positively excruciating. Upon the behest of Old Fox; in the present Miss
taking over Old Fox's class, Mad Dog Hur is now a teacher herself, observing Ji-
threatens that his students will have "no oh as she suffers abuse for being born of
personal life for a year." He goes on to warn shaman lineage.
that, "you're each others' rival...you're each As a literal victim of the scholastic
others' enemy." system, Jin-ju haunts the classrooms,
This is made explicit via the creepy unable or unwilling to move on. But the
and mysterious student Jung-sook. film makes it clear that she is only one
Ultimately, she is revealed to be not so victim among many. "I prefer ghosts," one
much creepy as sad; not mysterious but character asserts. "Besides, didn't you
lonely, unhappy, anxious. It turns out that know? I'm one myself." Ghosts, in this
she and top student So-young were case, are lost creatures, sad, Invisible,
formerly best friends. "We used to be close overlooked, in search of friendship,
during our freshman year," explains So- companionship, love. All the things denied
young. "We would share our most private by the dehumanising Korean scholastic
secrets. The teachers started comparing us system.
and we drifted apart. She became distant. I "School can be a horrific experience
never reached out to her. But I never for both students and teachers," explains
thought it would come to this..." Ji-oh, summing up the film's theme. The
Ultimately we discover that the dead mainstream media has made no secret of
girl, Jin-ju, and Miss Hur were driven apart the problems with Korea's educational
by similar academic pressures in the past. system, including the extreme pressure on
The film is in fact a curious study in students, the favouritism among teachers
parallels, both in character and incident. and class bullying. Director Park's
Old Fox is found hanged; so is another innovation was to incorporate these issues
character later in the film. Jin-ju once gave clandestinely into an ostensibly straight-
Miss Hur a gift of tiny bells; Miss Hur's forward horror movie. The national
curiosity is aroused when she discovers teachers' association was not amused,
that Ji-oh has an identical set of bells. Jin- claiming Whispering Corridors "disgraced
ju's mom was a shaman, just like Ji-oh's. teachers and distorted the reality of
Toward the end, Miss Hur, resurrecting her education." They unsuccessfully attempted
own past in search of an answer to the to have the film banned. Instead, their
present horrors, revisits the art room efforts fuelled a national furore among
where Jin-ju painted her portrait, only to students to see the controversial movie,
see Ji-oh sitting in the abandoned building and it flew to the top of the charts,
sketching on a canvas. reinventing the South Korean horror film.
Interestingly, the true outsiders in
Park's film - the individualists, the 99 horror shows
shamans and the ghosts - are all artists.
Art increasingly dominates the second half Although 1999 was marked by increased
of the film, after Ji-oh creates a morbid pressure from US studios to strike down
portrait that Mad Dog rips to pieces and the quota system and local protests to keep
uses as an excuse to beat her mercilessly. it in place, the South Korean film industry
Jae-yi encourages her to continue painting continued to rally, in part due to an
and Ji-oh retreats to the outer buildings of increased focus on marketing. The year's
the school, the former art room where, it biggest success story was Kang Je-gyu's
turns out, Jin-ju died violently. The much-anticipated follow-up to The Gingko
definitive weapon in the film is in fact a Bed, the phenomenon Shiri, an action flick

South Korea
more coldly clinical and stylised than its

predecessor, with a few cosmetic changes
to the plot that recall Nakata's sequel. Ring
2 (1998). A videotape and a ringing phone
still signal impending doom in Ring Virus,
but here the story emerges in a more linear
fashion, resulting in a hint more mystery in
the early reels - although Kim's direction is
more detached and less atmospheric.
Yonggary rose from the grave once
more in 1999 in the form of a hugely
expensive spectacle aimed for interna-
tional release. Popular comedian Shim
Hyung-rae conceived and directed the
remake, utilising a cast of lousy Western
actors and a monumentally stupid script
above: with a terrorist theme that curiously in what amounts to a laughably bad 1950s
Atmospheric horror
in The Ring Virus. echoes the post-Korean War thriller The monster movie with state-of-the-art visual
Manchurian Candidate (1962). Shirt out- imagery. Reportedly the most expensive
grossed Titanic to become the most popular Korean film ever made, it was bankrolled
movie of 1999 in Korea and the highest in part by Hyundai and did well enough at
grossing Korean production in history - at the box office that it was re-released in
least for the moment. "Until Shirl came out, 2001 with augmented effects. Pre-sold
people in the Korean film industry didn't internationally for US$2.7 million, it was
realise the importance of the international dumped direct-to-video in the US under
market," Kang says. "It gave a lot of the title Reptilian. Shim promptly
confidence to people in the Korean film announced his intention to film Imoogi, the
8
industry. It had a lot of influence." story of a 1000-year old snake.
The year also saw a decided upsurge Ghost in Love, released in August, was
in horror and supernatural tales, beginning a lightweight but entertaining effects-laden
with Doctor K, the story of a loner surgeon tale of a disconsolate girl who contemplates
and his miraculous, otherwordly healing suicide, only to be pre-emptively killed by
powers. In addition to the mystery and two ghostly recruiters from a "suicide club"
romance elements, the film refers explicitly in their somewhat overzealous attempt to
once again to Korean shamanism. In June, enlist new members. Her spirit joins their
the monstrously Influential Japanese film society, encountering demonic rapists, a
Ring (1998) was remade for Korean brutally vengeful ghost, cruel emissaries
8
Kang Je-gyu, audiences by director Kim Dong-bin as The from heaven with a vendetta against
interview with the
author.
Rtng Virus, starring popular TV actress suicides and a renegade from heaven with
Shin Eun-Kyung. Based on the novel by his own agenda. With comic relief from a fat
below: author Suzuki Koji and co-produced by the comedienne, the film casually lifts from
The clinical body-
horror of Tell Me Japanese company that released Hideo sources as disparate as Ghost (1990) and
Something. Nakata's original film, the Korean version is Hellraiser (1987). November saw the
release of Tell Me Something, a bleak and
oppressive serial killer thriller in the Se7en
(1995) mould, with smarts to spare and
gruesome, casual violence. A murderer is
dismembering his victims and playing
jigsaw puzzle with the pieces, putting them
back together in various combinations. A
grizzled cop is obsessed with finding the
killer, and one woman knew all the victims.
Director Chang Yoon-hyun cut his teeth
working on minjung films before debuting
as director with the smash hit melodrama
The Contact in 1997. Tell Me Something, his
sophomore film, was Korea's third-biggest
local hit of the year (aided by a stellar ad
campaign). Gritty, grimy and suspenseful,
it is quite striking and memorable, despite
the obscure resolution.

coming of age
Lesbian dreams and nightmares:

Memento Mori
Millennium 2000 was introduced one week

early by Memento Mori. High school
student So Min-ah (Kim Min-sun) finds an
elaborate diary created in tandem by her
unpopular classmates Yoo Shi-eun and
Min Hyo-shin. Intrigued by the book, So
begins to shadow the pair, discovering
their apparent lesbian relationship. But
that relationship is clearly crumbling, in
part due to pressure from their
classmates, and when Min commits
suicide by jumping from the school's
rooftop, the entire campus is haunted by
her lingering presence. Death, it turns out,
is no end to unhappiness. Deserted,
abandoned, spurned, Min literally cloaks
her spirit around the school, trapping her
classmates inside, terrorising them over
the course of one stormy night. Among
other things, she wants her diary back.
There is very little story here in the
conventional sense. Scenes follow one
another in non-chronological sequence,
puzzle pieces awaiting reconstruction. The
tale is told from multiple points of view,
with Yoo and Min the focus and So the
nominal audience surrogate, assembling
the story bit by bit. Since nothing is
sequential, context is supplied by
accretion, with no distinction between
present time and flashbacks. The diary
turns Min and Yoo's life together into a desk. The incident can be read as an above:
literal open book, as So immerses herself DVD cover for
indication of So's vicarious infatuation Memento Mori.
in its Wonderland mysteries, swallowing a with the lesbian relationship and her
piece of candy hidden in the binding only incipient fear of engaging in one herself.
to discover immediately thereafter that it is At one point, during a physical exam
poison. Literally infected by the lesbian at school, So provides quiet assistance
relationship, she becomes fascinated by when Yoo encounters trouble during the
the ill-fated lovers; ultimately she begins to hearing test. Yoo suffers from hearing loss,
fill Min's shoes, perhaps inciting the dead we discover early in the story, and sound is
girl's troubled spirit. Following the suicide, a crucial element of the film. The lesbian
when talk begins to circulate that Yoo may couple communicate in part by telepathy,
have been involved with Min's death, So hearing each other without words, without
not only defends Yoo but also provides her conventional language, without sound at
with a false alibi. all. Yoo's partial deafness causes her to
The story is replete with parallels and remain silent during choir practice, an
reflections, both visual and metaphorical. outsider, unable to fit in with her
At one point, Min is called upon in class to classmates. The teacher notices, singles
recite a poem and relates a strange her out and embarrasses her. Min,
Dadaist chant at increasing speed; her meanwhile, is musically gifted, leading the
classmates immediately label her a freak. choir on piano. Following the incident with
Later, enchanted by the diary, So whispers the choir, Min cuts the piano's strings,
aloud the words "Memento Mori" (Latin for leaving the keys silent and thereby
"remember the dead"), repeating them at reassuring Yoo that it is okay to accept
increasing speed. The incantation seems to imperfection.
call forth Min's spirit, and So finds herself The purposeful use of sound extends
caressed by phantom hands. She immedi- from the literal (the genuinely chilling
ately freaks out and collapses from her sound of an empty can hitting the

South Korea
pavement) to the metaphorical. Min hides likening it to a cemetery, with the lovers
her belongings, her feelings, inside the six feet underground. The lovers
piano, turning it into a shrine. It is there themselves are first seen together hiding
that So finds the antidote to the poison she in a bathroom stall; later the bathroom
ingested from the diary. Following the appears to be haunted (a recurring theme
climactic mayhem, Yoo, having betrayed in Asian films), with water retreating from
her lover, lies on the ground amidst the pipes.
scattered sheet music. Similar symbolism Memento Mori offers little in the way
is rampant throughout the film, usually of conventional suspense, instead opting
astute but occasionally heavy-handed. for sophisticated, intellectual horror. The
Animals appear as frequent metaphors: few minor jolts are mostly glimpses, reflec-
deer in cages, a red bird trapped in the tions of Repulsion (1965): a face seen in a
classroom and flying desperately from mirror or scurrying past a half-opened
window to window, a caged turtle freed door. At one point a severed head is seen,
when his tank is smashed in the final the film's only outright shock; it is a
melee, crawling deliberately among the hallucination. The entire ending is
panicked rush of fleeing students. similarly hallucinatory, imagistic, as Min
As we eventually learn, the love seals the school and drives her school-
between the two girls has been corrupted mates into a frenzy. The students engage
by various pressures. Peer pressure from in a surreal, nonexistent birthday party
classmates has caused Yoo to back away, that ends badly, recalling Carrie (1976).
while Min has no reservations about Argento's girls' school films are similarly
making their relationship public. When a evoked, although Memento Mori is consid-
teacher snatches the diary and reads erably more thoughtful, less visceral. The
aloud from it, Min is proud. Yoo, on the parallels to Whispering Corridors are
other hand, is ashamed, and when Min apparent in the setting, the pressures
attempts to kiss her in front of the class, endured by the main characters, the
Yoo violently shoves her away. A victim of abuse by teachers. The Korean title, in
rumours while alive, Min cannot escape fact, refers to this as "the second story,"
even in death. Her suicide occurred on the and the narrative obliquely mentions that
day of the physical exams, something her Min's is the sixth death out of seven. "The
classmates are certain is more than first day a girl dies," begins a voice over
coincidence. She was pregnant, they the opening credits, "with her head
whisper, and afraid that it would be emptied out. Perhaps she had
revealed. Min is not only a lesbian remembered the truth..." As of this
schoolgirl, but also a pregnant one - the writing, the third film in the series had
definitive freak. In fact, Min did engage in just begun production, with a female
a one-night stand with one of her director slated to helm the project.
teachers, Mr. Goh (Baek Jong-hak). It is
one of the film's strengths that he is (Sub)genre testing
depicted as thoughtful and concerned,
and yet is the monster responsible for
Memento Mori wasn't the only film
death, despondency and unhappiness. It
spawned by the box office success of
is when Yoo discovers Min's dalliance that
Whispering Corridors. One week after
their relationship effectively ends.
Memento Mori's release, the New Year was
Heterosexuality, in the context of the film,
ushered in by the release of director Kim
is corrupting and evil.
Hyun-myung's School Legend (aka Spooky
Memento Mori begins with a visual School). This time it's elementary school
metaphor: Min and Yoo with their ankles students who encounter ghosts, initially in
tied together, sinking into still blue waters. the girl's bathroom. Although the
(It is worth noting that suicide in Korea is execution is rote at best, the film is notable
frequently accomplished by drowning, and as a specifically Korean horror story.
always with one's shoes removed. This Residents of Seoul traditionally think of
allows for freer, easier reincarnation.) Yoo country people as stupid, while country
frantically unties the knot binding their dwellers perceive Seoul residents as
shoeless feet together, scurrying to the arrogant. The film concerns Seoul
surface while Min sinks alone. Later, the students sent in an exchange program to a
girls are punished by having to clean the summer school in the country, where their
empty swimming pool, a waterless hole. In teacher recounts the "legend" of a
addition to the blatant sexual metaphor, wangdda, or outcast - a child ostracised
the pool walls are painted with crosses, and persecuted by his peers. The kids

coming of age
spend the rest of the film alternately (1984) territory. The film has more than
pursuing the wangdda and running its share of phallic imagery and penetra-
screaming from his shambling, cheaply tions, including a scene of blatant
made-up zombie minions, until one castration anxiety as a former baseball
sensitive Seoul soul tries to connect with star, now crippled and wearing a leg
the poor, lonely phantom child. The ending brace, accidentally kicks away the bat
steals blatantly from Ring, with a body in a between his legs in his haste to escape the
well, and thematically from Whispering avenging female spirit.
Corridors, with the counsellor talking the Bloody Beach and Rec (aka The
dead child into giving up the ghost. Record) were released two weeks later, on above:
Bloody Beach.
March of 2000 saw the dual release of 12 August 2000. Both are technically
Kim Kuk-hyung's Black Hole and Na Hong- proficient, modestly entertaining slasher
kyun's Black Honeymoon. The former flicks. Kim In-su's Bloody Beach concerns
centres on a surgeon who wakes up on the a group of internet-sawy students who
floor of a mansion the morning after a wild retire to a remote cottage, only to be
party, suffering from selective amnesia. pursued by a sadistic psycho with the ID
Gradually he comes to discover that he "Sandman." The requisite false scares are
has been privy to horrific acts, and on offer, including handheld sequences
encounters both suicide and murder in his from the killer's POV, teens cavorting in
attempt to unravel his own mysterious bathing suits, having sex and dying
past. The ending drifts toward the halluci- accordingly. Familiar tropes include the
natory as the final, existential truth is girl hiding from the killer in a closet with
revealed. Black Honeymoon is a slatted doors and the intended victim who
can't seem to get away from the slow- below:
mystery/horror film set on Cheju Island, The Horror Game
traditional destination for honeymooning moving, limping killer no matter how fast Movie.
couples. The picture begins on a comic
note, depicting the different approaches to
sex among half a dozen couples. One new
husband gets drunk and climbs into the
wrong bed. Next morning, he is dead and
his eyes are missing. In July, Ra Ho-
beom's Harpy offered the rote tale of high
school students shooting a horror film in a
remote location. Jealousy and resentment
fragment the group and death, needless to
say, quickly follows. For students shooting
a post-Scream (1996) horror film, they
certainly seem oblivious to the generic
conventions that quickly envelop them.
In August, actress Kim Kyu-ri from
Whispering Corridors returned in her
second horror film, The Horror Game
Movie (aka Nightmare, aka Scissors) from
the producers of Soul Guardians and
writer-director An Byung-ki. An elite club
of schoolmates share a secret involving a
classmate's death. Several years after
graduation, the secret comes back to bite
them. In yet another parallel to Ring, a
videotape holds the clue to the various
supernatural deaths, while other elements
recall Memento Mori (the suggested lesbian
pact, the girl held underwater by her
ankles in a swimming pool). Despite the
heavy-handed use of lightning accompa-
nying virtually every action scene
(including the ones indoors), the
storytelling is structurally interesting and
moderately engaging, beginning as a
psychological suspense tale before veering
into conventional Nightmare on Elm Street

South Korea
"We have a tendency of imitating

success," offers Kang Je-gyu. "If an action
film does well in Korea there are some
people who imitate the trend but it's not
like everybody does it. I think we're still in
a testing period. We're trying these kinds of
action and horror films, a lot of different
things and different angles. But we're still
testing out these genres. It's very hard to
say what kind of horror films can be made
in Korea. I think the ones that were made
before, like in the 1970s, were more like
situational horror. But the ones made
10
recently are more psychological." The
11
Isle (2000) from director Kim Ki-duk- is
genital horror - a brainy deadpan comedy
about a mute prostitute at a lakeside
resort, and her sadomasochistic-cum-
homicidal interactions with the assorted
criminals and reprobates who drift through
her floating cottages. Depravity lurks just
below the surface - of the lake, of the flesh
- in a wholly unique and perversely
metaphorical story punctuated by truly
bizarre violence. Fishhooks through flesh
form the central, unforgettable image of
this sarcastic and surreal film, and Kim's
quiet, matter of fact direction only makes
the grue that much more gruesome.
Whispering Corridors director Park Ki-
hyung returned in 2000 with Secret Tears,
the tale of three friends who go out for a
night of drinking and karaoke and acciden-
tally hit a young girl with their car on the
above: she runs. Kim Ki-hoon's Rec, meanwhile, way home. The girl, seemingly unhurt but
Hong Kong DVD
cover for Ree (aka centres on (yet again) a group of internet- mute and without memory, is taken to the
The Record). savvy students who retire to a remote driver's home to recuperate. There he
cottage, where a prank involving a develops an unhealthy obsession with her,
chainsaw goes awry and one of their gradually discovering her paranormal
members dies. The disposal of the body powers, while his friends investigate her
naturally doesn't go as planned, and mysterious past. It's a slow, gentle and
before you know it they are being individ- marvellously moody story, culminating in
ually pursued and snuffed by a mysterious supernatural violence and tragedy. It's also
killer. The final set-piece is an enjoyable an interesting dissection of social and
piece of over-the-top bloody nonsense. "I sexual mores: the two friends who
think there's a trend of general interest in condemn the man's chaste love for a minor
horror films in the world these days," says are themselves engaged in a carefree
Kim Ji-woon. "Especially after Scream. I extramarital affair, while the girl's troubled
think that Korean people are very past involves a middle-aged man having
perceptive to what people in other sex with schoolgirls - an all-too-prevalent
countries think and also due to the scandal in Korean society. Yoon Mi-jo is
9
Kim Ji-woon, internet they get a lot of information on superb in a slow-motion performance as
interview with the these films, so it sort of became a trend in the otherworldly child goddess, whose
author.
Korea to make these films. I think a lot of powers, interestingly, revolve around
10
Kang Je-gyu, people who were born in the 60s are water. She manipulates it telekinetically,
interview with the making films, and a lot of them grew up drawing moisture from the ground, moving
author. watching B horror movies and think that droplets like magnetic beads, ultimately
11
This is not the
it's a genre that they have to make in order using it as a weapon. The film begins softly,
same Kim Ki-duk to become a feature director. And so it's with a very deliberate use of sound, little
who directed kind of like a trend among these young camera movement or music and at least
Grand Evil Monster 9
Yonggary (1967). Korean filmmakers. one genuinely bizarre moment of absolute

coming of age
stillness, building a sombre ambiance and

ending with a scene that alludes to the
opening of Memento Mori, but played for
very different effect.
Exactly opposite in tone and
approach is the campy, tongue-in-cheek
horror comedy Ghost Taxi (aka Scary Taxi,
2000), an episodic, techno-soundtracked
B flick about the lovestruck driver of a
supernatural, flying cab that runs on
blood. Bong Joon-ho's Barking Dogs Never
Bite (2000) isn't exactly horror - unless
you're a dog. A brilliant black comedy
about a henpecked husband driven to
caninicide, it features several eye-popping
scenes of animal cruelty that belie the
opening credit claiming no living creatures
were injured during the making of the film.
When one man snaps and takes out his
frustrations on a puppy, he has no idea
how severely his life is going to spiral out
of control. The film is a superb example of
the new fatalism gripping alternative
Korean cinema.
Just Do It (2000) from director Park
Dae-young is vaguely reminiscent of The
Quiet Family in its tale of a bitter and
bizarre clan unexpectedly plunged into
poverty when dad's business fails. Angry
and despairing, they suddenly discover the
joys of pain when dad is hit by a truck,
only to find himself the recipient of a
healthy insurance settlement. Before long,
the family members are drawing straws to
see who will be next to suffer in the name
of cash. Soon they are contemplating the
even greater payout of death benefits and
begin to view each other differently. When
an insurance investigator arrives to look
into the series of "accidents," they add
murder to the menu. Beginning with an
inspired lampoon of Forrest Gump's (1994)
opening feather and ending with an
underwater climax, it is a terrific
skewering of modern Korean materialism,
family dysfunction and greed.
The year 2001 saw only two pure
horror films produced in Korea. Sorum
(aka Goosebumps), produced by Baek
Jong-hak from Memento Mori, is a
strikingly composed and painfully gritty
tale of a solitary taxi driver who moves into
a filthy, rundown tenement, taking a room
where the previous tenant died in a fire.
He becomes intrigued by the battered
woman down the hall and when she shows
up one night covered in blood, he immedi-
ately steps in to help her cover up a crime.
Meanwhile another neighbour is writing a
book based on earlier deaths in the same
ill-fated building, crimes involving an

coming of age
abusive husband and baby hidden in a dead girl Min. Characters in the film are opposite:
closet - crimes that turn out to have constantly being watched - being judged - Promotional artwork
for Say Yes.
unpleasant repercussions in the present. without their knowledge. In the end, Min's
The lead actors are both television face appears enormous above the school,
veterans making their debuts in film, and looking down on the scene of panic
director Yoon Jong-chan made several through the glass ceiling.
shorts at Syracuse University with similar The derivative School Legend
themes before returning to Korea for this cluelessly introduces a video camera as a
impressive first feature. Gloomy, detached simple prop, while Harpy offers a group of
and desperately downbeat, Sorum unfolds film students actually making their own
slowly and meticulously, holding back horror movie, one which not surprisingly
everything at first, revealing in layers the turns around and becomes real. Rec
characters and parallel stories of very presents another group of students who
human horror. Initially presented as an decide to create a faux snuff film - and
emotionless cipher, the taxi driver first succeed all too well. The videotape wherein
reveals his dark side while ferrying a nasty they "pretend" to kill a classmate
passenger; passing by the scene of a fatal ultimately returns to haunt them via the
accident, both men share a laugh at the internet. Black Honeymoon, during its
victim's misfortune. comic intro, includes a scene of a husband
Say Yes, from Kim Sung-hong surprising his wife in the shower with a
(director of The Hole), is the thoroughly video camera. He jokingly tapes her as she
conventional tale of a young couple on protests and struggles to hide herself, a
vacation who find themselves stalked by a blatant visual rape. The voyeurism
mysterious, manipulative stranger. The continues with scenes shot through blinds
violence begins small but quickly escalates and two-way glass, or over people's
to epic vehicular proportions as the shoulders. Early on, one character sees
husband becomes determined to fight something forbidden, something off-limits,
back. It's a well-made and effectively and is soon found dead - with his eyes torn
brutal little thriller with not an original out. The Horror Game Movie also features a
idea in its head, borrowing liberally from character who loses an eye to a vengeful
numerous familiar sources, including Duel ghost. In this case, one girl's ignoble death
(1971), The Vanishing (1988), Se7en (1995) was not only witnessed by her ostensible
and the near-drowning scene in The Hole. friends - it was videotaped, and everyone
who observed the incident must die.
Video voyeurs Director Kim Ki-duk's Real Fiction
(2000) is not only the last word in
In a country that has survived decades of voyeuristic cinema, but a fascinating (if
dictatorship, a country with a reputation not entirely successful) experiment in
for ideological repression and govern- guerrilla filmmaking. A local portrait artist
mental invasion of privacy, a country is shaken down by thugs and insulted by
officially still engaged in a cold war with clients as he plies his trade in a park,
terrorists a stone's throw away, a country while a woman videotapes his every
with a mandated curfew, where every male humiliation. When she too insults him and
is required to serve in the army and walks off, he follows, entering a theatre
everyone male or female is required to advertising something called "Another
carry proof of their identity at all times, it Me." There he is confronted on stage by a
is little surprise that the popular cinema is performer who beats him, berates him and
pervaded by a vague Big Brother paranoia. recounts demeaning episodes from the
Add to this the cinematic savvy evidenced artist's life. Ultimately the artist kills the
among young Koreans at the Pusan performer, and then heads out to begin
International Film Festival and elsewhere, murdering the people who made his life
and the pervasive voyeuristic element of miserable. A woman who insulted his
modern Korean horror films becomes more artwork dies at the point of his drawing
understandable. Memento Mori, for pencil. The former best friend who stole
instance, introduces several key his one true love and is now a serpent
characters via a student video camera salesman dies by snake. His most recent
early in its narrative. The voyeurism girlfriend, who cheated on him while
quickly escalates by way of numerous working in her flower shop,
shots from above, showing the action from is...well...flowered to death. The cop who
an omniscient point of view, one we tortured him, the bully who beat him in
ultimately come to recognise as that of the the army and now owns a butcher shop,

South Korea
right: the thugs who constantly harass the park

Whispering
Corridors. vendors - all meet untimely deaths, while
the woman with the camera reappears
periodically to hover around the perimeter
and capture him on tape.
Shot in a cold, minimalist, almost
documentary style, Real Fiction was made
as an experiment in real time, with a dozen
sequence directors, eight 35mm cameras,
two steadicams and ten digital cameras.
After documenting the artist's initial
breakdown, the ensuing sequences begin
by introducing the additional characters,
followed by the artist entering the scene to
exact his revenge. Altogether it was filmed
in three and a half hours without retakes.
The story ends with Twilight Zone irony,
culminating in a long-shot of violence in
the park. After the fade out, the same
scene fades back in, the director calls
"cut," and the crew scurries into view as
the credits roll.
1 2
Latest but not least
Korean cinema continues to expand in (Fallan and Musa: The Warrior, both 2001)
popularity both locally and abroad, with and Jackie Chan employing Korean
2001 another banner year. The box-office locations and actress Kim Min in The
record set by Shlri in 1999 was broken in Accidental Spy (2001). Prolific Japanese
late 2000 by Joint Security Area (aka JSA), director Takashi Miike utilised funding
which was quickly surpassed by Friend in from Korea, Hong Kong and Japan to
12
Following the 2001. At the end of 2001, the country's make his explosive splatterfest Ichi the
impressionistic The five highest grossing pictures were all Killer (2001), and Chinese auteur Wong
Isle and the expres- Kar-wai cast Korean actress Shim Hye-jin
sionists Real local productions and Korean film as a
Fiction, Kim Ki-duk, whole had captured almost 50% of the [The Glngko Bed) in his science-fiction
arguably the most national box office - an unprecedented film 2046. Meanwhile, Park Joong-hoon,
ambitious
provocateur working figure. More companies entered the so memorable as the nasty cop in
in the mainstream production arena, and budgets rose Nowhere to Hide (2001) and the even
Korean film industry steadily as filmmakers vied for the next nastier psycho in Say Yes, traveled to
today, went on to
direct Address blockbuster hit. Genre films were Hollywood to act in Jonathan Demme's
Unknown (2001), a prominent as early 2002 saw release of The Truth About Charlie.
monumentally grim
comedy - or
the hugely hyped science-fiction actioner Yet the most intriguing films coming
hilarious tragedy - 2009 Lost Memories, a mystery set in an from South Korean film remain not the
with a recurring alternative Seoul wherein Japan won mega-budgeted blockbusters, with their
motif of eye-injury,
set among the World War II, and the greatly anticipated increasingly international veneer, but the
miserable misfits Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, described as smaller, more individualistic and
scrounging a living a "very dark-themed, noirish thriller" from iconoclastic rule-breakers. Released in
alongside an
American military Park Chan-wook, director of JSA. October 2001, Nabi (aka The Butterfly) is a
base (paralleling With all this activity, distributors low-budget film with a marvellous
Shin Sang-ok's
classic Flowers of began looking at overseas markets as premise: in a future Korea plagued by
Halt); and Bad Guy viable sources of income, and not only environmental breakdown, a new
(2001), the contro- "Oblivion Virus" is erasing people's
versial and mlsogy-
have recent Korean films such as Tell Me
nistic tale of a Something started to see release in memories in a certain district. People with
lowlife creep who America, but DVD has opened up a whole unhappy pasts begin to take advantage by
fixates on a total scheduling tours through the area to have
stranger, driving her new avenue, with companies releasing
to prostitution and English-subtitled versions of Korean films their memories cleansed. Director Moon
degradation. With a for the first time. International co-produc- Seung-wook shot the film on handheld
budget of nearly
three-quarters of a tions have also become increasingly digital video with creative editing and
million US dollars, it common, with prominent Chinese lighting, and it has become a festival
is Kim's most actresses Cecilia Cheung and Zhang Ziyi favourite, winning Kim Ho-jung several
expensive film to
date. appearing in high-profile Korean releases Best Actress prizes for her performance.

coming of age
A drastically different festival fave is deserted streets and alleys, lofts and bars
the anarchic, tongue-in-cheek tale of produces a grainy psychedelic dreamscape
death, resurrection and vengeance, two steps removed from Wong Kar-wai's
Teenage Hooker Becomes Killing Machine Fallen Angels (1998). Nam's inspired
(2000). The Korean title is even more lighting is particularly notable, along with
revealing: "The High School student who his bizarrely eclectic soundtrack, mixing
got chopped up while selling herself in Latin rhythms with droney trance music,
Daehakroh is still in Daehakroh." The title opera with punk, even allowing for an
character is plying her trade, providing a impromptu dance number between the
client with "voluntary date rape," when one schoolgirl and her teacher. Ultimately Nam
of her teachers happens by. A human reveals himself to be commenting on the
monster who looks like the entire Munster same themes as the Whispering Corridors
family combined into one, he coerces her films and Secret Tears: societal pressures
into providing sex, then kills her when she on young girls, the need to be needed and
becomes pregnant. After he enlists three sexual misconduct with minors. The
gibbering psychos to dismember the body, schoolgirl falls in love with her teacher-
a crazed scientist stitches her back rapist and allows him to have sex with her
together with an old-fashioned sewing for free - unlike her other teachers, who
machine and sends her out as an unstop- have to pay. She reveals that she will soon
pable killer. Although the film borrows be displaced from home, once her mother
shamelessly at one point from La Femme remarries a man she has serviced sexually.
Nikita (1990) and at barely an hour it Betrayed and discarded, the girl returns to
suffers from lackadaisical pacing, it is a exact her vengeance in a brutally sexual
unique and singular vision of high-voltage manner. Similar in stylistic approach to the
genre weirdness. radical splatterpunk films of Japan's cyber
Teenage Hooker director-screen- generation, Nam's film signals a bold new
writer-cinematographer-editor Nam Ki- direction for Korean cinema, a milestone
woong refuses to provide a straightforward for local independent filmmakers and an
image when he can offer a manipulated intriguing alternative to the big-budget
one, and the audacious use of distorted blockbusters that are increasingly
dominating the Korean film market. below:
colours and wide-angle lenses wandering Tell Me Something.

Between appropriation & innovation:

Turkish horror cinema
Kaya Özkaracalar
The first Turkish-made feature film to be make room for plain and simple ghosts, as
released in Turkey appeared in 1917. well as for indigenous motifs with horrific
Annual film production, however, totalled overtones (such as cin, umaci and karakon-
nowhere near a dozen titles until the late colos) in its own folklore. It should also be
1940s. Properly speaking, the Turkish film noted that, for example, while cowboys are
industry emerged only in the 50s, when obviously absent from Turkish history,
competing studios were formed one after enterprising Turkish filmmakers clearly
the other and a Hollywood-style star did not care at all and, in the wake of the
system developed. It was also during this "spaghetti western" boom abroad, turned
period that filmmakers tentatively began out dozens of homemade westerns set in
experimenting with various genres from all the American Wild West.
ends of the spectrum, experiments which One noteworthy explanation for the
included a few attempts at fantastic failure of horror to take root in Turkish
cinema. It is widely accepted that the cinema has been offered by Biilent Oran, a
Golden Age of Turkish popular cinema prolific scriptwriter of Turkish popular film
dates from the early 1960s to the mid- who in his youth also happened to act In
1970s, with annual film production hitting the first known Turkish horror movie,
the 300 mark in 1972. While melodramas Drakula Istanbul'da {Dracula in Istanbul
dominated the mainstream cinema aimed 1953). Oran stresses the fact that Turkish
at family audiences, a number of other audiences like to identify strongly with the
genres also flourished. As Italian and later characters on the screen. According to
also Hong Kong Influences rivalled that of Oran, the horror genre does not offer
Hollywood, mildly erotic and highly violent sufficient avenues for such a strong level
costumed historical epics, crime and 1
of identification. Of course, horror movies
action movies, masked/costumed like all films work with complex identifi-
superhero movies, westerns and cation processes, but often in the case of
eventually martial arts movies, soft-core this genre such identification is at a more
sex farces and even hardcore pornography subconscious level, and is even directed
found eager audiences in Turkey. Besides towards the monster. Oran's claim should
a few isolated exceptions, it seems that be understood as stressing that Turkish
only the horror genre was largely missing audiences are inclined to identify
from the scene. themselves unambiguously with the hero
The reason (or reasons) for the failure (or heroine) of the narrative, that is the
of horror to ever become a fad in Turkish protagonist, rather than with the monster, 1
Group interview
the "other." Although such an explanation with Biilent Oran, 4
cinema is open to question. It might be July 2001, in
tempting to jump to quick conclusions begs further questions, such as why Istanbul.
from the perceived absence of "traditional" foreign horror films persist in the Turkish
market, Oran's answer does seem to lie in opposite:
(read "Western") horror motifs in Turkish Metln Erksan's
culture, such as vampires, werewolves, the right direction. Seytan (1974) was
gothic castles, or serial killers in contem- While horror films are not very an Exorcist rip-off.
The Exorcist itself
porary Turkey. A counter-argument would numerous in Turkish popular cinema, the was not released in
point out that Turkish culture does in fact few that are available are quite interesting, Turkey until 1982!

Turkey
2
From a reference and for a multitude of reasons. At first was based on a stage adaptation of the
guide of credits and
piot synopses of
glance, one common feature of Turkish Bram Stoker novel. The Turkish version,
Turkish films: Turk horror is the extent to which it draws upon however, was based on an abridged and
Filmleri Sozludu v. 1: foreign (Western) sources for inspiration altered translation of the novel Kazikli
1914-1973, compiled
byAgah Ozguc, instead of sources more firmly based in Voyvoda (The Voivode with the Stakes) by
3
published by SESAM local culture and mythology. Ali Riza Seyfi. A comparison of the
(Union of Owners of American and Turkish Dracula films yields
Cinematographic
Works), Istanbul, Dracula in Istanbul the surprising result that, in many ways,
1998. the latter is more faithful to Stoker's
The first Turkish horror film or thriller is original novel even though characters and
3
Information on the setting have been altered.
initial publication date
most likely Ciglik (Scream, 1949). However,
of this novel is little is known about this obscure movie, an Drakula Istanbul'da begins with a
unconfirmed. It was Atlas Film production directed and written Turkish national named Azmi (Bulent
reprinted in 1997,
retitled as Drakula by Aydin Arakon and starring Muzaffer Oran) arriving in Romania to visit Dracula
Istanbul'da. Tema, other than that the story takes place at his castle. After the now-familiar scene
2
in a "mysterious mansion." of frightened locals warning him not to go
4
Actually, actor Bulent The oldest Turkish horror film the cursed castle, he Is taken to his
Oran has told this
author in an interview currently available for viewing is Mehmet destination by a mysterious and spooky
that the actress Muhtar's Drakula Istanbul'da. This picture driver. The scenes at the castle follow the
playing the vampire is particularly useful for observing and book fairly closely, complete with Dracula's
literally bit his iip
during this scene. comparing the transformations a text famous "Listen to the children of the night
undergoes when subjected to two different - what music they make!" remark concern-
series of adaptations. Universal Pictures' ing the howling of the wolves.
below:
Drakula Istanbul'da. Dracula (1931), directed by Tod Browning, The only major novelty the Turkish
film version brings to bear is the presence
of a hunchbacked servant who is
sympathetic towards the guest. It should
also be noted that only a single female
vampire, and not three as in Stoker's novel
(and most other cinematic adaptations),
haunts Azmi as he falls asleep.
Interestingly, the advance publicity booklet
for the film also mentions three female
vampires; the reduction in number must
have been a last-minute change made
during the course of production.
Beyond these digressions, Drakula
Istanbul'da sticks considerably closer to the
original novel at numerous points than does
Universal's adaptation. First of all, Dracula
in the Turkish movie, played by Atif Kaptan,
sports fangs at his canines, whereas Bela
Lugosi's Dracula was virtually fangless (Max
Schreck's vampire in the earlier, German-
made Nosferatu [1922] had fangs at his
central teeth). It is often claimed by experts
on the vampire film that the 1970 Hammer
production Scars of Dracula was the first to
depict the Count scaling down the castle
walls, but Drakula Istanbul'da had already
reproduced that scene almost two decades
earlier. Azmi's encounter with the female
vampire at the castle is also more explicit
(relatively speaking) than the corresponding
scene in the censor-sensitive Universal
production, where the female vampires
cannot even touch Jonathan Harker (David
Manners); in the Turkish movie, she first
seems to kiss him on the mouth and then
moves her lips to his neck before Dracula
4
appears.' Drakula Istanbul'da even has the

between appropriation & innovation
Count almost feeding the baby to the

female vampire - a scene completely absent
in the Universal film - albeit in an implied
manner: the female vampire asks Dracula
if he has brought anything for her and the
Count points to something barely visible to
the audience, then we hear a voice from
outside calling on "the monster to give back
her child."
It is significant that in Drakula
Istanbulda the tenuous link between the
fictional Count Dracula and the historical
Dracula, Vlad Tepes, is firmly expressed. In
Stoker's novel, Count Dracula is said in
passing to be a "voivode" who had fought
the Turks in the past. It would take several
decades for Western literary scholars to
realise that this was a reference to Vlad
Tepes, and therefore that a real historical
figure provided one of the inspirations for
Stoker. Tepes was a Walachian ruler
(voivode) nicknamed "Dracula", which
means "Son of the Dragon" (or "Son of
Satan", according to an alternative
translation), who was notorious for
impaling his enemies - including the Turks.
Since "the Voivode with the Stakes" was an
integral part of Turkish history as taught in
every high school-level Introduction to
History course in Turkey, Stoker's brief
reference to a voivode fighting the Turks
must have immediately rang a bell to Ali
Riza Seyfi as he was translating and The second half of Drakula Istanbul'da above:
abridging the novel. In his own "nation- Drakula Istanbul'da.
is set in Istanbul. The Count moves there
alised" version of the text, he naturally after purchasing a mansion in this city
expanded upon this connection. through the services of Azmi, who follows
Muhtar and his crew naturally after escaping from the castle where he was
preserved this feature as well, If not to the imprisoned. Azmi's fiancée, Gùzin, is a
same extent as in Kazikli Voyvoda. When dancer, and stands as a marked contrast to
Azmi asks Count Dracula why the locals both the original novel and other film
fear him, he replies by saying that he is a adaptations. There is even an odd scene in
descendent of "the Voivode with the which the Count makes her dance for his
Stakes." Such references to the historical pleasure as a piano plays without a player.
figure of Vlad Tepes are completely omitted Gùzin is played by Annie Ball, an Austrian
in the Universal version, as well as in dancer-turned-actress "discovered" by
Britain's 1958 Hammer remake starring Turkish filmmakers while she was working
Christopher Lee. Only after Raymond in an Istanbul nightclub. Nevertheless,
McNally and Radu Florescu popularised Drakula Istanbul'da continues to be more
the connection between Dracula and Tepes faithful to Stoker's novel than its Universal
in their best-selling study In Search of Pictures counterpart. Although the Lucy
Dracula (1972) and the more academic subplot is incomplete in Browning's film as
Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler, the fate of the vampirised British girl is left
1431-1476 (1973) did Western filmmakers unresolved (apparently due to self-
5
become aware of it. The first Western film censorship ), the graveyard encounter with
to capitalise on the Tepes connection was the walking-dead Sadan (Ayfer Feray, one
Dan Curtis's television adaptation Dracula of Turkish cinema's rising stars at the time)
(1973; also released theatrically in an and her staking in the coffin are all present 5
Though Turkish
abridged version) starring Jack Palance in in Drakula Istanbul'da. First we see a stake cinema was also far
the title role. A better-known example is being placed on Sadan's body, then the from being free of
Francis Ford Coppola's box-office hit, Bram camera zooms in to her face, which censorship, it seems
that horror did not
Stoker's Dracula (1992). becomes distorted in pain. cause much concern.

Turkey
Besides comparing the Turkish film

with the earlier American one in order to
determine their relative loyalty to Stoker's
novel, another sort of comparison can be
made between the novel, the intermediary
Turkish novelisation and Drakula
Istanbul'da. This latter comparison
reveals that the Turkish novel on which
the film was based had a strongly nation-
alistic - even chauvinistic - theme at the
centre of the narrative, but that this
theme was all but eliminated in the
Turkish film adaptation. Kazikli Voyvoda
was written during a time when the young
Turkish Republic, formed in 1923 out of
the ashes of the collapsed Ottoman
above and below: Another interesting feature of Empire, was in the process of fervent
More scenes from
Drákula Istanbul'da. Muhtar's film is that the way Dracula is nation-building. Nationalist feelings were
destroyed is in conformity with folkloric being highly cultivated. As noted above,
practice: cutting off his head and stuffing it Ali Riza Seyfi placed the "Vlad connection"
with garlic after staking him (all off-screen), at the centre of his version of the Dracula
rather than simply driving a stake through story, and while Drakula Istanbul'da
his heart as is in the Browning version and included one reference to this connection
others. Since Turks are a predominantly (in contrast to the other film adaptations
Moslem people, no rosaries or holy wafers of this period), it was not nearly as
are to be found in Drakula Istanbul'da - it emphasised as in Kazikli Voyvoda. In
is only garlic that repels the vampires. The Seyfi's novel the reader is made aware of
movie ends with Azmi telling Guzin that he this connection in the very first entry of
cannot stand the smell of garlic anymore, Azmi's diary, where he notes that Giizin
and that from now on she should never had reminded him that his destination
even use it while cooking. was the land of the "monstrous" voivode.

Horror motifs in miscellaneous genres above:

Thus, the Turkish vampire hunters' Written by Bulent
crusade against Dracula in Istanbul is Oran and directed
invested with a pronounced nationalist Not surprisingly, Vlad Tepes was a by Yavuz Figenli,
Kara Boga (1974)
dimension. On the book's final page, historical villain in numerous Turkish is notable as the
Dracula's antagonists cry, "For the costumed epics. One of them, Kara Boga first ever historical
revenge of our compatriots who were (1974), is especially notable for being the voivode film.
impaled along the banks of Tuna [a river first film ever to portray the historical
in the Balkans]!" voivode as a vampire himself in his own
All in all, Drakula Istanbul'da is not a time, and not simply as an ancestor of the
great film and would not rank with the best fictional Count Dracula. Kara Boga's
of Turkish cinema, but it is certainly above scenario was written by none other than
average for its time. One of its handicaps, Btilent Oran, who had played the main
besides the low-budget limitations of the protagonist in Drakula Istanbul'da almost
Turkish studios, is that the score in some two decades earlier; over the years, Oran
scenes - stock library music - does not gradually moved away from acting and had
really suit a horror movie, and indicates a taken up a career as a screenwriter. The
lack of understanding of the genre on the film was directed by Yavuz Figenli, a prolific
part of the filmmakers. Yet the photog- exploitation filmmaker.
raphy in some scenes is quite sophisti- Kara Boga begins with a prolonged
cated. Most memorable is the beautiful flashback which borders at times on the
scene in which Dracula victimises Sadan horrific. At a castle guarded by warriors in
for the first time: we see them silhouetted skeleton masks, the voivode (Altan Gilnbay,
on the rocks against a sea shining with a bald actor who was a favourite in
reflections from the moonlight. The film's villainous roles) is seen fervently kissing
cinematographer was Ózen Sermet, one of almost-nude girls, biting one of them on the
the most talented at his craft in Turkey. neck to drink her blood and enjoying the
Sermet would later settle in America, spectacle of impaled men. Turkish warrior
where his subsequent credits included the Kara Bey (Behget Nacar, a well-known star
cinematography for Paramount's Tarzan of low-budget sex and violence movies), at
and the Jungle Boy (1968). the request of foreign emissaries pleading to

Turkey
be saved from the voivode's tyranny, defeats

him on the battlefield and stakes him. He
refrains from beheading the monster,
however, on the grounds that it would not
be manly to desecrate a corpse - a grave
mistake, of course.
The voivode is revived as his
hunchbacked servant kidnaps and
sacrifices a "virgin girl", wetting his
master's lips with her blood. The tyrant
and his henchmen then proceed to raid
Kara Bey's village, brutally massacring the
women and children and capturing the
Turkish warrior. Only his small son is
rescued and brought to safety. Henceforth,
the film tells the exploits of the grown-up
son, Kara Boga (again Behcet Nacar), as he
seeks revenge and looks to save his father
if he is still alive. After the flashback
prologue, most of the picture follows the
routines of a standard low-budget
costumed epic. However, the gory finale
again enters vampire territory, as blood
spurts from the uoiuode's mouth while
Kara Boga slowly drives a wooden stake
through his heart using only his bare
hands. The blunder of his father is not
repeated this time, as the monster is also
beheaded (off-screen).

Female vampires also made an vampire nature is revealed in this sequel opposite top:
A scene from
appearance in a few other Turkish during a hallucinating scene in which she Tarkan; Altin
historical epics. One quite atmospheric (naked, as always) sucks the blood Madalyon (aka
Tarkan: The Golden
scene in Malkoçoglu (1966; the first entry in spurting from the neck of a female victim Medallion), 1972.
a series based on a comic strip of the same caught in a giant spider's web that had
name) has the title hero descending several materialized out of nowhere. Later, Gosa opposite bottom:
A page from one of
stories down a pit towards the centre of the even manages to capture Tarkan himself, Sezgin Burak's
earth, to fetch a crown hidden in the crypt but is nevertheless destroyed at film's end. Tarkan comics, upon
of a lady vampire. On the way, he gets which the films were
Besides those turning up in costumed based.
covered in cobwebs and encounters owls historical epics, horror motifs also
and skeletons. Dizziness overcomes him as appeared in various other genre efforts of 6
Not surprisingly,
he looks upon the vampire's corpse, but he Turkish cinema. Kilink Istanbul'da (Killing this scene is always
manages to accomplish his mission in Istanbul, 1967), features the fictional cut when the film is
aired on television.
without any reanimation of the vampire - a 7
Italian anti-hero, "Killing." The macabre
relief to himself, but a disappointment to imagery of the villain's skeleton costume is 7
The on-screen title
those anticipating the springing forth of supplemented by several atmospheric (as well as the title
full-fledged horror elements. scenes shot in dark alleys and basements, featured on the
posters, lobby cards,
Comic strip adaptations such as as well as by adult-comics-styled sado- etc.) Is Kilink
Malkoçoglu were popular in Turkish cinema erotic torture chamber sequences. Kilink Istanbul'da rather
than the original
in the second half of the 1960s and the first Istanbul'da was a huge hit at the Turkish word "Killing", which
half of the 1970s. A vampire-witch plays a box office and spawned more than half a was not used for fear
far more central role in two films from a dozen other Killing films within the same of copyright
infringement.
different series based on another popular year. In one of the more obscure offerings,
comic. Tarkan, created by Sezgin Burak the eponymous anti-hero confronts none below:
other than Frankenstein's monster; despite Poster for Kilink
(who also scripted many of the movie Istanbul'da (aka
adaptations), is regarded as one of the very the best efforts of Turkish movie hounds, Killing in Istanbul).
best Turkish comic series. The stories take
place in the 5th century, at a time when the
hordes of Attila the Hun ravaged Europe
(the hero of the title is a fictional warrior of
this historical figure). This setting in the
distant past, close to the so-called "Dark
Ages", distinguishes Tarkan from most
other Turkish comics (and other comics-
based films) which are set in the Middle
Ages, and brings Burak's strip closer to the
Italian sword-&-sandal epics (peplum) or to
the later Conan comic books and movies.
In Tarkan: Gùmûs Eger [Tarkan: The
Silver Saddle, 1970), the main attraction is
a blonde witch named Gosa, played by
Swedish national Eva [Ewa] Bender -
another "discovery" made by Turkish
filmmakers from the Istanbul nightclub
scene. Gosa, living in a mountaintop castle
amidst whirling mists, has the power to
mesmerise her male victims. Before
stabbing them to death, she dances around
them naked while they are tied to a stake.
Although she is eventually killed, Gosa is
revived in the truly delirious sequel,
Tarkan: Altin Madalyon [Tarkan: The
Golden Medallion, 1972), in an amazing
scene rivalling anything in Western sado-
6
erotic horror cinema. A nun and a brothel
dancer are kidnapped and tied up naked to
crosses. Stabbed by a monk, flowing rivers
of their blood fill channels at the base of the
crosses, leading to a pit where the nearly
decomposed corpse of Gosa now lies. The
blood revives her naked body. Gosa's

Turkey
Killink Frankestayn ve Dr. No'ya Karsi unfortunate couple, a newly-appointed

(Killing versus Frankenstein) remains a lost female teacher to the town school is hosted
film, and no information on it is available at the mansion and subjected to more of
besides credits and release data. the same perils. She volunteers to lure the
Frankenstein's monster would make a undead man to a trap, where he is
second appearance in Turkish cinema in destroyed by a hqja (Islamic priest) reciting
the 1975 comedy Sevimli Frankestayn from the Quran while his accomplices hold
(Cute Frankenstein), which was obviously up copies of the holy book.
inspired by Mel Brooks's Young If any film can be legitimately called
Frankenstein the same year. Maskeli "uneven", Oluler Konusmazki is that film.
Seytan (Masked Devil, 1970), another At times, Yalinkilic and his crew exhibit
caped/costumed hero movie from the signs of expertise not evident in the
makers of the first Killing title, features a director's other work. The cinematography
walking mummy who is revealed to be a makes good use of full-length wall mirrors
criminal masquerading as part of a at several points when characters
conspiracy. In the next decade, the Z-grade suddenly appear in the frame. The film
patch-up karate movie Olum Savascisi has some genuinely eerie moments, such
(Death Warrior, 1984) included ninj as- as when the undead man appears outside
turned-zombies, killer plants, ground-level the mansion's windowpanes in the dark of
prowling camerawork in the woods (d la night, recalling a similar scene in Werner
Sam Raimi's 1982 cult classic, The Evil Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979).
Dead), not to mention sundry other Even the incoherence of the plot (and
elements in footage some of which was some apparently random continuity
directly cut-and-pasted from foreign errors) might be seen as involuntarily
pictures. adding to the force of the movie, puzzling
the audience to such a degree that logic
The Dead Don't Talk and rationality are abandoned. The result
is to put the audience more in tune with
In addition to the appearance of vampires the film's supernatural narrative, similar
in films outside the horror genre per se in to Renato Polselli's Riti, magie nere e
the first half of the 1970s, Turkish cinema segrete orge nel trecento (Reincarnation of
also produced two straight horror movies Isabel, 1972) and Luigi Batzella's Nuda
during this period. The first, Oliller per Satana (Nude for Satan, 1974). On the
Konusmazki(The Dead Don't Talk, 1970), is negative side, one must cite the
a largely forgotten low-budget effort that introduction of a character who is there
deserves a second look. This black-and- only to provide unnecessary comedy relief
white film was produced and directed by - a major defect which spoils the film's
Yavuz Yalinkilig, who would go on to make rhythm and atmosphere - and the over-
the ultra-trashy Super Adam Istanbul'da use of the undead man's supposedly
(Superman In Istanbul, 1972). It features a "uncanny" laughter, which is rather
largely unknown cast, the only familiar face ineptly produced and more ludicrous than
being that of Aytekin Akkaya, best uncanny.
remembered for his supporting role in OliXler Konusmazki has sank into
Ditnyayi Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who obscurity after its brief and largely
Saves the World, 1983), the Turkish rip-off unnoticed theatrical release. It has never
s
of Star Wars (1977). been released on video or aired on
The film opens with a couple (the television, and is currently gathering dust
groom played by Akkaya) arriving at a on the shelves of a small backstreet studio
spooky mansion. The place is abandoned in Turkey.
but for a mysterious man in black who tells
them it is a hotel where the customers Turkish Exorcist
don't pay any fees. The couple eventually
pays the price for staying overnight with The second straight Turkish horror film
8
Akkaya also had
their lives. It is difficult to make much from the decade is rather more famous:
roles in two Italian sense of the picture's rather incoherent Seytan (Satan, 1974), the Turkish version
movies shot in plot. The man in black is apparently still of William Friedkin's phenomenally
Turkey: // Mondo di
Yor(Yor, the Hunter lamenting the loss of a loved one from the successful American film, The Exorcist
from the Future, past whose framed painting he almost (1973). Unlike the Dracula films, where
1983) and / worships. There is also an undead man both the Turkish and U.S. versions were
soprawissuti della
citta morta (Ark of who has risen from the grave to haunt the based on different intermediary sources
the Sun God, 1984). mansion. After the demise of the (which in turn were based upon the same

above:
source), Seytan is almost a direct remake of the Devil hovers nearby. In Istanbul, we Metin Erksan's
of The Exorcist, albeit one that takes place are introduced to Ayten (Meral Taygun) Seytan (1974).
entirely in an Islamic setting. and her daughter Gill (Canan Perver).
The Exorcist was not to be released in Noises attributed to rats are coming from
Turkey until 1982, and so entrepreneurial the attic of their house. In Seytan, the role
producer Hulki Saner hired well-known of The Exorcist's troubled priest is played
director Metin Erksan - one of the by Tugrul (Cihan Unal), a medical doctor
acclaimed auteurs of Turkish cinema, who by training who chose to pursue an
had shifted to mainstream fare later in his eccentric interest in researching the
9
career - to make a Turkish version, "belief and practice" of exorcism rather
obviously to cash in on the public interest than take up a more lucrative career. His
aroused by widespread media coverage of mother, living in dire poverty, has to be
Friedkin's film. Saner also produced a locked up in an insane asylum where she
Turkish parody of Star Trek, titled Turist eventually dies, haunting Tugrul in his
Omer Uzay Yolunda (Omer the Tourist in nightmares. Meanwhile, all of The
Star Trek, 1974), but the Turkish version Exorcist's possession scenes are
of The Exorcist was intended to be a pure reproduced here, though with less
horror effort with no tongue-in-cheek. spectacular special effects - not
Erksan for his part, while acknowledging surprising, given the incomparable
that he had watched The Exorcist abroad, budgets available to commercial American
claims in interviews that he made Seytan versus Turkish filmmakers. It should also
by following William Peter Blatty's original be noted that the most notorious scene in
novel (from which The Exorcist was The Exorcist is remade with a paper-
adapted) rather than by copying the cutting knife standing in for a cross,
American movie. However, the fact that naturally because of the religious
Seytan even utilises the music score of difference. When all attempts at medical
The Exorcist does not grant much treatment for Gill fail, Ayten calls on
9
credibility to this claim. Tugrul for help. Tugrul in turn contacts Erksan's Susuz
Yaz (Dry Summer,
Seytan opens with a prologue set in the archaeologist, setting the stage for the aka / Had My
the Middle East, where an archaeologist exorcism scenes replicated from the Brother's Wife,
American version. At the end of the film, 1963) had won top
(Agah Hun) discovers a medallion in the prize at the Berlin
sands of the deserts where a giant statue Ayten and her de-possessed daughter Film Festival.

Turkey
above: piously visit a mosque. Gill feels an Islamic ones", is nevertheless marked by
Karanlik Sular (aka
Serpent's Tale, impulse to kiss the hand of a ho/a, the cultural essentialism. Had he not
1993), produced same person who put Tugrul in contact regarded Christian and Islamic cultural
and directed by with the archaeologist (inexplicably, this codes as mutually exclusive ones which
Kutlug Ataman.
hand-kissing scene is missing from video cannot be transformed into each other
prints of the film released by Alparslan without a resulting loss of identity, but
Video). Seytan ends with the camera instead as already overlapping systems of
panning the interiors of the mosque as thought which can be flexibly played with
religious (Islamic) music plays on the and manipulated, Arslan would have been
soundtrack. able to go beyond "Westernism versus the
A key point, which is either missed or Orient" and see the conflict between
ignored in previous discussions of Seytan, modernisation/materialism and religion/
is that the plot of The Exorcist actually fits tradition which is present in both Western
very well and makes perfect sense in a and Turkish (or, Oriental, for that matter)
Turkish setting. Even Savas Arslan's culture.
comprehensive study of the film, boasting The main theme of Seytan is clearly
a detailed, scene-by-scene (sometimes the reconfirmation of Islam's power and
even replica-by-replica) comparison of the validity. This is by no means a cosmetic
Turkish and American versions, and issue for Turkey, but on the contrary, one
supplemented with intelligently written of the major causes of social unrest in this
analysis, is not exempt from this country (even more so than in the U.S.). In
10
criticism. To be fair, Arslan does Turkey, the roots of the modernisation/
10
Arslan, S .
acknowledge in a footnote that Seytan materialism versus religion/tradition
(Autumn 1999) might be read as a story of the failure of conflict can be traced back to the 19th
'Yesilgam'm "Westernism" and the triumph of the century, when the ailing Ottoman state
Seyfan'i
Holywood'un The Orient, but he claims that such a reading began taking some tentative steps towards
Exorcistini Dover!', would be "complicated" in the face of what modernisation - steps which were opposed
Geceyansi he sees as the "Christian codes" present in by the religious elite and the masses
Sinemasi 5, 50-61
[revised and the film. Arslan's meticulous essay, the under their influence. Turkey's moderni-
expanded version of main strain of which is to prove that sation drive became radicalised under the
an unpublished
English-language
Seytan is "identity-less" due to the subsequent Republican regime, which
paper]. "transformation of Christian codes into initiated secularisation programs in all

areas of life. Today this tension remains Also in 1995, Alemdar went ahead
not only at the forefront of the Turkish and made another 16 mm go at the horror
political scene, but deeply embedded genre, this time without any singing
within the Turkish socio-cultural psyche numbers. The unreleased Silphenin Bedeli
as well. (The Price of Doubt) is about a serial killer
who drugs his wife into confusing reality
Turkish Psycho and hallucinations. The final scene is a
setpiece rarely if ever to be found in
Another Turkish remake of a world- Turkish cinema: a cellar full of the victims'
famous American horror film is the bloody corpses. The only other Turkish
unreleased Kader Diyelim [Let's Say It's serial killer film is the 1983 video
Fate, 1995). This ultra-low budget, 16 mm production Lanetli Kadinlar; this
movie is a Turkish version of none other sexploitation effort was made by Kadir
than Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). Akgiin, a director mainly specialising in
The most interesting and scarcely direct-to-video pornography.
believable aspect of this oddity is that it is
a film whose narrative is Dark Waters
punctuated/punctured by singing, as in
many Indian productions. The most "well-made" Turkish horror film
Kader Diyelim was produced and is undoubtedly Karanlik Sular (Serpent's
directed by Mehmet Alemdar, who also Tale, 1993), produced and directed by
appears in a small role in the picture. Kutlug Ataman as his debut feature. This
Years ago, Alemdar had lent some money art-house horror movie has a deliberately
to Turkish singer Vahdet Vural, who had multi-layered narrative rich in metaphors
failed to pay him back. Alemdar eventually concerning, among other things, the
reminded Vural of his debt, and asked identity crisis of the Turkish nation.
Vural to star in a movie of his for free in Lamia (Gonen Bozbey), who comes
return for forgetting about the money from an aristocratic background and lives
forever. Alemdar, whose sparse credits as In a seaside mansion in Istanbul, is told
director are mainly of melodramatic films by an American named Richie Hunter
featuring popular singers, was privately a (Daniel Chace) that her son Haldun (Metin
fan of horror movies. He resolved to use Uygun), who was believed to have died in
this cheaper-than-ever opportunity to a drowning accident, is actually still alive.
blend the two genres. Thus, Kader Diyelim Hunter's intention is to get hold of an
was shot in a few days. archaic manuscript that was discovered
The first part of the film follows its by Haldun. Various other people and
source of inspiration fairly closely: a girl groups - including a false prophet
steals some money from her workplace planning to declare a new religion, and a
(Alemdar plays the customer whose little girl called 'Theodora, the Byzantium
money is taken) and arrives at a desolate Queen" who works in nightclubs
motel, where she is killed by the clerk performing "vampire" shows - are also
while taking a shower. Then her lover after this manuscript. Meanwhile, a series
(Vural) investigates her disappearance, of grotesque murders begin to unfold in
accompanied by a number of extra- the dark alleys and ruined chapels of
diegetic singing scenes. No "mother" turns Istanbul. A subplot involves the pressures
up in the end. put on Lamia by Hasmet (Haluk Kurtoglu)
Not surprisingly, especially during a to dispose of her mansion for insurance
time like the post-1980s when distri- money. Both stories end in fire, as the
bution has been taken over by American mansion is arsoned and Lamia burns the
oligopolies, Kader Diyelim did not receive cursed manuscript. Haldun, who is
any theatrical release. Actually, it is implied to have a vampiric existence,
doubtful whether the film could have intentionally goes out in broad daylight for
made it to theatres even in a less the purpose of self-destruction.
demanding distribution environment, Although the Ottoman Turks
since its production values are below the conquered Byzantium (remnant of the
average of those low-budget exploitation Eastern Roman Empire and site of today's
movies which proliferated from the late Istanbul) centuries ago, a certain degree of
60s to the early 80s. However, Alemdar Byzantian heritage has survived through
feels frustrated that he was not even able the centuries. This heritage can be located
to sell his picture to television networks in the presence of a small Greek
and is holding on to it at present. community in cosmopolitan Istanbul, in

Turkey
the countless historical monuments dating one reviewer comparing it favourably to

from the Byzantine period which form an Alain Robbe-Grillet's directorial debut,
integral part of the urban landscape and in L'immortelle (1963), also shot in Istanbul.
the traces of Greek culture reflected in the While both films have enigmatic plots,
city's cuisine and other cultural features. Ataman's is actually far more socially and
In Karanlik Sular, the figure of the little girl politically conscious than Robbe-Grillet's,
Theodora, introduced as "the Byzantian for the reasons discussed above. Where
Queen" during her nightclub shows, is Karanlik Sular is most reminiscent of
clearly a symbol of this Byzantian/Greek L'immortelle is in its perfect use of
heritage. Lamia, hopelessly attempting to Istanbul locales (credit must be given here
hold on to her luxurious mansion and to cinematographer Chris Squires). It fully
living with memories of a long-gone succeeds in giving this ancient and
grandiose past, is apparently a symbol of cosmopolitan (but also quite modern) city
Turkey's Ottoman heritage, and Hasmet, of at the cultural and geographic crossroads
the modern Turkish Republic. By and of two continents a mysterious
large, the Republic's founding fathers atmosphere, one that is both menacing
opted for a radical repudiation of Ottoman and alluring - wholly in tune with the
heritage, burning bridges with the past to film's Turkish-language title, which
gain a stronghold in the modern world - translated means "Dark Waters."
just as Hasmet wants Lamia's old mansion
burned down for financial profit. Needless Conclusion
to say, Richie Hunter symbolises modern
American imperialism, which puts up a Whatever the future may hold, the fact
cordial face to hide its self-serving motives. remains that, to date, Turkish cinema has
On the other hand, it is difficult to produced only three features unambigu-
pinpoint the metaphoric meaning behind ously falling within a strict definition of
the figure of Haldun, living a ghostly the horror genre, plus one art-house
existence and eventually seeking self- horror movie and a few additional pictures
11
annihilation. Perhaps it is the Turkish located within other genres but featuring
Horror does psyche, tortured by an identity crisis and 11
seem to be enjoying
horror m o t i f s . None of these films build
a growing popularity torn apart by all the conflicting forces on the horrific elements present in
amongst young, pulling it in different directions. Perhaps it Turkish folklore and mythology. Instead,
prospective
filmmakers in
is Kutlug Ataman himself, an American- they are either directly inspired by
Turkey today, a educated artist of Turkish origin, who internationally-renowned American horror
trend witnessed in feels this identity crisis even more acutely movies (as in the cases of Seytan and
the recent prolifer-
ation of horror due to his own personal history. It can be Kader Diyelim) or they feature vampires
shorts entered Into added that Ataman also happens to be a who should be regarded more as imports
national film gay filmmaker, which may have from Western popular culture to Turkish
festivals. Examples
include Bans Yos's contributed to his feelings of alienation; popular culture than as an indigenous
black-and-white his next feature was Lola+Bilidikid (Lola + Turkish folkloric element. This despite the
surreal Freudian Billy the Kid, 1999), a biting drama about
drama, Dr.
fact that Turkey geographically
Caligari'nin Karisi ve the gay subculture within the Turkish neighbours Eastern Europe, the birth of
Oglu (The Wife and community in Germany, a special case of the vampire myth.
Son of Dr. Caligari,
2000), Biray
multiple alienations. The case was emphasized above as
Dalkiran's slickly Karanlik Sular was screened in not to dismiss Seytan as a senseless
made S/s (The Fog,
2001) about a
several festivals abroad under the title attempt to copy a foreign text into an alien
haunted apartment Serpent's Tale. When it finally received a cultural background. Whereas the source
and Ahmet Uiugay's very limited theatrical release in Turkey, it material was of foreign origin (an
prize-winning
Seyian Kovma flopped at the box office, selling a dismal American movie based on an American
(Exorcist, 2000), figure of only 1,738 tickets. However, it best-seller novel), it nevertheless had
which depicts an should be noted that 1995 was one of the
Islamic exorcism
connotations which could make sense in a
seance. low points for Turkish cinema in general, Turkish setting once some modifications
with just ten Turkish films reaching the were made. On the other hand, Kader
author's note: big screen, half of them selling fewer than
Sincere thanks to
Diyelim as a semi-musical pseudo-remake
Bulent Oran, Sadi 10,000 tickets and only two more than of Psycho, is a telling example to what
Konuraip (to whom 100,000 (in subsequent years, several degrees national filmmakers could go in
credit is due for
coming across the
Turkish films have passed the 1 million bending and perhaps breaking with
only surviving print tickets benchmark). generic conventions if they want to blend
of bluler Although Karanlik Sular failed at the foreign sources with local conventions.
Konusmazki),
Mehmet Alemdar box office, it did receive near-unanimous The case of vampirism also provide
and Ózlem Oz. positive critical reception, with more than examples as to the degree popular culture

elements are flexible rather than being

tied with fixed functions with respect to
their original breeding grounds. The
seductive vampire-witch of the popular
Tarkan movies (and comics) fits perfectly
into the pattern of vampires as metaphors
for aggressive and threatening sexuality
as observed in most Western vampire
fiction and cinema. On the other hand, the
utilisation of the vampire is not
exclusively confined to such sexuality-
oriented imagery neither in the west nor in
Turkey, as in the cases of the anti-fascist
themed Jonathan (1969) from West
Germany and Kutlug Ataman's Karanlik
Sular where vampiric characters are
employed in perhaps less explicitly
political but nevertheless clearly socially-
relevant plots.
Within the vampire subgenre, the
specific case of the adoption of the
Dracula theme is particularly interesting familiar and the historical connection above:
Drákula Istanbul'da.
in Turkey since the source novel was completely alien, it was the reverse in
partly inspired from a historical figure Turkey. Thus, Turkish filmmakers could
definitely part of Turkish history whereas exploit this connection far more early than
being completely unknown to Western their Western counterparts. Neither below:
readers and spectators until a few decades Dracula nor any other popular culture Tarkan: Gumus
ago. In other words, whereas in the west, element can be 'staked' so to speak with Eger (aka Tarkan:
The Silver Saddle),
the vampiric side of Dracula was more fixed origins to any ground. 1970.

Witches, spells and politics:

the horror films of Indonesia
Stephen Gladwin
Appreciating Indonesian cinema's horror when the Japanese controlled the country
output is not an easy task for the Western in 1942, and later when the country was
psyche. First impressions typically range handed over to the Dutch after the war.
from outright bewilderment to sarcastic Although exploitive, these documentaries
humour accompanied by nervous laughter. share some traits with Indonesian horror
Western viewers often find amusement in films of the early 1980s in that both genres
the impoverished budgets, cut-rate special eagerly showcase Indonesia's complex
effects and clumsy dialogue of Indonesian culture. It must also be noted that the
horror films. But to pass off this entire Chinese were present during this time and
country's cinefantastique is a loss not only even had theatres established by 1910 in
for fright fans. Unbeknownst to most Chinese provinces in Jakarta such as
adventurous Western viewers, Indonesian Glodok and Senen. 1
horror and fantastic cinema is one of the The first true Indonesian film was
least adulterated conductors of the largely a Dutch production, 1926's
traditional customs, history and fears Loetoeng Kasoroeng (The Enchanted
indigenous to the Indonesian people. We Monkey). It was blandly received, due in no
begin with an overview of the history of small part to the primarily foreign (Dutch)
Indonesia's film industry, which, rife with cast. The first Indonesian film that made
political strife and fluctuating national an impact came from China's Wong
outlook, greatly shaped the format of the Brothers. These two immigrants arrived in
country's contemporary horror cinema. Bandung from Shanghai in 1928 and
found their first success in Si Conat (1929),
A brief Indonesian (horror) film history a story detailing the duel between an
2
Indonesian nemesis and a Chinese hero.
Indonesia's film history is comprised of It was set in Jakarta and, more
three periods of occupation by three importantly, was made there as well.
respective countries. The Dutch were the Jakarta would later become the hub of
first to utilise the archipelago's rich Indonesian filmmaking and assorted
resources, and soon began making mostly televised media, as well as the city of choice 1
Sen, K. (1994)
exotic documentaries to export back to the for many modern Indonesian horror Indonesian Cinema:
Framing the New
mainland during the early 1920s. In fact, a narratives. Si Conat's success resulted in Order. Atlantic
Dutch studio in Indonesia was constructed large part from its mixture of Western Highlands, N.J.: Zed
cinematic technique (with all of the Books, 14.
solely for the purposes of documentary/
propaganda production: the "Algemeen elaborate action set-pieces and staging this 2
Ibid.
Nederlandsch-Indisch Film" (ANIF) in the implies) and indigenous ethnic folktales.
mid 30s. This was an important company opposite:
Although the Dutch were keen on Poster artwork for
primarily because in 1950 it would exporting propaganda and exploitation Nyi Blorong (aka
metamorphose into the "Perusahaan Film films flashing Indonesia's exotic qualities, it Hungry Snake
Negara" (PFN), Indonesia's first Woman aka The
wasn't until Japan's brief occupation of the Snake Queen), one
government-run film production company. country from 1942-45 that Indonesians of the many films
The company would change hands twice truly learned the power of politics in starring Indonesia's
before the government took control: first first lady of horror,
cinema. The Japanese recognised the Suzzanna.

Indonesia
opposite: capacity of film to serve as propaganda and

British DVD cover
old regime, featuring his "guided
for Leak (aka employed it liberally to fuel the war effort. democracy", was crushed by a coup. Soon
Mystics in Bali). Indonesians themselves would later employ General Suharto stepped in and introduced
this cinematic tactic in horror films to many new policies for Indonesia, including
enforce their perspective on the country his most famous and comprehensive one,
and its customs. Most importantly during the so-called "New Order." Suharto aimed
this period, however, was the freedom, at Westernising Indonesia to some extent
however restricted, that the Japanese by, among other means, increasing
granted burgeoning Indonesian consumerism. This point carries significant
filmmakers. While still under tight weight because it stimulated the rise of the
supervision, the Japanese allowed the Indonesian middle class, images of which
Indonesians precious control over the would prove to be both an accurate (and
industry, and the country's indigenous often inaccurate) mirror of Indonesian life
people could finally feel secure behind the on screen, especially in more contemporary
camera. Indonesians also absorbed horror movies. What follows is an in-depth
essential technical film-making knowledge chronological look at five Indonesian horror
from their regents. and fantasy films, what makes them work
Once the Dutch reclaimed their (and why they sometimes don't), and the
territory on 17 August 1945, new film and culture hidden within.
television corporations began to spring up.
One of them, the South Pacific Film The early years: 1980-1986
Company (SPFC), harboured Indonesian
film's future superstar, Usmar Ismail. The general rule of thumb for Indonesian
Ismail was the first to appreciate cinema as horror cinema is that films incorporating
a true art form, and such films as his debut the country's rich, Indian-derived
Harta Karun [Hidden Treasure, 1949) mythology constitute the sweet spot of the
remain widely admired among his fans and genre. The various creatures contained in
Indonesian film-goers generally. this mythology are outlandish, gory and
Indonesia's true independence came bizarre enough to hold their own with their
four years later on 27 December 1949, and Hong Kong, Filipino and Japanese counter-
proved to be a potent stimulus for parts. To name but a few, there is the South
Indonesian film. The threat of war was Seas Queen, the Sundelbolong (ghosts of
lifted and the people could finally concen- women who died during childbirth,
trate on their film-making. Imports were rendered cinematically with a gaping hole in
also popular, and by 1955, 184 films were their stomach and an eternal longing for a
being imported from India. The surplus of child) and the Snake Queen (daughter of
indigenous filmmaking was partly the the South Seas Queen and a popular figure
result of American intervention and aid by in Indonesian horror cinema).
the AMPAI ("American Motion Pictures And then there is the Leak, a mystical
Association in Indonesia"). This firm process indigenous to Bali, which enables
further solidified Indonesian filmmakers' its practitioners to transmogrify into a
talents by instructing them in advanced variety of objects. Prolific Indonesian
film technique and contributing sizable director H. Tjut Djalil employed this
sums of money toward the cause. Such a intriguing strand of local mythology in his
partnership paved the way for future 1981 film of the same name - most
American co-productions in more modern commonly known outside Indonesia as
Indonesian horror films. It proved to be a Mystics in Bali. He also uses a common
trade-off, however, as an influx of American creature of South East Asian folklore, the
imports came to the country, often Penanggalan. This hideous creature is a
portraying Asians as savages and detached woman's (usually) head with spine
primitives. Finally, it must be noted that and organs still intact. The thing looks like
the Indonesian language truly began to a sort of fleshy jellyfish with its trailing
mature into what is widely spoken today baggage of viscera. It also appeared in a
due in no small part to the rise of film in Hong Kong production: 1977's Fei taugh Mo
the country. The dialect that was spoken Neuih (The Witch with Flying Head). But In
onscreen (almost always the same) soon Leak, Djalil incorporates a literary source as
reached more and more people and well: Putra Madra's Leak Ngakak.
stimulated its increasingly widespread use.
Djalil's film begins with yet another
However, the fruitful times of this era Indonesian custom, as the two protago-
were shattered in the late hours of 30 nists watch a barong dance taking place. It
September, 1965, when General Sukarno's is of the wali (sacred) class of Indonesian

witches, spells and politics

Indonesia
right: dance, and it tells the story of frightened

Suzzanna stars in
Nyi Blorong. villagers ridding their province of an evil
presence. Djalil may well have been
engaged in some foreshadowing here, since
his Indonesian audience would obviously
know such a dance and what it entailed
(the haunting of a village by some
mythological force) and would realise that
the film could follow a similar storyline,
which it does.
The basic premise of Leak concerns
an American (in some prints, an
Australian) woman named Cathy Kean
(Ilona Agathe Bastian) who travels to
Indonesia wishing to learn about the
mysterious leak magic. She is befriended
by a local, Mahendra (Yos Santo), and the
two of them set out together to meet the provides insight into the Indonesian psyche.
leak priestess, whom Mahendra says First, the notion of a grotesque, evil
possesses the power to transform her priestess utilising dastardly techniques in
followers (in keeping with the legend). order to replenish her youth is a common
Unsurprisingly, the confrontation stand-by in Indonesian horror, since beauty
with the priestess and Cathy's subsequent and complacency are essential components
tutelage throw the town into turmoil. In for a traditionally-accepted Indonesian
exchange for lessons, Cathy is forced to woman. However, the most important
offer herself (well, only her head) to the cultural current running through the film
2
See, e.g., Heider, priestess, who will use it to scour the town concerns Cathy. Because of her ignorance,
K.G. (1991)
Indonesian Cinema: in search of blood from the foetuses of Cathy (a foreigner) interrupts the country's
National Culture pregnant women. The blood will then be careful balance by ignoring warnings of the
on Screen. magic's powers, and the end result is
Honolulu: University
used to rejuvenate the haggard priestess.
of Hawaii Press. Soon enough, the town is terrorised by the disorder. Although previous scholars have
Penanggalan and the villagers fight back looked at the presence of disorder in
below: 3
Perkawinan Nyi with traditional magic to end the terror. Indonesian cinema, this theme has never
Blorong, another of Leak is an important film in the genre, truly been explored with respect to the
the many "Snake horror genre. Disorder is signified in Leak
Woman" films not least because it showcases more than a
starring Suzzanna. few Indonesian horror customs and by the collective hysteria of the villagers and
the rampant deaths caused by Cathy when
she is a possessed Penanggalan. The
various sequences of angry villagers
swinging flaming torches at the creature in
the black night are a very common image of
chaos in Indonesian horror.
In a rebellious move typical of Djalil,
Leak does not end with the restoration of
order, as many other contemporary horror
films do. Undoubtedly, the Indonesian
audience would expect a "cure" for Cathy
and the demise of the priestess, but this
proves only half correct. Mahendra's uncle,
having successfully battled the priestess
once before, has extensive knowledge of
how to destroy her. He dispenses llmu
(knowledge) on how to destroy the
Penanggalan menace: they must bury
Cathy's decapitated body and ensure that
the head does not re-attach itself to the
corpse. Doing so will weaken the priestess,
thereby making her demise that much
easier to obtain. The priestess is destroyed
in spectacular fashion (via dated albeit
energetic optical effects), but unfortunately

Cathy's fate is sealed, as her body must

remain separate from her head. The film
ends abruptly with an exhausted
Mahendra and his uncle looking sorrowful
and pensive. Hardly the "happy ending"
usually brought about by restored order in
Indonesian horror cinema! This untradi-
tional, brooding ending is atypical of most
films in the genre and helps to elevate Leak
above lesser efforts.
Despite all the outlandish, gory
special effects in Leak, including the
Penanggalan and some rather clever
transformation scenes, the film is surpris-
ingly asexual. There is no sex whatsoever,
not even a brief flash of nudity. This may
seem strange to Western horror fans,
suckled on the raunchy slasher films of the
early 80's, the time of Leak's production.
However, one must consider the circum-
stances of the time. During this period,
Indonesian cinema had a rigid "no sex"
policy strictly enforced by the BSF (Badan
Sensor Film), the country's censorship
board. But over the next few years, the BSF
would relax its censorship code somewhat, young woman (Suzzanna) hatches from above:
due in part to the increasing amount of the egg, while lightning pulses throughout Nyi Blorong (aka
foreign product that was exempt from Hungry Snake
the cave. Prolific Indonesian horror Woman aka The
censorship and thus was significantly more composer Gatot Sudarto's sonic cues are Snake Queen).
erotic. It was, as they say, the right time especially frenzied here, punctuating the
and right place for Indonesia's first horror activity. The narrator confirms the Snake
bombshell, Suzzanna, to strut her stuff... Queen's appearance, and dictates to the
Among Suzzanna's earliest roles, one audience that she is "a beautiful woman
that she would grow into over the years was with the soul of a serpent." This
that of the Snake Queen, another standby declaration is significant because it carries
of Indonesian legend transported to with it an air of danger, suggesting that the
celluloid. The Snake Queen is the daughter Snake Queen is to be feared and dealt with
of Nyi Roro Kidul, the "Queen of the South quite cautiously. The Snake Queen is just
Seas", and resembles the Western Genie, one of many fearful women in Indonesian
with a few key exceptions. The Snake horror cinema. In general, women in the
Queen is far more malicious than the Genie, genre fall into one of two groups: those
and "deals in human lives" (to quote one who possess fearful magic and exercise a
Indonesian horror film) since she demands reign of terror over the populace (especially
the blood of her customers' loved ones as men), or those "proper" women who are
payment for earthly riches. According to more traditionally restrained, pleasant and
legend, the Snake Queen's sole gift is obedient. Often, the fearful women
wealth. This fact has provided a useful
springboard for Indonesian directors, such
as Sisworo Gautama Putra, to balance the
shocks with a tone of morality.
Such is the case in Putra's 1982 film,
Nyi Blorong Putrl Nyl Loro Kidul (Snake
Queen), an exemplary entry in the Snake
Queen cycle. The film begins with a well-
worn Indonesian horror tradition: the
graphic creation of a mythical monster (in
this case, the eponymous Queen),
accompanied by a narrator. We see Queen
Kidul praying to the gods for a child, and left:
soon an oversized snake egg appears. In More delirious
typically spectacular fashion, a bloodied horror imagery from
Nyi Blorong.

Indonesia
represent the collective unconscious fear taken the life of Kukro's former wife in
of female sexuality, as they almost always return for the riches she has bestowed
aggressively indulge in sex. upon him.
In the next scene we see a traditional The film's plot is a seemingly simple
Indonesian funeral, in which a husband, story of greed and its catastrophic results.
Kukro, mourns his wife's death. This is a But beneath this rudimentary premise
social affair, as evidenced by the entire again lies fascinating evidence of a
family's presence as well as countless particular culture. Kukro's greed clearly
other relatives and friends. Included in the reflects Indonesian society's contrasting
familial procession is Delvi, Kukro's new views on the individual and the group.
wife. Delvi is in fact the Snake Queen, with While Westerners treat individual liberties
4
whom Kukro is secretly conspiring to gain not only as a blessing, but as a right,
Heider, 30. wealth. Upon closer inspection of the Indonesians consider too much individu-
below: corpse, Andika (Barry Prima, sometimes ality selfish. Perhaps Karl Heider put it best
Pengabdi Setan is billed as Berry) remarks that the fatal when he wrote: "For Indonesians, who place
a rare exception wounds on her neck appear to be more value on the health of the group, this
among Indonesian
horror films, being snakebites. Director Putra has given the blatant individualism (of the west) seems
4
based on a well- audience an obvious clue as to what is peculiarly selfish." If one is to strive for
known Western going on: Delvi (the Snake Woman) has riches, why not include the family, or some
model (Phantasm).
other group for that matter? Kukro admits
to his daughter Sasti later in the film that
he always kept his family in mind during
his monetary pursuits, but Sasti (and the
audience) knows better, especially when she
learns that Kukro also fed his son to the
Snake Woman in return for riches. An
individual's selfishness causes death and
the break-up of the family unit, all of
which results in chaos.
The scenes with the Snake Queen in
her lair also provide valuable insights
into the progressive loosening of
censorship. In all the films of the
Snake Queen omnibus, she
possesses a cabal of eternally
| youthful female servants. In
subsequent films, they are more
and more scantily clad, eventually
resembling strip-tease dancers. In
this early entry, however, the
.» servants are well covered except for
their bare arms. The most blatantly
sexual sequence comes from another
generic Snake Queen standby - the
seduction of a new "customer." These

seduction sequences are always garishly lit left:

with trenchant costume and set design and Sundel Bolong,
another horror role
provide some of Indonesian cinema's most for Suzzanna.
spectacular set-pieces. The shocking
sexuality is always on centre stage,
however. Although tame by foreign film
standards, these set-pieces are nonetheless
important for their increasingly bold
portrayals of sexuality. In Indonesian
cinema, sex is often a means to an end. For
example, many sex scenes are used to
signify pregnancy, while others go for the
exploitation approach by showing rape. The
Snake Queen, however, uses its sex scene
to create suspense, signalling as it does an
imminent threat. Whenever a sex scene in
Indonesian horror portrays the act as
simply pleasurable, there is an inherent
element of naughtiness...and danger. Not Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973). Part of what
surprisingly, many of the Snake Queen's makes Indonesian horror cinema so unique
victims in subsequent films die a horrible is its refusal to localise recognisable horror
post-coital death. sequences from successful foreign horror
There are more profound instances of films. Exceptions do exist, such as the
disorder in the family unit later in the film. Phantasm (1979)-inspired Pengabdi Setan
Andika also falls under the Snake Queen's (made the same year and also lensed by
spell, and the result is disaster. As his Putra), but for the most part, foreign horror
lovesick obsession progresses, Andika's life sequences remain untouched. Such is the
falls apart. He misses his classes. He case with the scene of Sasti's possession.
isolates himself from his friends and All the stops are pulled out here: her bed
family. And the Snake Queen's world is levitates, her voice is a marvel of spooky
equally warped, for she has found true love post-synching and she is shown levitating
in Andika. She, too, abandons her lair and above the bed. It is a surreal effect indeed to
leaves her maidens behind. Soon the view such a familiar sequence amidst such
Queen is torn between her duties and her an exotic film.
earthly love. She ultimately breaks off the While the climatic duel between The
relationship with help from her mother, Queen and a local, competing mystic is
Queen Kadul. Soon the Queen returns to visually compelling, the final Indonesian
her lair and resumes her duties. Order is horror convention present in the film - the
restored for the Queen, but not for Andika Queen's closing moral diatribe - provides
and his family. the most impact. When Kukro has died a
In another direct effect of the family's gruesome death after failing to provide
chaos, Sasti takes an angry drive after another sacrifice, the Snake Queen warns
being told off by her husband Andika, and Sasti: "Your father's death is his own fault.
crashes in a near-fatal accident. While He tried to get rich the easy way. Work hard
lying in her hospital bed, Sasti has a and struggle to make a good life." Whether
fevered dream. The dream sequence that intentional or not, such a statement is
follows is one of Indonesian horror symptomatic of Suharto's "New Order" and
cinema's most hallucinogenic and wildly emphasises hard, honest work for personal
imaginative: she views an all-female group (and national) gain.
of dancers who soon turn to snakes (a Although Prima occupied a substan-
potent "women as monsters" image if ever tial amount of screen time in Snake Queen,
there was one) and sees all of the Queen's it wasn't until Jaka Sembung (aka The
victims in a hellish, bizarre sequence that Warrior), 1981, that he really came into his
would fit well in one of Brazil's "Coffin Joe" own. The Warrior and its two sequels
5
movies. She soon views Andika passion- remain the high point of Prima's career. It
ately kissing the Snake Queen (who now helps that the films themselves are greatly
resembles the Medusa) and learns of his compelling and are dense with Indonesian
terrible secret. She then bolts awake. culture and cinematic tradition. While the
The remainder of the film concerns the two subsequent instalments were winners 5
See André
resolution of the disorder and a possession in their own right, the original entry Barcinskl's chapter
in this book, from
sequence obviously lifted from William remains the crowning jewel of the series. p.27.

Indonesia
Prima plays the role of nationalist bered, taking on an entire village of

hero Jaka Sambung in the Dutch colonial opponents along with the powerful Jaka.
period of Indonesia (the 1820's, approxi- The other major source of insight is
mately). Jaka's local anti-authoritarian in the representation of the Dutch. In the
antics bait the wrath of Dutch general Van film (and in most Indonesian films
Schramm, who soon takes action to claim featuring the Dutch), the foreign
Jaka's life. Van Schramm employs a local oppressors dwell in an isolated, typically
mystic who resurrects the body of Ki Item, opulent Western mansion. Once again,
a long-dead warlock. This resur-rection the idea of isolation from a group suggests
sequence recalls Cathy's death in Leak in to the viewer the moral bankruptcy of the
reverse: Ki Item's headless body is re- people depicted. Most curious, however, is
united with his head in lurid fashion. the presence in The Warrior of a Westerner
Lightning pierces the inky-black sky atop among the Dutch ranks. The bulk of the
a mountain and pulsating, phospho- Dutch forces in the film are Indonesians,
rescent rocks levitate through the air. It is but one white general stands out. White
important to note the mountain location. actors in Indonesian cinema are typically
Often in Indonesian horror and fantasy relegated to historical roles such as these
films, a mountainous region is used to and are otherwise absent in the horror
symbolise isolation, a separation from the genre. The Dutch presence in the film also
village, where devious black magic is signifies the "bad" of the west, and as
performed. Upon his resurrection, Ki Item such the film stands as a sort of lesson on
begins the hunt for Jaka, which Western evils. This ties into Suharto's
culminates in an astonishing climax. New Order ideology: he wanted to
The Warrior is so memorable because facilitate the best the west had to offer
it has such an eclectic foundation of three (technology, business) but to avoid the
genres: horror, silat (Indonesia's own pitfalls (slavery, bigotry).
variant on Hong Kong chop-socky), and
"compeni" (Dutch period drama). Such an The later years: 1987-1993
ambitious construction yields a higher
volume of Indonesian traditions and As the decade came to a close, so did an era
glimpses of life, and Putra's keen eye for of vibrant Indonesian horror film-making,
striking visuals is in full force here as with originality progressively giving way to
well. cheap exploitation. Indonesian filmmakers
Jaka and his fellow villagers practice were showing more skin in their pictures
Islam, one of Indonesia's main religions, than ever before. Overseas competition, both
and one that typifies the Indonesian belief voluntary and involuntary, accounted for
in the virtues of selflessness. Jaka is much of the change; try as it might, the
fighting for the public cause of Indonesian government was powerless to
overthrowing the Dutch oppression. Even prevent the influx of black market
the enemy's daughter falls for him when pornographic videotapes seeping in from
she witnesses his courage and loyalty; she overseas. And then there was the pressure
is amazed at how he is able to "put his from mainstream foreign films, many of
people and his religion always ahead of which sported heaping amounts of nudity
himself." In perhaps the most extreme and sex, resulting in the loss of Indonesian
(certainly the most graphic) instance of directors' core audience of adolescent boys.
self-sacrifice, Jaka's wife Sertei makes it Indonesian horror filmmakers thus turned
her dying wish to donate her eyes to Jaka, to the lurid marketing tactics of such
who has been blinded by Van Schramm in exploitation directors as H.G. Lewis and
a vicious confrontation. While Pete Tombs Russ Meyer. Soon, wallpapering Jakarta
describes the gory transplantation scene were outrageous posters with busty
that follows as an "excuse for some Eyes Indonesian women in various compromising
Without a Face surgery scenes and creaky situations, and the gore-drenched victims of
6
special effects", it behooves the viewer to outlandish monsters. Another important
grant the scene in question more than a component of the increasingly relaxed
passing glance because of its cultural censorship code was Suharto's revision of
significance. Finally, the villagers and the his New Order. By the late 1980s, Suharto
6
Tombs, P. (1998) village itself act as a unit, further punctu- either realised the fruitlessness of his
Mondo Macabro:
Weird and ating the importance of the group psyche endeavours to mould Indonesian cinema so
Wonderful Cinema in Indonesian life. Nowhere is this concept as to better portray his country or he simply
around the World. more apparent than during the climactic stopped caring. As a result, films were no
New York: St.
Martin's Griffin, 71. battle, where Ki Item is sorely outnum- longer a priority for the New Order regime.

Not surprisingly, Indonesian horror

directors were quick to take advantage of
this new freedom. One of the earliest was
H. Tjut Djalil (director of Leak) in his 1987
film Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan - also
known under such titles as Nasty Hunter
and Lady Terminator - an astonishing
picture overflowing with pent-up frustra-
tions brought on by censorship and a
growing fear of modernism and its
precarious benefits.
Nasty Hunter begins with a fairly
traditional sequence recalling Suzzanna's
best films. A narrator recounts the
Indonesian fable of the South Seas Queen
(the Snake Queen's Mother), a fearsome
nymph with an insatiable sexual appetite.
Her lair, populated with scantily clad
handmaidens, recalls the Snake Queen's
cave. At the conclusion of each sex session
she dispatches her partners in particularly
squirmy fashion, as a wriggly serpent
extends from her vagina and bites the
males' member off. However, one suitor
tricks her and grabs the snake before it
can strike. Powerless and enraged, the
Queen vows to avenge this humiliation by
possessing the man's great-
granddaughter. She than retreats to the
sea to discuss with "evil powers" how to
handle "this insult."
Flash ahead to present-day Jakarta,
where Tanya, an Indonesian anthropol-
ogist, Is investigating the myth of the
South Seas Queen. She soon arrives at the
infamous ocean where the Queen is
supposedly slumbering and happens upon
her underwater lair. Tanya lies atop the
Queen's bed and is suddenly spread-
eagled by an invisible force, the Queen's
snake slithering into her vagina. Tanya is
now possessed and, after donning a
bloodthirsty alter-ego, both seduces and
castrates random men for much of the the pseudonym "Jalil Jackson") seasoned above:
subsequent running time, until the police American video
enough to update old conventions with sleeve for H. Tjut
force confronts her in an excessively loud more modern visages. Tanya is really a Djalil's 1987 film
finale. sociological update of Leak's Cathy; she Pembalasan Ratu
Pantai Selatan (aka
Above all, Nasty Hunter is a transi- too is an intellectual woman interested in Lady Terminator
tional picture. It forms a bridge between local myth but is even more assertive and aka Nasty Hunter).
traditional Indonesian horror films and the bold (while on a boat ride to the Queen's
slickly made, American co-produced palace, the boater calls her "lady" and she
horror films to follow (the soundtrack of promptly replies that she would rather be
Nasty Hunter was recorded in LA's called an anthropologist). Another role in
"Intersound" studios). Indonesian horror Leak, that of the local mystic who
filmmakers had been receiving financial dispenses ilmu, becomes in Nasty Hunter a
assistance from the States since the librarian who refers Tanya to a book on the
1950s, but only in the late 80s were their same topic.
films largely (and explicitly) co-produced Of all the horror films lensed under
by the US. Nasty Hunter is especially Suharto's New Order, Nasty Hunter quite
interesting since it benefits from an old possibly possesses the most resonance
veteran of the genre (Djalil, working under and insight. The city of Jakarta is at the

Indonesia
epicentre of Djalil's often-vitriolic critique. Perhaps the ultimate criticism of

It is populated with sleazy, perpetually modernism in the film is Djalil's
horny young men, dive bars and those implication that Western techniques and
proverbial shrines to consumerism, the tools are useless for solving problems that
shopping mall. The scenes in the malls are indigenous to Indonesia. Throughout
echo George Romero's 1978 classic Dawn the film, Jakarta's police force provides
of the Dead, as Djalil's camera focuses on comic relief through their utter
young Indonesian girls and their giddy ineptitude. This wouldn't garner much
excitement over flashy jewellery and other attention if the officers investigating the
hollow, monetary trinkets. Djalil obviously case weren't almost all Westerners. The
has a bone to pick with Suharto's initiation team on the case includes Snake, a
of modernism, as one such girl (replete burned-out stoner with a correspondingly
with 80s-style leg warmers) is messily stoned voice-over and Max McNeal, a
7
Video Watchdog gunned down by Tanya. On the other sceptical Westerner who just happens to
50, 1999, 17. hand, Djalil's comments on economic be the boyfriend of Erika, the great-
below: change are less venomous than Romero's, granddaughter targeted by the scorned
A painted billboard as he is careful to include a high amount South Seas Queen. Max finds Erika's tales
on an Indian city
street (this shot was
of product placement and sprawling of Indonesian legend and the current
taken in Mumbai). skyscrapers in the mise-en-scene. Here the situation unbelievable, and the result is
The big 'A' is the director appears to side with Suharto as he near tragedy as Tanya escapes a hail of
Indian equivalent
of an 'X' cert. eagerly showcases Indonesia's prosperity. bullets in the police station. The fact that
Tanya is invincible towards Western
weapons stands as a strong criticism by
Djalil. His film epitomises the concept of
"reluctant modernism" because it
suggests that the only way to deal with
such a menace is to combat it with
traditional, uniquely Indonesian
mysticism. Erika's uncle is an Indonesian
wise man (in one scene he even sits atop a
mountain, recalling past films with
mountainous imagery and its connota-
tions) and he ultimately dispenses the
skills necessary to destroy Tanya. Djalil
hammers home the need to honour
tradition by ending the film with a final
cautionary strand of narration: "The stars
will be here long after we are no more."
Such insights fare a great deal better
than the film's visceral sequences, which
border on numbing. The initial "You go
girl!" sentiment is jarringly torn away once
Tanya is possessed and begins shooting
up Jakarta with her inexhaustible Uzi.
The kill sequences, while bloody, are
largely unimaginative and unspectacular.
And while the nudity is the most graphic
Indonesian film audiences had seen until
that time, it is hardly put to more use
than mere exploitation. Finally, and
possibly because the film is an American
co-production, the dubbing is particularly
obnoxious, rife with snide quips and
incongruous American idioms.
Although critic Tim Lucas calls it
"...a sell-out of their [Indonesia's] national
7
legends to Hollywood commercialism",
Nasty Hunter has a great deal to offer. In
fact, it has the distinction of being the
best of the "new wave" of Indonesian
horrors since it bothers to examine the

Indonesian people's largely unconscious Susan with a forbidden book of Sumatran

fear of the modernist machine. legend. This standby, however, is cheapened
Dangerous Seductress (1993) lies on by a hackneyed Evil Dead (1982) rip-off: as
the other half of the spectrum of new wave Susan picks up the book of Sumatran
Indonesian horror. It is a tedious, vacuous legend and recites its incantations, the fog
cash-in of a film. This is doubly sad machine is turned up to full blast and there
considering the talent on board, as H. Tjut are more tacky visual effects. When
Djalil serves as the picture's associate combined with genuine Indonesian legends
director (as well as a co-director under the and intriguing cultural meditations such
collective pseudonym "John Miller"). If effects would be easier to forgive, but here
nothing else, Dangerous Seductress sees they come off as cheap and obvious.
the Indonesian horror film industry come Perhaps the most easily recognisable
full circle from localised shocks to sleekly- trait possessed by the film is its updated
made, sell-out cinema. image of women. Certainly, Susan and
The film opens with some attractive Linda are two of the most independent,
aerial photography of a clear Jakarta modern women in Indonesian cinema
night. A gang of jewel thieves, including a (although they are both Westerners). They
Westerner, is engaged in a frenzied car join other women at bars and enjoy
chase with Jakarta's finest. Crashing in a drinking and smoking - strict cultural
nearby forest, one gang member's arm is taboos for Indonesian females until quite
severed and a shard of glass swiftly slices recently. But have gender roles really
off his finger. In a sequence that owes changed that much? Both women are often
much to horror films of the past, the finger portrayed in the tired role of sex object:
crawls off into what appears to be a make- Linda has a career in bikini modelling, and
up compact (!) and burrows into the Susan uses her fetching looks to lure men
ground. Almost on cue, lightning strikes into post-coital deaths. Hardly anything
and, in a sequence obviously inspired by new for women in film.
Clive Barker's Hellraiser (1987), a gloppy There is one flash of worthy social
skeleton punches out from the ground and commentary in the film, although this may
regenerates itself with the victim's blood. have been a lucky coincidence. The scene
Soon the skeleton has transformed into a in question begins with what appears to be
beautiful nude woman (Amy Weber), who a traditional Balinese dance in a temple.
promptly begins a hunt for human The viewer, understandably disoriented,
haemoglobin to replenish her body. soon realises the trick when the camera
Then, in a sequence that plays like a pans out and the shouts of a director can
live-action sentence fragment, the direction be heard: it turns out that the "dance" is
cuts to a seemingly unrelated vignette in really just a bikini photo shoot, and the
sunny Los Angeles, where Susan (Tonya scantily clad dancers are, in reality, mere
Offer) and boyfriend John (Joseph Cassano) models. The transition from tradition to
are having a particularly nasty fight, which modernism is perfectly encapsulated here.
ends in an attempted rape. Fleeing her In fact, it is one of the best comments on
apartment in terror, Susan decides to visit Indonesia's movement towards modernism
her sister Linda (Kristin Anin), a bubbly to appear in an Indonesian film.
blonde who just happens to live in (you It is all downhill from there, however.
guessed it) Indonesia. Before long, Susan Dangerous Seductress concludes with a
becomes ensnared in Weber's grasp, luring lame battle between Weber and a mystic,
men to their deaths to regenerate her one that fails to distinguish itself from
master's body. similar mystical battle royales in previous
Like Nasty Hunter, the best asset of films. This constitutes an especially
Dangerous Seductress is its new look at disappointing ending not just to a
existing Indonesian traditions. It just particular film, but also to an era. Unlike
doesn't do it nearly as well as the former European or even Hong Kong horror
film. For one thing, Weber's character is cinema, Indonesian horror never had an
simply an update of the wicked priestess in outside audience during its Golden Age.
Leak, but nowhere near as imaginative The result was a loss of opportunity for
since she merely growls and looks increas- foreign enthusiasts to bring their own
ingly silly in her body paint. Also, there is ideas and techniques to bear on future
the familiar theme of foreigners inappropri- productions, and when they did it was only
ately intervening in mystical affairs, as two to dilute the core of the films, namely the
men from New Guinea conduct research on history and culture of one of the world's
primitive occultism in Indonesia and provide most diverse countries.

The unreliable narrator: subversive

storytelling in Polish horror cinema
Nathaniel Thompson
"Frasqulta told her story to Busquenos. by the story's end that the events have
He told It to Lopez Soarez, who In turn told formed an elaborate test of his worthiness
it to Senor Avadoro. It's enough to drive to sire the heirs for a royal Moorish family
you crazy." with otherworldly connections.
The sprawling original text of
This bewildered observation from Rekopts Saragossa was written in segments
znaleziony w Saragosste (The Saragossa somewhere between 1805 and 1815, the
Manuscript, 1965) could serve as the year in which the mysterious author, Count
mantra of the colourful, crazy quilt state of Jan Potocki, committed suicide. A sort of
European cinema in the two decades romantic, gothic alternative to such
immediately following World War II, where anthologies as The Decameron and The
formerly occupied territories found new Arabian Nights, Potocki's inventive fantasia
voices after undergoing the harrowing recounts van Worden's sixty-six days of
ordeal of global combat. Multinational interlocking stories in which characters
productions became the norm as countries constantly slip in and out from one
like Italy, Germany and France forged narrative plane to the next, plot strands are
cinematic alliances which allowed the continuously broken and juggled within
cross-pollination of talent both in front of each other, and no one can be truly be
and behind the camera; though more trusted, even the hero. The novel's
restricted by the Iron Curtain, Poland and conclusion finds him successfully
other Communist nations also joined in the embraced by his supernatural family,
new film renaissance led by such directors whose riches he spreads to his two
as Andrzej Wajda, who garnered interna- children. As for the manuscript itself, he
tional attention with such art house concludes, "I have copied it out in my own
favourites as Poplbl i diament (Ashes and hand and put it in an iron casket, in which
Diamonds, 1958). one day my heirs will find it."
That film's celebrated lead actor, The late director Wojciech Has opts for
Zbigniew Cybulski, returned in Saragossa an even more difficult and challenging
as Alphonse van Worden, a captain of the structure in his filmed adaptation. We
Wallonian Guards whose story is begin with two soldiers retreating from
immortalized in the title scripture. The warfare in the streets to read the Saragossa
multi-layered, occult narrative follows his manuscript, which so entrances them that
descent into the supernatural as he the violence outside becomes little more
embarks on a trip through the mountains than an annoyance. This framing device is
towards Madrid, only to encounter a then abandoned for the rest of the film, in
demonically possessed beggar, two which a variety of storytellers leads the
tempting incestuous sisters, a dark viewer downward through tale within tale
magician and even the forces of the until any sense of narrative security has
opposite:
Inquisition. Stories related by the various been completely displaced. The ambiguous Marina Pierro
characters weave in and out of reality, with coda finds van Worden meeting his destiny in Walerian
parallel histories in Spain directly by riding from the supernatural cabin Borowczyk's Dr.
Jekyll et les
impacting the present. The soldier realizes which serves as the stories' axis and off femmes.

Poland
into the mountains, where he finally joins

the two sisters for an unholy but
triumphant final communion.
An ambitious and intellectually lively
exploration of the occult, Saragossa is an
epic in both length and scope. Its sense of
the uncanny is balanced by a buoyant dark
wit in keeping with the controversial notion
of Satanism as a puckish, jovial practice
which speaks to the natural inner beast in
mankind. The moments of bona fide horror,
as when van Worden and other characters
repeatedly awaken to find themselves in a
scorched landscape filled with hanging
bodies and skeletons, attain a
transcendent, nightmarish atmosphere
both through the skilful scope photography
and the experimental score by composer
Krzysztof Penderecki, whose music later
cropped up in The Exorcist (1973) and The
Shining (1980). Though now commonly
available in its complete 175-minute form,
the film was often seen only in substandard
or terribly abbreviated prints, which only
hinted at its intellectual and visceral
1
pleasures. Best experienced on a big
screen, fortunately this film can now be
appreciated as one of the key foundation
works in modern horror and art house
cinema, two categories more inextricably
linked than many critics cared to admit at
2
the time of its release.
The narrative experimentation of
Saragossa earned the already seasoned
Has a solid reputation as one of Poland's
finest directors, but no other films came
close to an international breakthrough. His
next most widely seen film, Sanatorium pod
klepsydra (The Sandglass, 1973), was not
so coincidentally his second foray into the
3
supernatural. This eerie mood piece finds
Josef (Jan Nowicki) arriving by train to a
remote, snow-covered sanatorium to visit
his ailing father (Tadeusz Kondrat). The
doctor, Gotard (Gustow Holoubek), informs
Josef that in terms understandable to the
outside world, his father has passed away;
however, the doctors have conquered time
and slowed it down so that "dead" people
now hover just over the abyss in a sort of
dream state where events from the past can
even be revisited. Josef encounters his
father in younger guises amidst an
assortment of colourful characters of
variant nationalities, all bathed in eerie
ambient light and framed once again in
expert Cinemascope.
As visually ambitious as Saragossa if
not quite as immediately satisfying, The
Sandglass operates on a similar number
of cultural and historical planes as it

the unreliable narrator
explores the Jewish experience both past name begins with the letter "G", and the opposite:
and present while depicting the uneasy Images from
characters' actions are controlled by love The Saragossa
transition from post-adolescence into full and betrayal. Manuscript.
manhood, an experience similar to the The more ambitious Blanche (1971),
acceptance of death. Once again Has the first specifically medieval venture for
draws upon a collection of related literary Borowczyk, explores that beloved male
stories, this time by Jewish writer Bruno artistic construct: the beautiful, innocent
Schulz, to craft a nonlinear structure that girl (Ligia Branice) who sparks desire in
bounces between scenes of warfare, everyone she encounters. Depicted with
otherworldly landscapes, and ambiguous all the detail and loving care of an
interactions between the living and the elaborate tapestry, this film promised
dead. The playful satanic philosophy of great things from its creator and gave
the preceding film is taken over here by some hint of the more ornate explorations
more of a pure cinematic anarchy, of sensuality through narrative construct
augmented by the blurry line between which he would later establish in his most
reality and illusion, life and death. "The well known film, Contes immoraux
whole thing is a question of relativity", (Immoral Tales, 1974). That quartet of
explains Gotard early in the film. "Here, stories explores eroticism through the
your father's death is yet to occur, though ages: "The Tide" depicts a rakish youth ' Many American
and U.K. viewers
that death has already struck him." This (Lorenzo Bernini) sweet talking his cousin initially encountered
explanation from a dubious source recalls (Lise Danvers) into servicing him while a brutalized two-
Saragossa's Pascheco (Franciszek hour version under
surrounded by the rising tide; "Thèrese the title Adventures
Pieczka), a one-eyed priest's assistant Philosophe" gives away its ending through of the Nobleman;
suffering from violent bouts of demonic a title card as it depicts a young girl much of the erotic
possession who is revealed to be another content (which is
(Charlotte Alexandra) discovering her still fairly potent by
entity entirely later in the film. Pascheco's sexuality with the aid of numerous today's standards)
frenzied behaviour abruptly halts early on antiquated objects before being ravaged was the main target
of the distributor's
when he tells the story of how his by a madman: 4
"Erzsébet Bàthory" scissors.
possession and disfigurement came features Paloma Picasso (daughter of
about, though even this proves to be a Pablo) as the notorious countess who 2
See Bissette, S.
ruse functioning as part of a larger bathed in virgins' blood to say eternally (2002) "Curtis
Harrington and the
tapestry. In The Sandglass, facts related young; and "Lucrezia Borgia" takes a brief Underground Roots
by Gotard and the father (in his various look at one of history's most infamous of the Modern
incarnations) prove to be even more of a Horror Film." In
families, here represented by Lucrezia Mendik, X. and S.J,
dead end, pointing Josef instead to a fate (Florence Bellamy) enjoying the favours of Schneider (eds),
ultimately as unknowable as life itself. her brother (Lorenzo Berinizi) and the Underground USA:
Film-making
Pope (Jacopo Berinzini) while a heretic is Beyond the
Burden of the beast burned nearby. Hollywood Canon.
New York: Columbia
Though three of the four stories are University Press /
While Has expanded the boundaries of anchored in historical events, Borowczyk's London: Wallflower
Press.
fantastic cinema by adopting a Chinese film is anything but a literal depiction of
puzzle form of literary gamesmanship, his the facts. Staid and dreamy even when 3
The film won the
fellow Polish directors drew upon other actors are being tortured or slathered in 1973 Jury Prize at
the Cannes Film
influences for their own unique cinematic blood, the film moves along at its own Festival, but it failed
visions. The most volatile of these was deliberate pace. Devoid of any traditional to receive much
Walerian Borowczyk, a skilled painter and romantic entanglements or socially theatrical play
outside Europe and
visual designer who, like many of his redeeming narratives, Immoral Tales has only intermit-
peers, relocated to France for much of his instead aims to persuade the viewer that tently cropped up
career. His ventures into film began with a on television in
eroticism in its purest form, no matter squeezed 1.85:1
number of acclaimed animation projects how deviant it may seem to middle class prints.
geared towards adult audiences in which sensibilities, can be appreciated as art.
he ruminated upon the dreamy, Unfortunately audiences were not so
4
A lengthy
prologue, themati-
antiquated erotica which would ultimately willing to embrace his next film, La bete cally similar to this
become his trademark. His first (The Beast, 1975), which began as a short story, contains
breakthrough, The Theatre of Mr. and Mrs. footage of
intended for Immoral Tales in which Borowczyk's own
Kabal (1967), became a festival favourite noblewoman Romilda de l'Esparance collection of
throughout Europe and earned him the (Sirpa Lane) is chased and ravaged by a nostalgic erotica.
clout to film his first live action feature, It was Inexplicably
wolf-like monster in the woods. Eventually removed from most
Goto, llle d'amour (Goto, Island of Love, she succumbs to the animal's lust until it prints and has yet
1968). This stylized exercise takes place dies from pleasure amidst hyperbolic to surface on any of
on an island in which every inhabitant's the film's video
displays of jetting fluid and hardcore editions.

Poland
above and opposite: prosthetic manipulation. Though this The sense of the past impinging upon
Erotic horror
imagery from sequence earned the film a place in the the present lingers throughout The Beast
Borowczyk's history books for offending and sickening more potently than any other Borowczyk
Dr. Jekyll et les critics throughout Europe, the rest of the film. The image of Romilda's torn corset
femmes
film is in many ways more interesting and from her encounter with the beast
representative of Borowczyk as an artist. remains frozen, an historical fetish object
The bulk of the story concerns an English inside a glass case in the family sitting
woman, Lucy Broadhurst (Lisbeth room, while the flashback lingers on the
Hummel), who travels by car with her same discarded garment floating endlessly
aunt to the l'Esperance estate, where she in a nearby pond as its owner's libido is
will marry the decidedly non-charismatic awakened. The parallel narratives of Lucy
son, Mathurin (Pierre Benedetti). As the and Romilda are never explicitly spelled
family prepares for her arrival, Mathurin out, leaving us instead to sift through the
undergoes an impromptu baptism while clues Borowczyk has provided. Why
other household members fornicate and exactly does Mathurin die, and why does
plot murders under the guise of social Lucy scream in his bedroom? When she
respectability. Lucy's arrival is greeted by speeds away at the end, how does one
the sight of horses breeding explicitly in read the expression on her face, a sadder
the driveway, which she preserves and more conflicted representation of the
through one of many Polaroids shot giddy smile she displayed during her
around the estate. After uncovering an earlier, photo snapping arrival?
illustrated album by the notorious lady of Borowczyk has gradually stripped away
the estate, Romilda, Lucy experiences a any semblance of polite convention; this
feverish dream (the aforementioned short goal may not seem too surprising for a film
film) intercut with the nocturnal activities whose opening shot depicts horses
of the household. The next day, coupling on camera, but the sensitivity
Mathurin's true bestial nature is exposed and intelligence behind such a scenario
when he dies after Lucy's sexual can be genuinely startling.
awakening, an event which coincides with Though The Beast can be categorized
the arrival of the Cardinal who expounds as a horror film, a work of erotica, or a
his own philosophy about bestiality as dark fantasy influenced by classic fairy
Lucy and her aunt speed away in their tales, its central thesis - the exploration of
chauffeured automobile. bestial behaviour in all Its guises both

natural and assumed - is most powerfully The same principle forms the basis of
contained in its least recognized genre Robert Louis Stevenson's seminal
categorization, a witty comedy of manners Victorian short novel, The Strange Case of
laced with subversive, surreal touches Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, which proved to be
worthy of Bunuel. The priest (Roland ideal source material for Borowczyk with
Armontel) who arrives to baptize Mathurin Dr. Jekyll et lesfemmes [Dr. Jekyll and His 5
In the excellent
book Immoral Tales:
is the most obvious example, as he Women, 1981). His first purely fantastic European Sex and
assumes pious positions while quietly work after The Beast, Jekyll repeats many Horror Movies
enjoying the carnal company of his of its themes and echoes the setting with 1956-1984 (New
York: St. Martins
harpsichord-playing acolytes. In the spirit an isolated country estate housing a dark, Griffin, 1995),
of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie sensual secret, in this case the formula whose title choice is
(1972), much humour is derived from the which allows Dr. Jekyll (Udo Kier) to extremely apt in this
case, Cathal Tohill
insatiably lustful younger l'Esperance transform into an animalistic sadist who and Pete Tombs
sister, Clarisse (Pascale Rivault), who terrorizes his houseguests. The sexual connect the
amusingly sets aside her babysitting and violent aggressiveness of Jekyll scenario of
Borowczyk's Dr.
charges in favour of unlikely wardrobe (complete with an outrageous, knife-like Jekyll and His
5 6
dalliances with the studly houseboy. In phallus) eventually dissolves when his Women to The
Exterminating Angel
these quietly winning moments of alter ego is finally externalized in the form (1962), though one
frustration and transgression as much as of Fanny Osbourne (Borowczyk regular could probably
the more legendary highlights, The Beast Marina Pierro), who enjoys a bloody compile a small
book's worth of
casts a firm, unforgiving eye on human communion in Jekyll's carriage after similarities between
nature in all its spiritual aspirations and partaking of his bathtub formula. As they the two directors.
physical temptations, a spectacle both speed off into the morning light during the 6
pitiable and worthy of celebration. The final scene, their departure (which As with The
Beast, this film
final transition of Lucy's car tearing off in likewise carries the viewer out of the suffered
a swirling cascade of leaves, only to revert dreamlike film) echoes the identical finale tremendous
censorship around
back to the body of the beast interred by of The Beast, here rendered in more the world. The U.S.
Romilda as she walks off naked into the graphic terms as their intertwined, blood and U.K. video
misty forest, offers no answer to the soaked flesh seems to blend into one versions (entitled
Blood Lust and
problem; instead, we must wonder how entity. This resolution seems appropriate Bloodbath of Dr.
one can ever go home again after realizing as the closing image of Borowczyk's Jekyll, respectively)
that the aristocratic principles of Western excursions into cinematic fantasy; of his are hacked down to
the point of
society are nothing but a facade. subsequent work, only the macabre S&M incoherence.

Poland
right: chamber piece Cérémonie d'amour [Rites

British video cover
for And rzej of Love, 1988) evokes the same mixture of
Zulawski's dread and arousal, with prostitute Pierro
Possession. physically and emotionally tormenting
client Mathieu Carrière. Given the
degrading quality of both erotic and
fantastic cinema in the overseas markets,
perhaps Borowczyk's absence after this
film could be considered a regrettable but
inevitable example of quitting the game
while one is still ahead.
Sex, monsters and mystics
Like Borowczyk, the younger Andrzej

Zulawski revels in beautiful actresses who
7
The circum- draw audiences in through physical
stances behind this
production's appearances and then twists their
abandonment are emotions in storylines most accurately be
similar to those described as abrasive. While Borowczyk
which befell
Alejandro remains grounded to the similar
Jodorowsky's Dune, dichotomies of Polish/French culture (such
namely a projected
budget that
as refined settings, formally composed
skyrocketed as camerawork, and escalating emotions kept
shooting until barely in check by social conventions),
financing was
withdrawn Zulawski's films widen the net to
completely. In encompass a dizzying amalgamation of
Zulawski's case, the various European influences, from the
change of guard in
the Polish schizoid geography and emotional angst of becomes torn between the worlds of art and
government was Berlin to the passionate, visually aggressive pornography when he becomes the
dispiriting enough excesses of Italy. His first international
for him to leave not romantically inclined but reticent patron of
only his incomplete breakthrough, L'important c'est d'aimer sex actress Romy Schneider, who is
film but his (The Most Important Thing Is to Love, 1975), surrounded by a colourful gallery of
homeland as well.
assembles an international cast in a more characters (including a memorable turn by
below: perverse, heterosexualized rendition of Klaus Kinski). Offbeat, steamy, and stylish
Isabelle Adjani in Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore enough to grab critical attention, the film
award-winning form;
Possession.
(1971), as photographer Fabio Testi earned Zulawski positive notices but
proved to be the harbinger of a lengthy
hiatus caused by Na srebrnym globie (The
Silver Globe), a fragmented science fiction
project begun in 1977 (and more or less
completed a decade later) that became
derailed by the Polish government and led
7
to Zulawski's self-imposed artistic exile.
In 1981, Zulawski finally returned
with a roar in the form of Possession, a
divisive and uncompromising study of
deteriorating human relationships cloaked
in the guise of a bloody monster film. The
marriage between Anna (Isabelle Adjani)
and Mark (Sam Neill) disintegrates when he
returns home to Berlin and finds that she
has been unfaithful with Heinrich (Heinz
Bennent), a boorish snob, as well as a
third, unnamed lover she visits in a grungy
flat. Mark begins an affair with Helen (also
Adjani), his son's schoolteacher, who
represents the most obvious example of
repetitive doubling and echoing throughout
the film. Driven insane by Anna's
behaviour, Mark kills Heinrich by clubbing

and drowning him in a men's washroom, cally pushes a ballet student past the point above:
Isabelle Adjani and
then discovers that the "other" lover is of endurance and then explains the Sam Neill during the
actually a mutating beast presumably circumstances behind her gruesome shattering climax of
borne from Anna's tortured psyche. miscarriage in a metro station, the most Possession.
Eventually the "flawed", human represen- audacious and physically repellent moment
tations of Anna and Mark are gunned down of the film. Here both Mark and the
on a vertiginous staircase while the audience are granted a solid, cold look into
monster, now transformed into Mark's Anna's mind, and what we see isn't
indestructible and idealized double, pleasant. Earlier when Mark interrogates 8
In his invaluable
ominously returns to the apartment to her about the reasons for her behaviour, commentary track
meet with Helen as the city collapses back she only nods positively when he asks on the U.S. DVD of
the film, Zulawskl
into warfare outside and the son drowns whether she's upset "because I won't like explains that Adjani
himself in the bathtub. you." Here the need for love versus sex and was emotionally
the inability to communicate this desire (a shattered by the film
As a surface text, Possession is and may have even
9
deliberately confounding and repeatedly common thread in Zulawski's films ) is set attempted suicide
distances the audience with its violent, in stark relief, and all of Anna and Mark's after witnessing the
final results. At least
unrestrained performances and dizzying suffering for the ensuing running time she received a Best
camerawork. Often the viewer must brings them release only in the form of Actress award at
death after a final, bloody embrace. Cannes for both this
contemplate who is more insane, the actors and Quartet as
8
or the director, as numerous characters The concept of a monstrous, semi- compensation for
and plot points collide. Here narrative is human entity intruding upon a bond undergoing a very
stressful year.
turned inside out as the audience is between man and woman was revisited in
dropped into the middle of a story and left Zulawski's long delayed return to Polish 9
This theme erupts
to sort it all out; most of our information cinema, Szamanka {The Shaman, 1996). again full force in
comes from what is told by Anna (not only Rarely seen outside its native country, this Zulawski's La
Fidélité (2000),
an unreliable source but a self-mutilating erotic and unsettling essay on human which stars
and murderous psychopath) and what is desire is shot in the same austere, colour- Zulawski's long-
term romantic
uncovered by Mark, who proves to be coded style of Possession, but with a more partner, Sophie
equally dangerous halfway into the film. suggestive and linear approach to its Marceau - who,
During one pivotal sequence, Mark sits and storyline. A young woman (Iwona Petry) perhaps not coinci-
dentally, bears a
watches a homemade film (presumably commences a passionate, animalistic affair striking resembl-
shot by Heinrich) in which Anna sadisti- with an anthropology professor (Boguslaw ance to Ms. Adjani.

Poland
In two of his earliest feature films,

Noz w wodzie [Knife in the Water, 1962)
and Cul-de-sac (1966), Polanski expertly
depicts the dynamics of a married couple
torn apart by infiltrating external male
figures, but he achieved more shattering
results with Repulsion (1965). His first
foray into genuine horror stars Catherine
Deneuve as a beauty salon employee
whose sanity deteriorates over a period of
days when she's left alone in the
apartment she shares with her sister
(Yvonne Furneaux). Her increasing
dementia (symbolized by the decaying
body of a rabbit intended for food) leads to
a pair of murders and disturbing halluci-
nations involving intruders and groping
hands thrusting from the walls. Though as
beautiful as any of the women in the films
discussed above, Deneuve is an entirely
different presence here, a sympathetic but
terrifying figure whose psychological
destruction thoroughly undermines the
viewer's sense of security. The final shot of
her as a child, casting a terrified eye
towards one of her older male relatives,
offers only the flickering of a clue towards
a mystery we know we will never be able to
completely solve.
Critical and commercial indifference
greeted Polanski's widely mistreated The
Fearless Vampire Killers (1967), in which
the established rules of vampire cinema
are hurled aside, producing instead
Jewish and homosexual bloodsuckers and
above: Linda); in a parallel narrative, his discovery a peculiar, chilling finale which finds the
French poster for vampires (represented by Polanski's
Andrzej Zulawski's
of the ancient body of a mystical shaman
Szamanka (aka awakens latent facts of Petry's personality, tragically murdered wife, Sharon Tate)
The Shaman). triggering an inevitable descent into erotic victoriously overcoming the heroes
mania. Though not overtly horrific, the film (including Polanski himself as the neurotic
constantly flirts with the supernatural, Alfred) while they ride off into the snow.
teasing at the connections between sex, Polanski returned to Repulsion territory
mysticism, and death, leaving most of its the next year with Rosemary's Baby,
puzzles open to viewer interpretation. adapted from Ira Levin's best-selling novel,
in which the desire to become pregnant
The devil inside proves to be a nightmarish experience for
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), who
Unquestionably the most commercially grows to suspect that the eccentric
successful director to emerge from Poland, neighbours in her brownstone apartment
Roman Polanski shares with his fellow complex are actually devil worshippers
Polish directors a love for overturning genre with designs set on her expected child.
conventions and disrupting traditional By confining his camera to
narrative patterns, though in a style Rosemary's point of view, Polanski never
distinctly his own. While directors like offers concrete reassurance that Rosemary
Zulawski and Borowczyk are known for is either right or wrong, at least until the
keeping a safe aesthetic distance from their nightmarish (but darkly comic) final
subjects, Polanski's most successful films minutes In which we learn that her
instead offer easily accessible audience suspicions have been correct all along.
identification figures while allowing the However, even here the supernatural is not
uncanny incidents to escalate almost rigidly reinforced; apart from a subliminal
without notice. glimpse of the baby's sinister eyes and a

druggy dream sequence, Polanski does not from Simone's point of view during the
confirm the genuine existence of Satan via horrific, time-bending final scene.
blatant special effects or gothic hocus A more personal project than the
pocus. In the grand tradition of producer similar Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant
Val Lewton, the entire experience could be avoids the more literal resolution of Levin's
the skewed perception caused by a narrative and instead becomes more
troubled pregnancy or by the ruthless mysterious and discomfiting as it
brainwashing engineered by the progresses. The director's penchant for
neighbours. Here, Satan is but an unseen black humour and eccentric character
supporting character in a drama whose roles proves to be a skilful match for the
implications are far more frightening for source novel, written by actor/writer
what it says about modern city dwelling, 11
Roland Topor. The odd accumulation of
where one cannot trust the people next details, such as the neighbours passively
door and, even worse, perhaps not even standing at bathroom windows all night
one's own senses and consciousness. long and the discovery of a dislodged
These explorations of unstable human tooth imbedded into a wall, adds to
protagonists reached their logical the air of unease but only realizes its full
conclusion with Polanski's most neglected horrific power after the film has concluded.
horror film, The Tenant (1976), the end Polanski also makes ingenious use of the
product of a difficult decade which Parisian locales, transforming the
included Tate's murder by the Manson traditionally romantic city into a sinister, 10
The character of
family, the chilly reception of the inhospitable den of schemers and Jake Gittes (Jack
12 Nicholson) in
underrated Macbeth (1971) and What? lunatics. As with Repulsion and Chinatown shares
(1973), and Polanski's comeback with his Rosemary's Baby, the viewer remains some peripheral
final American film, Chinatown (1974), 10
trapped within the outsider protagonist's similarities with the
other Polanski
which was followed by his U.S. exile after perspective even after any semblance of protagonists as he
charges of statutory rape. The film was sanity has been lost for good; when the discovers that
blood-smeared Polanski pathetically nothing he assumed
shot in Paris, which has served as about his
Polanski's home and favourite film locale insists "I'm not Simone Choule!" as he surroundings or
after his voluntary flight from the clambers back up the stairs in high heels, even himself may
actually be true;
American law, and in the tradition of the tragic horror of the situation however, the
1970s European productions, the cast overcomes the black comedy, becoming screenplay by
consists of an odd but striking array of instead a chilling portrayal of cultural Robert Towne
spends most of its
international personalities for maximum dislocation and the incipient madness time deconstructing
box office potential. Polanski himself which could reside within the most timid the film noir genre,
personalities. The outcome directly echoes somewhat diluting
appears in the lead role of Trelkovsky, an Polanski's artistic
even more jittery turn than Alfred in The Repulsion with a foreign "misfit" failing in a instincts but
Fearless Vampire Killers and a demanding most spectacular manner to adapt to a producing a
major European city, but here the tragedy fascinating hybrid
performance, which would have intimi- all the same.
dated most professional actors. is magnified by having the protagonist go
Trelkovsky, an insecure Pole in Paris, to pieces in the full, unforgiving public 11
A unique figure in
rents an apartment despite the reserva- view of his neighbours rather than European cinema,
Topor also wrote the
tions of the concierge (Shelley Winters) and catatonically exiting a confining apartment animated cult
the building supervisor, Monsieur Zy in the hands of rescuers. favourite Fantastic
(Melvyn Douglas). The sinister history of Planet (1973) and
For the next two decades Polanski appeared as
the apartment's previous resident, Simone Renfieid in Werner
avoided any overtly supernatural or
Choule, involves a gruesome suicide Herzog's masterful
fantastic subject matter, though his remake of Nosferatu
attempt and the odd behaviour of the (1979), again with
perverse Bitter Moon (1992), an intricate
neighbours, who may have had a hand in the omnipresent
narrative of a self-destructive marriage Adjani.
her drastic road to self-destruction.
related aboard a cruise ship to an
Trelkovsky visits Simone (now lingering
emotionally captive audience, feels 12
Polanski and co-
near death in a body cast) and meets the scenarist Gérard
thematically in step with his horror films.
lovely, enigmatic Stella (Isabelle Adjani Brach collaborated
Its gruesome but tentatively hopeful again after The
again), with whom he tremulously begins
denouement paved the way for Death and Tenant for two more
an unconsummated affair. Eventually "evil Paris" stories,
the Maiden (1994), an adaptation of the
Trelkovsky's insecurities devour him, Frantic and Bitter
Ariel Dorfman play transformed into an Moon; this trilogy
possibly from the inside or due to his makes for an
anguished attempt to find solace after a
conspiratorial neighbours, and while Interesting
life permanently scarred by violence. Both progression of
decked out in drag, he hurls himself from
films involve a trapped listener (Hugh Polanski's treatment
his window - twice! - in a failed suicide of the outsider cast
Grant in the former, Ben Kingsley in the
attempt, only to relive the hospital visit adrift in the City of
latter) caught up in stories told by Lights.

Poland
unknown, original manuscript of "The

Anjou Wine", a chapter from Alexandre
Dumas's The Three Musketeers. The
discovery sends the book hunter on a
globe-hopping trip during which he
encounters a variety of characters either
reminiscent of Dumas's text or affiliated in
a more sinister fashion with The Nine Gates
of the Kingdom of Shadows, a legendary
Satanic volume now extant only in three
copies. Each copy contains nine similar but
slightly variant engravings, the work of the
human author (a burned heretic named
Aristide Torchia) and Lucifer himself.
During the adaptation process,
Polanski and his co-writers eliminated the
entire Dumas angle (necessitating the title
change as well), condensing and shuffling
characters to focus solely on the demonic
angle of the story. However, the essential
cast of characters is the same: Corso
(Johnny Depp), urbane book collector
Boris Balkan (Frank Langella), conniving
widow Liana Telfor (Lena Olin), lonely
Portuguese book collector Victor Fargas
(Jack Taylor), and "the Girl" (Polanski's
wife, Emmanuelle Seigner), a mysterious,
omnipresent beauty revealed to be Satan
13
in human form. From its opening, a
wordless sequence in which a prowling
camera records a suicide by hanging,
plunges directly into the musty volumes
adorning a bookcase, and passes through
a series of doors hovering in blackness
during the opening credits, The Ninth Gate
functions on many levels at once, all of
them potentially deceptive. Our protag-
onist is immediately portrayed as a
compromised, resourceful rascal as he
swindles two naive heirs out of a valuable
four-book edition of Don Quixote. The
literary choice here is no accident; Corso's
quest finds him battling many invisible,
possibly imaginary forces controlling his
fate, and his flawed moral interior but lack
of a true evil nature makes him an ideal
possibly insane, suspect narrators (Peter
13
Balkan in the candidate for seduction. The prosaic
film is an amalga- Coyote and Sigourney Weaver). The
evildoing of Corso and Telfor prove to be
mation of two damage done by the past more than
characters, his unworthy amusements to the Girl, who
Dumas-reading
haunts its victims; it consumes them and
takes a far greater interest in the book
namesake and the threatens to destroy any newcomers
more nefarious Varo hunter's corruption.
stepping into its path as well.
Borja. Additionally,
Telfor's name in the For his return to horror, Polanski Throughout his journey Corso is
novel is spelled constructed The Ninth Gate (1999) as a regaled with stories, beginning with
Taillefer, and "the streamlined adaptation of Arturo Perez- Balkan's speech about the history of The
Girl" nicknames
herself Irene Adler, Reverte's gothic literary exercise, El Club Nine Gates and its author. As Balkan
a reference to the Dumas. The original novel follows the admits, even his own copy may be a
only woman who
proved worthy
arcane misadventures of Lucas Corso, "a forgery, and as Corso soon learns, no one
enough to tempt mercenary of the book world", who hunts should be trusted. However, unlike
Sherlock Holmes in down rare volumes in the service of rich Polanski's previous subjects who implode
Arthur Conan
Doyle's "A Scandal patrons who prefer to keep their hands or surrender when confronted by the
in Bohemia." clean. A recent suicide exposes a previously inexplicable, Corso seems only slightly

ruffled by his bizarre circumstances; from gamesmanship and diabolical secrets 14

Perhaps due to
a compromised and satanic viewpoint, the concealed in Spain. The widescreen Artisan's misconceived
heavy metal ad
willingly seduced Corso could in fact be compositions for both films are usually campaign in the U.S.,
seen as Polanski's first genuine heroic flooded with light, but instead of providing most critics made no
attempt to read the film
figure in a horror film. "There's nothing illumination, light here obscures and as anything more than
more reliable than a man whose loyalty can confuses, allowing the devil to perform another demonic thriller
be bought for hard cash", Balkan observes trickery in plain view without being in the vein of such time
wasters as End of Days,
early in the film, and this potential for noticed. Both films conclude "romanti- Lost Souls or Stigmata,
temptation makes him the ideal candidate cally" with the hero, now converted, all released between the
summer of 1999 and
to keep company with Lucifer/the Girl. In retreating from the camera in a burst of the early months of
one of Polanski's typically fine comic bright light towards a decaying, rocky 2000. Even the normally
astute Roger Ebert
touches, she appears in a hotel lobby structure to fulfil his destiny and join the somehow failed to
reading a paperback copy of How to Win forces of darkness. These finales feel both grasp the basics of The
Friends and Influence People, an early tip- triumphant and enigmatic; a shocking Ninth Gate's storyline: "If
some of the engravings
off to perceptive viewers about her true reversal for many viewers who complain were indeed drawn by
nature. Obviously the Girl has a direct that such a resolution is unsatisfying or Satan, and assem-
14 bling them can evoke
hand in the events that transpire confused. Our guide through these the Prince of Darknes-.,
throughout the film, but Corso controls his stories, the rapt audience identification then that would be a
own destiny and makes his own choices. figure who has gone through fire and been threat, right? Or would it
be a promise? And what
When he finally causes one minor transformed by the process, decided to go happens at the end -
character's death late in the film, the Girl down the darker road, and ultimately the that would be an
unspeakably evil
admiringly observes, "I didn't know you viewer must decide whether that path is outcome, right? But why
had it in you" as she watches the gruesome worth following. In fact, there is no other does it look somehow
like a victory? And as for
handiwork. Corso and the Girl also share a way either film could end. The stories are the woman - good or
significant exchange about semantics in long, deceptive dances between the devil bad? Friend or foe? You
which Corso introduces himself and and the unconverted soul, love stories of tell me" (The Chicago
Sun-Times 03 Mar.
explains that his name means "run" in the darkest and most dangerous kind. 2000, local ed.: M6).
Italian, to which she responds, "You don't
look like a runner." More aptly, his name
also means "course", a meaning echoed
when Corso points out the Girl's reading
material and asks, "Is this part of your
course?" The answer, naturally, is yes.
The wordplay turns up in a more
subde form when Corso meets Baroness
Kessler (Barbara Jefford), who claims to
have met the devil at an early age ("It was
love at first sight") and is now missing part
of her left arm. When Corso later insults the
Girl in a hotel lobby and accuses her
(incorrectly) of stealing a book, she snaps
his left arm behind his back to keep him in
line. We return again to the issue of transla-
tions; in Latin and Italian, the left side of
the body is considered to be the corrupt,
fallible, and sinister half of the human form,
evidenced most directly in the Italian word
for "left", "sinistre." The notion of sinister or
corrupt influence crops up repeatedly
throughout the film, from the three tainted
copies of the book (whose illustrations can
only be assembled with a missing ninth
drawing to become "pure") to Corso's
broken spectacles and christening by blood
which signify his shift in perception towards
a greater allegiance to Satan.
The similarities are striking when
looking at The Ninth Gate and its closest
companion piece, The Saragossa
Manuscript, even beyond the superficially
identical subject matter of satanic literary

The Beast From Bollywood:

a history of the Indian horror film
Pete Tombs
The Indian film industry is the biggest in This so-called "Masala" style of
the world. Although production has fallen moviemaking Is the dominant model in the
recently, its output still exceeds 650 full- Indian subcontinent. Western audiences,
length features per year. TV set ownership unaccustomed to such a mixture, find
is nowhere near as high as in Europe and these constant shifts of mood a distraction.
the US and cinema is still the main form of However, it is worth bearing in mind that at
entertainment. Every day more than 23 one time even Hollywood movies were like
million people go to see films in India. A this, with featured dance numbers in crime
major hit might be seen by the same people movies and comic foils popping up in
more than a dozen times. Most of these horror flicks. The difference is that in India
films are two and a half hour marathons, this "something for everyone" approach has
chock full of action, comedy, glamour and survived while in the West films have
music. Pure escapism for an audience developed along genre lines, aimed at
looking for a brief respite from the harsh specialised audiences.
realities of life in a very tough world. In India, a film has to at least attempt
For a star-studded, super production, to appeal to everyone. It's a tricky business;
budgets of Indian movies can match those one that producers get wrong as often as
of Hollywood. However, like all industries, they get it right. The industry abounds with
the Indian film business has its bottom tales of huge budget mega movies that were
feeders. Low budget exploitation movies resounding flops. One result of this search
are a staple product. Popular with the for the perfect formula is that Indian
urban poor and in rural areas, these movies tend to come in waves. When a
movies feature a higher level of sex and comedy is a big hit, everyone will try to
violence than most mainstream releases. make comedies, when a love story sets the
Although heavily censored, they are often box office alight, the screens will be awash
later loaded with illegal inserts for with romance and so on. It was in this
exhibition in cinemas far from the prying spirit that the horror boom was born. In
eyes of the authorities. India, however, the term horror denotes
Some strange plants flower in this something very specific.
steamy hot house of commercial cinema.
Threadbare superhero films, jungle epics From myths to monsters
featuring busty Lady Tarzans in leopard
skin bikinis, "curry westerns", violent Indian cinema has always had a place for
police dramas and sleazy sex films are all mythical monsters and fantastic tales.
grist to its mill. But maybe the strangest Although full of scenes of violence and
outgrowth of India's poverty row terrifying demons, these stories are part of
production line was its brief horror boom of Indian culture and everyone is familiar with
the mid 1980s. Indian horror films have all them from childhood. Horror is seen as very
opposite:
the thrills and chills, guts and gore that we much an imported and rather exotic affair. Kiran Kumar under
expect in the west; but they have that There had been occasional one-offs (for heaps of make-up
added something we don't: songs and example the 1967 Pakistani film Zinda stars as the
monster in Wohi
choreographed dance numbers. Laash, which was a version of Hammer's Bhayaanak Raat.

India
Dracula), but horror was more or less Tulsi and Shyam Ramsay are now
unknown in Indian cinema before the recognised as the crowned kings of Indian
1970s. It was the worldwide success of horror. For thirty years they've ruled the
William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973) that roost. Back in the early 1970s they were
sparked the interest of India's movie moguls. just a couple of young guys starting out in
Today, horror movies in India are the family business. That business
almost exclusively low budget affairs. There happened to be moviemaking.
have been few successful star cast horrors. It is an important aspect of Indian
However, in the late 1970s, several cinema - in fact of Indian business
mainstream movie makers ventured into generally - that it is a family run concern.
the horror field with decidedly mixed The notion of filmmakers as creative artists
results. Raveekant Naigach's Jadu Tona seized by the burning need to express their
(1977) was one of the first of these Exorcist ideas on celluloid is pretty much an alien
clones. Here a man takes revenge on a concept. Movies in India are constructed on
business rival when his young daughter is the assembly line principal, with different
possessed by an evil spirit. The film chunks of the film being made separately
features all the head rolling, vomiting, and the whole thing merged together by a
strange voices and so on, familiar from the nominal "director." For example, the music
original. These kinds of scenes have since is handled by a music director, the dance
become staples of Indian horror movies, sequences by a dance master and the fights
tossed randomly into the mix like herbs by an action or "thrills" specialist. The top
into the cooking pot. creators in their field are much in demand,
A couple of years later, in 1979, and work on many different productions at
Rajkumar Kohli directed Jaani Dushman, the same time. Great originality of concept
which opens with a scene of pure horror or execution is not highly valued. A good
where a man, excited by the sight of a story with all the right human elements, a
young bride, turns into a hairy, wild eyed star-studded cast and a hit song or two -
monster with long extendible arms. For a those are the ingredients that make for
few brief minutes all the tricks of the movie success in India.
cinematographers trade are employed to The Ramsay family's involvement in
create fear and a sense of disorientation: the business began with their father, F.U.
distorting lenses, tilted "Dutch" camera Ramsay. He had been a radio manufac-
angles, wind machines and an ear- turer in Karachi, now in Pakistan. In 1947,
punishing soundtrack of cackling laughter. following partition of the country, F.U. and
The slightly more sober Gehrayee, family moved to Bombay. In the 1950s the
released in 1980, was another Exorcist movie business exploded and Bombay was
clone. Here a young girl's possession is first one of the main centres of production.
of all treated with electro-shock therapy Money, much of it laundered from tax
until traditional tantric magic saves the day. evasion, was flooding into the
All these films suffered badly from entertainment industry. Like many other
censorship. Both Jadu Tona and Jaani businessmen, F.U. Ramsay viewed show-
Dushman were banned by the business as an exciting and effective way to
Government. This served as something of turn a swift profit.
a warning to mainstream producers that Film is always a risky affair, and the
they should stay away from such Ramsays had their ups and downs. By the
troublesome subject matter. The Indian beginning of the 1970s they were feeling
censor, with a brief to protect filmgoers the pinch. It was a tough time for the
from explicit sex and Western ideas, country generally. Political unrest, sectari-
would obviously find horror a cause for anism and war with Pakistan were creating
concern. That was one reason for using a climate of uncertainty that eventually led
The Exorcist as a model. The film's story to the declaration of a national state of
seemed tailor made for Indian tastes. The emergency in 1975. Cinema was reflecting
brave priest fighting an evil, multifaceted this mood, with violence, bad language and
demon for the soul of a child was plot lines featuring previously unthinkable
something that resonated with Indian subject matter. Such movies were able to
sensibilities. Werewolves, vampires and get away with non-star casts and low, low
reanimated corpses, staples of the budgets due to their exploitable titles and
Western horror film, had never had any controversial content.
place in Indian mythology or in Indian In 1970, against this background, the
cinemas. Not until the Ramsay Brothers Ramsays released Ek Nanni Munni Ladhki
arrived on the scene... Thi, a bittersweet drama about a failed

the beast from Bollywood
father who sinks to crime and the daughter

who never stops loving him. The film was
written and directed by the prestigious, but
perhaps past his best, Vishram Bedekar,
and three of F.U. Ramsay's seven sons
worked on it as assistants.
The film was not a hit and it looked
like there were hard times ahead for the
family. However while visiting screenings to
gauge audience reaction, Ramsay senior
noticed an interesting phenomenon. There
was one rather minor sequence near the
beginning of the film that had audiences
glued to the screen. Generally in Indian
movie theatres there is quite a lot of moving
about, talking and general hubbub. It is
only during the songs or in sexy dances
that the audience is gripped 100%. The
sequence in question was neither of these.
The setting was a museum in the middle of
the night. A startled cat watches as a
mysterious shadow emerges from behind a
tree and makes its way towards the locked
building. We see the black robed figure
glide through the silent corridors of the
museum and smash open a glass display
case, carrying off the jewelled trophy
inside. An alarm is triggered and soon the
place is swarming with cops. A clawed
hand pulls a power switch, plunging the
place into darkness. Torches cut through
the gloom. A beam of light picks out a
hideous, gargoyle-like face. Suddenly it
comes to life and a terrifying creature
marches down the museum's grand
staircase, impervious to the bullets of the
police. They scatter in panic at the sight of
revenge. Like many pioneering works it was above:
this apparently deathless monster. Maa Ki Shakti
not necessarily the best of its kind, but it (aka Ammoru).
Of course it is all a scam. The was effectively the first of its kind. It was
"monster" is actually a clever thief wearing also a hit. Consequently it set several
a mask and a bulletproof jacket. precedents that Indian horror films have
Unfortunately, the power of these opening followed ever since. Firstly, that horror
moments is such that the film never really movies are generally low budget affairs.
recovers. Audiences went crazy for this Secondly, that they follow Western models
sequence, but many of them left after the very closely with the "Indian" elements
film's interval when it became obvious that more or less grafted onto a generic plot.
the monster was not going to return. Thirdly, that the exploitable elements of
F.U. Ramsay began to work on a plan horror make it unnecessary to have either
to recoup the money he had lost in the great music or star casts; and finally, that
movie. If audiences were so keen on this they will be most popular with rural
kind of thing, he mused, why not exploit audiences and the urban poor and treated
this fact. Make a film with more such as rather a joke by everyone else.
sequences. At least five or six of them. In These rules have held fast pretty
other words, a real, out-and-out horror much up to the present day. Filmmakers
film. who have chosen to ignore them have done
The result was Do Gaz Zameen ke so at their peril. Subtlety and originality are
Neeche, written by Kumar Ramsay and not the order of the day here. Indian
directed by the novice pair Tulsi and audiences expect their horror to be direct
Shyam Ramsay. The story tells of a and upfront. The films must have a
murdered man being revived by a chemical monster and the monster must look
accident and coming back to exact his gruesome. Filmmakers talk about the

India
popped up in film after film, giving their

work much richer production values that
their later rivals. They also acquired a stock
company of character actors and
comedians who knew exactly what was
required of them, and were able to deliver it
to order. These factors gave the Ramsays
the ability to produce their film quickly and
on low budgets which helped contribute to
their pre-eminence in the field.
The industry magazines as well as the
general public began to notice their names
on successive banners and they became a
kind of trademark. People talked about "the
famous Ramsay touch." For the production
line approach of Indian cinema it was
perfect: the Ramsays now had their own
designer label...
Landmarks in their long filmography
include Aur Kaun? (1979), which features a
female monster, Ghunghroo Kl Awaz
(1981), a moody ghost story, and Hotel
(1981), a spectacularly over-the-top
precursor of Poltergeist (1982), where a
hotel is constructed on the site of an old
above: concept of a "horror face", meaning that the graveyard, causing the angry dead to rise
Saamri (1985)
was the Ramsay evil within the creature must be outwardly and take their vengeance.
Brothers' follow-up visible. Due to the lack of special effects Then in 1984, came the film that
to their smash-hit available until quite recently, this generally really kicked off the Indian horror boom:
horror sensation
Purana Mandir meant that the monster looked like it had a Purana Mandir. The film was a massive
(1984). three-day-old pizza stuck to its face. Fangs success, breaking records at several
would have to be real whoppers, at least Bombay cinemas. No Ramsay Brothers film
four or five inches in length, and the since has been able to match it.
monster must always be a lumbering giant. The story, told through flashbacks,
Certain big stunt guys got a lot of work in concerns a curse visited on female
the late 1980s, when the monster movie members of a rich middle class family. The
vogue was in full flight. An infamous six family are descended from a line of Rajas
foot tall Bombay gangster, recently shot by who centuries before incurred the wrath of
police, revelled in his nickname of "Purana an evil tantric magician. All female
Mandir", taken from the time, 20 years members of the family die during childbirth
before, when he had featured in the and the current paterfamilias is
Ramsay Brothers movie of that title, determined to prevent his daughter
playing a monster. marrying so that the curse, and by
For the next twenty years, from 1971 extension, the family, can be ended.
to 1991, the Ramsay family concentrated There were a variety of reasons for the
almost exclusively on horror. The basic film's success. For one thing, the Ramsays
format remained the same, but they had honed their craft to perfection by this
learned how to tweak the component parts time. They knew exactly how and when to
just enough to make it work each time. pile on the pressure, when to let up with a
Tulsi and Shyam directed most of the comedy interlude and how to keep the
productions (Tulsi on the technical side, audience on the boll with little hints of
Shyam working with the actors), while what was to come. But it was the all-
Kumar Ramsay scripted, Kiran Ramsay important story here that held the
was responsible for the sound and Gangu audience's attention. The idea of a young
Ramsay the camera. Simple special effects girl unable to have sex and her search for
were introduced, largely through stop release was one that interested both male
motion, and Tulsi learned how to create the and female alike and resonated in all kinds
horror make up that was so essential to of ways with their experience as young
Indian genre pics. Over the years they built people growing up in 80s India.
up an impressive collection of masks, At that time, the film business in
carved idols and stuffed animal heads that India was going through one of its cyclical

periods of uncertainty. Producers, libidinous king vampire who rises from

desperate for something to grab hold of, some very seminal looking slime to do his
saw the success of Purana Mandlr as a dirty deeds. Although it was one of their
sign that horror was finally acceptable. most effective productions, and benefited
Within months, rival productions were from a great central performance and
being mounted to cash in on the public gruesome special effects, the film
interest. The Ramsays themselves performed only moderately. The problem
delivered a kind of sequel, Saamri (1985), was not the production itself, but the fact
which had the added gimmick of being that the market had changed.
shot in 3-D. They also diversified, trying In the years since Purana Mandlr had
political dramas in Telephone (1985) and been a big hit, horror had really come into
action/adventure in Tarkhana (1986) its own in India. As we have already seen,
while Keshu came up with the horror there had been some big budget attempts
comedy Khoj (1989). Their next real to mount horror movies in the late 1970s.
innovation, however, was the 1985 However it was the low budget Ramsay
production Veerana (released in 1988). format that had been successful and had
Indian horror movies have always been most closely imitated in the 1980s.
taken a strong lead from the West. With Get a bunch of teens, trap them in a
the rise of video in the early 1980s, it spooky old mansion or empty temple and
became possible to see a wider range of bring on the ugly monster. A hint of sex, a
Western productions than had previously bunch of songs and a teasing dance below:
Low-budget
been possible. Veerana was a direct result number would keep things on the boil. producer Mohan
of this. Its initial inspiration was the 1974 Then finally the evil would be laid to rest Bhakri competed
British production Vampyres, directed by in a blaze of fire effects occasioned by the with the big-budget
Bollywood horrors
Spanish-born José Ramon Larraz. use of the Indian equivalents of the by boosting the sex
Larraz's film tells of a pair of hitchhiking crucifix and holy water: the ancient AUM and violence quota
symbol and the trident of Shiva, the in wild Hindi films
female bloodsuckers who lure passing such as Cheekh
motorists to their death in an abandoned mythical destroyer of the Hindu pantheon. (1985).
manor house. The film is as much a sex
film as a horror film and was remarkable
in Its day for the amount of sin and skin
that Larraz managed to sneak past the UK
censor. Veerana takes the same basic plot,
but with only one sexy vampire who, it
transpires, is possessed by the spirit of an
evil witch.
The film is notable for its excessive
production design and some very effective
make-up, but above all for its numerous
sexy scenes, strong even by Ramsay
Brothers standards. Other nods to
Western horror include an homage to
Dario Argento's Susptria (1977), and a
direct lift from John Carpenter's The Thing
(1982).
By the end of the decade the
Ramsays were releasing a new movie every
six months, and in 1989 it rose to four
films a year. To maintain this level of
production, other members of the family
were venturing into the director's chair.
Highlights from this period include
Keshu's Dak Bangla (1987) and Kiran's
Shaltaant Illaka (1990).
However, it was back to the familiar
Tulsi/Shyam duo for their final film of the
80s, and one of their best. Bandh
Darwaza, released in 1990, was the
Ramsay's version of the Dracula story.
Following on from Veerana, it features a
fair number of sexy scenes and a

India
right:
More low-budget
extremely successful. By the early 1980s,
thrills from Mohan however, the market for Punjabi films was
Bhakri in the a difficult one. The state was riven by
Westernised shape
of Padosi ki Biwi. political violence, and Bhakri looked to the
larger Hindi language market for his
survival. Aware that he could not compete
with the big Bollywood super productions,
he decided to give the audience something
that they weren't getting from those more
conservative crowd pleasers: in other
words, sex and violence. His first few
Hindi films did just that. Aparadhi
Kaun? (1982), Cheekh (1985) and Padosi kl
Btwl (1987) were very effective low budget
thrillers with several bizarre moments
often inspired by Western films. Bhakri is
a big movie fan, and his sources are
delightfully obscure. For example, Cheekh
has several scenes inspired by the kinky
Curtis Harrington shocker, Games (1967).
Sex is another constant element in
Bhakri's productions. However he always
lightens the tone with healthy doses of
comedy, thus avoiding the charge of
vulgarity that so often plagues India's low
Variations on this simple formula budget mavericks. His earlier films had
had been worked by a host of touched on horror but, following the
opportunistic producers over the final success of Purana Mandtr, Bhakri raised
years of the 1980s. Some were better than the finance for an out-and-out monster
others, but all were designed to fill a movie - Khoonl Mahal - which was
niche. In India the distributor is king. The released in 1987 and became his biggest-
country is divided up into six territories, ever hit. The story is a familiar one. It is
and films are presold for an agreed the same "bunch of teens in an old manor
"minimum guarantee" to each territory. house chased by a monster" plot that had
Producers have to produce films that the been used in India dozens of time already.
distributors want to see. Suddenly distrib- However, it is Bhakri's skilful re-jigging of
utors were asking for horror and were the basic elements, and his
prepared to pay for it. So, naturally understanding of how to build and
enough, horror was what they were given. maintain tension, that makes the film a
Almost every month a new horror title was standout.
announced Most of these were one-offs, His next film, Kabrastan (1988) was
helmed by journeyman directors who another variation on a Western theme.
would have been as happy in comedy or This time it was the Frankenstein story,
romance. Some were more interesting, with a demented doctor who collects body
however, and there were even a couple of parts from the local graveyard. Here
horror specialists whose success Bhakri tried to limit the risible effects of
occasionally rivalled that of the Ramsays. cheap monster make-up by shooting
One of the uniting factors with many scenes from the point of view of the
several of the post-Ramsay horror creature. Unfortunately, this only served
directors is that they had a background in to confuse the audience, who were never
regional filmmaking. These are films made entirely clear what was going on. Another
often outside Bombay, and in languages difficult element was the story's setting in
other than Hindi. There are government a Christian community. The Ramsay
grants available for the producers of these Brothers' earlier Hotel had used a similar
films, and it is generally a safe bet as they background, and for the same reasons - a
have a guaranteed audience and limited reason that highlights one of the
competition from the big producers. difficulties facing Hindi horror
Mohan Bhakri, for example, began his filmmakers. Indian custom demands that
career as a maker of films in the Punjabi dead bodies be cremated. This creates a
language back in the 1970s. They were decided problem for a genre of horror that
light musical comedies and were often relies on lumbering, reanimated

corpses. (That goes some way towards

explaining the limited number of vampire
films made in India. Coffins for the
undead to rise from would be in rather
short supply.)
After the experiment of Kabrastan,
Bhakri returned to the tried and true with
Khooni Murdaa (1989), a film influenced
by the Nightmare on Elm Street series in
America. The film benefits from a strong
performance by veteran bad-guy actor
Kiran Kumar. However, it treads a rather
over-familiar path. As though to
compensate, Bhakri really pulled out all
the stops on his next horror project,
Roohani Taaqat (1991).
The film was produced by a top
Punjabi singing star who intended it as a
showcase for his talents. Bhakri tried to
warn him that a gory horror movie might
not be quite the right vehicle for this but,
aware of Bhakri's success in the field, the
man insisted. The budget was low, which
only served to bring to the fore Bhakri's
ingenuity and willingness to experiment.
Roohani Taaqat has many horror
sequences and was an ordeal to shoot, but
none were more troublesome than the one
that shows a skeleton being reanimated
by demonic forces. This scene begins with
a heart inside the rib cage suddenly
pulsing into life. Bhakri set up an
elaborate pump system to simulate the
beating of the organ. First he tried a goat's passing dog took a fancy to it and ran off above:
heart, but decided that it looked too puny. with the succulent organ just as they were
More gore from
Mohan Bhakri in the
His assistant then procured a larger water about to start filming... special-effects
buffalo heart. That was fine until a Following Bhakri's success, several bonanza Roohani
Taaqat (1991).
other refugees from the Punjabi
filmmaking community started to look at
horror as a possible way into the
mainstream. One of the most interesting
was Vinod Talwar. Although twenty years
younger than Bhakri, he brought to the
genre a stronger sense of traditional
Indian storytelling, and was less
influenced by Western movies and more
by comic book imagery.
Again he flirted with horror in his
early productions before finally venturing
into the world of the supernatural. Wohi
Bhayaanak Raat (1989) is one of the rare
Indian vampire movies. Loosely inspired
by Tom Holland's Fright Night (1985), it
tells of a young student who becomes
convinced that his next-door neighbour is
a vampire. Kiran Kumar, a versatile
character actor who had come to
left:
specialise in villains, is very effective as Khooni Murdaa
the demonic bloodsucker. The film's most (1989) was
startling sequence occurs when Kumar influenced by the
Nightmare on Elm
abducts a young dancer. Stripping her Street series.

India
above: down to her red bikini, he gags her, ties less on the spot. This problem-solving
Wohi Bhayaanak
Raat (1989) was her up and drags her off to his lair. For facility was tested to the full by several
loosely inspired by Hindi horror this was a shocking scene. sequences in his next production, Hatyarin
Fright Night Astonishingly the censor didn't demand (1991). Here the vampire is a beautiful
(1985).
that it be cut. woman, in thrall to an evil tan trie
The film was ambitious, but its limited magician. She is forced to bring him a
budget was a source of frustration to certain number of virgin brides to satiate
Talwar. The lack of special effects meant his bloodlust. The horror sequences involve
below: opening graves, animated trees and flying
Vampire horror in
too many compromises. Many of his ideas
Hatyarin (1991). had to be abandoned or improvised more or corpses. With no money for expensive
computer work, all this had to be done
through camerawork, taking us right back
to the dawn of special effects and such
cinematic pioneers as Georges Melies. The
final climactic battle between good and evil
is another tour de force of no-budget
ingenuity. Many of the scenes had to be
acted in reverse, for example, so as to
simulate the effect of creeping vines and
flying magical ropes. It is to Talwar's credit
that these scenes come across as animated
comic book panels, versions of the popular
poster art so prevalent in India.
By the end of the 1980s, Indian
screens were awash with horror.
Distributors who had previously been
paying a premium price for the films now
lowered their offers. Films were being made

on a budget less than that of a student film

in the West. Attracted by the label of
"horror", and with little or no interest in the
genre, producers were throwing together an
ugly faced monster, a few lightning flashes
and a bikini clad "scream queen", and
calling it a film. Stories were either non-
existent or else were lightly "Indianised"
versions of Western hits. All the many
weaknesses of Indian production methods
were magnified in these unlovely and
unloved pieces of celluloid.
Filmmakers like the Ramsays, Mohan
Bhakri and Vinod Talwar who take their the budget is to have big stars that draw in above:
Ramgopal Varma's
craft seriously soon realised that they audiences. However, big stars do not Raat (1992).
would never be able to deliver a profes- appear in horror movies, as they think it
sional product for the money that was will alienate their fans. And so there is a
being offered to them. The Ramsays circular and self-defeating argument.
diversified into children's films {Ajooba The final nail in the coffin for Indian
Kudrat Ka, 1991), crime thrillers {Inspector horror came at the dawn of the 90s, with
Danush, 1992) and television {The Zee two films that attempted to break the
Horror Show, 1993 onwards); Mohan vicious circle of low budget and low
Bhakri opened a digital post-production ambitions. Junoon, directed by Bollywood
house; and Vinod Talwar moved into family big shot Mahesh Batt, and Raat, from a
films with Phool Bant Patthar (1996). brash newcomer, Ramgopal Varma, were
Horror occupies a difficult place in the both released in 1992. Both were flops.
Indian film world. A major problem is Raat in particular was criticised for its
budget. There just isn't the money available attempts to rewrite the rulebook on Indian
to mount an ambitious production with the horror movies. Songless, and featuring an
below:
kinds of special effects that audiences in abstract soundtrack of electronic noise, the Vinod Talwar's
the West are used to. One way to increase film was a brave attempt to introduce a Hatyarin (1991).

India
In the traditional and less ambitious

vein, there has in recent years been a mini-
revival of Indian horror films. Young
directors and producers, many of them
trained in India's burgeoning TV industry,
have turned once more to horror as a
convenient calling card for their feature
film debuts. The last couple of years have
seen a proliferation of titles such as
Chudail No. 1 (1999), The Eyes (1998),
Murdaa Ghar (1999), Ah Kya Hoga (2001)
and Bhayanaak Raatein (1999). Alongside
old hands such as Kiran Kumar, new
starlets like Poonam Dasgupta have
popped up to fill the breach left by the
departure of 80s scream queens Jamuna
and Jasmine. Not content with drawing on
Western models, this recent batch of
exploitation movies even cannibalises its
own heritage. Murdaa Ghar, for example, is
a shameless copy of Mohan Bhakri's
Khooni Murdaa that also includes nods to
American "neo-stalker" films such as
Scream (1996) and J Know What You Did
Last Summer (1997). The new version of
Saamri (1998) hints at a revival of the
Ramsays' 3-D experiment, and Kabrastan
ke Peeche (2000) uses the Christian
background and iconography of both
Kabrastan and Hotel.
The clutzy comics, the bikini-clad
vamps, the porridge-faced monsters; all the
elements of Hindi horror are alive and well
in these cheapo quickies. Budgets however
are even lower now than in the bad old days
above: new style of filmmaking. Unfortunately, of the early 90s. Quite a few of these films
Ramgopal Varma's
return to the horror when it comes to horror, Indian audiences are shot on 16mm and blown up to 35mm
genre, Kaun? was have no interest in novelty. Indian horror for theatrical release. Some have even been
released in 1999. films appeal on a very basic level to an shot on Digital video. Special effects are
audience who seem to relish the cheap non-existent, and make-up often consists of
thrills that they dole out. Varma had aimed a joke-shop rubber mask or a pair of plastic
his film at the urban middle class. fangs. Against this background, it is hard to
Unfortunately, these are exactly the sort of see how horror will ever be taken seriously
people who refuse to attend Indian horror in India. But perhaps that is the point.
films to begin with. Maybe it never can be.
A few years later, Varma, who had So who is to blame for this sad state of
written, produced and directed Raat, went affairs? Is it the fault of Indian filmmakers,
on to fame and fortune with the musical who reduced horror to its few exploitable
comedy Rangeela, the biggest hit of 1995. elements and then continued to exploit
Buoyed by this success, he returned to them until the barrel ran dry? Or maybe it
horror in 1999 with Kauri?, another was the distributors, who offered lower and
songless and serious drama. Although it lower prices. Or perhaps one can blame the
was not a huge hit, the film performed audiences themselves, who seem unable to
respectably and received festival screenings distinguish between trash like Khooni
abroad. Varma's enthusiasm for horror, Dracula (1992) and a treat like Raat.
which he has expressed eloquently in The problem in many ways lies with
interviews, marks him as something of a the term "horror" itself. In India, the word
unique figure in the Indian film business. carries so much baggage. To bring up the
The gauntlet he has thrown down, with his subject in film circles is almost the same as
low-key and sophisticated approach to announcing that you are a half-wit. It just
horror, has not been picked up by others. isn't taken seriously. It conjures up images

of bad acting, lumpy faced monsters, wind something alien and exotic. It touches on
machines, and the producer's girlfriend in distant folk memories and stories that we
a bikini. It is the equivalent of the term "Z only half-remember from childhood. In
movie", and carries all the same negative India, by contrast, it is much harder to
connotations. exploit those kinds of images precisely
because they aren't hidden or lost. They
"A single thread in a complex tapestry" are still very much present in the public's
mind as living, contemporary ideas.
To give this argument some perspective, let In search of something exotic, Indian
us go to the other end of the spectrum and filmmakers have turned to the West and
take a look at the 1996 movie, Ammoru drawn on our images of horror.
(aka Maa Ki Shakti). This Hyderabad-based Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have
production, directed by Kodi Ramakrishna worked. It is like trying to dress up as
and produced by Shyam Prasad Reddy, your next door neighbour by taking the
was the most expensive Telegu language clothes left outside for the charity
film ever made, and was a hit immediately collection. In exactly that way, most
upon release. The story tells of a simple Indian horror seems second-hand,
village girl who falls foul of a black threadbare and sadly lacking in contem-
magician who also happens to belong to a porary gloss or cultural depth. The truth
family of local landowners. She witnesses of the matter is that horror will only really
him murdering a girl during a magical rite work in Indian movies when it draws on
and tells the police. He is arrested and sent Indian tradition. And maybe that can only
to prison. On his release he sets out to ruin happen when that tradition ceases to have
the woman's life using his evil powers. This meaning, when it becomes almost
culminates in the death by drowning of the irrelevant. When It becomes, like folk tales
woman's young daughter and the impris- in the West, a distant and exotic memory below:
onment and humiliation of her husband. that requires the stimulus of cinema to Contemporary
Indian horror, Ab
Just as the woman too is about to bring it back to life. Kya Hoga (2001).
become a victim of the evil magician, she
calls out in desperation to the village deity.
The stone idol comes to life in the guise of
Kali, the blue-skinned goddess of death.
This terrifying, multi-limbed vision engages
in a magical battle with the magician,
which ends with her slicing off his head in
graphic, blood-spurting detail and then
incinerating his corpse. This climax to the
film, using excellent digital effects created
by Digitalia in London, is one of the best-
ever uses of CGI imagery in an Indian film.
Gruesome and graphic, it is also highly
stylised, like a temple painting come to life.
To explain the film's success, the
trade papers had to create a new genre:
"mythological/ social" is what they called it.
But in any other context, it would be
horror. And that is the nub of the problem
for Indian filmmakers. When asked, they
will tell you that there is no tradition of
horror in India as there is in Europe and
the US, and that is why they draw so much
on Western models for inspiration and
storylines. In many ways, they are right.
India has nurtured no Edgar Allan Poes or
Stephen Kings. However, horror is certainly
there in the Indian consciousness; it is just
sublimated, integrated, one flavor amongst
many others, a single thread In a complex
tapestry.
Horror, for most Western audiences
today, is very much something "out there",

In a climate of terror:
the Filipino monster movie
Mauro Feria Tumbocon, Jr.
In his 1986 magazine essay, "Where Has All notice of its formal attributes and the
the Horror Gone?", Filipino film critic and various technical innovations generated
scholar Joel David decries the "...scarcity of through the years, but also to acknowledge
genuine horror items in contemporary local the genre's role in reflecting on the
1
cinema." He goes on to argue that the sad * Joel David, "The
national condition; to show that horror in National Pastime."
state of the horror genre exemplifies what Philippine cinema is as worthy of investi- Contemporary
has been a general lack of interest in gation as the realistic melodrama or the Philippine Cinema.
Manila: Anvil
Filipino cinema as a whole. action movie. Publishing, 1990.
At the same time that he places the
burden on the moviegoer's lack of Modes of horror in Filipino cinema
2
Rolfie L. Velasco
(ed.), Philippine
patronage as the reason for the decline in Cinema. Diamond
production, David opines that this period - Film was introduced in the Philippines at Anniversary
the 1980s - marks a significant shift from Brochure. Manila:
the close of 19th century, but it took Mowelfund, 1994.
previous decades, notably the 60s which another decade for Filipino entrepreneurs
saw a flowering of Filipino horror. However, to see its potential as a viable business 3
Pete Tombs,
a tentative survey of Philippine film output enterprise and begin producing their own Mondo Macabro:
from 1927 to 1994 reveals a more or less Weird & Wonderful
movies, notably Jose Nepomuceno - widely Cinema Around the
consistent number of horror movies considered the Father of Philippine film - World. New York:
produced, namely one to two percent of the with his first feature, Dalagang Bukld St. Martin's Griffin,
2 1998: 48-63.
annual output. No year or decade can {Country Maiden, 1919). A few silent horror
claim a significantly greater percentage movies were produced during this period; 4
See Bliss Lim,
than any other. This means that over time, Malayan Movies' Ang Manananggal {The "The Politics of
Philippine interest in the gothic and in Horror: The Aswang
Viscera Sucking Witch, 1927), Ang Multo sa (Filipino Viscera-
horror has not necessarily diminished. Ltbtngan {The Ghost In the Cemetery, 1931), Sucker) In Film,"
More than the number and quality of Mang Tano, Nuno ng mga Aswang {Mr. Asian Cinema 9.1
(Fall 1997): 81-98;
the products, at issue here is the paucity Tano, the Elder of the Witches, 1932) and "Monstrous Makers,
of scholarship on the genre. Except for the Tianak {The Child Monster, 1932). Bestial Brides:
Situating Eddie
short essay by David referred to above, a Synchronised sound made its Romero's B-Horror
chapter in Pete Tombs's now-classic auspicious beginning with a horror film, Films In An Intricate
3
Mondo Macabro and lengthy reviews of a Manila Talkatone's Ang Aswang {The Witch, Web of Histories,"
Journal of English
few films - in particular Mike de Leon's Itim 1933), a development which suggests that Studies and
{Black, aka The Rites of May, 1976) and any technological change in the industry Comparative
Antonio Jose Perez's Haplos {Caress, 1982) Literature 1.2
lends itself to the formal dictates of the (January 1998): 37-
- there has been little serious inquiry into genre. In the succeeding years, one 61; and "Spectral
Philippine horror, either at the formal or observes that improvements in other areas Times: The Ghost
thematic levels (though recently Bliss Lim Film as Historical
of Philippine cinema - sound and film Allegory," positions:
4
has worked to rectify this situation' ). editing, cinematography and design east as/a cultures
Despite the paucity of film prints and video (including make-up, prosthetics and later critique 9.2 (Fall
2001): 287-329.
copies currently available, this essay computer graphics and animation) - all
marks a modest attempt to provide a succeed in enhancing the look of the horror opposite:
thorough examination of the Filipino film, resulting in a more serious appreci- Mario O'Hara's
Manananggal in
horror movie. This is not only to take ation of the form. Manila.

The Philippines
(Golden Lion Films, 1993), for example,

Myrna Diones (Kris Aquino, tagged as the
"massacre queen" of Philippine cinema
after appearing in this picture, The
Vizconde Massacre, God Help Us [1993]
and The Elsa Castillo Story, The Truth [Ang
5
Katotohanan, 1994] ) is a disadvantaged
village girl who gets abducted (along with
her cousins), raped and tortured, then left
for dead. But she survives these horrors to
recount them and bring the perpetrators -
the son of a wealthy congressman and his
henchmen - to justice. The popular appeal
of these films lay partly on their
sensationalistic approach to crime,
including the graphic depiction of murder
(complete with torture scenes and the
mutilation/severing of body parts), but
even more on their emotional resonance,
as most of the stories remained unsolved
at least up to the time of release.
It must be noted that, because of the
absence of institutional film preservation
in the Philippines, a number of important
and worthwhile Filipino horror movies
have been lost forever. What is even more
tragic, in the case of many existent horror
above: Filipino horror can be divided into films, video transfers have not yet been
Celso Ad. Castillo, made, hence are unavailable for reference.
director of Kung
three main categories or subgenres: the
Baklt Dugo ang ghost/occult film, the aswang/witch film Examples include the following: Gerardo
Kulay ng Gabi and the thriller/slasher movie. The name de Leon's Ibulong Mo Sa Hangln {Whisper
(aka Night of the 6
Zombies). of each category defines its subject but to the Wind, AM Productions, 1966),
provides little insight into its specific Celso Ad. Castillo's Kung Bakit Dugo ang
theme, narrative or visual style. Aside Kulay ng Gabi (Night of the Zombies, AA
from the fact that they comprise the Productions, 1974), Patayin sa Sindak si
greatest number produced, given their Barbara (Kill Barbara with Terror, Rosas
close affinity to Philippine mythology and Productions, 1974) and Ang Madugong
folklore the aswang /witch films will be Datgdig ni Salvaclon (The Bloody World of
given more attention than the others. Salvaclon, AA Productions, 1975), as well
Furthermore, because the form appears to two of what are now regarded as classics
dominate all historical periods, it may well of Philippine horror, 4 na Gabi ng Laglm (4
be considered the typical Filipino horror Nights of Horror, 1960) and Maruja (1967).
movie. The other two varieties, while of no Thus, If in what follows some titles are
less import, may be said to be topical, mentioned because of their significance in
reflecting the temper of the time. The the history of the genre, I must resort to
ghost/occult film, for instance, most of my personal recollections of the films in
which resemble gothic melodramas with question, which are (at best) impressions
5
Kristina Bernadette their underlying themes of unrequited and/or a few strands of the narrative.
Cojuangco Aquino is love, lust and perversion, was especially
the daughter of
Philippine martyr common in the 1960s and 70s. The ghost/occult film
Ninoy Aquino and
former President
The thriller/slasher movie, on the
Corazon Cojuangco- other hand, appeared most frequently in Unlike the Western gothic fiction which
Aquino. the mid-1990s. Most of the films in this deals with what scholars often refer to as
6
latter category are based on true-to-life extreme periods of anxiety in the present,
Gerardo de Leon
is widely considered stories and concern themselves with the Filipino gothic melodrama, i.e., the
the master of underlying issues of social injustice and ghost/occult film, concerns unresolved
Philippine cinema, abuse of power; practically all of them issues in some remote past, a past that
and was the
country's second have poor women as victims and men of continues to haunt the present. Antonio
National Artist for wealth and privilege as the Jose Perez's Haplos (Caress, Mirick Films
Film (an award he
won posthumously
murderers/abusers. In Carlo Caparas's International, 1982) initially confounds
in 1982). The Myrna Dlones Story, Lord Have Mercy the viewer with its overlapping narratives;

in a c l i m a t e of t e r r o r
as a consequence, it suffers from Upon further examination, however,

confusing points of view, one reason why the film speaks of a transgressive love that
it was panned by critics the year it was is doomed from the start. On account of
first screened. Upon further viewing, their different social status - both racial
however, one finds a compelling, richly and economic - the love affair between
textured film that succeeds in part due to Maruja and Gabriel is unacceptable
its lovely star's haunting presence (Rio within the society at large. Their re-
Locsin as Auring/Aurora) and in part due figuration in the contemporary world, via
to Ricardo Lee's skilful writing. possession of present-day characters, 7
Mark Edmundson,
While the film's primary storyline suggests the need to examine class as an Nightmare on Main
revolves around the attempt of childhood issue that divides society. As a narrative Street: Angels,
Sadomasochism,
sweethearts Al (Christopher de Leon) and device, possession by spirits succeeds and the Culture of
Christy (Vilma Santos) to rekindle their insofar as it accentuates differences of Gothic. Cambridge,
time, place and character. The act of MA.: Harvard
romance after long years of separation, it University Press,
is the subplot - Al's falling in love with the haunting, as cultural scholar Mark 1997.
mysterious woman Aurora, who turns out Edmundson suggests, shows that life
itself is possessed, that the present is In below:
to be a ghost - which proves to be the Video cover fot
7
more substantial part of the film. Given thrall to the past. Haplos.
Haplos's preoccupation with Aurora, a
victim of Japanese cruelty and Filipino
collaborators during the second world war
(she was repeatedly raped and
subsequently killed by a band of Japanese
soldiers), the film underlines the nation's
anguish over that painful experience. In
the context of ongoing unrest, in
particular the government's military
operations against leftist guerrillas in the
country, Haplos questions the legitimacy
of internecine war in the Philippines.
The country's Spanish historic past
figures prominently in horror films
produced in the 1960s, not for its overt
socio-political meaning, but for its
romantic setting which allows extensive
use of European-style costumes and
locations. Once again, the ghost
represents the past, with this figure
returning to the present and having his or
her story recalled in flashback. Armando
Garces's Maruja (Lea Productions, 1967)
is a typical narrative in this respect.
Maruja (Susan Roces), daughter of a
Spanish landed gentry (her father is
Spanish and her mother Filipina), is
betrothed to a Spanish military officer
named Rodrigo (Eddie Garcia).
Unfortunately though, she is in love with
Gabriel (Romeo Vasquez), the son of
peasant Filipino parents. On the eve of her
wedding to Rodrigo, Maruja kills herself
by taking poison. One may discern shades
of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
in the story, but what we have here is
actually closer to Philippine national hero
Jose Rizal's 1892 novel Noli Me Tangere
(Touch Me Not), as the film's underlying
theme of repressed desire relates to
Catholic condemnation/ disavowal of
earthly lust outside the conventions of
marriage.

The Philippines
The latest remake of Maruja (Viva

Films, 1995,- written and directed by Jose
Javier Reyes), because it chooses to
dismiss possession as a narrative device,
fails, devoid of the gothic appeal of the
original. On the other hand, Lino Brocka's
Gumising Ka, Maruja {Wake up, Maruja,
FPJ Productions, 1978), an apparent
update on the original, has sharpened our
interest in the title character with its
ingenious re-working of the Maruja myth
by writer Tony Perez. In this film, Susan
Roces (the lead in the first Maruja) is Nina
above: By cluing in on a possession film's Concepción, a former movie star, now in
Filming Gumising her middle age, who is planning to make a
Ka, Maruja (aka shifts in focus, alterations in tone, colour
Wake up, Maruja). (there often occurs a switch to comeback. Her agent wants her to star in a
monochromes of either blues or reds) and big picture, the dramatization of a popular
volume, and changes in an actor's folk figure, Maruja. The production
movements and gestures, the audience company (which Nina owns) decides to
engages not only in the process of shoot the film in the very same house
storytelling but gains additional where Maruja grew up, got married and
understanding of characters' motivations subsequently killed herself. On the eve of
and the director's own choices. Thus, the the production company's press
practical as opposed to merely aesthetic conference, the ghosts in the house begin
below: value of such shifts and alterations should to wreak havoc on the unwanted guests
Seance scene from from the city. Brocka and Perez's
Itim. not be underestimated.

in a climate of t e r r o r
employment of the possession-by-splrits

theme has elevated the Maruja narrative to
a level whereby it is able to deconstruct the
romanticised tragic figure of Maruja
herself. By displacing our interest onto the
secondary character of Rodrigo - here in
the person of Marco (Phillip Salvador),
Nina's young lover - as the wronged and
betrayed one, Gumising Ka, Maruja
manages to demystify Maruja in contem-
porary imagination.
In Mike de Leon's debut feature, Itim
[Black, Cinemanila, 1976), possession by
spirits occurs through seance (a common
literary device) and becomes a means of
uncovering truth. Jun (Tommy Abuel), a
photographer, goes home to the province
on a Lenten holiday. In his father's
abandoned clinic, he finds a film negative;
developing it, he discovers a young woman
with his father. The young woman turns
out to be the sister of another woman Jun
has met, who has disappeared.
On the surface, Itim engages the
viewer with its visual style: a careful
attention to detail, riveting camerawork
that effectively evokes a sense of dread and
fine use of minimal music and silences. It
disturbs, however, not because of its anti-
patriarchal position (a concern that echoes
throughout de Leon's subsequent films)
but for its negative attitude towards
abortion. Jun's father, now paralysed and
confined to a wheelchair, throws himself
down the stairs in throes of guilt and
remorse after being confronted by his
paramour's spirit inhabiting the younger
sister (Charo Santos) during a seance.
Until recently, the abortion issue has with his wife (Daria Ramirez) to open above:
Don Escudero's
not been a source of much national contro- practice as an abortionist. In an impakto (aka The
versy in the Philippines - being the only unexplained circumstance, his wife - Devil).
Catholic nation in Asia has made it more already advanced in years - bears a child
difficult for the proponents of abortion to who turns out to be a blood-sucking devil.
wage a meaningful debate - but popular Impakto, through the use of the folkloric
culture, film in the main, has certainly figure of the tlyanak, ascribes guilt to those
reinforced the Catholic ideal of preserving who would defy what the film takes to be
life if at all possible. In these films, abortion God's will. Dr. Sagrado, remorseless to the
is viewed as a sin; therefore, those who end, faces a slew of vengeful little devils
take away the life of an unborn fetus must alone in the depths of a forest where he has
be punished. buried the unborn foetuses, and there he
meets his own bloody death.
The aswang/witch film The tlyanak (or little blood-sucking
devil) is one of the more common mythical
The same theme is explored further in figures in Philippine popular literature, and
another category of Filipino horror: the partly comprises what has become known
aswang /witch film. Don Escudero's as the aswang complex. In his research on
Impakto (The Devil, Regal Films, 1996) Filipino folklore, Maximo Ramos defines the
works on a premise similar to that of de concept of the aswang as a coterie of beliefs
Leon's Itim. Dr. Sagrado (Ernie Zarate) has about five distinct types of mythical beings:
failed in his efforts to become a licensed (1) the mandurugo or vampire, which sucks
physician, and so heads off to the province the blood of victims like its European

The Philippines
counterpart; (2) the manananggal or self- prosthetics in Gallaga and Reyes's Ang
segmenting viscera sucker, which at night Madre (The Nun) episode of the omnibus
splits its body at the waist after applying a Shake, Rattle & Roll IV, Regal Films, 1993),
special oil and reciting a chant (the upper for example, makes possible the showing of
portion flies away to hunt, leaving the lower actual segmentation of the creature's body
portion behind); (3) the man-eating into a stationary lower torso and a flying
werebeast, which assumes the appearance upper part with bat-like wings. While in
of a ferocious cat, pig, dog or bat; (4) the Don Escudero's Takot ka ba sa Dilim (Are
above: mangkukulam or vindictive or evil-eyed You Afraid of the Dark, Viva Films, 1996),
Peque Gallaga, witch; and (5) the ghoul, which steals and computer compositing is the technical
maker of Aswang.
eats the body of dying persons or the means used to achieve a more animated
corpses of the newly dead. However, also manananggal, as the creature is actually
forming part of the aswang complex in the shown flying in pursuit of her prey, a group
Philippine lower mythology are the following of young boys.
creatures: (6) the tiyanak, as discussed Despite a relatively primitive technical
above; (7) the kapre or tree-inhabiting giant; method, what sets Aswang apart from the
and (8) the nuno sa punso or elf in the rest of the genre is its literate writing (script
mound (also referred to as the "Anthill by Pen Medina and Jerry Sineneng), in
9
Dwarf ). which two parallel narratives are tied into a
Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes's unified whole by the co-directors' astute
Aswang (1992), one of the more accom- visual style and sense of humour. Upon
plished and fully-realised Filipino horror reaching home, a young child and her
features in recent memory, conforms to nanny (Aiza Seguerra and Manilyn Reynes)
conventional mythology in the attributes it find the girl's mother and all the domestic
ascribes to the manananggal or self- help brutally murdered by a gang of
segmenting viscera sucker. Almost robbers. Together with the family driver,
academic to a point, the film presents the the pair escapes and finds refuge in a
ritual, the transformation/self-segmen- village, now reeling after a series of killings,
tation and the reconstitution of this suspected to be the work of an aswang.
creature in stark detail. Eventually, the robbers get wind of the
Alma Moreno, then-reigning Philippine child's whereabouts. In the ensuing chase
sex symbol, plays the role of an enigmatic scene, all of the film's major and minor
young woman in the village. She barely characters - including Morena's aswang I
speaks and appears in only a few scenes mamananggai-now-turned-weredog - meet
(the villagers talk about her whenever she is in a hilarious finale as a blurring of the
seen), but her aswang-transformation pursued-pursuer demarcation is placed in
sequence is not to be forgotten. In this the fore.
sequence, we see Moreno's character At this point, a slight variation of the
perched upon a nipa-thatched roof directly manananggal character in two Filipino
8Of these different
above a sleeping pregnant woman (played horror films should be mentioned.
forms, the
by Janice de Belen). She is shot against an Common folklore speaks of the
mandurugo Is the extremely bright blue sky, her long hair manananggal as a beautiful woman living a
least commonly flowing in the wind and her face sporting an
reported. Witnesses
solitary existence in the forest - a figure
almost always anguished cry. Peering through a hole in rarely found in Western mythology. As we
describe seeing the the roof, when she senses her prey to be have seen, Gallaga and Reyes's Aswang
aswang as a asleep she swiftly extends an elongated and
manananggal, or a portrays this character in traditional
werebeast changed tubular tongue, which proceeds to siphon folkloric fashion. However, in a later film -
into the form of a off the viscera of the pregnant woman - Mario O'Hara's Manananggal In Manila
black cat, a big dog,
a savage pig or a
including the foetus. It is said that an (MAQ Productions, 1997), written by Floy
strange winged expectant mother is a choice victim for the Quintos - the manananggal is a modern
creature. See manananggal, preferring as it does the fresh
Maximo D. Ramos,
woman (Alma Concepción) who lives in a
Tfre Aswang blood and entrails of an unborn baby or condominium and works as a successful
Complex in young child. advertising model. Such a characterisation
Philippine Folklore.
Quezon City, Of interest in this film is the realistic bears similarities to that of the nun in
Philippines: Phoenix depiction of the manananggal's mode of Gallaga and Reyes's Ang Madre, written by
Publishing House, Jerry Lopez Sineneng. This atypical
1990.
behaviour; although stationary, as if
suspended by some wiring at the rear, the character type suggests a fusion of both the
9
For more on the imagery of Moreno on the roof remains Philippine folkloric manananggal and the
nuno sa punso, see: powerful. Later cinematic versions of the Western gothic figure of the diabolical
www.pinoystuff.com/ double. As Mark Edmundson explains, the
folklore/supersti- manananggal display more seamless visual
tions/nuno.htm. effects work. The extensive use of idea of a second self is that of a horrible

other living unrecognised in the world While the series retells in large part above:
The lead character,
beyond, a figure central to the mode of what is already known to mass audiences played by Charo
what he calls "terror gothic" (8). (Note too as folklore - most episodes involve Santos is
that the murderer in most thriller/slasher muto/ghosts, kulam/curses or aswang/ possessed by the
spirit of her elder
movies is an extension of this notion of a manananggal - its success has allowed sister in Itim.
second self.) Gallaga and Reyes to expand the notion of
Aswang marks one of the high points horror and what is possible In local cinema.
of Filipino horror and established the Displaying a keen sense of the macabre,
tandem of Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes as they infuse their films with the seriousness
major filmmakers in the genre. The six film of their subjects' mythological past.
(to date) omnibus series, Shake, Rattle & Nevertheless, an acute awareness of
Roll - three of which (II-IV) they directed as present-day concerns informs their work,
a team, and which happen to be the best in affording easier access for their viewers.
the series - is by far the most successful Furthermore, as remarkable imagists and
horror franchise in the history of Philippine genre technicians, they provide their films
cinema. Always exhibited as part of the with urgency and importance. Three
annual Metro Manila Film Festival in episodes in Shake, Rattle & Roll III and W in
December (the first one in 1984), Shake, particular may be considered watermarks
Rattle & Roll is comprised of three short in Philippine horror due to their thematic
episodes. Although the distinct stories are daring and technical flourish.
separable, they may be related by theme Nanay (Mother) in Shake, Rattle & Roll
and/or style, if only at the level of the III (Good Harvest Unlimited, 1992)
framing of titles. What makes each film in exemplifies Gallaga and Reyes's tendency
the series interesting, at least those directed to combine their visual skills with attention
by Gallaga and Reyes, is the way the to a pressing social concern. A simple-
episodes are arranged in sequence, starting minded young student (Manilyn Reynes),
with a light but sombre number, followed by on a field trip to a lake, discovers a fellow
a comic one and ending with the most student dead after catching the eggs of an
thought-provoking episode of the three. unknown sea creature. She goes home with

The Philippines
opposite: her friend's catch only to find a monster in bury the body. Gallaga and Reyes, with their
Video cover for
Shake, Rattle & an ice bucket, which promptly attacks her. own team of writers and technicians
Roll IV, part of the She loses sight of the monster in the mêlée (notably Benny Batoctoy for prosthetics),
successful series of and we see it hide in the toilet. After a
Filipino anthology
have built a solid body of work that merits
horror movies. narrative detour showing what usually goes more exhaustive study.
on in a crowded student dormitory, the
episode ends with a night of mayhem and Contemporary Filipino horror
gore as the monster makes its final bloody
attack on the dorm residents in pursuit of What lies ahead for Philippine horror?
the eggs - her babies. At the core of the Already, another Gallaga and Reyes's film,
narrative is an apocalyptic message of Sa Piling ng Aswang (With the Witch, MAQ
ecological threat: as punishment for Productions, 1999), has generated interest
destroying nature (in this case, the ecology due to its rational take on the aswang
of a lake), mankind faces death. mythology. The film is not deconstructive
Ang Kapttbahay [The Neighbour) in in aim, but instead takes a more clinical
Shake, Rattle & Roll TV works along similar approach to understanding the presence of
lines, albeit in a light-hearted, childlike the aswang as something that is not so
way. In rapid succession and without any much from another world (the nether-
warning, little children disappear from the world) as from another subculture. This
park where they have been playing, until was already hinted at in previous films, for
one girl (Aiza Seguerra) sees a monstrous example O'Hara's Manananggal In Manila.
creature emanate from a tree and abduct a In Sa Piling ng Aswang, a group of
child. It turns out to be a witawit, a tree students go on a research trip to study the
creature, who is angered by the cutting aswang and come face-to-face with their
down of the trees, their homes. Clearly, Ang fears, only to discover that the only way to
Kapitbahay addresses its concern to deal with fear is to accept its existence, as
younger viewers. Nanay, on the other hand, well as one other.
impresses its more mature audience with Like previous collaborators Don
technical polish and stylised acting. This Escudero and Manny Castañeda, new
episode has effectively expanded the filmmakers have emerged in recent years to
industry's repertoire of visual effects with follow in the tradition of Gallaga and Reyes
its imaginative use of prosthetics. When the with their focus on Philippine folk
monster's saliva drops on a human body, mythology. Another group of younger
for instance, the affected limb dissolves in a filmmakers, including actors Michael de
gelatinous spill, while the upper part - the Mesa and Eric Quizon, have made attempts
face and the chest remain intact - can still at working in the genre with mixed results.
be seen talking. How this episode manages But one stands to be more promising than
to successfully combine the gory and the the rest: Rico Maria Ilarde.
amusing is to the filmmakers' credit.
The U.S.-schooled Ilarde's Ang
Questions about mortality are the Babaeng Putlk (The Earth Woman, Regal
focus of Ate [Elder Sister) in Shake, Rattle & Films, 2000) creates its own mythology
Roll III. Based on a script by Lopez borne out of the wastage of the earth. The
Sineneng, this episode provokes its destructive mirror image of a nurturing
audience to consider the morality of mercy- mother earth figure, the title character
killing: it may be against the law to kill a assumes a diabolic double. An aspiring
human being, but not to bring a dead writer seeks the quietude of a provincial
person back to life. Rosalyn (Janice de house to concentrate on his writing;
Belén), in a fit of guilt decides to visit an instead, he finds a woman emerge from a
elder sister she has not seen for a long time. giant plant which he himself has brought to
The sister, Rowena (Gina Alajar), has been life. The woman becomes a comforter and
author's note: confined in a sanatorium for some unknown lover to the writer, but a monstrous
I would like to
gratefully
illness, apparently psychiatric in nature. In creature to the village. After his friend is
acknowledge the the sanatorium - run by a mysterious, killed, he is never the same again and
support and devious couple, the doctor (Subas Herrero) leaves the village bruised in spirit.
assistance of the
following in the and his wife (Armida Siguion-Reyna) - Ang Babaeng Putik infuses local
writing of this essay: Rosalyn finds her sister devouring ground Philippine cinema with a new energy and
Roger Garcia, Pio earth and being totally uncommunicative.
Candelaria for the vision, though one still somewhat
photographs and Upon further investigation, she discovers irresolute and uneven. But the very
Cube Video in that her sister is already dead, and was only formation of a new mythology for a new
South San
Francisco for video
brought back to life by the doctor. The only audience bodes well for Filipino horror
copies of the films. way to keep her at peace is to kill her and films in years to come.


French Revolution: The Secret

History of Gallic Horror Movies
David Kalat
Monsieur Metadier, of the Renoux-Duval itself. That those rare pull-no-punches,

Bank, had one true passion: the movies. make-no-apologies, full-blooded horror
Every Friday, with all the clockwork films to come out of France have actually
regularity one expects from a bank clerk, M. been the work of either marginalised, low-
Metadier took himself to the Theatre budget indies or foreign directors spending
Gaumont to catch the latest thrilling serial, French money. In short, that speaking
"Race to the Abyss!" He never missed a show. about the French Horror Film is like
And on this particular Friday, like discussing the hole of a donut.
every Friday before it and none afterwards, All of which may be true to a certain
he left the Gaumont at midnight to catch extent, but is by no means the whole truth.
the train to his suburban home. Scarcely While the French film industry has resisted
had the train left the station than the two a genuine horror movie tradition the likes
fellow passengers in his compartment leapt of which can be found in England or Italy
to their feet to attack him. Seconds later, or Spain, it has nevertheless substantially
they tossed his lifeless carcass from the and extensively influenced the evolution of
train like so much garbage. horror cinema internationally. However,
By a curious coincidence, a petty thief since there is no national film tradition to
named Moreno just happened to be passing summarise, each film is basically an island
at the precise moment that Metadier's body to be discussed on its own. So one cannot
was thrown from the train. Seeing a golden easily trace what influence the French
opportunity, Moreno hid the corpse and horror movie has had on, say, Hollywood,
assumed the dead man's identity. By because the question is more what
Monday morning, M. Metadier's stolen face influence each individual film may have
had been used to defraud the bank of some had, which of course varies.
1
300,000 Francs. The story begins, naturally enough, at
This, the attendant dangers of what the dawn of cinema itself.
the French call cinema.
Conventional wisdom holds that there Photographing a phantom world
is no such beast as the French Horror Film.
That something about French filmgoers The first ever public film show was held in
prevented them from ever developing a France in 1895, with a program of shorts
taste for such salacious thrills. That while made by the Lumière brothers. It set in
imports, like the output of England's motion a revolution in public
Hammer Studios, may find an appreciative entertainment that launched the cinema as 1
From Louis
niche audience, the French film industry the most popular and important art form of Feuillade's Les
has never recognised a market for the Vampires serial
the 20th century. In attendance at the (1915-16).
home-grown product. That to the extent show was a magician named Georges
that respectable French filmmakers have Méliès, who had been performing elaborate opposite:
Jean Marais and
deigned to explore the fantastic, they have conjuring tricks and illusions in his own Josette Day in Jean
only ventured as far as science-fition or personal theatre for almost a decade. Cocteau's La belle
poetic fantasies, unwilling to traffic in the Méliès was enraptured by the Lumière et la bête (aka
Beauty and the
lowly and disreputable genre of horror show, and immediately purchased a movie Beast), 1945.

France
right: customers. At first, Méliès learned the craft

Three stills from
Escamotage d'une
of filmmaking by imitating the Lumière
dame chez Robert- style of cinéma vérité. But within a year,
Haudin (aka The once he had the hang of the device, Méliès
Vanishing Lady)
(1898) showing the pursued a radically different path.
pioneering trickery Beginning with Escamotage d'une dame
of Georges Melies. chez Robert-Haudin (The Vanishing Lady,
1898), Méliès began to make the films for
which he became internationally famous:
trick films. Unfortunately, that term, "trick
film", fails to convey the impact of Méliès'
innovation. "Trick film" is a term of art for
film critics and specialists - these were
special effects blockbusters. Beautiful
women who morph into skeletons and
back, spaceships launched into orbit a
half-century before the real thing, giant
monsters that eat people alive, severed
heads that float through fantastic
landscapes... Méliès was the first person to
realise that cinema's greatest expressive
power, and truest claim to art, lies not in
rendering the real world on celluloid, but in
conjuring up a new world unique to the
cinema. The world seen in Méliès's films
exists only there, in Méliès' films, an
illusion created by the interaction between
real objects (actors, sets, lights) with the
peculiar properties of the moving picture
itself. Méliès made films of events that
never happened, events that existed only in
the eye of the camera, and in so doing he
not only inspired generations of special
effects artists in his wake but also laid the
groundwork for the development of
fantastic cinema.
The modern horror film has its roots
in Méliès' so-called trick films, and for more
than the obvious reasons. Certainly, the
horror film has relied heavily on the shock
projector of his own from the Robert W. value of special effects. More importantly,
Paul Company in London; he had seen the though, the underlying agenda of horror
future of illusion-making, and it was on the and fantastic cinema is to explore
silver screen. heightened experiences and extreme
Together, Lumière and Méliès situations outside the purview of straight
represent the twin fathers of the cinema. realistic drama. The vast majority of films
Louis Lumière recognised the commercial seek a form of representational authen-
prospects of the medium and perfected the ticity, a window on the world, and in
technology for its exhibition. Méliès striving for realism they follow in the
provided the content that audiences footsteps of Louis Lumière. Horror
flocked towards. In other words, Lumière filmmakers, invoking highly stylised
made it possible to show movies, Méliès imagery and supernatural situations
made it worthwhile. (whether intended as allegory or merely to
Although Lumière's landmark 1895 shock) owe a debt to Méliès' vision of
show included the first fiction film, illusionist cinema. No matter how realisti-
L'arroseur arrosé {Watering the Gardener), cally styled their makers may try to craft
both his and R.W. Paul's emphasis was on them, horror films are not literal represen-
documentary realism. They took their tations of the "real world." That is the
cameras out into the world, photographed province of drama. Horror, on the other
what happened, and then projected those hand, tends to concern itself with an
visions of reality onto the screen for paying abstracted, extremist world from which

the secret history of Gallic horror movies
audiences can, perhaps, divine some none of Melies's magic, but concocts a
meaning useful in their everyday lives. unique magical world all his own. The
Especially in France but indeed world of Feuillade appears to be our world,
throughout most of the Western world, the corrupted by a pervasive evil from which
mainstream commercial film industry has escape is apparently impossible.
descended from Lumière's tradition. In the 1920s the first wave of French
Perhaps fiction replaced documentary film criticism appeared, the first genuine
subjects, but nonetheless movies became effort to appreciate film as art. But these
predominately concerned with critics snubbed the work of Feuillade, one
photographic and narrative realism. A of the most popular and successful
separate tradition of fantastic films directors of the day, precisely because of
descended from Méliès' sideshow his success. Feuillade considered himself
aesthetics, but remained marginalised. Not an entertainer, and judged the worth of his
only were genres like science fiction and films on the sole basis of how well he kept
horror treated with scepticism or his audience happy. Critics, seeking
contempt-even Méliès's legacy was intellectual statements from the cinema to
considered problematic. More than a few justify its artistic ambitions, saw Feuillade
film historians, uncomfortable with the as a throwback. "We don't always go to the
notion of non-representational film, cited cinema to study", countered Feuillade,
as Méliès' greatest contribution to the "The public flocks to It to be entertained. I
development of cinema the fact that he was place the public above all else." 3
the first to make films longer than the 65 to Eventually, Feuillade found favour
80 foot length of the then-standard movie with the critical community. The Surrealists
spool. Since the idea of running several embraced his Fantdmas serials as an
spools back-to-back seems with hindsight example of pure art, and a later generation
pretty obvious, the fact that Méliès was of critics hailed his films as masterpieces.
making films that ran three or (gasp!) ten Alain Resnais, Georges Franju and Claude
minutes long now seems rather trivial Chabrol all cited Feuillade as a major
compared to the fact the content of those influence on their art, and variously helmed
films was so much more iconoclastic and homages to Feuillade's cliff-hanger thrillers.
2
influential, regardless of their length. But the tension between the cinema of the
The next major figure in the evolution fantastic and the artistic pretensions of the
of fantastic film was the great Louis French cognoscenti had been well
Feuillade. Along with D.W. Griffith, established, and the marginalisation of
Feuillade is a critical founder of modern French fantasy continued.
cinema, and a major influence on later The fantastic cinema that descended
directors. Born in France in 1874, from Melies and Feuillade took root
Feuillade began directing in 1906. He spent primarily abroad. It was in places like
several years manufacturing films in the Germany and the United States that
traditional mould before discovering the filmmakers began to populate the screen
serial format where he would make his with vampires, monsters, reanimated
mark. With multi-part serialised pictures corpses, mad doctors, evil robots and
like Fantdmas (1913-14), Les vampires werewolves. In France, filmmakers, critics
(1915-16), Tih Mlnh (1918) and Barrabas and audiences remained uncomfortable
(1919), Feuillade practically invented the with-even antagonistic towards-such lurid
suspense thriller. Feuillade was the pleasures. While no national tradition of
premiere director for the Gaumont gothic horror cinema evolved, iconoclastic
company, exercising near-total artistic and haphazard experiments appeared- 2
control over his creations. And a prolific Most of Méliès's

shots in the dark, to be sure, but perhaps works are available
creator he was, too: he penned a staggering all the more powerful and effective for their on the DVD
800 scripts, directing all but 100 of them. independence. "Landmarks of Early
Film, Volume 2"
Feuillade's films are rife with masked Consider the case of Jean Epstein's La available from
superheroes, master criminals, sinister chute de la malson Usher (The Fall of the Image
Entertainment.
conspiracies, and deceptions and illusions House of Usher, 1928). Throughout the
on a grand scale. The convoluted tragedy of 1920s, avant-garde artist Epstein had 3
Zagury, F. (1998)
M. Metadier described above is typical collaborated with a young Luis Bunuel to "The Public is my
Feuillade: thrilling, engrossing, entrancing, Master': Louis
craft a number of visionary masterpieces. Feuillade and Les
terrifying and utterly implausible. But the In France, Epstein built his reputation on Vampires."
strength of Feuillade's works lie in their the basis of such progressive arthouse Liner notes, Les
Vampires (Laser-
juxtaposition of dreamlike fantasy with experiments as La glace a trois faces [The disc), Image
Lumière-style realism. Feuillade invokes Mirror with Three Panels, 1927). None of Entertainment.

France
(Margueritte Gance). "There is where she

truly lives", he gushes in admiration of the
finished painting, unaware of the literal
truth of his boast. The painting has sucked
Madeleine's soul from her body, leaving a
lifeless husk that Roderick reluctantly
buries in the family crypt. He fears she is
not truly dead, a fear that is unfortunately
justified. Soon, Madeleine's cadaver crawls
out of the mausoleum to bring holy
vengeance down upon her husband's
accursed home.
Epstein's Usher is a glossy, classy
work of art, borne out of its maker's goal of
pure aesthetic beauty, yet its content
equates that artistic drive with murder and
psychic destruction. As an ambivalent
statement about the act of artistic
creation, it remains a definitive treatment
of the theme, far superior to such half-
hearted later efforts as E. Elias Merhige's
this page and these, though, received any attention Shadow of the Vampire (2001).
opposite: Furthermore, Epstein's Usher has become
Jean Epstein's outside of France. The only one of Epstein's
La chute de la films to be distributed abroad, much less one of the most highly regarded of the
maison Usher find commercial success, was a lowly many, many Edgar Allan Poe-inspired
(aka The Fall of the films made over the years. With its high-
House of Usher), horror film, one obsessed with madness
1928. and morbidity. Gothic atmosphere and striking visuals,
Epstein took Edgar Allan Poe's "The Usher stands as something of a missing
Fall of the House of Usher" as his principal link between the excessively stylised
inspiration, crossbred with a smattering of Expressionism of the German silents
other Poe tales like "The Oval Portrait" and before it [Das Kablnett des Dr. Callgarl,
"Tomb of Ligeia." In Epstein's rendering, 1918; Dr. Mabu.se, 1922; Nosferatu, 1922)
Roderick Usher (Jean Debucourt) is a and the more narrative-driven moodiness
crazed artist, singularly fixated on painting of the Universal chillers that followed
the perfect portrait of his wife Madeleine [Dracula, 1931; Frankenstein, 1931; The

Fragments of the imagination
In almost anyone else's hands, the subject

matter of Abel Gance's J'accuse (I Accuse,
a.k.a. That They May Live, 1937) would
have made for a crackerjack B-movie, the
perfect vehicle for Boris Karloff or Lionel
Atwill. In the aftermath of WWI, a mad
scientist (Victor Francen), risen from the
dead with a piece of shrapnel lodged in his
brain and haunted by the ghosts of his
fallen comrades in arms, spends the next
twenty years holed up In an isolated and
moth-eaten lab, obsessed with inventing a
Old Dark House, 1932). The theatrical device capable of preventing war. His
success of La chute de la maison Usher in obsession costs him all human happiness,
America was essential in Hollywood's and ultimately drives him over the brink
synthesis of the Gothic horror film. into total insanity. When his inventions are
Following Usher's release, Epstein's co-opted by war profiteers as Europe re-
career went into rapid decline. The arms itself for WWII, well what's a mad
mainline Surrealist movement as organised scientist to do? Of course, bring back the
under André Breton objected to his art-for- victims of the first combat to horrify the
art's-sake aesthetic. Epstein belonged to living into playing nice. As the war dead
the same avant-garde community that rise from their graves and begin their
rejected Feuillade as popular trash; with march, the terrified villagers tie "that crazy
the same breath that the Surrealists hailed inventor" to the stake and burn him alive.
Feuillade's Fantòmas as a work of genius Amazingly, however, when one
they condemned Epstein's work as hollow actually watches J'accuse, there is nothing
pretension. Bunuel, once Epstein's protege, in the experience of the picture itself to
threw his cards in with Breton's Surrealists suggest that it is a horror film. Far from it,
and left Epstein to launch his own solo as Gance's treatment of the material elides
career. Bunuel's first film, Un chlen all gruesome aspects. The result is an
andalou [An Andaluslan Dog, 1928) was overwrought melodrama, one half war
nothing less than a reaction against Usher, picture and one half romance. Gance
with several shots designed as direct exploited the horror genre's allegorical
4
parodies of shots from Epstein's film. storytelling for his own sermonising, but
Far from developing any national without any desire to simply shock the
traditions of filmmaking, the French film audience. Gance builds up to his March of
scene was devolving into internecine the Dead climax for a surprisingly long
combat, each new movement jockeying for time, as if the filmmaker was uncertain
position by rejecting that which came how to embrace to the inherent supernatu-
before. One thing the various and sundry ralism of the very idea.
movements did share in common, though, In a touch not dissimilar to Tod
was a mistrust of the horror genre, despite Browning's casting of real circus freaks in
its importance and popularity elsewhere. Freaks (1932), Gance cast real WWI
veterans as his marching zombies. The
effect is devastating. Film scholars like
David Skal have long argued that the prolif-
eration of movie monsters after the Great
War owed much to the fact that severely
disfigured soldiers wounded in combat had 4
Stuart Liebman,
been re-assimilated into a society that was Professor of Film
simultaneously revulsed by and pitying Studies at City
5
towards them. In wars past, such injuries University of New
York. Personal
would likely have been fatal, but a discussions with
combination of modern weaponry and author, Fall 2000.
modern medicine put on the street large 5
Skal, D.J. (1993)
numbers of beings whose human vulnera- The Monster Show:
bility and mortality were on constant public A Cultural History of
display. These were heroes-and victims-but Horror. New York:
Penguin Books,
they looked like monsters. Thus were born 205-206.

France
such sympathetic movie characters as For decades thereafter, French

Frankenstein's Monster, the Mummy, the filmmakers who deigned to work in fantasy
Wolf Man... But the make-up talents of genres generally limited themselves to the
Jack Pierce and Lon Chaney were just more reputable arenas of science fiction
imitations; J'accuse features the real deal. and noirish crime thrillers. Horror
above: Additionally, there are ways in which elements might appear in major works, but
Maurice Tourneur's this film is eerily prescient. Had the picture genuine horror, as it is commonly known,
La main du diable
(aka The Devil's been made after the War, in 1945 or later, would be a province only for outsiders.
Hand, aka Carnival critics would surely have seen an So It was with Jean Cocteau, one of
of Sinners), 1942. allegorical parallel to the development and France's most important directors. As a
deployment of the atomic bomb. Like the multiple threat who exercised his many
"crazy inventor" played by Victor Francen, artistic talents in the theater, literature,
Robert Oppenheimer was a pacifist who painting and ballet, Cocteau made films
found his scientific creations used for that comprised but a small fraction of his
military purposes. Moreover, Oppenheimer total oeuvre, yet are essential works in the
unleashed forces so horrifying and history of motion pictures. Cocteau took
shameful that they have indeed prevented inspiration from Méliès' trickery to conceive
war - or at least the kind of global conflicts of a poetic cinema. For Cocteau, film was a
that Gance was immediately concerned fundamentally magical experience, where
with. The destruction of Hiroshima and the impossible, the dreamlike and the
Nagasaki, like the March of the Dead, had sublime were vital tools. Yet Cocteau's
an awesome and awful effect on the world. embrace of the fantastic was tempered by
Yet Gance's allegory was created long his position as a great national artist; he
before the Manhattan Project got was part of a movement during the 1920s
underway, and so few have ever remarked and 30s to establish a uniquely French
on the atomic age significance of his film. cinema.
With elements of Frankenstein and Thus, a work like Cocteau's La belle et
Freaks in the mix, and a heavy-handed la bète (Beauty and the Beast, 1945), rife
moralising that H.G. Wells would surely with enchanted castles, monstrous
have admired, J'accuse belongs to the transformations and mystical spells, is a
world of horror cinema, but is nevertheless romantic fairy tale rather than a Gothic
a misfit in that world. Gance was a serious shocker. Nevertheless, Cocteau's poetic
and highly regarded artist, and he dearly fantasy has a far darker edge than the
wanted his film (a remake of his own 1918 1991 Disney cartoon remake, and is filled
original, which had been written by with magical visions and special effects
famous surrealist Blaise Cendrars) to be that are every bit as wondrous as anything
taken seriously, perhaps to change the accomplished by Disney's technicians a
world. The 1918 version concluded with half-century later.
the war dead of WWI rising from their A merchant in the 17th century
graves to punish the survivors; as the (Marcel André) intrudes onto the enchanted
world slipped inexorably towards a second property of the accursed Beast (Jean
World War, Gance felt his message needed Marais), for which the Beast's chosen
to be more forcefully reiterated. J'accuse penalty is death. To save her father, Belle
opens with a war-is-hell introductory (Josette Day) substitutes herself. The Beast
montage as cruel and hard-hitting as is as stricken by her beauty as she is by his
anything until Saving Private Ryan (1999), ugliness, and he chooses not to kill her but
and employs rapid, frequent cutaways to merely keep her a prisoner. Over time they
documentary newsreel footage to fall in love, a love that transcends
underscore its authenticity. Like so many superficial appearances and touches their
in the French film community, Gance did souls. Belle's love frees the Beast from his
not believe that a horror film could sustain curse, and he is restored to human form.
such a serious theme. And so he
In his role as the tortured Beast,
appropriated aspects of the horror genre to
Marais (the 1960s Fantòmas) sports some
suit his needs, but went no further. Like so
of the most convincing monster make-up
many French filmmakers following him,
the screen has ever seen, which Cocteau
however, Gance did countenance science
himself applied to Marais's face. The
fiction. His 1930 La fin du monde (The End
intention is to render this Beast as
of the World, a.k.a. Paris After Dark), in
humanly expressive as possible, much like
which a comet threatens to obliterate the
John Chambers's ape make-up designs for
Earth, is a more full-fledged genre picture
The Planet of the Apes (1968). The irony of
than J'accuse.
the fable is of course that, with the

exception of Belle, the petty and venal though: the artist can buy back his soul for
human characters are far more monstrous that same penny, a price that will double
than the noble Beast. The film's message daily. So our intrepid but mathematically-
then-monsters are people too-is challenged hero tries to hang on to his ill-
thoroughly in keeping with the trend gotten success just as long as he can afford
towards sympathetic monsters discussed to before the compounded interest
above. One striking parallel between the overtakes him completely.
Beast and the sympathetic monsters of Officially the film purports to be an
Hollywood can be seen in Lon Chaney Jr.'s adaptation of a novel by Gérard de Nerval,
Wolf Man character. Through a string of but there are powerful narrative links to
1940s Universal pictures, the Wolf Man Robert Louis Stevenson's brilliant short
suffered a tragic curse that turned an story "The Bottle Imp", as well. Stevenson's
otherwise decent fellow into a murderous tale is content with the mechanics of the
lycanthrope. The Wolf Man desperately original set-up: selling the cursed object at
wanted to be a normal human being, but a loss before you die. While Stevenson's
never escaped his curse. In appearance telling is a marvel of story construction as
and tragic suffering, Marais' Beast and the hero sells and re-purchases the bottle
Chaney Jr.'s Wolf Man are very similar, repeatedly, deflating its price to nothing,
but Cocteau's film ends on an uplifting the film veers in new directions, concocting
note, granting the Beast a redemptive instead a sort of infernal Ponzi scheme.
release forever denied the world-weary There is much similarity between the
Wolf Man. By contrast, the Wolf Man films directorial styles of the elder and junior
follow more in the tradition of film nolr, Tourneurs: La main du diable employs a
with cruel fate and cynical irony the noirish flashback structure much like
watchwords of the day. Jacques's Out of the Past. The film also has
The 1940s also saw the best films of several moments of genuine chill,
famed low-budget auteur Jacquesespecially as the hand is variously re-
Tourneur, who worked his adept magic severed and sold. Overall, however, La
equally well with hard-bitten noir (Out of main du diable is a misfire. Only sporadi-
the Past, 1947) and stylish psychological cally does the horrific mood intrude into
horror (Cat People, 1942; I Walked With a what is primarily a tone of whimsy. Pierre
Zombie, 1943). Meanwhile, back in France, Palau del Vitri plays the Devil like a Gallic
Jacques's father Maurice Tourneur helmed Elmer Fudd, and Roger Dumas's inappro-
a rare attempt at French horror, La main priately airy and romantic musical score
du diable (The Devil's Hand, a.k.a. Carnivalactively undercuts any Gothic atmosphere
of Sinners, 1942). created by the low-key lighting and expres-
Taking as its point of departure the sionistic sets. Whereas J'accuse and La
horror of compound interest, Tourneur belle et la bête appropriated horror movie
fashioned an eerie fable. The "devil's hand" elements for an ulterior purpose, resulting
is a rather creepy severed fist that in highly accomplished hybrid creations,
supposedly brings its owner incredible La main du diable is simply a toothless
manual dexterity and skill. Over the horror flick. Tourneur lacked the courage
centuries it has been the root cause of of his convictions.
many men's earthly success - great chefs, Such a thing could not, could never,
swordsmen and entertainers have all be said of Henri-Georges Clouzot. Clouzot's
enjoyed its power. The catch is to get rid of is a dark and cynical cinema, devoid of
the damned thing before you die, because hope and exclusive of happy endings.
the final owner must give his soul to the Which is unsurprising, since that is an
Devil. And the only method of disposing of equally apt description of Clouzot himself.
the hand is to sell it. At a loss. "All his work has been surrounded by an
Enter one starving artist with poor air of scandal and affront", writes Roy
long-term reasoning skills, and he Armes, "and the shooting of all his films is
purchases the dread talisman to become conducted in an atmosphere of bitterness
an overnight sensation (like Epstein's and recrimination. His own urge to
Usher, La main du dtable is concerned with dominate is perhaps reflected in his
the darker side of the artistic impulse). characters who seek outlets for their lust,
6
When he does start worrying about the hatred, and violence."
price of eternal damnation, he has to It was with his 1943 thriller Le
confront the fact that he paid just one corbeau (The Raven) that Clouzot 6
Armes, R. (1970)
penny for the hand, which makes selling it established his reputation as a suspense French Film.
London: Studio
a moot point. The Devil agrees to a bargain. master of the highest order. His twin Vista Limited, 78.

France
Les dtabollques stars Clouzot's lovely

wife Vera as Christina Delasalle,
headmistress of a rundown boy's school.
Her cruel husband (Paul Meurisse) exploits
and maltreats both her and the students.
Weirdly, Madame Delasalle becomes close
friends with her husband's lover (Simone
Signoret), who is also one of the school's
teachers, because one of the many things
they share-apart from the sadistic
affections of Monsieur Delasalle-is an utter
loathing for the man. They concoct an
elaborate plot to murder him, and their
"perfect" crime goes off without a hitch,
until the evidence starts to mount that
their victim has not remained dead...
By a strictly reductionist interpre-
tation of the word "horror", Les dlaboliques
does not quite qualify. In the end, its
apparent supernatural plot points prove to
have decidedly non-supernatural explana-
tions. But this is splitting hairs. Les
dlaboliques, more than any other French
horror picture before it, sets as its program
nothing less and nothing more than the
terrorisation of its audience. Clouzot pulls
none of his punches, never holding back
out of some deference to a predetermined
ideal of High Art. The result is literally
breathtaking.
Scream your face off

above: masterpieces, Le salaire de la peur (The
Georges Franju's
Judex.
Wages of Fear, 1953) and Les dtabollques "The trouble with Clouzot", groused
(Diabolique, 1955), featured sustained director Georges Franju, "is that he tries to
sequences of taut suspense such as to knock the audience's head off. That's
8
make Hitchcock green with envy. Come to wrong: you should twist it off." And so,
think of it, Hitchcock u>as jealous, Franju set to proving his little thesis.
recognising in Clouzot a formidable Incorrectly cited on occasion as a New
competitor. It was largely on the basis of Wave filmmaker, Franju did rise to
Les dlabollques's international success that prominence coincident with the New Wave,
Hitchcock began to plan a back-to-basics and he shared with his New Wave peers a
low budget thriller of his own, a notion that deep admiration for Louis Feuillade. In
culminated in Psycho (1960).7 Not only do 1963, Franju even helmed a respectful
Psycho and Les dtabollques share many remake of Feuillade's Judex (1916) in
ideas and images in common, but homage to the silent era master of thrills.
Hitchcock's celebrated refusal to allow But Franju's greatest achievement, and
latecomers into screenings of Psycho the film for which he is known today, is Les
already underway was a strategy first yeux sans visage (Eyes Without a Face,
employed by Clouzot in the exhibition of also known in English dubbed form as The
Les dtabollques. Hitchcock had tried to buy Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus, 1959).
7
Peary, P. (1998) the rights to the novel Les dlaboliques by Les yeux's storyline, by the team of
liner notes, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, but Boileau-Narcejac no less, is a hoary horror
Diabolique (DVD), Clouzot reportedly beat him to the punch
Criterion Collection. movie chestnut: mad doctor Genessier
by a matter of one month. When the two (Pierre Brasseur) grieves that his daughter
8
Lowenstein, A. writers heard of Hitch's interest in their (Edith Scob) has suffered a disfiguring
(Summer 1998) work, they took to writing their novels with accident, ruining her once beautiful face.
"Films Without a
Face: Shock Horror
Hitchcock's style explicitly in mind. The By a lucky coincidence, Genessier is a
in the Cinema of tactic paid off, and their book D'entre les brilliant plastic surgeon who hopes to
Georges Franju", morts was bought by Paramount to form
Cinema Journal restore his daughter's looks by grafting on
37 A, 37. the basis of Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). a face taken from one of Paris's many

lovely ladies. Since the graft procedure is

experimental (read: it doesn't work), the
obsessed doctor begins to accumulate
quite a body count of discarded, faceless
girls. The more he kills, the closer the
police come to catching him.
In strictly narrative terms, there is
little that stands out here. The ladykiller
scenario reaches back to such B-movie
quickies as Murders in the Rue Morgue
(1932), Dark Eyes of London (1939), The
Body Snatcher (1945) and Edgar G.
Ulmer's Bluebeard (1944), and would
continue to fuel horror flicks in the wake of
Franju's hit: Anton Giulio Majano's
Seddok, l'erede di satana {Atom Age
Vampire, Italy/France, 1960), Jesus
Franco's Gritos en la noche (Cries In the
Night, a.k.a. The Awful Dr. Orlof,
Spain/France, 1961), Joseph Green's The
Brain That Wouldn't Die (USA, 1960), and
on and on. The imagery of Les yeux complications to the operation, nor any above:
continues to influence films today, with dialogue between the players. From a The surgical horror
distinct echoes in Batman (1988) and of Georges Franju's
strictly narrative perspective, there is no Les yeux sans
Face/OJT(1997). Franju's film also belongs remaining dramatic tension to the scene. visage (aka Eyes
to the same tradition as earlier French Without a Face).
Yet there is tension aplenty... it is
efforts like La chute de la maison Usher,
simply of a non-narrative variety. The
J'accuse and La main du dlable in that it
audience is primed for the onscreen
too posits that the act of creation-be it
revelation of the horrible, grisly peeling
artistic expression or scientific innovation-
back of flesh from raw nerves and muscle.
is intimately interwoven with a parallel act
If Franju had no intention of showing the
of destruction.
face removal-and there is nothing else
What sets Les yeux sans visage apart going on in the scene-then the image
was Franju's determination to twist the would discreetly fade to black. In most
audience's collective head off. Since this is horror pictures prior to this, that is
a film about women's faces being exactly what would now happen. Franju,
surgically removed, and since it came in though, is working in a post-Hammer
the aftermath of Clouzot's Les diabollques environment. Terence Fisher's Hammer
and England's notoriously bloody Curse of classic Curse of Frankenstein included a
Frankenstein (1957), the surgical removal "shot heard 'round the world", in which
of women's faces would occur onscreen. Peter Cushing as Dr. Frankenstein
Les yeux sans visage was photographed in casually wiped blood off his hands onto
gorgeous black-and-white (by no less than his jacket during an operation. It had
one of filmdom's finest cinematographers, been an unprecedented acknowledgment
Eugen Schufftan), so unlike Hammer's of the essential bloodiness of the action,
Eastmancolor gore, Franju was able to let and opened doors for filmmakers around
his monochrome blood run ink black. the world to depict graphic violence.
Audiences went wild. At the So Franju keeps the scene going.
Edinburgh Film Festival, some viewers He's going to show us the blood. But not
actually fainted - prompting Franju to yet. He is about to substantially raise the
crow undiplomatically, "Mow I know why bar for onscreen gore, but before doing so,
9
Scotsmen wear skirts." But audiences of he makes certain that his brief shot - just
any constitution were going to be on the a few fleeting seconds of celluloid - packs
edge of their seats during this sequence, the maximum punch. So he keeps the
regardless of high-falutin' film-theoretical scene going.
allegory. What Franju does here is Most of this is just back-and-forth
guaranteed to jangle the nerves. Once cutting between Genessier and Louise's
Genessier and his assistant Louise (Alida faces as they go about their gruesome
Valli) begin the skin-graft procedure, there business. There is nothing particularly
is no further narrative information left for interesting about these shots. The point is 9
Lowenstein,
the scene to convey. There will be no rather the audience's growing awareness of 37-58.

France
what is not being shown. There are three "Worthy of the great horror classics of
people in the room, but only two are our time. "
presented to us. These two are involved in Nevertheless, the audience that naturally
an action which is also not yet on screen. turned out for such a double feature was
The longer the scene continues, the greater not the art-house crowd patronising, say,
the certainty that the next cut has to reveal Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), but rather
that third person, the central action of the a rowdy teenage mob come to see the blood.
scene, the payoff to the whole business. Whereas French audiences objected to the
above and opposite: But still not yet. Cut after cut, that shocks of the picture, American audiences
Les yeux sans expectation is defeated-temporarily-only found the poetry of Les yeux slow-going,
visage.
serving to further inflate the expectation even dull. Today, critics and audiences
for the next cut in the sequence...and then around the world hail Franju's film as a
the next. So it goes, leaving the audience masterpiece of horror art, but in 1959 such
hanging in suspense until they are ready a concept was seen as oxymoronic, and
to explode. audiences were polarised in their responses.
Finally it comes. The showstopper. Writing for Les Cahiers du Cinema,
And, as L'Express noted at the time, "the critic Michel Delahaye was so discomfited
10
spectators dropped like flies." by the horror-to him a "minor genre"-that
Franju had been experimenting with he felt compelled to discuss Les yeux as a
realistic violence and movie gore for some 11
work of film noir. Only by reclassifying it
time prior to Les yeux sans visage. He got as something which he found respectable,
his start in the movie business crafting falling over himself to justify Franju's
documentary short subjects. His 1948 trafficking in this lowly plebian style, could
short Le sang des betes (Blood of the Delahaye accept the picture.
Animals) was filmed in a slaughterhouse, Much as French cinema tried to
juxtaposing footage of animals being killed rewrite Méfiés' contributions, many
with clips of lovers kissing, or women important French film histories simply
shopping. The basic ingredients of Les yeux ignore Les yeux sans visage altogether,
were all there: realistic details of shocking rather than confront its defiantly horrific
horror contrasted with everyday nature. Several major chronicles of French
mundanity, and a poet's eye bringing them film exhaustively list all of Franju's works,
together with common imagery. down to his documentary shorts, except for
Les yeux sans visage triggered a Les Yeux. Others cover it only cursorily, as
scandal in the film community in much the if it were too trivial to discuss seriously.
same way that Hitchcock's Psycho and This, for what was Franju's greatest
Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (UK, 1960) commercial success.
did: for film critics contemptuous of the One of those not ashamed to admit
tawdry exploitationism of horror, reconciling the power of Franju's film was Jesus
these major works of horror art from highly Franco Manera, who remade the picture in
respected filmmakers was a real problem. Of his own idiom countless times over the
course it was a problem that vanished as years: Grttos en la noche, La venganza del
soon as one accepted horror filmmaking as Dr. Mabuse (1970), Faceless (1988)... As a
a valid exercise in itself, that engaging an Spaniard, Franco's inclusion in a
audience's fear was as legitimate an discussion of French horror filmmaking
enterprise as engaging any other emotion- may seem odd, but significant works of
but few critics were willing to do that. Franco's were made with French financing
Audiences too faced a problem. In the for primarily French audiences.
United States, Les yeux was marketed in As a burgeoning cinéaste, Franco's
dubbed form as The Horror Chamber of Dr. sensibilities developed in the darkened
Faustus, with the face-removal scene theatre of the Cinémathèque Française in
tastefully trimmed. The film was shown on Paris. Georges Franju and Henri Langlois
10
Gay-Lussac, B. a double-bill with The Manster (1960), a were co-founders of the Cinémathèque, and
(1960) L'Express wild piece of outre storytelling from Japan their programming choices were eclectic
#456.
as lurid as they come. The US promoters and eye-opening. The experience was a
11
Hawkins, J. naturally played up the exploitation angle crucible in which many future filmmaking
(2000) Cutting- on The Manster, while carefully positioning talents were forged: Truffaut, Godard,
Edge: Art-Horror Dr. Faustus as an "art film":
and the Horrific Chabrol...
Avant-Garde. "Selected for special showings at the And Jess Franco. A low-budget
Minneapolis: Edinburgh Film Festival";
University of
filmmaker existing on the far periphery of
Minnesota Press, "A ghastly elegance that suggests the film industry, obsessively cranking out
73. Tennessee Williams"; lurid and often pornographic quickies,


France

Franco would never rival the directors of was being ignored by the major players in above:
Jean Rollin's
the French New Wave, nor his personal the industry. Enter the entrepreneurs. Fascination.
cinematic idols Fritz Lang and Orson With Gritos en la noche, the Lesoeurs
Welles. Yet he has won over an impressive struck low-expectation gold. Both Marius opposite:
Rollin's debut
base of loyal fans around the world who Lesoeur and Jess Franco claim authorship feature Le viol du
admire his slapdash eccentricities as the of the script, which is tantamount to vampire (1968).
work of a true iconoclast. arguing over crumbs: Grttos is a stroke-for-
Franco already had a handful of stroke remount of Les yeux sans visage,
remarkably precocious films under his with even more gore (and sex).
belt in his home country of Spain, but it Despite its French provenance, Gritos
was Gritos en la noche in 1961 that is generally regarded as the first Spanish
catapulted him to international attention - horror movie, thanks to its Spanish
such as it was. The history of Gritos director. However, thanks to strict
reaches back to 1957, when the father-son censorship in Spain, the film screened
team of Marius and Daniel Lesoeur intact in France but heavily edited in
purchased a ramshackle production house Franco's native country. Cash-strapped
called Eurocine. Running against the Eurocine lacked the resources to fully
grain, the Lesoeurs transformed Eurocine exploit Gritos's popularity. They were able
into a specialist in horror pictures, despite to strike just a handful of prints, so it could
the apparent prejudice against the genre only play in a small number of theatres at
in France. They cannily noted the one time regardless of the potential
popularity of foreign-made chillers, audience. As a result, it took several years
especially those from Hammer, and they for the picture to turn a profit. 12
observed that the world's first serious Franco's singular obsessions with 12
critical attention to horror films appeared erotic horror were exceeded by native Hood, D. & C.
Fukuda (2000)
in the 1960s thanks to the French Frenchman Jean Rollin's career-long "Eurocine, the best
publication Midi-Minuit Fantastique. A fixation on deeply sexual, hideously gory little Horror House
readily identifiable niche market clearly in France," Video
vampire films, suffused with delicate, Watchdog 63,
existed for such lurid thrills in France, but dreamy poetry. Equally as marginalised as 24-37.

France
right:
Brigitte Lahaie's
finest role;
Fascination.
13
Lucas, T. (1996)
"Versions and
Vampires", Video
Watchdog 31, 28- Franco, Rollin also claims a niche audience Rollin has exercised what Tim Lucas calls
35. of committed fans. His pictures are an odd, "one of the purest imaginations ever
14
Jean Rollin
uncommercial blend of pornography and 13
consecrated to the horror genre." Rollin
interviewed by Gothic horror, entrancing and addictive to improvised one picture in its entirety-
Peter Blumenstock the select few. Requiem pour un vampire {Requiem for a
(1996), Video
Watchdog 31, 36- The low-budget independent film Vampire, 1971)-which was the only one of
57. For more on industry in 1970s France was a sex his films to get a US theatrical release,
Rollin, visit Marc
Morris's website: industry. The liberalisation of censorship thanks to sexploitation master Harry
www.mondoerotlco. gradually opened up to hard-core porn, Novak who distributed it as Caged Virgins.
co.uk. See also which soon dominated the slates of And Rollin's Les raisins de la mart {Grapes
Tombs, P. & C. Tohill
(1994) Immoral exploitation producers. Rollin, personally of Death, 1978) was the first notable "gore"
Tales: European obsessed with his own visions of erotic film made in France. But of his oeuvre,
Sex and Horror
Movies 1956-1984. vampires, cleaved an idiosyncratic path. Fascination (1979) arguably ranks as
New York: St. He did his share of straight sex pictures Rollin's finest work. An excellent-and of
Martin's Griffin, 135-
76; and the special
(as did Franco), and often cast porn stars course heavily sexual-psychological
"Jean Rollin" issue in his horror epics (since they were used to thriller, Fascination presents a group of
of the online journal performing in the nude, whatever their rich socialites who indulge in the drinking
Kinoeye (2.7, 15
April 2002): thespian abilities), but he spent most of of bull blood as a cure for anaemia- only to
www.kinoeye.org/in his producers' money on deeply personal develop an insatiable taboo thirst for the
dex_02_07.html.
films with little regard for their human stuff. They sate this thirst in
commercial prospects. elaborate ritual gatherings to which they
below:
Le viol du From 1968's Le viol du vampire {Rape "invite" male victims. Thoughtful, sensual
vampire. of the Vampire) onwards to the present day, and lushly photographed, Fascination is a
unique production, and undoubtedly the
most accomplished work ever made with a
porn-star cast.
Inspired to be a director by a
childhood screening of Abel Gance's
Capitaine Fracasse (1942), Rollin also cites
Franju's Judex as a major influence; and
by extension, a line of influence can be
traced all the way back to Feuillade
himself. Rollin also took a great deal from
his mentor, the surrealist Ado Kyrou.
Admits Rollin, however, "You know, there
isn't really a French tradition of fantastic
cinema. I don't think it can be said that I
am a representative of French fantastic
14
culture per se."

the secret history of Gallic h o r r o r movies
Bloodlust His ...Et mourir de plaisir takes as its

departure point J. Sheridan Le Fanu's
The emergent dichotomy in French 1871 novel Carmilla. In the pantheon of
fantastic cinema was clear. On the one vampire literature, Carmilla occupies a
hand were the Jess Francos and Jean spot second only to Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Rollins, cranking out obsessive and often Over the years, Le Fanu's tale has inspired
pornographic exploitation fodder. On the such diverse films as Carl Dreyer's Vampyr
other were the highbrow artists who freely (Germany, 1931), Hammer's The Vampire
indulged in futurist allegories or bloody Lovers (UK, 1970) and its sequels, and
crime thrillers but eschewed traditional Vicente Aranda's La novia ensangrentada
notions of horror. So we get Claude (The Blood Spattered Bride, Spain, 1972).
Chabrol's Dr. M (a.k.a. Club Extinction, Le Fanu's vampire, Carmilla
1990), François Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451 Karnstein, disguises her identify over the
(1966), Jean-Luc Godard's Alphavtlle centuries by anagramming the letters of
(1965), Alain Resnais's L'année dernière à her name into new combinations: Millarca,
Marienbad (Last Year at Martenbad, 1961), Mircalla and Carmilla are all different
René Laloux's La planète sauvage incarnations of the same blood-sucking
(Fantastic Planet, 1973) and Chris fiend. Vadim's film introduces us to
Marker's award-winning 1964 short Carmilla von Karnstein (another of the
subject La jetée (The Pier, remade by Terry director's one-time spouses, Annette
Gilliam in 1995 as Twelve Monkeys). Vadim), a young woman in 1960s Italy who
Science fiction was acceptable to the appears to be the most recent residence of
cinema mainstream, as it dealt with high- the vampire's being.
minded subject matter, but horror - like
Although made a decade beforehand,
pornography - was seen as doing nothing
Vadim's picture plays as a modern-day
beyond inflaming the baser emotional
sequel to Hammer's Karnstein trilogy- The
responses. For this reason, "serious"
Vampire Lovers, Lust for a Vampire (1970)
filmmakers were largely unwilling to follow
and Twins of Evil (1971). The influence
Franju's example, to make an A-list,
runs both ways: as much as Vadim
reputable horror film.
mimicked Hammer's style, certainly the
There were, of course, exceptions to 1970s Karnstein films drew inspiration
the rule. Two such exceptions - Roger from this one. Lust for a Vampire, for
Vadim's ...Et mourir de plaisir (...And To Die example, duplicates one of ...Et mourtr's
From Pleasure, a.k.a. Blood and Roses, more striking visuals, in which blood runs
1960) and Harry Kumel's Les lèvres rouges down Carmilla's chest. More importantly,
(Red Lips, a.k.a. Daughters of Darkness, Lust for a Vampire shares with Vadim's film
1971) - are especially noteworthy. For both the notion that Carmilla's vampiric soul
films represent modest commercial and and current physical incarnation are
critical successes, mindful of the interna- potentially divisible. The present-day
tional marketability signalled by the Gothic Carmilla, in other words, has an
trendsetters of Hammer. Both are set in the independent non-vampiric identity
modern day. Both deal with prominent distinctly her own. As such, Carmilla is as
legends of female vampires. Both are much a victim of the vampire as the
fashioned with artistic craftsmanship and vampire herself. She is an outcast, a misfit-
sophistication, with a genuine eroticism not a predator.
that does not depend on the sleazy To aid the sympathetic portrayal of
exploitationism of Eurociné. And, it must Carmilla, Vadim discreetly places all of the
be noted, neither can claim a purely French vampire attacks offscreen. What is left is
lineage. therefore far more chaste and restrained
Vadim came to prominence as a than anything Hammer produced, an
filmmaker in 1956 with Et Dieu créa la elegiac and moody picture rather than one
femme (And God Created Woman), starring chock-a-block with visceral shocks. ...Et
his then-wife, sex symbol Brigitte Bardot. mourir is a gentle horror movie.
Later he married another sex symbol, Jane Kumel's Les lévres rouges adapts as
Fonda, and cast her in the pulpy sci-fi its source the legend of a true-life vampire,
extravaganza Barbarella (1967), as well as the so-called "Bloody Countess", Erzsébet
the horror anthology Histoires extraordi- Báthory. Born into one of Transylvania's
naires (Extraordinary Tales, a.k.a. Spirits of wealthiest and most powerful families in
the Dead, 1968). Concurrent with ...Et the 16th century, Báthory led a life of
mourir, Vadim edited a collection of vampire astonishing wickedness and sadism.
short stories. Murderous, ruthless, with a scandalous

France
sex life and a fascination for Black Magic, rouges is in all areas of cinematic
the Countess killed two of her four achievement superior to Hammer's
husbands and mercilessly tortured her concurrent take on the subject, Countess
servants. She earned her nickname, Dracula. Cult film historian Tim Lucas
though, when she became obsessed with minces no words in declaring Kumel's
blood. At first it was just a question of picture "a genuine artistic triumph."15
biting her victims during torture, to eat However, the film failed to find the same
their raw flesh and taste their blood. But mainstream reception in France as Vadim's
she soon became fixated on the idea that by earlier work. The commercial failure of
bathing in the blood of virgins, she could Kumel's follow-up feature Malpertuls in
stop or even reverse the aging process. So, 1972 sealed his doom in the industry.16
legend has it, in a vain effort to preserve Although Les lèvres rouges developed a cult
her vanity, the Bloody Countess proceeded following, for many years its only presence
to murder some 650 local maidens. in America was in a severely edited form,
Like her fellow Transylvanian tyrant drastically re-cut by the notorious "film
Vlad the Impaler, the Countess Bâthory's doctor" Fima Noveck. Kumel's original cut
infamous crimes led her to be turned into a did not make it to the US until a home video
17
20th century movie vampire. Neither restoration appeared in 1998.
Kumel's picture nor Hammer's contempo- Despite French financing, neither
raneous treatment [Countess Dracula, ...Et mourir nor Les lèvres rouges is a
1970) seem much concerned with purely French product. ...Et mourir was
dramatising the real Erzsébet, although shot in English in Italy. Les lèvres rouges
Hammer's take cleaves much closer to the was shot in English in Belgium by a
actual events - no more so than most Belgian director. It would not be until the
screen Draculas worry much about the rise of the duo Jean-Pierre Jeunet and
historical Vlad Tepes. Marc Caro many years later that France
Instead, like Vadim's ...Et mourir, could boast of having fully homegrown
Kumel stages Les lèvres rouges in the horror/fantasy filmmakers with main-
modem day. A honeymooning couple find stream respectability.
themselves waylaid in the none-too-
exciting town of Ostend. As it so happens, Nightmares of the future
hubby Stefan (John Karlen) has a few dark
secrets that he has kept from his bride Jeunet and Caro cut their teeth as stop-
15
Valerie (Danielle Ouimet), not least of motion animators, making striking short
Lucas, T. (1998)
"Fade Into Red", which is the older, domineering films like 1979's Le manège (The Merry-Go-
Video Watchdog 44, homosexual lover back home from whose Round). After finely honing their unique
20. influence he hopes to flee. Understandably vision on these short subjects, they
16
reluctant to introduce the new missus to transferred that disturbed outlook to full-
Lofficier, J-M and
R. Lofficier (2000) "Mother", Stefan opts to linger in Ostend. scale features. On the strength of
French Science- Enter the Countess Bâthory (Marienbad's Delicatessen (1991) and La cité des enfants
Fiction, Fantasy,
Horror and Pulp
Delphine Seyrig) and her lesbian love slave perdus [The City of Lost Children, 1995), the
Fiction. Jefferson, (Andrea Rau) to wreak a terrible corrupting pair was hailed by critics across the globe
N.C.: McFarland & influence on the young lovers. Stefan wears
Co., 266.
as France's answer to Terry Gilliam.
his darker nature pretty close to the The city of lost children Is just that: a
17
For more on surface, and is easily debauched by the fantastical otherworld where an evil mad
Kumel and Les Countess. By far the greater prize is to scientist named Krank (Daniel Emilfork),
Lèvres Rouges, see seduce Valerie as her new acolyte. At the
Jenks, C (1996) his family of idiot cloned sons, and an
"Daughters of end, Valerie has indeed taken Bâthory's army of one-eyed monsters seek out and
Darkness: A place, continuing to tour the world in order kidnap children. A lifetime of cruelty has
Lesbian Vampire
Film" in Black, A.
to spread her corruption. Interestingly, naturally enough left Krank with a
(ed), Necronomicon: both ...Et mourir and Les lèvres share the disturbed conscience. Unable to sleep
The Journal of same climax: both pictures conclude by
Horror and Erotic properly, unable to dream, he hopes to
Cinema, Book 1. apparently killing off the vampire, only to steal the brainwaves of innocent babes to
London: Creation reveal that her spirit lives on in the body of give him peaceful, blissful, dreamy nights.
Books, 22-34. the heroine. The same device can be found
See also Lebbing, Problem is, the experience of being
M. (2003) "of at the end of Michael Almereyda's 1994 captured and imprisoned leaves the
vampires and the vampire film Nadja (US). children traumatised, so all that happens
gods of Greece" in
Fenton, H. (ed), Clearly a part of the lesbian vampire is they feed their bad dreams back into
Flesh & Blood tradition that was all the rage in 1970s Krank's unhappy cranium.
Compendium.
Surrey: FAB Press, horror cinema, and to which Jean Rollin The elaborate, expressionist imagery
162-169. was single-mindedly dedicated, Les lèvres of La cité does indeed invite comparison to

Terry Gilliam. The closest analogues in

Gilliam's canon, though-Time Bandits
(1981), or The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen (1988)-have an ironic
attitude, an underlying cynicism that sets
them apart from the work of Jeunet and
Caro. For all its genuinely nightmarish
qualities, La cité displays a sense of
compassion, of uplifting humanity, of
childlike innocence. In short, Jeunet-
Caro's film can honestly be described as
unique.
Not only did Jeunet-Caro join the big
leagues of French film domestically; they
proved their mettle abroad as well.
Hollywood even invited the pair to helm the
fourth instalment of the long-running Alien
franchise, Allen: Resurrection (1997).
Jeunet-Caro brought with them their
distinctive creative vision, as well as a loyal
stable of recurring players, including
Dominique Pinon and Ron Perlman. The
end result was a happy hybrid, at once an
authentic rendering of their French
aesthetic, a major studio blockbuster, and
a resounding popular success to boot.
Warmly received by critics and fans as one
of the strongest entries in the Alien saga,
Alien: Resurrection proved that France had
at last found its voice in Gothic horror.
Jeunet-Caro's accomplishment is
nothing short of remarkable. In France
today, some 130 motion pictures are
manufactured annually, of which at best
ten to fifteen are exported. Few of these
receive any significant attention in the
world's largest film market, the United
States. Even back in France, only about Jeunet's latest film, Le fabuleux destin above:
Roger Vadim's ...Et
eighty or so manage to get seen. For French dAmélie Poulain (presented stateside mourir de plaisir
filmmakers, exposure is extremely limited, under the simpler title Amélie) received (aka Blood and
the possibilities for success slim. The widespread acclaim and enormous box Roses, 1960).
French film industry is highly insular and office success, placing it on the inside
economically desperate. Both Delicatessen track towards a possible foreign-language
and La cité des enfants perdus performed Oscar. By no means a horror film, Amélie
minor miracles by becoming significant nonetheless shares with Jeunet's earlier
niche market hits outside France. The works many of the same visual motifs,
commercial success of these films in the thematic considerations and even
United States is not despite their gruesome recurring cast members- in short, Amélie
and disturbing content, but because of it. joins the ranks of Delicatessen, La cité des
Trading in the lowly genre of horror, as it enfants perdus and Allen Resurrection as
were, Jeunet-Caro maintained both their part of a larger and still-developing body of
artistic integrity and their recognisably work. Not that one would glean this from
French distinctiveness while at the same the publicity and promotion of Amélie:
time earning rare, much-needed profits in virtually every review and advertisement in
foreign markets. the US touted Jeunet as the auteur behind
Despite this heady feat, the Jeunet- Delicatessen and La cité des enfants
Caro team have faced some of the same perdus, carefully and conspicuously
blinkered attitude from the critical eliding any mention of Alien Resurrection.
establishment that plagued their Setting aside the obvious slight to Caro's
forerunners in the field of French fantasy contributions to these films, the glaring
filmmaking. In the waning months of 2001, omission of what is undeniably Jeunet's

France
most commercially successful and well- Somewhere along the way, it became a
known work cannot be an accident. presumption that French film meant
Just as film historians tried to ignore (pretentious) art-house fare, and that
the presence of Les yeux sans visage in horror films by dint of appealing to baser
Franju's career, conventional wisdom on emotional reactions were inevitably crass
the conflict assumed that the intended commercial exploitation. These two tenets
audience for Amélie would be unlikely to have all but prevented the French horror
turn out in such record numbers if they film from breaking out of its ghetto.
knew it was made by the same Hollywood Outside of France, free of this overweening
hack who just cranked out the latest sequel emphasis on film-as-art, directors such as
to a big-budget and gore-filled commercial Peter Jackson can find sleazy low-budget
franchise. French art films are expected to creations like Bad Taste (1987) breezily
be marginalised in the US, their marginali- promoted as "from the director of Lord of
sation and artistic purity being seen as the Rings", without a trace of irony; and
going hand-in-hand. That Jeneut made it every time Sam Raimi makes a serious
onto Hollywood's main stage and had his drama, critics dutifully mention his Evil
work seen by millions of happily paying Dead films. Hollywood directors can
customers around the world chafes with proudly sport horror in their resumes but
the stereotype of the misunderstood French art-house makers are expected to
outsider artist. It is hard to maintain street remain 'above' that.
cred as a struggling genius of sadly For generations, French horror has
unrecognised talents when the stars of been a tentative tradition of isolated, often
one's last film have been transformed into half-hearted, stabs in the dark. Rejected by
action figures for sale at the local the critical mainstream, French horror was
Toys'R'Us. embraced most fully by outsiders and
But the revisionist history involved independents. Few respectable filmmakers
here cuts to the heart of the perceived dared tinker with the genre. Only Les yeux
illegitimacy of horror. Despite his sans visage broke with this tradition, and
noteworthy achievements, not even Jeunet its notoriety among critics served to
can earn mainstream critical and dissuade others from following in his
commercial acceptance to French horror if footsteps. And as French horror cinema
below: enters the 21st century, the legacy of
Les yeux sans
Amélie fans can't bring themselves to admit
visage. the existence of Allen Resurrection. Franju lingers on.

Part Four:
Case Study
- Japanese Horror Cinema
Pain threshhold: the cinema of Takashi Miike 285

- R o b D a n i e l & D a v e W o o d ; followed by an interview w i t h the director,
" W h e n c y n i c i s m b e c o m e s art," b y J u l i e n F o n f r è d e
The Japanese horror film series: Ring and Eko Eko Azarak 295
- Ramie Tateishi
The urban techno-alienation of Sion Sono's Suicide Club 305

- Travis Crawford
case study - Japanese horror cinema
Pain threshold:
the cinema of Takashi Miike
Rob Daniel & Dave Wood (article), Julien Fonfrede (interview)
He has been around for over 11 years, with introspective calm, he blends it with an
over twenty feature films under his belt, energetic Hong Kong kinetic verve. Busting
and a similar number of video titles. Why, apart convention and cliché, Miike injects
then, Is it only recently Western audiences his thrillers with shocking moments of
have discovered the explosive, controversial violence, sexual cruelty and perversity on a
genius of Takashi Miike? level rarely seen. All this is done, not with
Since 1999, when he directed Odishon the knowing irony of someone like Quentin
(Audition) and Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha Tarantino, but with a humour situated
(Dead or Alive), the pace has picked up. perfectly within the world of each film.
Western festival screenings of these titles With Audition, he changed tack: this
set the touch paper alight, and Miike's dark and disturbing psychological tale of
name has fast become a byword for an physical and mental abuse blended
exhilarating, no-holds-barred Japanese domestic melodrama with tendon-ripping
cinema, with ideas and stylistic prowess to violence, proving Miike versatile in more
burn. At the time of writing he has made 17 than just his cinematic style. In 2001 he
films, plus one television mini-series since would go on to make a film that even he
2000, and shows no signs of fatigue. admitted might never get released -
Deciding against film school, the Koroshiya 1 (Ichi the Killer) - splattering the
iconoclastic Miike became an assistant to screen with all manner of bodily fluids and
revered Japanese director Shohei Imamura stirring an uncomfortable frisson of sexual
on Zegen (1987) and KuroiAme (Black Rain, violence into the body-strewn onslaught of
1989), whose domestic tale of disintegration the eponymous killer. Screened to
and trauma foreshadows Miike's films. dumbfounded audiences at the London
Currently, Miike is in negotiations to make Film Festival and at other festivals around
his first English language film in the UK, a the world, it has subsequently been
prospect at once tantalising (it would released in a heavily truncated version on
mainline adrenalin into the heart of the Hong Kong DVD. It has now been released
country's moribund film industry) and in the UK under heavy sanction from the
problematic. Can Miike survive the cultural BBFC, which passed the film after noting
translation, and will the British Board of publicy that it had made cuts to scenes
Film Classification (despite passing Audition detailing imagery that has never (BBFC's
and Dead or Alive uncut) even let him? emphasis) been permitted in Britain.
Miike began and has largely remained Looking in detail at Miike's career
in the Yakuza genre, with Shinjuku work is no easy task. Amazingly prolific, he
Kuroshakal: Chinese Mafia Senso (Shinjuku releases an average of three to four films
Triad Society) in 1995, followed by Gokudo per year, making it nigh on impossible to
Sengokushi: Fudo (Fudoh: The New keep up with his ongoing output. For this
Generation, 1996), Gokudo Kuroshakal reason we have chosen a small number of
(Rainy Dog, 1997), Nihon Kuroshakal (Ley titles we believe illustrate the director's opposite:
Artwork for the
Lines, 1999) and then Dead or Alive. unique style. Miike is a visual storyteller, uncut European
Twisting the traditional Japanese style of using kinetic editing rhythms and DVD boxset release
of Ichi the Killer
filmmaking with its philosophical and innovative sound designs to trademark his (1999).

Japan
entire hour quietly narrates the simple

story of a man embarking upon a tender
love affair seven years after the death of his
wife. Deliberately slow, lulling those
unaware of its later shocks into a warm
sense of security, Miike then sucker-
punches the audience into witnessing a
world turned nightmarish, also echoing
Western directors such as Hitchcock, who
would gleefully darken his tales with little
warning.
Interestingly, Miike never writes his
own scripts, frequently working from
adaptations: Fudoh and Ichi the Killer are
based on manga, Audition derives from a
famous novel by Ryu (Tokyo Decadence)
Murakami and Visitor Q is based on an
above: films. A near abstract approach to plotting original script by Itaru Era. But the script
Visitor Q (2001).
has evolved from early, semi-conventional is merely the first step into Miikeland, with
films such as Shinjuku Triad Society or the film being shaped in the editing suite
Fudoh, to later, surreal works such as Dead by Miike himself, who calls himself the
or Alive, Audition and Visitor Q (2001). film's "arranger."
Viewers will be baffled by the story arcs, as In interviews, Miike has said that for
Miike subverts traditional storytelling in him the script is merely the starting point
favour of dropping the audience into a fully and that from there, once on set, an
formed Yakuza world, where the rules of improvisation process occurs, with input
survival are totally alien. It all makes a from the entire crew. Nowhere is this better
kind of sense in the end, but only after a illustrated than in the now-legendary
thrilling, baffling walk on the wild side. opening of the original Dead or Alive.
Consciously or otherwise, Miike's work Famously, Miike threw out the script,
seems to have drawn influence from such condensing twenty establishing scenes into
luminaries of Japanese cinema as Seijun a breathless montage. To the breakneck
Suzuki, "Beat" Takeshi Kitano and Yasujiro tempo of a pounding rock soundtrack, a
Ozu. Although Miike states that he has not semi-naked woman falls from a high-rise
yet seen a Suzuki mind-trip mob flick, this building clutching a bag of cocaine, a
individualistic filmmaker certainly seems
like a stylistic Godfather to the director. As
with Miike's approach to his Yakuza
thrillers, a desire to twist and shape the
generic material of Koroshl No Rakuln
(Branded to Kill, 1967) into something
wholly original fired Suzuki's imagination.
This film's central character can only
become aroused when smelling boiled rice,
for example, and events such as a hit being
thwarted when a butterfly lands on the rifle
sight could easily sit in any Miike movie.
Little has been made of the similarities
between Miike and Kitano, perhaps because
the two are near contemporaries. Both men
share a vein of perverse humour and
wilfully eccentric storytelling styles.
Compare the sombre, introspective vignette
structure of Dead or Alive with the fractured
plotting of Hana-Bi (1997), the latter film
also shot by Miike's regular cinematog-
rapher, Hideo Yamamoto; in each case the
story is fragmented so as to strengthen
mood and character. Meanwhile, Ozu's
right
legendary use of "non-style" to capture
Audition (1999). reality is notable in Audition, which for an

Takashi Miike
Yakuza grabs a shotgun from a passing illustrate this scratching style. City of Lost above:
Fudoh: The New
clown and fires two shots into a parked car, Souls opens with a prison break sequence, Generation (1996).
PVC clad girls strip, a mobster snorts the again perpetrated to a raucous cacophony
world's longest line of coke (fifteen feet at of heavy rock rhythms and spliced together
least), a peroxide bully boy indulges in with jagged jump cuts. In both films an
some rough buggery in a public loo - only incredible sense of mood and atmosphere
to be shlwed in the jugular, decorating the is created visually, but to comprehend the
wall with crimson modern art - and most narrative is less easy.
incredibly of all, the newly digested As a counterbalance to Miike's
contents of a Yakuza boss's stomach are "scratching," the controversial festival
shotgunned into the camera! favourite Audition initially presents a
As the film slows considerably subdued style. Music is used sparsely and
following this opening volley of imagery, it the colours are muted and transparent. As
is not mood setting; and since it only the mood of the film shifts into darker
tenuously establishes plot and character, territory, however, there is, almost
viewers will be scratching their heads long imperceptibly, a boost In painterly
after leaving the cinema. Instead, Miike cinematic panache, as the screen becomes
uses this sequence to provide a awash with primary colour schemes:
commentary on his Yakuza cinema, infernal reds, sickly yellows and chilling
reminding the audience how visceral it can blues drag the audience into a world they
be. The sensation is akin to reading a long, would rather not experience. This range of
disturbing sentence missing all of the emotion stems from the considered visual
grammar and most of the verbs. techniques Miike provides each film.
Miike has likened the frenzied editing Professing a dislike of 35mm with the claim
of Dead or Alive's opening to the DJ method that he does not want his cinema to look
of scratching vinyl or rapid channel first-rate, Miike liberally mixes and
surfing, with a constant audiovisual matches film stocks and formats. With
barrage dazzling the audience's senses and Visitor Q he worked with digital video, using
perceptions. Both Dead or Alive and hand held set-ups and long takes to give a
Hyoryuu-Gui [City of Lost Souls, 2000) sense of "reality TV."

Japan
An offshoot of Miike's cinematic verve Japanese non-actor Teah), rescuing his

and style is his cross-fertilisation. What Chinese girlfriend Kei (Hong Kong actress
first catches the eye is the mix of Eastern Michelle Reis) from a prison truck.
filmmaking styles. The rock 'n' roll Returning to Tokyo, the couple become
cinematics of Dead or Alive, Fudoh, Ichi the embroiled in an ongoing war between
Killer and Shin jingi no hakaba (Graveyard Chinese Triads and Japanese Yakuza.
of Honor, 2002} recalls such esteemed Miike conveys a sense of cultural and
Hong Kong filmmakers as John Woo, Ringo geographical displacement by taking his
Lam and Tsui Hark, with their frenzied star-crossed lost souls Mario and Kei on a
bullet ballets and dynamite stylistic transglobal migration. Throughout the
bravado moving the action along more film, Miike creates a paradox with his
swiftly than the eye can see. But Miike Triad and Japanese characters who,
plays it more Japanese, exaggerating the although geographically more aligned than
violence but focusing on the pain and Mario and Kei, cannot co-exist.
suffering that accompanies bodily trauma. Dead or Alive concerns the ongoing
Audition plays like a Hong Kong Category hunt by a cop Jojima (Sho Aikawa) for a
III title as directed by Ozu, schizophreni- gang mob led by the sadistic Ryuichi (Riki
cally sliced down the middle - one half Takeuchi). Yakuza and Triad tensions form
sweet romance, the other half mental and the basis of this introspective and sombre
physical evisceration - while the black piece, the summation of a theme first
comedy Visitor Q presents a sharply addressed in Miike's feature debut,
critical view of the patriarchal Japanese Shlnjuku Triad Society. Ryuichi's mob
family, suggesting that its salvation lies in consists of "zanryu koji," children of
murder and necrophilia. If the Japanese Japanese descent raised in China after
restraint that Miike so distrusts is to be World War II - misfits bereft of an identity.
washed away, only waves of blood will do. Yet Miike remains characteristically
Rooted in too much filth, viscera and ambivalent about the effects this has on
the fetid side of human nature to ever be Ryuichi's gang members, as their lack of
labelled high art, Miike's films thrill the eye national pride ensures that no albatross of
and ignite the senses. But he is more than loyalty hangs around their necks, allowing
just the master of a three-ring circus. them to destroy the Shinjuku underworld
Interwoven into Dead or Alive and City of and control the drug trade from Taiwan
Lost Souls is a strong sense of what a with impunity. As shown earlier in Fudoh,
cultural and racial mixing bowl Japan has Miike regards anarchy and uprising
become. City of Lost Souls introduces us to against old orders as healthy, and Ryuichi
a Brazilian protagonist, Mario (Brazilian- is certainly no more dejected than Jojima,
right:
Audition (1999).

Takashi Miike
the cop on his tail, who accepts $200,000

of mob money for his uncommunicative
daughter's life-saving operation.
When discussing the Japanese
family, Miike sees an erosion in the
patriarchal norm. He states that women
are striking out, gaining independent
employment, and that men wish for the
situation to reverse. Audition encapsulates
this belief, while the surrealist masterpiece
Visitor Q would later reach the zenith of
familial conflict and disintegration.
Audition's protagonist, Aoyoma (Ryo
Ishibashi), is unable to meet women in a
"traditional" manner, agreeing instead that
his video production company - being used
to audition girls for a TV programme -
would be a good way of finding a partner.
Through this he meets the demure,
submissive Asami (Eihi Shiina), the model
of a Japanese wife, and begins a seemingly
idyllic affair which later twists alarmingly
into a battle of the sexes. In the final act,
as Asami's apparently psychotic nature is
revealed, she tortures Aoyoma, claiming
that "Men cannot live without women." A
loaded remark; with cruel logic Asami may
be referring to Aoyoma's spiritual demise
after his wife's death, in which case her
appalling acts of mutilation are a way of
restoring Aoyoma's anima. "The body is
dead, but the nerves are awake," she
deadpans after shooting him up with
tranquilizers.
If Asami is a demented spouse, her
psychosis stems from an abusive father by his brother's blood money, rebels above:
Fudoh; The New
figure. But Miike muddies the water against everything he holds sacred upon Generation (1996).
further, with ambiguities running rampant discovering this fact, and, as mentioned
through misremembered, hallucinatory above, Jojima is reduced to corruption to
flashbacks, alternate takes on earlier pay the large amount of money needed to
scenes and the old "Is it or isn't it a treat his daughter's possibly fatal illness.
dream?" set-up. It ultimately remains an She too rebels and shows no gratitude for
open question whether Asami's her father's deeds. Neither of these two
monstrousness is real or fantasy. men, opposites in every other way, can
Encompassing the tensions between all hold their families together, and it is family
men and women, as well as the male that forces them into spectacular
preoccupation with emancipated females, confrontation.
Audition is very Japanese in its depiction of "Have you ever done it with your
social interaction and revenge. But its dad?" asks a black-on-white title. Visitor Q
accomplishments are universal, continuing is lethally uncompromising. A failing TV
to advance Milke's family project. reporter (Kenichi Endo), attempting to
Fudoh, beginning with a shocking produce a documentary on Japanese
scene of infanticide, suggests that while an youth, pays his daughter for sex. Back at
empire may be built on family shoulders, it home, the son terrorises the mother with
can just as easily be toppled because of an vicious beatings and she finds release in
uncompromising patriarch. Miike makes it prostitution and heroin addiction. Into this
clear that only in a world this perverse family comes the Visitor (Kazushi
could family be destroyed for business. In Watanabe), and with typical Japanese
Dead or Alive, the sanctity of the family politeness, they never challenge him for
leads to violence. Ryuichi's younger invading their home. Upon discovering his
sibling, whose college education is paid for son is being bullied, the father opts to

Japan
transform into something shocking,

hilarious and remarkable. Visitor Q is the
pinnacle of Miike's dissection of the family
unit, and it will be interesting to see if his
other digital video project, Family, made a
year earlier but still unreleased in the
West, lays the groundwork for the extrem-
ities depicted here.
What keeps Miike's oeuvre from
falling into po-faced butchery is his love of
dark comedy. Could Ichi the Killer, an
ultra-ultra-violent tale of a disturbed
young man who is fuelled by rape fantasies
and goaded into slaughtering high level
Yakuza, really work unless it was
punctuated by a finely judged humour?
For body horror, Ichi the Killer is Miike par
excellence, Fudoh and Dead or Alive on an
apocalyptic coke and speed bender. Dead
or Alive focused on family disintegration
and the loss of national identity, but Ichi
the Killer is an atrocity exhibition,
encapsulated in the young, warped figure
of Kakihara (Tadanobu Asano). This
ambitious Yakuza, hooked on experiencing
the pinnacle of pain, hunts Ichi down to
provide it. After torturing a gangster
wrongly suspected of slaying an elder,
Kakihara hacks off the tip of his tongue as
an act of contrition, a toe-curling sequence
with a killer comic punchline. The film is
obsessed with intimate pain: Kakihara's
mouth is cut open into a Joker-like grin
and held in place with metal rings; a
gangster's moll has her nipples sliced off;
above: make a TV show from it. But when his ex- another man is suspended by hooks and
Cover of the has his testicles lanced.
uncut European lover boss scornfully vetoes the idea, he
DVD release of murderously turns on her and the family Sexual violence is the most
Visitor Q (2001). unity is challenged. problematic area of Miike's work. In his
Visitor Q wildly exaggerates Japanese world, sex is a weapon. In Fudoh, the
traits of restraint, self-denial and modesty. father's infanticide is presented as
Irrationally subservient, the mother takes incestuous rape, and male rape is also
beatings from her son and attends to her suggested during Audition's tortuous
family's every need. The father, previously denouement. Asami sits astride a passive
humiliated when a Vox pop turns into rape Aoyoma and penetrates him with needles,
(as youths insert his microphone into his cooing "Kiri, kiri, kiri" ("deeper, deeper,
arse), is plagued by professional self- deeper"). The father in Visitor Q is literally
doubt. The largely unseen daughter raped with his microphone, a neat visual
shoulders Miike's view of contemporary gag implying his professional failure. He is
Japanese youth: inexpressive, prostituting also maladroit between the sheets, forever
themselves for material gain and lamenting his "coming too early," and
embracing a vacuous mass media. The rapes his dead ex-mistress, who gets a
Visitor releases passions that allow these posthumous revenge by shitting on him.
people to function again, as Miike goes for Undoubtedly, Miike's films are an
the outer limits of humour. The mother acquired taste. Always inventive and
learns to lactate oceans of breast milk, increasingly outrageous, his wellspring of
and the father finds empowerment in inspiration shows no signs of evaporating.
murder and necrophilia ("The mysteries of Katakuri-ke no kqfuku (The Happiness of
life are amazing! Even a corpse can get the Katakurls, 2001), a deranged and
wet!"), during a prolonged sequence which hilarious murderous musical, proves that
begins as gross-out comedy only to he can successfully adapt any genre taking

Takashi Miike
his fancy. In the West, will Miike go the Julien Fonfrede: There is a strong mix in
way of Woo, Lam and Hark and be forced your films between commercialism and
to bow to studio interference? Will experimentation. Is subverting genres and
watered-down Takashi Miike work, or does playing with contradictions something that
he need an Asian culture to thrive? With is consciously in your mind prior to
the recent growing interest in Japanese shooting?
horror cinema in the form of Battle Roy ale
(2000) and Ring (1998), there is at least Takashi Miike: Basically, I am not the kind
some reason to hope that studios will of person who is interested in making
release their panicky grip on this new wave films that are simply well done. If you
of talent. make a genre film the way it's supposed to
be made, there are always others who
When cynicism becomes art: have done it better than you before. If I
a short interview with Takashi Miike can't really enjoy myself while making
something, there isn't much point in
No longer new or in any sense unknown, making the films at all. I want do to
Takashi Miike remains one of Japan's something different from what other
hottest filmmakers, following fast on the people have done before. I want to get
footsteps of such contemporary Japanese away from conventions. It's also really
directors as Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi once I'm on the set that I enjoy experi-
Kurosawa. This new master of cinematic menting in that way... To see how I can
mayhem was finally discovered by the West make the whole thing different from what
when his Gokudb sengokusht: Fudb it normally would have become. That's the below:
(Fudoh: The New Generation) started way I enjoy myself as a filmmaker. And Poster for Deadly
Outlaw: Rekka
touring the international film festival because I am already that kind of person (2002).
circuit in 1996. He is now seen as one of
the most unpredictable auteurs of a new
type of Japanese cinema. Many of his films
are like sandcastles, where everything is
built only in order to be eloquently
destroyed, with a style and excess often
going beyond previously established limits.
In looking over Miike's filmography one
can definitely sense the sheer pleasure he
gets from making movies, not only because
of the sheer number he makes each year
(an average of five) but also because of the
way his recent work manages to play with
its audience. Often, just talking about one
of his films is to spoil some of the fun of
watching it.
Miike was born in Osaka on 24
August 1960. After finishing his studies at
the Yokohama Academy of Broadcasting
and Film, he worked as an assistant
director for such prominent filmmakers as
Shohei Imamura, Kazuo Kuroki and Hideo
Onchi. In 1995, he directed his first
theatrical release, Shlnjuku kuroshakal:
Chinese Mafia senso (Shinjuku Triad
Society), but to this day he also continues
to make pictures for television and the
prosperous Japanese video market. For
the visual innovations and the aggressive
pacing that inhabit his work, he is already
considered one of the great discoveries of
new Japanese cinema. Among his latest
and most widely screened releases are
Dead or Alive: Hanzalsha (Dead or Alive,
1999), Odishon [Audition, 1999) and
Koroshiya 1 (aka Ichi the Killer, 2001).

Japan
above: to begin with, there's sort of a natural the plans I had in the beginning. And if
The hottest ticket
in town. development once I'm on the set making nobody stops me, it just goes on and on...
the film... It's the same with my way of working with
The point of wondering, "What will sound. Basically, my approach to making
the critics or the public think of this? Will an interesting film is that I need to find
they accept me or not?" is not of major feelings and emotions that I have lost.
importance to me. What is more important That's the way I work to make the whole
is that I make films that I feel are right in experience of directing a film interesting.
the circumstances that I am in at a certain
moment in time. Whether I am accepted or JF: Considering all this, I am very curious to
not is not the main issue. It's like some know how you work and deal with
kind of fate that I make the films that I producers...
make. If I think too much about the films,
then the fun of making them gets lost. I TM: (laughs...) They're used to it by now.
don't concern myself too much with a Most of them now know what kind of
dream that I have or an ideal of what kind person I am. That's why I usually team up
of movie I would like to make from now with people who allow me to work the way
on... I make films that I enjoy making at I do. Of course, there are different types of
one particular point... And maybe producers and it's not rare that I find
something else develops from there, but myself in the middle of complicated
that's not the main concern. arguments. Anyway, a film that is made
without any arguments would probably
JF: But in your films there seems to be a not be a very interesting film in the end.
strong sense of thinking about the
audience... The whole idea of surprising JF: How about your producers' reaction
everyone... when you went to tell them about the
ending for Dead or Alive? You would have
TM: A lot of people are involved in the never gotten away with this In Hollywood,
making of a film. When I make a picture, it for example. Over there, logic is still very
goes in a certain direction. But then, on Important,
the set, lots of things also start happening
depending on everyone's input. Because of TM: (laughs...) Well, for me the script is
all this, things start to develop naturally only the starting point. From there you use
from there... The audience might be your imagination. The actual film is born
surprised with certain scenes or the ways from the script... But on the set, there is
my films develop, but I think the one who once again the input of the whole crew.
is often the most surprised is me! I'm the Everybody is bringing ideas... Then it is
one thinking, "What the hell is this? decided which way the film will eventually
What's happening now?" go. I think this is probably the only way to
If you take Odishon, for example... My make it interesting.
original point was to give up on all of the
horror elements. Usually when I'm on the JF: It wasn't the ending that was originally
set, I, myself, am gradually destroying all planned...

Takashi Miike
TM: The original idea was that the two

protagonists would meet in Taiwan. There
would be a shootout there, and you
wouldn't have known who won.
JF: Violence in your films is very excessive

and often works as some kind of a subtext
in itself.
TM: The fact is that everybody has these

feelings about violence. Everybody wants
to defend or protect his family. That is a
very honest reaction. It's our animal
instinct. The desire that everybody would
live in peace is an illusion. The yearning
for violence is very honest. Allowing this
to come out is much healthier than trying
to suppress it. In my films, people are like
monsters or beasts - their violence is
extreme, but at least it's honest.
JF: You seem to be one of the few

Japanese directors who is interested in
mixing the different Asian cultures.
Considering that Japanese cinema has
always focused essentially on Its own
culture, this is something I find especially
interesting.
TM: The fact is that it's apparent before

your eyes, living in Tokyo or Osaka. These
cities have really changed in the past
several years. They represent a full mix of
Asian cultures now... Actually, the
Yakuzas are very influenced by foreign
cultures these days. Foreigners have Kong, to be produced by Golden Harvest above:
The authorised
entered their world, and now they have to next year. If I decide to do it, I should have Takashi Miike book,
deal with it. It's the same with contem- lots of freedom. I want to make something first published by
porary Japanese society. If you walk down completely crazy. FAB Press in 2003.
the streets in Shibuya, there are Iranians
trying to sell you stuff... There are all JF: In the course of your career so far you
kinds of cultures there, and everywhere have worked in almost every genre
else in Tokyo. Films should follow what's possible, but you've never made any erotic
really happening... films; this even though erotica seems to
The fact is that the Japanese remain a big Institution In Japan for new
nowadays don't really think about what directors.
they see. They walk down the streets in
Tokyo and are like "Hmmm... There are TM: I think these films are too much of a
more foreigners than before, aren't lie today. They pretend to portray relation-
there?" They don't think about it much ships between young people, but the
further than that. They certainly do not people who conceive the films are usually
make any conclusions about it. It seems very old. I don't really like the world of
like they have lost interest in their own contemporary pink films. Its mind is old. If
city and their own country. They seem to I was to do something in that genre I am
have become numb. In Hong Kong, for sure it would end up being too grotesque.
exemple, cinema tends to focus more on For me, it's not really interesting, the way
what's really happening out in the streets. the Japanese pink film world is at the
It tends to reflect much more on contem- moment. All of the stories portrayed in
porary society. these films are too much like real life. It's
I am actually talking right now about not like you watch the films and you say,
the possibility of making a film in Hong "Oh... Interesting!"

The Japanese horror film series:

Ring and Eko Eko Azarak
Ramie Tateishi
Beginning in the mid 1990s, Japanese a powerful young witch to stop ancient
horror cinema underwent a dramatic forces of evil from manifesting themselves
resurgence that continues to accelerate, In the present day. To examine this
with new films being produced at a rate thematic concern in a specifically Japanese
unseen since the mid-to-late sixties. In the context, the critical discourse around
year 2000 alone, films such as Hebi Onna tradition and modernity can be applied as
(The Snake Woman), Odishon {Audition), a useful model that highlights the tensions
Uzumaki {Spiral), Replay, Sakuya and and anxieties surrounding the nature of
Oshikiri (The Straw Cutter), provided a this "horror of the past", and helps to
constant flow of cinematic terror, re- explain why this idea has particular
establishing the presence of the horror film resonance in Japanese horror cinema.
within the category of the tokusatsu ("special
effects") genre, which has tended to be Cultural nostalgia, active destruction
dominated by the science fiction and
monster films of the Godzilla and Gamera The general approach to Japanese
variety. During this resurgence, two of the modernity situates its origin at the Meiji
most popular film series have been the Restoration of 1868, which saw the end of
Ringu {Ring) movies (1998, 1999, 2000), the the Tokugawa shogunate. As Kevin Doak
first two of which were directed by Hideo notes, however, "modernity was defined in
Nakata, and the Eko Eko Azarak films a variety of ways (and therefore tended
(1995, 1996, 1998), the first two of which toward obscurity): at times it represented a
were directed by Shimako Sato. Ring has foreign influence - the West; at other times
inspired an American remake, both have it referred to the Meiji state and its ideology 1
Kevin M. Doak,
spun off television shows and inspired cult of 'civilization and enlightenment'; and at Dreams of
followings, and the influence of both series Difference: The
still others it referred to the reality of Japan Romantic
can also be seen in the style and aesthetic of Japanese culture in its only existent (if School and the
some of the other films in this Japanese 1
decadent) form." The transformation of Crisis of Modernity
(Berkeley:
horror renaissance. Japanese society on this multitude of levels University of
The notion of horror constructed in was rooted in notions of progress and California Press,
1994), xvi.
the Ring and Eko Eko Azarak film series is development, which rhetorically signified a
a horror of the past intruding into the break from "tradition" and "the past", as in 2
K. Ariga,
present; a remnant of some distant chaos the "Enlightened Rule" of the Meiji. "Modernisation of
that emerges to disrupt the stability of the Japanese Society,"
One aspect of this modernisation was in Science in Japan
here-and-now not only through its actions, a restructuring along capitalist lines, which (Washington, D.C.:
but by its very presence. It is interesting by 1955 had developed into a technological American
how these two vastly different series deal Association for the
and industrial modernisation; as Kizaemon Advancement of
with the same thematic preoccupation, Ariga notes, "the national reorganization, Science, 1965), 33.
configured in different ways. The Ring films backed up by industrialization, became a opposite:
tell the story of Sadako, a spirit who far more important issue" at that points Promotional
returns seeking vengeance after being Considered in terms of the framework of artwork for
entombed in a well forty years earlier. The Eko Eko Azarak III
modernity discourse as it relates to the - Misa the Dark
Eko Eko Azarak films focus on the efforts of horror film genre, every such step in the Angel.

Japan
discourse on "monsterology", reveals one

way in which the conflict between the past
and the modern was conceived as a battle
against monstrous forces. Inoue worked to
reform the Meiji educational system by
eliminating all references to folkloric
supernatural elements of tradition, such as
tengu (goblins). According to Figal, "Inoue
claimed that his monsterology was a
discipline that...attack[ed] obstinate folk
beliefs at their roots and that this
eradication of superstition (meishin taiji)
was instrumental for the constitution of a
5
healthy, modern Japanese state." Another
instance of this war against the irrational
can be seen in the state's attempts to stop
the rise of the "new religions" of the 1920s
and 1930s. As Sheldon Garon writes, "by
above: process of modernisation might be seen as creating the category of 'modernity' by
Kwaidan.
which certain sects might be condemned as
the addition of another "layer" that further
distances the past from the present. 'uncivilized', the process of modernisation
3
Marilyn Ivy, Industrialisation, particularly in terms of played a key role in the suppression of the
Discourses of the new religions... Like many progressive
Vanishing: Modernity, technology, might thus stand as the most
Phantasm, Japan "contemporary" of these layers which serve intellectuals, high-ranking police officials
(Chicago and to define the present. attacked the new religions for 'denying the
London: University of
Chicago Press, One response to this layering of rationality of modern science' and
1995), 10. history is a sort of cultural nostalgia: an 'worshiping (sic) superstition and absolute
6
acknowledgment of what was lost, and an nonsense'. Coded as illogical and

4
Ibid. chaotic, and thus antithetical to the project
attempt to regain or re-experience it.
5 Marilyn Ivy writes that capitalist of modernisation, such elements were
Gerald Figal,
Civilization and development has brought sharply into targeted as the embodiments of those
Monsters: Spirits of focus this sort of relationship between the qualities that needed to be eliminated in
Modernity in Meiji the name of progress. The "modern" and all
Japan (Durham: past and the modern. As she puts it, "there
Duke University is widespread recognition in Japan that the of its connotations (advanced capitalism,
Press, 1999), 87.
destabilizations of capitalist modernity urbanization, industrialization, etc.) can be
6 have decreed the loss of much of the past, seen as the top "layer" of history under
S. Garon,
"Rethinking Modern- a past sometimes troped as 'traditional'. which lie the traces of the past.
isation and Modernity In this type of response, where "Japanese
in Japanese Studies," The notion of horror implied in this
The Journal of Asian of all generations seek a recognition of buried/forgotten past is that the remnants
Studies 53.2 (May continuity that is coterminous with its of yesterday may turn vengeful as a
1994): 353. 4
negation", the movement away from the consequence of being denied, ignored, or
7
According to
past is "mourned" - it is not forgotten, but otherwise erased. In sharp contrast to the
Thomas Weisser actively remembered; not given up as lost, response of nostalgia described by Ivy, this
(personal correspon- but sought after.
dence with the editor, mode of horror gains its resonance from
10 June 2003), the But there is another, almost the position that the past does not simply
word "kwaidan" is a completely opposite, type of response rest beneath the layer of the modern - it
bastardised spelling
of the Japanese available: a repressing of the past in the actively forces its way through this layer
word "kaidan" as name of progress and the so-called and strikes back at those who buried it.
transcribed by the
British-born writer
"modern." This response entails a form of This vengeful quality is what characterizes
Lafcadio Hearn active destruction, insofar as it involves a the past as "monstrous", as it threatens to
(the man who wrote wiping away of the previous foundation in undo the aura of progress through its
the stories upon
which Kobayashi's order to construct a new one. What is most destructive acts, as well as through its
film was based). The interesting about this process is the way in disruptive presence (functioning as a
international which the elements that characterized the reminder of a chaotic, pre-modern time).
distributor chose to
go with the "w" past are (re-) defined as chaotic and/or The idea of the "monstrous past" can
spelling when the monstrous, embodying the spirit of primal be found in many Japanese kaidan
film was released at irrationality that is supposed to have ("strange tales") and obake (ghost) stories.
Cannes in the mid-
1960s and the threatened and worked against the new, In Masaki Kobayashi's 1964 anthology
spelling has remained modern way of thinking. Gerald Figal's horror film Kwaidan - the most well
7
that way since. In

Japan, the "w" would
examination of Tetsujiro Inoue. an known Japanese horror movie in the West,
not be included. educator responsible for the 1890s along with Kaneto Shindo's Onibaba

(released the same year) - two of the left:

"chapters" deal with the consequences of Kwaidan.
forgetting or burying the past. In one of
them, a young lord attempts to put his old
life behind him in order to advance socially;
in the other, a man forgets the warning of
the yuki onna (snow woman) to never speak
of her after their initial encounter. In both
cases, the past is represented as a
supernatural force that strikes back in the
present: an apparition of the young lord's
former lover returns to haunt him in his
comfortable new life of status, and the
presence of the yuki onna is revealed when
the man tells the story of his encounter
with her, an encounter that happened
years ago in a life far removed from his
present day. In an interesting variation on
the theme of the past-present relationship,
it is the man's very remembrance of the
yuki onna that summons its presence into
the here-and-now, but still the encounter
with the past is shown to have dire
consequences, as the man must confront
inadvertently kills his new wife and
the wrath of the snow woman after
everyone around him. In this story, the
disregarding her warning.
vengeance of the past first disrupts the
In Japan, the most well known kaidan present simply by haunting Iuemon, then
in the cinema is arguably Yotsuya Kaidan. moves on to completely destroy it, enacting
There have been at least eight film adapta- its role as "monstrous past" as a symbolic
tions of this tale, originally a play written in representation of Ieumon's conscience, as
1825 by Nanboku Tsuruya. The most highly well as a material force with literal,
regarded of these film versions is the one physically destructive effects in the present.
directed in 1959 by Nobuo Nakagawa, a Similar to the Italian Black Sunday (1960)
well-known horror director of the 1960s directed by Mario Bava, and Chano
perhaps best known for Jigoku {Hell, 1960). Urueta's Mexican horror film The Witch's
Nakagawa's version opens with a stylized Mirror that same year, the ghost acts as a
Kabuki introduction lamenting the sorrow link between past and present, a connection
of the story about to unfold, an introduction between these time periods that others
which invokes notions of tradition in the would prefer to keep separate.
form of artistic expression. Yotsuya Kaidan Yotsuya Kaidan is just one in a long
tells the story of Iuemon Tamiya (Shigeru line of kaidan films, the prime example of
Amachi), a masterless samurai who Japanese horror cinema throughout the below:
murders his wife Oiwa (Kazuko Wakasugi) 1960s. Though Kobayashi's Kwatdan and Onibaba.
in order to be with another woman. The
connotation of the "modern" can be seen in
the special "imported poison" that Iuemon
uses to kill Oiwa. Iuemon tells Oiwa to
forget about the past and think only of the
future as he serves her the poison, words of
encouragement that actually reflect his
deviousness, particularly in terms of how
he perceives his own past (Oiwa) and future
(his new bride). The ghost of Oiwa that
returns to haunt Iuemon bears a face
covered in boils and sores as a result of the
poison - physical traces of the specialized,
imported "modern" which add another
dimension of horror to this remnant of the
past. The constant sight of Oiwa's ghost
drives Iuemon mad, and in his crazed
attempts to slay her (for good this time), he

Japan
right: Shindo's Onibaba were the only katdan to

The true face of
horror is finally gain a reputation in the West, Japan in fact
revealed in Ring. produced many such films around this
time, most notably Daiei Studio's entire
kaldan cycle, which included Kaldan
Botandero and Kaldan Yuklgoro from 1968
and Hiroku Katbyoden [The Haunted Castle,
1969). The most popular films in the Daiei
series were Kimiyoshi Yasuda's Yokal
Hyaku Monogatart [One Hundred Ghost
Stories) and Yoshiyuki Kuroda's Yokai
Daisenso (The Great Ghost War), both from
1969. Toei Studios, which had previously
produced such horror films as Katdan Ring tells the story of Reiko Asakawa
Katame no Otoko and Kaldan Semushi (Nanako Matsushima), a female reporter
Otoko (both from 1965), in the 1970s made investigating allegations concerning a
the notable "Bloodthirsty" series of films: cursed videotape that causes those who
Yureiyashiki no Kyqfu: Chi O Suu Ningyoo watch it to die a week after viewing. The
(Bloodthirsty Doll aka The Vampire Doll, person who watches the tape apparently
1970), Norol no Yakata: Cht O Suu Me receives a mysterious phone call, which
(Bloodthirsty Eyes aka Lake of Dracula, marks the beginning of the week-long time
1971) and Cht O Suu Bara (Bloodthirsty limit. The murderer turns out to be the
Rose aka Evil of Dracula, 1975), all of which mental/spiritual energy of a dead girl,
were directed by Michio Yamamoto. Sadako Yamamura (Orie Izuno), who was
thrown down a well forty years earlier.
The Ring series Reiko ultimately deduces that the only
remedy is for the cursed viewer to make a
In the entire history of Japanese horror copy of their videotape and give it to
cinema, however, no film has ever someone else, freeing them from the curse
achieved the popularity of 1998's Ringu by passing it on (somewhat like the
(Ring). Based on a novel by Koji Suzuki, notebook in the 1957 Jacques Tourneur
Ring stands at the forefront of the horror film Curse of the Demon). Thus, the title
genre's current resurgence in Japan. Ring refers to the ghost's presence in the
Though the film presents a very modern present day as manifested through the
depiction of horror, its thematic preoccu- "ring" of the telephone, as well as through
pation with the relationship between past the "ring" of cursed videotapes in
and present evokes some lingering aspects circulation.
of the older kaidan. Ring thus contains Sadako's manifestations in the
elements of both classic and contemporary present, achieved through these various
beiow: horror aesthetics: a film with modern "rings", are significant because of the ways
Nanako sensibilities that also displays its ties to in which they depict the past emerging into
Matsushima as
Relko Asakawa
the lineage of Japanese horror cinema to the present via technological means. If
in Ring. which it belongs. technology can be seen to represent the
most recent of the "layers" defining history
- technological achievement considered as
the most advanced stage of modern
development - then the notion of horror
associated with a ghost from the past is
further nuanced by the use of technology
as a conduit into the here-and-now. Not
only will the past live; it will circulate In the
present through the very technology that so
defines the present. The supernatural
presence of Sadako can manifest itself over
the phone as well as through photographs,
as the faces of those who have been
affected by her appear distorted and/or
blurry in photos. But it is the VCR in
particular that is exemplary of Japan's
presence in the technological "modern",
with nearly 70% of the videocassette

recorders produced worldwide coming from

8
Japan. The use of the VCR/television as
Sadako's primary portal into the present
day is a unique and distinctly modern
touch that further emphasizes the thematic
qualities associated with the past and
present.
The images seen on the cursed
videotape are themselves suggestive of the
atmosphere of an old-fashioned kaidan: a
bright moon filling the sky, a woman in
front of a mirror brushing her long black
9
hair. The grainy, black-and-white images
take on an enhanced surreal quality as the
mirror shifts places on the wall, a space full
of floating kanji (ideograms) appears, and
the bizarre montage closes with a shot of a the reality of the cursed videotape above:
well. These images are more than just (Sadako's emergence into the present) with Nanakj
visual signs of the curse of Sadako; they Matsushima as
urban legend (the questioning of the tape's Reiko Asakawa
prove to be the key to finding a remedy for origin; the widespread stories that develop in Ring.
the curse, as well. Reiko and her ex- about it) is developed further as Reiko's
husband Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada) investigation proceeds. Scenes consisting
scrutinize the images for clues - in effect of interviews with various people who have
reading the cursed videotape like a text - in heard the story of the cursed videotape
their attempt to solve the mystery of the reveal how Reiko's job consists primarily of
murders linked to the tape. In particular, collating and comparing vague rumours,
they consider the meanings of the kanji and has little to do with arriving at any
characters for "volcano", which directs definitive conclusions. Except for those
them to the site of the well where Sadako who become victims of the curse and so
was originally abandoned. These images of experience it directly, the presence of
the past, which are a source of terror, also Sadako in the present is a nebulous one,
constitute their own sort of "salvation" - as an urban legend that seems to have
they lead Reiko down the well to find originated in some indefinite "past."
Sadako's corpse, the past is finally
The creation of this haunted past is
acknowledged or "remembered."
witnessed by Reiko in strange flashbacks
Ring also explores the relationship that seem to result from her sharing of
between past and present in its initial set- Ryuji's ability to receive such images. The 8
See L. do
up of the story surrounding the cursed images come from her contact with an old Rosario, "The Way
of All Gadgets," Far
videotape, as two schoolmates - Masami man who, forty years earlier, revealed the Eastern Economic
(Hitomi Sato) and Tomoko (Yuko Takeuchi) secret of Shizuko (Masako), Sadako's Rew'ew156 (25
- are shown discussing the curse. They November 1993):
mother, to the press. In the story of the 48.
wonder where the story originated, past that unfolds before Reiko's eyes, she
commenting on the fact that everybody is sees how Dr. Heihachiro Ikuma (Daisuke 9
While this is a
talking about it. Their fears are exacer- Ban), a scientist working on the common-enough
scene, its specific
bated by the ringing of the phone after paranormal, eventually held a public use in a horror film
Tomoko confesses that she saw the video demonstration of his experiments involving could perhaps be a
one week ago. To their great relief, the call Shizuko's psychic powers. The press reference to
Kobayashi's
turns out to be from one of their friends; vigorously denounced the experiments, Kwaidan, in which a
shortly afterwards, however, Tomoko is however, causing Shizuko to react fearfully. ghost's long black
indeed killed by Sadako. This conflation of hair functions as a
Watching her mother from behind a story point. It would
curtain, Sadako killed the first journalist to be worth Investi-
speak out with a telepathic burst. Shortly gating the question
whether Nakata was
thereafter, following Shizuko's death, Dr. indeed influenced
Ikuma threw Sadako down a well and by Kobayashi's
sealed it off, thereby removing the last Kwaidan, as there
are other similarities
traces of this episode in an action symbolic between the two
of the past (represented by the bakemono - films at the level of
the "monstrous") being literally buried by tone and
atmosphere.
the present (in the form of the scientist).
/eft-
The vengeance of Sadako's ghost can Trie wrath of
thus be seen as stemming from science's Sadako (Ring).

Japan
who rationalize the curse of Sadako and

much of what took place in Ring. In this
way, Ring 2 is itself much like the "modern"
in comparison to the inexplicable nature of
Sadako's power in the first film. Whereas
much of the terror of Ring can be attributed
to the logic-defying omnipotence of Sadako,
the terror in Ring 2 stems from the fear that
scientific explanation of Sadako's power
still may not be enough to stop her. With
science coded as the "modern" as opposed
to the "past" represented by Sadako's
supernatural powers, Ring 2 is a
fascinating counterpoint to the original
film, advancing the thematic preoccupation
with the past and the modern by focusing
on the modern response to the past.
aboye: efforts, first to explain the paranormal, and The distortion of the faces in
Hiroyuki Sanada
as Ryuji Takayama then to destroy it after it gets labelled photographs is explained as the result of
and Nanako "monstrous" by the media. The power of the mental energy which affects the exposure
Matsushima as paranormal, embodied in the telepathic
Reiko Asakawa
of light onto the film. More importantly, the
in Ring. abilities of Shizuko and Sadako, is also idea first suggested in Ring - that Sadako
linked to primal symbols of nature, thereby travels along energy waves - is here fleshed
opposite:
Poster for Ring 0.
strengthening the connection between out: supernatural power is attributed to
Rather than being such power and the uncontrollable chaos the principle of "energy transference."
another sequei, that stands as the very antithesis of the Yoichi, upset with Reiko over a recent
Ring 0: Baasudei
(Birthday) - the third "modern." According to the old man, series of events, has built up a reserve of
instalment in the Shizuko used to spend entire days at the anger which, in combination with the
Ring series - is an seashore, talking to the ocean. This associ- presence of Sadako still within him,
ambitious prequel
that sheds new light ation between Shizuko and the sea takes manifests itself in paranormal abilities.
on Sadako's origins on greater significance when a typhoon This psychic energy can be absorbed by
and the curse she
must bear. Directed
strikes during Reiko and Ryuji's trip to the water, as is verified when Yoichi is told to
by Norio Tsuruta well, where they travel in the hopes of focus his thoughts on a glass filled with
(Kakashi [aka saving their son Yoichi (Rikiya Otaka), who H20, the structure of which changes
Scarecrow], 2001)
from a screenplay by previously watched the cursed videotape. during an absorbency test. Aware of this
Hiroshi Takahashi Sadako's symbol is the volcano, seen as principle, one of the scientists hopes to
(Ring 2), Ring 0 one of the images on the tape - truly a sign draw Sadako's remaining presence out of
mixes horror with
drama as the young of the primordial chaotic. Like the Meiji Yoichi using a large pool of water as the
Sadako (Yukie discourse on monsterology that sought to receptacle. Interestingly, the scientist
Nakama) joins a eliminate the irrational and inexplicable
Tokyo-based theatre
explains at one point that seawater will not
troupe where the past in favour of progress and the so-called work as well as fresh water, thereby
play being put on "modern", the attempt made by science to recalling the link between Shizuko and the
eerily begins to
mirror events in the
understand and eventually eliminate the ocean. His philosophy is summed up in his
narrative. Then the "monstrous" in Ring is the source of remark that it is fear that kills, and not the
lead actress is anxiety, even horror. cursed videotape - a remark which reflects
found dead on the
stage, and the other This idea is developed to an even the idea that what is truly dangerous is the
cast members
greater degree in Ringu 2 (Ring 2, 1998), irrational itself.
complain of strange
dreams about a little which takes place directly after the events The images on the cursed videotape
girl and a well... of the first film. The role of the scientist in are now revealed to be various moments
this story is filled by a group of professors seen from Sadako's perspective before she
was thrown into the well. The mirror that
shifts places on the wall, for example, was
telepathically moved by Sadako as she
watched her mother brushing her hair.
This explanation for the images on the
tape, however, is of little consolation to the
frightened Mai (Miki Nakatini), Ryuji's
right: assistant, who takes care of Yoichi after
A frightening Reiko is accidentally killed in an attempt at
fragment from the
cursed videotape in wresting her afflicted son away from the
Ring. scientists. The fear that such explanations


Japan
are not sufficient to eliminate the horror 1992), Uchu Shojo Keiji Buruma (Young Girl
generated by the (previously) inexplicable Space Detective Bloomer, 1994), and Go
can also be seen in the attempts to Nagai's infamous Kekkou Kamen (Naked
construct a model of Sadako's face based Mask, 1991-) series all featured strong
on her skull, which has been discovered at young female characters who did battle
the bottom of the well. When the scientists with various types of monsters and
take photographs of their completed model, villains; the Eko Eko Azarak series thus
the flash of the bulb reveals Sadako's real stands as a sort of generic crossover
face superimposed over the model. Despite between this strain of tokusatsu and the
the scientists' knowledge of how mental horror film-proper. The monsters and
energy interacts with light, the appearance demons that Misa fights are all somehow
of this haunting image cannot be connected to a clearly pre-modern past.
prevented. Using her supernatural powers to defend
The most important example of the present-day Japan from these threats,
idea that the chaotic may ultimately Misa represents a "positive" use of the
overwhelm or transcend any scientific forces of chaos. Her powers (casting spells,
explanation is the experiment to purge reciting incantations, etc.) are rooted in
Yoichi of his negative energy. The large pool the same ineffable, primeval source as are
of water that the scientists hope will absorb those of her enemies - powers which defy
this energy is instead transformed into a the "modern" sense of rationality.
gateway between the real world and the In a perhaps not coincidental parallel
realm of the supernatural. Mai and Yoichi to the way in which Ring 2 answers
find themselves trapped in this questions which arise concerning Sadako's
passageway, which looks just like the past, Misa's origins are revealed in the
inside of the well Sadako inhabited for second film in the Eko Eko Azarak series.
decades. Finally managing to escape, they It seems that for at least one hundred
resurface in the pool of water only to find years prior to her birth, Misa's powers
the lab destroyed as a result of the were foretold in a prophecy. From the time
experiment. Science's effort to do away with she was a little girl, she was carefully
the supernatural has led to consequences watched; this went on until she reached
unimagined - the possibility of becoming the age at which her powers began to
lost in the supernatural world itself - emerge. Eko Eko Azarak II: Birth of the
revealing the confrontation between past Wizard (1996) establishes that Misa lived
and present to be fraught with terrifying the life of a normal teenage girl -
perils heretofore unknown. surrounded by friends, enjoying parties,
and the rest - until the time her powers
The Eko Eko Azarak series
Another contemporary Japanese horror

film series that deals with issues of the
past's disruption of the present is Eko Eko
Azarak, which recounts the exploits of
high school sorceress Misa Kuroi (literally,
"Misa Black", played by Kimika Yoshino).
Like Ring, Eko Eko Azarak has spawned a
television series and its own cult following,
making Misa's face one of the more identi-
fiable signs of the genre in recent years.
Based on the Shinichi Koga manga (comic)
from the 1970s, the Eko Eko Azarak film
series debuted in 1995, right around the
time when a number of onna senshi
("female warrior") productions hit the
market. Beginning in 1990 with Lady
Battlecop, an entry in Toei's "V Cinema"
series of straight-to-video films
emphasizing heavy action (the "V" is for
"Violence"), a string of science fiction and
superhero-oriented onna senshi pictures
arrived on the scene. The Monster
Commando series, Batoru Garu (Battle Girl,
$02 fear without frontiers

came to the fore. Now Kirie (Amina left:

Tominaga), a monster from the century-old Eko Eko Azarak.
Saiga tribe, awakens in the present day to
take over Misa's body, desiring her ability
to channel supernatural power seemingly
without limit.
The film's title sequence shows the
extermination of the Saiga clan in 1880,
intercut with a shot of a Saiga warrior
handing a medallion to a young Misa in the
present day. The eventual confrontation
between past and present is set up through preferred over creativity or individu-
this opening, which extends into the next 10
ality." The transmission of the ideals of
scenes of the movie, an archaeological efficiency and rationalization into high
expedition taking place in the here-and- school life is expanded upon by Thomas
now. A professor and his assistant discover Rohlen, who describes how schools "teach
the sarcophagus of a Saiga, who turns out the segmentation of time into various
to be Kirie. The professor notes that the components... The rhythms and segmen-
Saiga clan existed around the end of the tation of the Japanese high school
Edo period or the beginning of the Meiji, complement very neatly indeed the
which would place its origin right at working order of industry and modern
Japan's transition point into the "modern." organization."11
This entire social
A tribe in which the use of magic was construction of high school is completely
commonplace, the Saiga exemplifies the torn apart in the Eko Eko Azarak films,
link between the pre-modern "past" and where the site of efficiency and rationali-
the supernatural. zation becomes inhabited by those who
A further link - between the attempt to summon the forces of chaos
supernatural and the "monstrous" - is and darkness - forces that work against
made through the explanation of Kirie's the very ideal of the "modern." (The most
vengeance. The Saiga warrior whose job it immediate comparison that comes to mind
is to defend Misa in the present day tells in the American context is the popular
her of his love for Kirie when she was a television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
normal Saiga. When Kirie died, he used a (1997 - ), which also began as a feature-
form of forbidden magic, Hangon, to bring length film (1992). The difference, however,
her back to life; instead, she returned to is that Buffy plays off the thematic notion
her body as a monstrous, murderous that high school is already a metaphoric
spirit who exterminated the entire Saiga "Hell on Earth"; thus the demonic and
clan. The past in Eko Eko Azarak 11 Is monstrous activity centred around this
shown to be wholly chaotic, particularly in site is an extension of its inherent nature -
comparison with Misa's "normal" life in an extended metaphor. Buffy's mode is
the present. That is, before it gets hyperbole, while the rhetorical effect of the
interrupted by the arrival of Kirie and the depiction of high school in Eko Eko
Saiga warrior. Azarak, however it may be intended, is one
The "normality" of the present is most of subversion.)
effectively represented in the first and The first film in the Eko Eko Azarak
third films of the series, where Misa does series opens with a quote from Milton's
battle with evil forces that in some way use Paradise Lost which describes Satan and
high school as a focal point for their entry his devils being cast out from Heaven,
into the present. This conception of horror thereby referencing one of the most
works extremely well In a Japanese "traditional" sources of evil from the
context, where the generally accepted Christian mythos. A series of murders turn 10
A . Takahata,
image of high school is of a place that out to be the work of Mizuki Kurahashi "Standards vs.
direcdy reflects all the connotations of the (Miho Kanno), the class representative, Flexibility," The
"modern" - a site where these values are who plans to summon Lucifer to Earth and World and I 14.9
(September 1999):
both inculcated and projected. Akio take on his power. The locations of the 78.
Takahata writes that "historically, since various murders form the points of a giant
the Meiji Restoration, the country's pentagram, at the centre of which lies the Thomas P.
Rohlen, Japan's
educational system has been constantly high school. The first scene in the film High Schools
driven by a so-called Catch Up With the intercuts shots of a Satanic ceremony with (Berkeley:
West spirit and motivation, in which those of a woman running down the city University of
California Press,
efficiency and rationalization were streets, fleeing from an unidentifiable 1983), 168.

Japan
threat. As in Birth of the Wizard, the order of the "modern." Amidst a montage of
juxtaposition of scenes which have shots featuring the students at work on the
connotations of the "ancient" with those production - building and painting scenery,
which connote the "modern" sets up in the rehearsing dialogue, studying the script - a
viewer the expectation that a confrontation shot of some of them unrolling a drawing of
between the two will eventually occur. This a giant pentagram is inserted, revealing the
strategy extends into one of the first presence of the supernatural within the
scenes at the high school, where one of the everyday activities of school life. A scene
students, interested in magic, details the showing a rehearsal changes from Innocent
order of succession of wizards while a to ominous in tone as it begins during the
number of other students sit around his day and ends at night, closing with a long
desk, enthralled. This introduction to what shot of the students standing together by a
the students are really learning about in small light surrounded by darkness,
class reveals how the overturning of the thereby echoing the transformation of the
"modern" is already well in place, a notion play from innocent school production to
furthered with the revelation that their ritual of mayhem. In these and other ways,
teacher, Ms. Shirai (Mio Takaki), is a part Eko Eko Azarak III continues the series'
of Mizuki's plot. depiction of high school as a realm of the
As this plot approaches fulfilment, paranormal - something truly horrifying in
the students are trapped inside the school, light of Japan's cultural construction of
which has been transformed into a site of high school as a paradigmatic site of
chaos by the demonic energy coalescing modernisation.
around the building. Once a locus of The nature of the horror depicted in
normalization, high school has become a Ring and Eko Eko Azarak is the disruption
place where windows cannot be broken, of the present by some aspect of the past,
doors do not lead where they should, and an idea that has roots in the heart of
the number of students left alive is classic Japanese horror cinema. In
magically registered on a chalkboard particular, the past which is defined as
(erasing and rewriting itself as the "monstrous" emerges through elements of
students are killed off, one by one). society that are symbolic of the "modern" -
Though Misa is successful in stopping technology in Ring; high school in Eko Eko
Mizuki, the school is left in ruins - much Azarak. It will be very interesting to see
like the lab at the end of Ring 2 - these how the Japanese horror film continues to
sites of the "modern" bearing the mark of develop, both thematically and aestheti-
their confrontation with forces that resist cally, as the current resurgence epitomised
the confinement of order. by Ring and Eko Eko Azarak continues.
In Eko Eko Azarak III: Misa the Dark
Angel (1998), directed by Katsuhito Ueno,
Misa (here played by Hinako Saeki, star of
the previous year's Eko Eko Azarak TV
series spin-off) must shut down the high
school Drama Club's summer production -
actually an effort at creating the perfect
"Homunculus", a pure and untainted life-
form that will be filled with the souls of
human sacrifices. Although the final
preparation and actual ritual take place on
the grounds of an estate, the rehearsals are
conducted at school. In relation to Rohlen's
idea of the Japanese high school emphasis
on the segmentation of time, it is interesting
to note how Hikaru (Yuki Hagiwara), the
leader of the Drama Club production,
repeatedly voices her concerns about being
organized and not wasting time in
preparation for the performance. The spirit
of the organizational framework of high
school is here used not for the purpose of
right: getting Japanese youths ready for their
Promotional artwork entrance into modern society, but for the
for Eko Eko
Azarak. fulfilment of a project that opposes the very

The urban techno-alienation of

Sion Sono's Suicide Club
Travis Crawford
No matter what else may be said regarding [Chaos, 1999], Honoguari Mtzu No Soko
Jisatsu Circle (aka Suicide Club, 2002), one Kara [Dark Water, 2002]), Sono's is a more
has to admit that the film's writer/director experimental endeavour than those more
Sion Sono certainly knows how to begin a traditional horror titles. Yet Suicide Club is
movie (whether or not he knows how to end also considerably different in tone from the
one would likely prove a more hotly confrontational, outre exercises in anarchy
debated topic). Sono's truly bizarre shock- produced by Japan's reigning doyen of
show-cum-sociological satire actually transgressive taboo-busting, Takashi
manages to grow even stranger as it Miike; though both Sono and Miike share a
progresses, but for sheer jaw-dropping similar affection for heavily stylised
visceral impact, it never quite tops its bloodshed as a vehicle for audience impact,
opening sequence (which is not to say that Sono's film is more cerebral and elegiac
it doesn't try): 54 smiling teenaged school- than most of Mike's projects. With its
girls stand on the platform of the Shinjuku elliptical narrative approach and hypnotic
subway station in Tokyo, clasp hands and rhythms, Suicide Club perhaps most
then proceed to jump in unison directly resembles the films of Kiyoshi Kurosawa
into the path of an oncoming train. (Kyua [Cure, 1997], Kairo [Pulse, 2001],
Crushed heads and severed body parts fill Karisuma [Charisma, 1999]) - not least for
the frame as tsunami-like torrents of blood the way in which both directors survey the
drench horrified commuters, shortly potentially cataclysmic effect that
followed by discontinuous images which technology and the desensitisation of
would probably even confound viewers who modern life can have on the populace of
weren't still reeling from the surreal Japan. But Sono demonstrates a jet-black
carnage: a gym bag, a computer screen sense of humour that is largely absent from
filled with multiplying coloured dots and a Kurosawa's filmography, marking Suicide
televised performance from "Desert," the Club as sui generis cinema indeed.
all-girl pubescent pop star quintet that is,
Suicide's tangled plotline initially
to put it mildly, more than meets the eye.
unfolds with the clarity of a straightforward
And so begins one of the richest, most
mystery thriller, though that changes
complex and inventive entries in Japan's
dramatically as the film evolves. Following
new horror film renaissance - not to
the introductory subway suicide
mention one of the most mystifying and
spectacular, police are baffled as to the
enigmatic - the extraordinary Suicide Club.
causes behind such an event - particularly
Sono's film is a unique piece of work when the gym bag that turns up at the
even when judged as an individual entity, scene of the crime winds up containing a
but it is all the more singular when viewed chain made of hundreds of strips of human
in the context of contemporary Japanese flesh. As Detective Kuroda (Japanese rock
genre filmmaking. Although Suicide Club icon Ryo Ishibashi, more familiar to
shares certain thematic affinities with the Western audiences from his role as the
school of ethereal, "suggestive" cinematic luckless and footloose widower of Takashi
creep-outs best represented by the work of Miike's Odishon [Audition, 1999]) investi-
Hideo Nakata (Ringu [Ring 1998], Kaosu gates, he is drawn deeper into Tokyo's

Japan
increasing plague of suicides by a girl glassy-eyed mother buoyantly carving into

calling herself "The Bat," who guides herself with a kitchen utensil (and then
Kuroda to a website which chronicles each there is the matter of Kuroda's genuinely
of the suicides - before they even happen. shocking final scene in the film...). But if
As bodies begin plummeting from the sky Sono differs from Miike in many respects,
on a daily basis, the police wonder whether the two share a similar free-form kitchen-
the chipper self-annihilators are cult sink conceptual approach, one which
members, and one girl deals with the largely works to an open-minded
suicide of her boyfriend by investigating the audience's advantage. Sono may introduce
teen pop combo Desert (whose hit, "Mail more elements than he is capable of
Me!" is omnipresent throughout the film), successfully negotiating - and like the
discovering in the process that the girls recent films of David Lynch, Sono is more
aren't quite what they appear to be. interested in introducing and exploring
If all of this sounds a bit disjointed, mysteries rather than in actually solving
that's not an entirely inaccurate them - but his audacious methods are also
impression: Sono soon abandons the linear richly rewarding.
narrative structure of a police procedural If Suicide Club's chaotic narrative
thriller in favour of the more enigmatic represents the most potentially critical
pleasures afforded by a comparatively obstacle to enjoyment for a Western
abstract expressionist interpretation of audience, it's safe to say that the film's
already challenging themes and savage social critique might prove more
labyrinthine scenarios. This disorienting difficult for the film's native Japanese
approach intensifies later In the film, viewers. Throughout recent years, suicide
though it's worth noting that Sono follows rates have risen significantly in Japan, an
his throat-grabbing, rapid-fire opening with alarming increase which many have linked
a slow, prolonged hospital suspense to the equally dramatic rise in
sequence involving irrelative characters, unemployment, though Sono believes the
already giving his audience fair warning causes run far deeper than that. Although
below: that the story will not unfold in traditional the suicide surge seems to have affected
After 54 smiling form. Sono's adventurous plotting course many age groups in Japan, there has also
schoolgirls leap
under a subway
ultimately reaches its apex (or nadir, recently been an unnerving escalation in
train to their deaths, depending on your point of view) during a youth crime and violence, a cultural
police find a bag at positively surreal musical number (!) set in development also explored In Suicide Club.
the subway station
with, to put it mildly, an abandoned bowling alley inhabited by a In the final months of the year 2000,
grisly contents: group of pet-stomping glam-rock nihilists Japan's Parliament approved the first
small strips of who have abducted "The Bat" and her amendment to the Juvenile Crime Law
human flesh
sewn together in a friend - an aggressively outlandish episode since 1949, prompted by two infamous
linking chain. which is likely to trigger as many audience crimes earlier that same year: a 17 year-old
(courtesy of TLA walkouts as the cringe-inducing sight of a
Releasing)
boy hijacked a bus and stabbed a woman
to death, while another boy of the same age
beat his mother to death with a baseball
bat. Just as public opinion reflected that
juvenile crime and violence had suddenly
become the most Important issue in Japan,
Toei Studios released - to much contro-
versy - Kinji Fukasaku's blood-spattered
and brilliant teen action opus Battle Royale
(2000), and shortly thereafter, a trio of
Japanese films explored the theme of teen
violence within the Japanese school
system: Shunji Iwai's fragmented epic of
internet chat rooms and pubescent sadism
Rirt Shushu no subete (All About Lily Chou-
Chou); Akihiko Shiota's muted study of
depression Galchu (Harmful Insect); and
Toyoda Toshiaki's intense manga
adaptation Aoi haru (Blue Spring). Suicide
Club is closer in spirit to the genre play of
the Fukasaku feature than the more
serious sociological analysis of the three
2001 productions, but all five films share

the same impassioned concern for the Travis Crawford: One of the things I most above:
As Suicide Ciub
future of Japan's youth, and none of them admired about your film Is that there are so nears its conclusion,
provide easy answers to this current crisis many different themes at work within the another group of
within their country. story. What really started the idea of the schoolgirls
approaches the
Prior to Suicide Club, the film's film for you? subway platform...
writer/director Sion Sono would have (courtesy of TLA
Releasing)
seemed an unlikely candidate for genre Sion Sono: The concept for the film
movie maverick. Born in Toyokawa on 18 originated from my hopeless life in the
December 1965, Sono first achieved United States. Two years ago, I lived alone
acclaim as a budding teenaged poet, in San Francisco, and it was a horrifying
published at the age of 17. He and lonely experience for me. During that
subsequently became interested in time, I worked on the script of Suicide
filmmaking, creating two award-winning Club. The Sion Sono of that time is behind
shorts, I Am Sono Sion (1985) and A Man's the concept of, and the reason for, the
Flower Road (1987), before moving into film.
commercial filmmaking with Jitensha Toiki
(Bicycle Sighs, 1990). Sono's previous film TC: In your director's notes, you speak of
work - Heya (The Room, 1992), Keiko Desu "a fundamental darkness spreading in
Kedo (1997), Kaze (The Wind, 1998), current Japan." Could you discuss this
Utsushimi (1999) - has been little seen concept further? Why do you feel this
outside of Japan, though Suicide Club will condition in Japanese society has arisen
hopefully serve to change that interna- recently?
tional anonymity. Sono has also continued
his interest in poetry, and his recent collab- SS: I am not sure If it is really possible to
oration with fashion designer Shinichiro analyse this concept. It can't simply be
Arakawa resulted in the 1999 short film because of the collapse of the bubble
0cm4. economy, or the expansion of the so-called
Please be warned that the following "peace" - a shallow "peace" - but more
Special thanks to
interview does include discussion of many because of the entanglement of all of these Tomoko Suzuki at
plot twists within Suicide Club, and those small details... like leaves which soon Daiel Co., Ltd. for
translation and
who have not yet seen the film may wish to apparently grow into a thick forest of interview
proceed with caution. darkness. arrangements.

Japan
above: TC: So why did you elect to approach this when visualising the reality of suicide. That
Be all you can
be - kill yourself. very somber theme through the horror genre, is why I tried to focus on the splatter effect
Followers of the as opposed to a more traditionally "serious" in all of the suicide scenes. I just like to
suicide craze take dramatic treatment? discuss serious themes with humour.
to the Tokyo streets
with placards urging
others to take the SS: It would have just become too much, if TC: And in fact, in your notes, you also
plunge.
(courtesy of TLA
I had made it more serious and dramatic. It mentioned "a cheerful despair where people
Releasing) makes it difficult to bring people in to see can die laughing." How has this type of
the film if it has too much of an "artistic" despair evolved in Japan today?
taste. I would rather have it easier for the
audience to come in to the film, which was SS: I have no idea how such a despair
the reason I chose to make it a horror film. evolved in Japan. Like the Kuroda
Though the means of interpretation is character in the film, I also cannot
different, what is to be expressed through understand the thoughtlessness of the
the film is still the same. I wanted to share young people in regards to life and death. I
this anxiety with as many people as can only "feel" the despair without any
possible. specific reason. It is like feeling that the
sunset is beautiful. Death penetrates
TC: The film has many sequences of surreal within myself.
humour, particularly within the opening
subway suicide scene. Was there any TC: At what point did you realise that you
difficulty In finding a balance between the wanted to make the film so shockingly,
comical and the disturbing elements of the explicitly gory? Did you ever worry that this
story? use of blood might alienate your audience?
SS: Splatter and gore always carry humour SS: From the very beginning, I wanted to
within. On the other hand, when it is make this film into a splatter movie. I
visually expressed, bloodshed is not so wanted people to feel anxious and
humorous at all. But I wanted to show the unpleasant, so I never even thought about
blood with as much humour as possible the possibility of alienating the audience.

TC: Speaking of audience alienation, the Kuroda never even dreamed that his own
story of Suicide Club begins as a fairly family was pushed so far to the extent that
straightforward mystery/thriller, but soon they would commit suicide, and he was
evolves into something much stranger and convinced that his family was always safe
more difficult for a general audience. Were from such a tragedy. The children just
you concerned about creating a storyline point out that fact, and [that this fact
which would not be simple for many represents] that he is scum who only
viewers to understand, at least not upon a thinks of himself, and not at all about
single viewing? others.
SS: Yes, I did feel such concern - but I TC: Let's talk about Desert. What prompted
found no other option. you to Introduce a teenage girl pop group as
the possible factor behind the wave of
TC: The character of "The Bat" - along with suicides? What are your own thoughts on
the gang in the bowling alley - are contemporary Japanese youth pop culture?
ultimately "red herrings" that don't actually
connect to the real causes of the suicide SS: I thought it was interesting - and also
wave, correct? possible - that teenagers like that could be
a factor behind the suicides. The fact that
SS: Yes. But I also think they are very such teenagers - or younger, about 12
"Japanese." The way that they react is years old - are actually strong enough to
similar to "internet otaku" ("internet have such hatred towards Japan was to
freaks"). me an angelic beauty. Nowadays, Japan
does not have any culture, and this fact is
TC: What drives Kuroda's character to take suicidal.
below:
such a drastic final action, and should the A defeated
audience have any sympathy for the TC: The film's stance on Desert is actually Detective Kuroda
children who label him "scum" who thinks (Ryo Ishibashi) finds
rather ambiguous. Are they really that the tragic Tokyo
only of himself? instigators of the suicide craze, or are they suicide wave has
just a media tool manipulated by those (the suddenly hit too
close to home.
SS: No, I don't think we need to feel any children) who are actually behind the (courtesy of TLA
sympathy towards them. The fact is that suicides? Releasing)

Japan
above: SS: Right now, I am working on Suicide hope. Do you find the ending of the film
Genesis (Roily),
the self-proclaimed
Club 2, and I would like to further discuss optimistic, and what hope do you retain for
"Charles Manson of this issue in there. How were the high Japanese youth?
the information school girls able to join the children? In
age", serenades his
bowling alley short, they exist as a media tool, and yet at SS: Rather than having a message aimed
captives with a the same time, as a symbol, just like the for numerous youths, I wanted to send a
tender little glam- Emperor. In Suicide Club 2, I want to look message to a specific individual...or even
rock ballad of
despair. further into this issue, and come out with a only to myself. If whether or not my film is
(courtesy of TLA logical answer - logical like mathematics. "entertainment" is dependent on its
Releasing)
having a message aimed at a large
TC: Is Desert a real group In Japan? How audience, then I agree that the ending of
were the songs written and the girls the film has rather too much of a
assembled? "literature" feel. I feel that it was correct
for that girl to keep on living. She had her
SS: Desert was created by me for this film. tattoo skinned, which means that she
Some of the members are actually training actively chose to live although she was
themselves to become real musicians and listed on the suicide list. I believe that one
singers. If I remember her correctly, I has to make up one's own mind whether
believe the girl who played the lead vocal to live or die, and I expressed this thought
has a theatrical background. The music through her. It is hard to live in a
was composed by Haruko Momoi - her visionless country like Japan, but I am
website is www.momoi.com. The lyrics for hoping that strong youngsters like her can
the song "Puzzle" were created by me. I find a way to keep on living.
tried not to make all of the members of
Desert so beautiful, because I had in my TC: I know that, at the time of this
mind, older pop groups like Bay City Interview, Suicide Club is about to be
Rollers or The Jackson Five. released on VHS and DVD right now in
Japan, but did it have a theatrical release
TC: The ending of your film seems almost prior to that? How was the film received In
apocalyptic, yet it's not without a sense of Jaoan?

SS: It has already been theatrically realised this similarity after actually
released in Japan. There were many kinds making them. There is an English-
of reactions at the release, both for and language page on my homepage
against the film. It also did quite well. My (www.sonosion.com), which explains my
thought [with Suicide Club 2] is to make a previous work, so people can check there
film that is a continuation from this to too.
complete the whole film, so that there
would be one and only one answer at the TC: You also worked briefly in the Adult
end. Video (AV) Industry. What was that
experience like for you, and what films did
TC: Have you seen the other recent you direct?
Japanese films centred around teen violence
and despair - All About Lily Chou-Chou, SS: I only directed one adult movie, and in
Harmful Insect, Blue Spring or even Battle fact I lost the job of adult movie director
Royale? after this. As an actor, I was also in one
film. In Japan, there is a genre called
SS: [Of those films mentioned,] I have only "pinku eiga" (pink films), and I did direct
seen Battle Royale. I think we all came up two films in this genre. I don't really think
with quite similar thoughts, so it is not a there was much to experience. The adult
surprise to see some kind of synchroni- movie was called Ntsen Ntn No Otoko To
sation among the films. Yatta Jyoshid Aisel vs. Anlme Otaku No
Dotet [note: the interpreter for this
TC: Some Western reviewers have compared interview translates the above title as "A
your film to the work of Takashi Miike College Student who Fucked with 2000
(perhaps because of the film's violence and Men vs. Anime Otaku's Chastity"). Of
genre subversion), but there are other, course, at the end the chastity was lost!
simpler comparison points. Like Mltke, you
feature Ryo Ishtbashi In your film. What Is TC: So In addition to Suicide Club 2, what
he like as an actor? other films do you have lined up for the
future?
SS: It is a coincidence. I only saw Audition
after choosing Ryo Ishibashi for Kuroda, SS: Other than Suicide Club 2, I'm also
and I did not choose him for his role in doing Hazard (a true story about a
Audition. I didn't like his role in Audition. homicide in an S&M club) and Fuyu No
I think he has an atmosphere to him, Juryoku (Winter Gravity), a hardboiled story
which I think is great. Besides being an again starring Ryo Ishibashi.
actor, he is also a rock musician, and I
wanted him to give more of that flavour in
my film.
TC: And like Klyoshi Kurosawa's Kairo,

your film Suicide Club also deals with a
sense of modern alienation experienced by
the "internet generation." What are your
own thoughts on the internet?
SS: The internet is a way of communication

which I think is suicidal. Anonymous
words or opinions travel around the world.
It has a freedom, but at the same time it is
very dangerous. It weakens the responsi-
bility and originality of the words. It doesn't
have a face at all.
TC: Could you talk a bit about your early

career beginnings and your earlier films?
Also, you began as a poet, correct?
SS: I am not a very good poet. In most of my

previous films, the main character commits
suicide, or loses his or her self. But I just

notes on contributors
A n d r é B a r c i n s k i is a journalist based D a v i d D e l Valle has been the Russell's Films (Scarecrow Press).
in Sào Paulo, Brazil. He is the co- Hollywood Correspondent for both As associate editor of Scarlet Street
author with Ivan Finotti of Maldito Films and Filming ( U K ) and L'Ecran magazine, he has contributed articles
(The Damned), the biography of José Fantastique (France). His articles and on Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf of
Mojica Marins, and the co-director interviews have appeared in Video London, etc. His work has also
(also with Finotti) of Coffin Joe - The Watchdog, Psychotronic, Films in appeared in Video Watchdog,
Strange World of José Mojica Marins, a Review, Scarlet Street and m a n y other Alternative Cinema, Fllmfax and Films
documentary that w o n a Special Jury publications. His definitive interview in Review. Staff movie critic for the
Prize at the 2001 Sundance Film with Vincent Price appears on D V D : Mountain Xpress, Ken lives in the
Festival. Vincent Price: The Sinister Image, from Asheville area of North Carolina.
AllDay Entertainment. David
A r t B l a c k writes extensively on fringe currently has a monthly column, M i c h a e l H o o v e r teaches political
cinema and A s i a n media. In addition C a m p David, at the following web science and Lisa O d h a m S t o k e s
to providing programming for Asian address: www.filmsinreview.com. teaches humanities at Seminole
film festivals and writing catalog Community College in Central
articles, he has authored historical J i i r g e n F e l i x teaches Film Studies at Florida. T h e y have previously co-
CD liner notes, served as book Johannes Gutenberg-University, authored publications on arts and
consultant and entertainment Mainz. He is the co-editor of the politics, technoculture and disneyfl-
magazine editor, and written for journals MEDIENwissenschqft and cation. Their writing on Hong Kong
countless print and internet publica- AUGEN-BLICK, and has published cinema has appeared in A s i a n
tions. He contributes a long-running books on Woody Allen, the N e w Cinema, Clnemaya and Asian Cult
column to Psychotronic Video Canadian Cinema and The Cinema of Cinema. They are the authors of City
magazine and recently served as Bodies, Art, and Artists on Screen; on Fire: Hong Kong Cinema (Verso).
senior contributor to the book Once forthcoming is a reader on
Upon a Time in China: An Enthusiast's Postmodern Cinema and an D a v i d K a l a t is a film historian and
Guide to the Cinema of Hong Kong, introduction to Modern Film Theory. promoter of unusual motion pictures.
Taiwan and the Mainland. As head of All D a y Entertainment, an
J u l l e n F o n f r e d e lives in Montreal independent D V D label dedicated to
T r a v i s C r a w f o r d is a curator for the where he works as programming movies that fell through the cracks,
Philadelphia Film Festival director for the Asian Section at the he has been involved in several
(www.phillyfests.com), the 2002 Fantasia Film Festival. He has motion picture restoration efforts over
edition of w h i c h hosted the North published a book on Hong Kong the last few years. His other writings
American premiere of Sion Sono's cinema and presently teaches East include A Critical History and
Suicide Club. His festival programs. Asian cinema at the University of Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series
New Korean Cinema and Danger After Montreal. He has also just co-directed (McFarland) and Homicide: Life on the
Dark, highlight the best in Asian the short fiction film City Without Street - The Unofficial Companion
genre filmmaking, and as a journalist Windows (2002) and is now co- (Renaissance Books), as well as
Crawford h a s written on this subject producing a feature length Canadian various articles on obscure films and
for such publications as Film fiction film. TV that have appeared in Fllmfax,
Comment, The Village Voice and
G-Fan, Midnight Marquee, Scarlet
Fangoria. He is also a regular
S t e p h e n G l a d w i n is a world horror Street, Video Watchdog, Castle of
contributor to Filmmaker and
journalist whose work includes a Frankenstein and other publications.
Moviemaker magazines.
series of reviews and essays for
Midnight Video. His website. "Foreign P a m K e e s e y is a writer and editor
R o b Daniel studied Film at the Screams" (http://pages.cthome.net/ whose first love is monster movies. She
University of Kent, wrote for Samhain puppylove/foreignscreamsl.htm), is the editor of Daughters of Darkness
magazine, contributed to FAB's book focuses on world horror from and Dark Angels, both collections of
on Dario Argento, Art of Darkness, and Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Hong Kong, lesbian vampire stories, and Women
co-published a book on Argento's the U.S. and beyond. Who Run with the Werewolves (all
Suspiria. Currently he is writing for the published by Cleis Press). Her fourth
satellite channel S K Y Movies' website, R u t h G o l d b e r g has an interdisci- book. Vamps: An Illustrated History of
and watching many Japanese films. plinary MA in film history and the Femme Fatale (Cleis Press) explores
psychoanalytic theory from the State the development of the image of the
M i t c h Davis is co-director of University of New York. She teaches female vampire from ancient goddesses
International Programming for film studies at S U N Y / E m p i r e State through the 1990s. She is also the
Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival. He College in N e w York City and at the webmistress of MonsterZine.com, an
produced Karim Hussain's feature International School of Film and online horror movie magazine
Subconscious Cruelty (1999) and Television in San Antonio de los exploring the meaning and significance
wrote/produced/directed the prize- Banos, Cuba. Her work has been of horror films in the modern age.
winning short film Divided Into Zero divided between the fields of horror
(1999) through his production film and Latin American Cinema. She K i m N e w m a n , novelist, critic and
company, Infliction Films. Monthly is currently finishing a book on broadcaster, is the author of the non-
programmer for Montreal's last living disembodied hands in film. fiction books Nightmare Movies
repertory cinema, Cinema du Pare, he (Bloomsbury), Wild West Movies
has contributed to Art of Darkness: The K e n H a n k e is the author of Tim (Bloomsbury), Apocalypse Movies
Cinema of Dario Argento (FAB Press), Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of (Griffin) and BFI Classics: Cat People,
Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films the Filmmaker (Renaissance Books). A as well as editor of The BFI Companion
of the 1970s (FAB Press) and a variety Critical Guide to Horror Film Series to Horror (Continuum). His novels
of magazines, including Flesh & Blood, (Garland Publishers). Charlie Chan at include The Night Mayor, Anno
Mirror, Diabolik and Screem. the Movies (McFarland) and Ken Dracula, The Quorum and Life's Lottery.

notes on contributors
Gary N e e d b a m is completing his Hollywood Canon (Wallflower Press), D o n a t o T o t a r o has been a film
P h D in Film Studies at the University Dark Thoughts: Philosophic studies lecturer at Concordia
of Glasgow Department of Theatre, Reflections on Cinematic Horror University, Canada since 1990, and
Film and Television Studies. His (Scarecrow Press) and Understanding is a P h D Candidate in Film &
dissertation focuses on Italian horror Film Genres ( M c G r a w - H i l l ) . Television Studies at W a r w i c k
cinema and the giallo in particular. University, UK. His recently
He lectures at the University of Marcus Stiglegger works as a submitted dissertation is entitled
Glasgow and John Moores University, lecturer at the Institute for Film "Time and the Long T a k e in The
Liverpool, as well as at the Glasgow Studies of the Johannes Gutenberg- Magnificent Ambersons. Ugetsu and
Film Theatre. Currently, he is editing University, Mainz, Germany. He has Stalker". He is Editor of the online
(with Dimitris Eleftheriotis) the Asian published books on the film j o u r n a l Offscreen
Cinemas Reader. "Sadiconazista" phenomenon, the ( w w w . o f f s c r e e n . c o m ) , founded in
films of Abel Ferrara and modern film 1997. He has published on recent
Kaya Ozkaracalar is a P h D auteurs. N e w projects include Cinema A s i a n cinema, the c i n e m a o f A n d r e i
candidate and part-time instructor at of Extremes: Cultural Studies and Tarkovsky, and the horror genre and
the Arts, Graphic Design and Ritual and Seduction: Seductive is a regular contributor to the US
Architecture Institute of Bilkent Strategies in Film; he regularly writes horror magazine Fangorta.
University, Ankara. He is founder for the G e r m a n magazines Filmdienst,
and editor of Geceyansi Sinemasi, Splatting image and Testcard. M a u r o Feria T u m b o c o n , Jr. has
Turkey's first and only magazine been writing extensively on
concentrating on horror and R a m i e Tatelshi received his P h D in Philippine cinema for the past t w o
exploitation cinema, and has Literature from the University of decades in his capacity as film
contributed n u m e r o u s film articles to California, San Diego, where he reviewer for various publications in
other magazines and to the w e e k e n d currently works. He has written the Philippines and as former
supplement of Radikal newspaper. articles and presented papers on such m e m b e r of the Manunuri ng
topics as Hong Kong cinema, Pelikulang Pilipino (Filipino F i l m
Gary D. Rhodes is a documentary Japanese science fiction and Critics Society). For the past eight
filmmaker w h o is a faculty member of Japanese animation. years since he migrated to the
the University of Oklahoma United States, he has organised the
Department of Film and Video Studies. Nathaniel T h o m p s o n is a regular annual Filipino A m e r i c a n cine
He is the author of such books as contributor to Video Watchdog festival and competition in San
Lugosi (McFarland) and White Zombie: magazine, maintains the website Francisco. He is founding and
Anatomy of a Horror Film (McFarland), M o n d o Digital (www.mondo- present director of the Filipino
and editor of Drtve-In Horrors digital.com), and has written liner A m e r i c a n cineArts ( F A C I N E ) , a non-
(McFarland, 2002) and Silent notes for numerous D V D and CD profit c o m m u n i t y - b a s e d m e d i a arts
Snowbird: The Autobiography of Alma releases including Cinema Italiano, organisation which aims to p r o m o t e
Rubens (McFarland, forthcoming). His The Judas Kiss and Godmonster of and develop Filipino A m e r i c a n
documentary film Lugosi: Hollywood's Indian Flats. He also oversees brand cinema.
Dracula is now available on D V D . management for horror and cult
releases from Image Entertainment, J a n U h d e is Professor of Film
David Robinson is the former film and is editor of the ongoing review Studies at the University of
critic of The Times (London), an journal DVD Delirium for FAB Press. Waterloo, Ontario. His writings
independent film historian and include Latent Images: Film in
director of the Giornate del Cinema Todd Tjersland is the author of Sex, Singapore (co-author, Oxford
Muto (Pordenone Silent Film Festival). Shocks & Sadism! An A-Z Guide to University Press) and Vision and
His many publications Include World Erotic and Unusual Horror Films from Persistence: Twenty Years of the
Cinema 1895-1980 (Eyre Methuen, Around the World. A former columnist Ontario Film Institute (University of
1981), From Peepshow to Palace: The for Cult Movies and Guilty Pleasures Waterloo Press). He has contributed
Birth of American Film (Columbia magazines, his screen credits include to periodicals in Canada, the United
University Press, 1996) and Chaplin: Faces of Gore (1999), Legion of the States, Germany, Holland and the
His Life and Art (rev. edition. Penguin,
Night (1995), Misled (1999) and The C z e c h Republic.
2001). His special interests are
Necro Files (1998). He makes his home
popular entertainment and the pre-
in Washington state and is currently Y v o n n e Ng U h d e is co-author of
history of cinema.
the P r e s i d e n t / C E O of Astaroth Latent Images: Film in Singapore
Entertainment, a mail order company (Oxford University Press, 2 0 0 0 ) . She
Steven Jay S c h n e i d e r is a P h D specializing in "extreme" horror films. is on the editorial board of KINEMA:
candidate in Philosophy at Harvard A Journal for Film and Audiovisual
University, and in Cinema Studies at Pete T o m b s is the co-author of Media and writes the Singapore
N e w York University's T l s c h School Immoral Tales (St. Martin's Press) and section of the Variety International
of the Arts. He has published w i d e l y Mondo Macabro (St. Martin's Press) Film Guide.
on the horror genre, and is the and a contributor to The BFI
author of the forthcoming Designing Companion to Horror. He has written D a v e W o o d studied Film and A r t
Fear: An Aesthetics of Cinematic on various aspects of world cinema T h e o r y at the University of Kent. He
Horror (Routledge). He is the editor of for a wide variety of newspapers and has contributed t o the seminal U K
New Hollywood Violence (Manchester magazines in the UK. He is a director horror magazines Samftain and The
University Press) and The Horror Film of the M o n d o Macabro D V D label and Darkside. Specialising in Italian
and Psychoanalysis: Freud's Worst has produced two documentary series exploitation cinema, he c o m p l e t e d an
Nightmares (Cambridge University for UK Channel 4 television. extensive interview with director
Press), and co-editor of Underground He lives in London. Sergio Martino in late 2 0 0 2 .
U.S.A.: Filmmaking Beyond the

Index
Compiled by Francis Brewster.
Page references in bold refer exclusively to illustrauons, though pages referenced as text entries m a y also feature relevant illustrations.
0cm4 (shortfilm) 307 Aquino, Kris 256 Bellamy, Florence 233 Brocka. Lino 258
2001 Yonaaanj see Reptilian Aquino, Ninoy 256 Belledejour 108 Brooks, Mei 212
2009 Los£ Memories 202 Arabian Nights (book) 231 belle et la bête. La see. Beauty and the Beast Browning, Tod 7,23,24,93,99,100.121,
2046 202 Arakawa. Shinichiro 307 (1945) 206-208, 269
24 Frames Per Second (TV series) 85 Arakon, Aydfn 206 Belmondo. Jean-Paul 120 Buck Rogers (serial) 28
24 Horns rie Sero Ardente gee 24 Hours of Aranda, Vicente 279 Bender, Eva 211 Bucket of Blood. A 105
Explicit Sex Arcane Enchanter. The 170 Benedetti. Pierre 234 Buenas noches señor monstruo 76
24 Hours of Explicit Sex 37 arcano incantatore, L' gee. Arcane Enchanter. Bennent, Heinz 236 Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series) 303
2499 antapan krong muang see Dang Bireley The Benny's Video 175, 180 Buigasari 189
and the Young Gangsters Are You Afraid ofthe Dark see. Takot ka ba sa Berber, Adi 118,120.121 Bullet for the Generai. A 10
39 Steps. The 117 Dilim Beres, Jeff 47 Bunman gee. Untold Story. The
4 na Gabi ng Lagim 256 Arenas, Miguel 99, lOO Berger, Kasimir 169 Bunuel, Luis 19, 23. 43, 108, 235, 267, 269
4 Nights of Horror sss. 4 na Gabi ngLagim Arent, Eddi 114.119.121 Berger, Katya 169 buque maldito. El gee. Horror of the Zombies
400 Blows. The 274 Argento. Claudio 15,19 Berinizi. Lorenzo 233 Burak. Sezgln 211
5 bambole per la luna d'agosto s££ Flue Dolls Argento, Dario 10, 15. 81, 86, 105, 115, 122. Berinzinl, Jacopo 233 Burial Ground 164, 168-169
for an August Moon 136. 138. 140, 143, 161. 170, 193, 196, 247 Bernini. Lorenzo 233 Burke. Frank 143
Ôtxtyninâ 63 Ariga, Klzaemon 295 bestia uccide a sangue freddo. La s££ Busquets, Joaquín 92
7 Vampires 9 Ark of the Sun God. The 212 Slaughter Hotel Bustillo Oro. Juan 93,97, 102
7j Floamente einer Chronologie des Zufalls see Armageddon (1997) 45 bestia y lo espada màgica. Las see. Beast and Butler, Ivan 9
71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance Armageddon (¡998) 185 the Magic Sword, The Butterfly, The 202
71 Fragments of a Chmnology of Chance 175, Ar mendáriz, Pedro 102 bête. La see. Beast. The Byung-ki, An 197
180 Armengod, Ramón 99 Beware of a Holy Whore 23$
8 1/2 173 Armes. Roy 271 Beyond. Far Beyond the Beyond (TV series) CabinetofDr. Caligari, The 16, 93. 97, 186,
Armontel. Roland 235 32 268
A ciascuno il suo (book) sex To Each His Own Armstrong, Michael 75 Beyond.The 162, 164-166 Coyed Virgins see Requiem for a Vampire
(book) Armstrong. Robert 101 Bhakri, Mohan 248, 249. 251. 252 Cahiers du Cinema, Les (magazine) 274
A Meia-Notte Leuarei Sua Alma sea At Midnight Arrabal. Femando 15. 16 Bhayaiaak Raatein 252 Galano, Mario 138
/ Will Take Your Soul arroseur arrosé, L 266 Bianchi, Andrea 142,162.168 Colla 185
A'P'E 187 Arslan. Savas 214 Bicycle Sighs 307 Calles. Plutarco Elias 94.96.98
Ab Kya Hoga 4. 252, 253 Artaud, Anton in 16 Bido. Antonio 140 Cameron, James 61
Abismos de pasión 43 Asano. ladano bu 290 Bird with the Crystal Plumage, The 122,134, caminante, £1 75
Absurd 169. 176 Ashes and Diamonds 231 138. 140. 143 Camus, German 93, 94, 99, 102
Abuel, Tommy 259 Asian Cinema (magazine) 255 Bissette, Stephen R. 233 Canby, Vincent 18
Accidentai Spy, The 202 Assignment Terror 70 Bitter Moon 239 Candelas, Ozualdo 33
Accursed Herìtage. The see Pusoka Pontianak Astnang 260,261 Black Cat. The 7 Canovas. Anne 170
Ackerman, Forest J. 7 Aswang Complex in Philippine Folklore, The Black EmanueUe (film series) 143 Cantinflas 93,101.103
Adam and Eue 186 (book) 260 Black Hole 197 Capara, Carlo 256
Address Unknown 202 At Midnight 1 Will Take Your Soul 28,29-32. Black Honeymoon 197,201 Caparros, Ernesto 86
Adjanl. Isabelle 236,237,239 37 Black Rain 285 Cape Fear (¡961) 178
Adventurer's Fate, The 29 Ataman, Kutlu? 215-217 Black Room, The 102 Cape Fear (1991) 178
Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The 281 ataque de los muertos sin ojos. El see Return Black s££ lam Capitaine Fracasse 278
Adventures of the Nobleman §££ Saragossa of the Blind Dead, The Black Sunday 105 Capital. Volume ) (book) 59
Manuscript, The Ate (anthology segment) 262 Black Sundau see Mask of Satan. The Carbon, Julian 43
Africa addio 163 Atom Age Vampire 273 Black, Andy 280 Cardenas, Goyo 19
Agitator 292 Attack of the Mayan Mummy 9 Blackburn, Kevin B, 127, 128 Cárdenas, Lázaro 98
Agrama. Frank 169 Attili, Giorgio 31 Eiacula 72 Cardona. René 98.103
Aguirre. Javier 71 Atwill. Lionel 7.102.104,269 Blair Witch Project, The 132 Caress see Haplos
Ahí está el detalle 103 Audition 285-292,295,305,311 Blanche 233 Carmilla (book) 279
Ahmad, Salmah 129 aullido dei diablo. El see Homi of the Devil Blatty, William Peter 213 carnaval de las bestias. El see Human Beasts
AÍ yu see. Prison of Love Aur Kaun? 246 blaue hand. Die see Creature with a Blue Carnival of Sinners see. main du diable, La
Aikawa, Sho 288 Aured, Carlos 72-74 Hand. The Carnivore 188
Aiging un huangfin see lave and Gold Autumn Begonia 43 Bloedvenvanten s££ Blood Relations Caro, Marc 280,281
Ajooba Kudrat Ka 251 Avail, Pupi 143.170 Blood and Black Lace 136. 142 Carpenter. John 8. 169, 247
Akgün, Kadlr 215 Avenger, The 115,116 Blood and Roses 279,280.281 Carpetbaggers. The 186
Akkaya. Aytekin 212 Awakening of the Beast 36-37 Biood Lust see Dr. Jekyll and His Women Carr, Jay 23
AI tropico del Cancro ss£ Death in Haiti Awful Dr. Orioff. The 106. 273. 274, 277 Blood of Pontianak see. Sumpah Pontianak Carrel, Dany 1
Alajar. Gina 262 Blood of the Animals see sang des bêtes. Le Carrie 196
Albertlnl, Bitto 143 Baal, Karin 118.121,123 Blood Relations 9 Carrière. Mathieu 236
Alcázar, Víctor 72 Baclanova. Olga 23 Blood Spattered Bride. The 279 casa dalle finestre che ridono. La see. House
Aldas, Luis 100 Bad Guy 202 Bloodbaíh of Dr. Jekyll, The gee. Dr. Jekyll and with the Windows that ¿augh. The
Aiém, Muito Aiém do .Aiém (TV series) see Bad Moule 190 His Women casa del terror. La 9
Beyond. Far Beyond the Beyond (TV series) Bad Sleep Well The 84, 85 Blood-Suckers 9 casa sperduta nel parco. La §ee_ House on the
Alemdar, Mehmet 215 Bod Taste 282 Bloodthirstu Doll see Vampire Doll. The Edge of the Park, The
Alexandra, Charlotte 233 Ball, Annie 207 Bloodthirsty Eyes £££ Lake of Dracula Casas, Benny 81
Ali, A, Bakar 128 Ballhaus, Michael 177 Bloodthirsty Rose see Evil of Dracula Cassano. Joseph 229
Alien: Resurrection 281,282 Balpêtré, Antoine 161 Bloody Beach 185, 197 Castañeda. Manny 262
All About Lily Chou-Chou 306,311 Ban, Dalsuke 299 Bloody Kingdom (short film) 29 Castel, Lou 10
Almereyda, Michael 280 Banchtkwang s£e Foul King, The Bloody World of Salvation, The see. Ang Castellari, Enzo Girolami 140
AlphauiUe 279 Bande des Schreckens. Die see. Terrible People, Madugong Daigdid ni Salvación Castillo, Celso Ad. 256
Alraune (book) 106 The Blue Eyes of the Broken Doll 71.73,75 Castle of Blood 105
Altreiter, Gertrud 176 Bandh Darwaza 8, 247 Blue Spring 306. 311 Cat and the Canary, The (1927) 95. 101
Alvarez Molina, Jacinto see. Naschy, Paul Bang Rajan 62 Bluebeard 273 Cat and the Canary. The (¡939) iOl
Alvarez. Pilar 69 Bangkok Dangerous 62 Blumenstock, Peter 278 Cai OWine Tails, The 122,138,140
Amachi. Shigeru 297 Banks, Leslie 112.120 Body Snatcher, The 8. 273 Cat People 8, 271
Amélie 281,282 Baoyu lihua ssg Pear Blossom in the Storm Böhme, Herbert 107 Cat's Victims. The 140
American Film (magazine) 21 Barbarella 18,279 Boiieau, Pierre 272 Cave of the Living Dead 9
American Horrors: Essays on the Modern Bardot. Brigitte 279 Bond. Lillian 84 Cemetery Man gee. Dellamorie Deilamore
American Horrror Film (book) 182 Bark, Peter 169 Bonns, Miguel Iglesias 75 Cendrars, Blaise 270
Amin, M. 128 Barker. Clive 229 Booze. Boobs and Bucks 43 Cérémonie d'amour s£g Rites of Loue
Ammoni 245, 253 Barking Dogs Never Bite 199 Bordwell, David 46 Cervantes, Augusto de 31
Anak Pontianak 127 Barrabas (film serial) 267 Borges, Jorge Luis 139 Chabrol. Claude 267,274.279
And God Created Woman 279 Bartholomew, David 181 Borowczyk, Walerian 233-236,238 Chace. Daniel 215
Andaiusian Dog, An see. chien Andalou. Un Basic Instinct 46 Borsche, Dieter 119 Chamber of Honors see Door inith Seuen
André, Marcel 270 Bastian, Ilona Agathe 222 Boston Globe (newspaper) 23 Locks, The (1940)
Andrusiac, José 28 Bat, The 95 Botile Imp, The (story) 271 Chambers, John 270
Ang Aswang 255 Bathory. Countess Erzsêbet 125.279,280 Box of Death, The 188 Chan, Jackie 202,288
Ang Babaeng Putík 262 Batman 273 Bozbey, Gönen 215 Chan, Peter 62
Ang Kapitbahay (anthology segment) 262 Batoctoy, Benny 262 Brach. Gérard 239 Chaney Jr,. Lon 8.70,271
Ang Katothanan see. Elsa Castillo Story: The Batoru Garu sêê Battie Girl Bracula - The Terror of the Living Death see. Chaney. Lon 7. 23. 24. 42, 93. 100, 102,
Truth, The Batt. Mahesh 251 Orgy of the Dead, The 105.270
Ang Madre (anthology segment) 260 Battle Girl 302 Brain That Wouldn't Die, The 273 Chan-wook, Park 202
Ang Madugong Daigdid ni Salvación 256 Battle Royale 291.306,311 Bram Stoker's Dracula 207 Chaos 305
Ang Manananggal 255 Batzella, Luigi 212 Branded to Kill 286 Charisma 305
Ang Multo sa Libingan 255 baúl macabro. El 98.99-102 Brando, Marlon 131, 180 Chayu Puin 186
Angst 152, 174, 175-178. 181. 182 Bava, Lamberto 173 Branice, Ligia 233 Cheekh 247. 248
Anin, Kristin 229 Bava. Mario 9, 10. 86, 105. 136, 143. 161. Brasseur. Pierre 107, 272 Cheuk-to. U 46
année dernière à Marienbad, L' see Last Year 162,170.173,297 Braun. Plnkas 121 Cheung, Cecilia 202
at Marienbad Bay City Rollers 310 Breakfast at the Manchester Morgue see Let Cheung, Leslie 43
Anthes. Eva 112 Bazzoni, Luigi 140 Sleeping Corpses Lie Chevalier. Maurice 16
Anthropophagous the Beast 169 Beast and the Magic Sword, The 77 Breton, André 269 Chi O Suu Bara see Evil of Dracula
Anton. Karl 115 Beast Cops 45, 59 Breve historia del cine mexicano: Primer siglo, Chi o Suu Me see. Lake of Dracula
Antonlonl, Michaelangelo 173 Beast, The 233-235 1897-1997 (book) 93 Chicago Sun-Times (newspaper) 241
Aot haru see Blue Spring Beatles, The 130 Brice. Pierre 107.109 chien Andalou. Un 269
Aparadhi Kaun? 248 Beauty and the Beast (1945) 264,270-271 Bride of Chucky 46 Child Monster The gee Tianak
Apocalipsis caníbal S££ Zombie Creeping Flesh Beauty and the Beast (¡991) 270 Bride of Frankenstein 99. 101 Chin, Dolphin 57,58
Apocalypse Wou' 180 Bedekar. Vi shram 245 Bride with White Hair. The 83 Chinotouin 239
Appaduri, Arjun 51 Bedlam 8 BridegroomfromaGrave. a 187 Chinese Ghost Story, A 10,83
314
index
Chínese Torture Chamber Story 53 DakBangla 247

Chlu-feng, Yune 43 Door with Seven Locks, The (1940) 112, 120 Estranho Mundo de Zé da Caixào. O see
Dalagang Bukid 255 Door with Seven Locks. The (1962) 112, 120-
Chi-yeung. Wong 53 Dalbés, Alberto 71 Strange World of Coffin Joe, The
Choke Song Chan ss£ Double buck 121
Dali, Salvador 18 Et Dieu... créa la femme see And God Created
Chosun Daily (newspaper) 190 Dorfman. Ariel 239 Woman
Dalklran, Biray 216
Choyonghan kqjok gee Quiet Family, The Dos monjes 94. 95, 97-98, 101
Dallamano, Massimo 123 ...Et mourir de plaisir gee Blood and Roses
Chrisman. Laura 51 Dotulong, Libeth see Menado. Maria
dama rossa uccfde setie volte. La see Lady in Eun-hee, Choi 188
Christie, Agatha 130. 143 Doty. Alexander 142
Red Kills Seven Times. The Eun-Kyung, Shin 194
ChudaÜNo. 1 252 Double Luck 61
D'Amato, Joe see Massaccesi, Aristide Eunuch 186
Chung-hee. Park 187. 189 Douglas, Melvyn 84. 239
Dance of the Vampires age. Fearless Vampire Everett, Rupert 172
Chungking Express 58 Doyle, Arthur Conan 143, 240
Killers. The Euil and the Demonic: A New Theory of
Ch'unhyang-jon 186 Dr Jefcylí and Mr Hyde 7
Dang Bireley and the Young Gangsters 61, 63 Dr. Butcher M.D. see. Zombi Holocaust Monstrous Behavior (book) 166
Ch'unmong 186
Dangerous Encounter of the First Kind 46 Dr. CattgarCntn Karisí ve Oglu (shortfilm) 216 Euil Dead, The 212, 229, 282
chute de la Maison Usher. La gee Fall of the Dangerous Seductress 228, 229 Dr. Jekyll and His Women 230. 235 Euil Eye. The gee Girl Who Kneui Too Much.
House of Usher. The (1928) Dante. Joe 76 Dr. Jekyll and the Were wolf see Dr. Jekyll The
Ciglik 206 Danvers. Lise 233 Versus the Werewolf Evd of Dracula 298
Cine East: Hong Kong Cinema Tfvough Che Danza macabre gee Castie of Btood Ewers, Hanns Heinz 106
Looking Class (book) 52 Dark Carnival The Secret World of Tod Dr. Jekyll et les femmes see Dr. Jekyll and His Executioners, The 44, 45
Cinema Journal (journal) 272 Browning. Hollywood's Master of the Macabre Women Exorcism 74
Clnemaya (magazine) 46 (book) 23 Dr. Jekyll Versus the Werewolf 10. 68, 71 Exorcismo Negro 31, 148
Dr. Jekyll y el hombre lobo see Dr. Jekyll
ciré des en/ants perdus. La gee City of Lost Dark Eyes of London, The 111. 112. 116-120. Exorcismo see Exorcism
Versus the Werewolf
Children, The 273 Exorcist (short film) see Seytan Kovma (short
Dr. Lamb 47. 52
Citizen Kane 98. 173 Dark Thoughts: Philosophic Reflections on film)
Dr. M 279
City of Lost Children. The 280-281 Cinemaiic Horror (book) L05 Exorcist. The 8, 11. 74. 212-214, 225. 232,
Dr. Mabuse 268
City of Lost SquIS 287,288 Dark Water 305 244
Dr Mabuse - The Garfibíer 111
City of the Living Dead 162. 164, 165. 167, Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness (book) Dr. Mabuse (film series) 107 express, L' (hetospaper) 274
169 59 Dr. Strangelove 167 Exterminating Angel. The 235
City of the Walking Dead see Nightmare City Dasgupta, Poonam 252 Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon 16 Eye in the Labyrinth. The 136, 138, 139
Civilization and Monsters: Spirits of Modernity Daughters of Darkness 9, 279. 280 Dr. X 7 Eye. The 62
in Meiji Japan (book) 296 Dávalos Orozco. Federico 98 Eyeball 139. 140
Clapczynski, Stefan 178 Drache, Heinz 112, 116. 121
David, Joel 255 Eyeball (magazine) 10
Clarens, Carlos 9 Dracula (1931) 7, 11, 23, 93, 96. 99-101.
Dawnof the Dead 161-163, 166.228 Eyes Without a Face 107. 156. 226, 272-274,
Clares, Zulema 82 206, 268
Dawn of the Mummy 164, 169-170, 171 275. 277, 282
Cllve, Colin 7 Dracula (¡931) (Spanish uersiory 93-94. 97, Eyes. The 252
Day of the Crow. The (book) 135
Clockwork Orange. A 178 102
Day That Doesn't Exist. The 52
Clouzot, Henri-Georges 271-273 Dracula (1958) 207, 244
Day. Josette 264, 270 Fa talaijone see. Tears of the Black Tiger
Clouzot, Vera 272 Dracula (1973) 207
Days of Being Wild 58 Fabricante de Bonecas. O (anthology segment)
Clover, Carol 52, 140 Dracula (book) 279
De Angelis, Fabrlzio 162 see Doli Maker, The (anthology segment)
club Dumas, El (book) 240 de Belen, Janice 260, 262 Dracula in Istanbul see Drakula Istanbul'da Fabulas Pánicas (comic strip) 16
Club Extinction gg£ Dr. M de Fuentes. Fernando 93, 96 Dracula Tan Exarchia 9 fabuleuxdestin d'Amélie Poulain. Lesee
Clue of the New Pin. The (book) 123 de Leon. Christopher 257 Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impater Amélie
Cocteau. Jean !6, 170, 270, 271 de Leon. Gerardo 256 1431-1476 (book) 207
Face of the Screaming Weremolf 9
de Leon, Mike 255. 259 Dracula's Daughter 7, 96
Coffin Joe g£e Martas, José Mojlca Face/Off 273
de Mesa, Michael 262 Dracula's Great Love 9
Cohen, Larry 8 Faceless 274
De Nava, Giovanni 165 Dracula's Ring 9
Cojuangco-Aquino, Corazón 256 Pad (magazine) 24
Cold Eyes of Fear 140 De Nlro, Robert 178 Dragonfly for Each Corpse, A 76, 144 Fahrenheit 451 279
De Rossi, Giannetto 162 Drakula Istanbul'da 8. 205-209, 217 Failan 202
Colonial Discourse and Postcolonial Theory: A
De Ruiz, Nick 24 Dreams 125
Reader (book) 51 Falchi, Anna 173
coltello di ghiaccio. Il see. Knife of Ice Dreams of Difference: The Japan Romantic Fall of the House of Usher, The Í1928J 267-
Dead Don't Talk, The gee Ófüfer /íonusmozfci School and the Crisis of Modernity (book) 295
Comfort of Strangers. The 81 Dead Eyes of London 10. 116-121 269. 271. 273
Comrades.' Almost a Loue Story 62 Dreyer, Carl 279 Fall of the House of Usher, The (I960) 8
Dead or Alive 285-292 Dry Summer see Suzm Yaz
comtesse noire. Lasse, Female Vampire Dead or Alive: Final 288 Fail of the House of Usher, The (story) 109,
Concepción, Alma 260 Due occhi diabolic! gee Two Evil Eyes 268
Dead or Alive: Hanzalsha see. Dead or Aiiue Duel 201
Concerto per pistola solista g££ Weekend Dead Speak, The see Muertos hablan. Los Fallen Angels 203
Murders. The Dumas, Alexandre 240 Family 290
Deadly Outlaw: Rekka 291
Dumas, Roger 271 FaridoyUs 15, 16. 21
Concise History of Mexico, A (book) 94 Death and the Maiden 239
Dune (book) 18
Condition of the Working Class In England. The Death Carries a Cane 140, 144 fantasma del convento. El 94-98, 100-103
Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam 212
(book) 54 Death Cottage. The see House of Death Fantastic Planet 239. 279
Contaci. The 190. 194 Death in Haiti 143 Fantòmas (film serial) 267. 269
Contes immoraux gge Immoral Tales Death Warrior see Qíüm Sauasáisi ...E tu vivrai nel terrorel L'aldilo. see Beyond, Farrow, Mia 238
Contreras, Gloria 21 Debucourt, Jean 268 The Fascination 277, 278
Cop image 45 Decameron. The (book) 231 Earles, Harry 23
Fassbinder, Rainer Werner 49. 179.236
Coppola, Francis Ford 180. 207 del Campo, Enrique 96 Earth Woman. The see. Any Babaeng Putik Fear see Angst
Delahaye, Michael 274 Eastman, George sge Montefiori. Luigi Fearless Vampire Killers, The 129, 238, 239
corbeau. Lesse. Raven. The 0943)
Delicatessen 280, 281 Ebert, Roger 241
Corman, Roger 8, 105, 109 Fei taugh mo neuih see Witch with Flying
Cornwell, Patricia 135 Dellamorte Deiiamore 164. 172-173 Ebola Syndrome 45, 54-56, 59, 154 Head, The
Demme. Jonathan 202 Eburne, Maude 101 Fellini Satyricon 16
Cosa avete fatto a Solange? see What Have
demons. Les see Demons, The Eck.Johnny 23
You Done to Solange? Fellini, Federico 16, 23, 85, 173
Demons. The 75 Eco, Umberto 135
Cosi dolce, così perversa see So Sureet, So Fellowship o/ the Frog 110. 112. 113, 114,
Dendam Pontianak 127-129 Economist, The (magazine) 186
Perverse 115
Deneuve, Catherine 108. 238 Edgar Wallace: The Biography of a
Count Dracula's Great Love 71-72 Female Vampire 9
D'entre les morís (book) 272 Phenomenon (book) 112
Countess Dracula 280 Femme Niktta, La 203
Deodato, Ruggero 1S2 Edmundson. Mark 257, 260
Country Maiden see. Dalagang Bukid Fenech, Edwige 139
Depp, Johnny 240 Ek Nanni Munni Ladhki Thi 244-245
Coyote, Peter 240 Feng. Yueh 188
Dersu Uzala 46 Eko Eko Azarak 302
Craven. Wes 8, 10, 77. 182 Feray. Ayfer 207
Dery, Mark 56
Craving. Theses Rerum of the Wolfman Efco Eko Azarak (film series) 295, 302-304 Fernández, Esther 98
Crawford, Joan 24 Eko Eko Azarak (TV series) 304 Ferrara, Ranieri 165
Despertar da Besta, O see Awakening of the Eko Efco Azarafc II: Birth of the Wizard 302- Ferrer, Mel 168
Crazies. The 75, 161 Beast 304
Crazy Nut, The $e¿ superloco, El Ferroni. Giorgio 105. 106, 108. 109
Deutschland bleiche Mutter see Germany Pale Eko Eko Azarak IR: Misa the Dark Angel 294.
Creature with a Blue Hand. The 157 Mother Feuillade. Louis 267. 269, 272. 278
304 Jìdélité, La 237
Cries in the Night see Awful Dr. Orloff. The Devil Incarnate 39 ElTopo 15-18.23,85 Ftflh Cord, The 140,141
Cries of Terror 70. 72. 73. 76, 151 Devilish Homicide, A 187 EYder Sister (anthology segment) see Ate Figal. Gerald A. 296
Crimes of the Black Cat 140 Deuil's Hand. The see main du diable. La (anthology segment) Figenli, Yavuz 209
Crimson 80 DevÜ's Possessed. The 74 Elgar, Edward 112
Crimson Circle. Trie 114, 115 Devils. The 75 Film 71/72; An Anthology (book) 18
Ellas. Luiz 31
Cronenberg, David 8. 85, 88 Dewi, Sri 128 Film Enclyclopedia: Horror (book) 10. 95
Crucible of Terror 105 Elsa Castillo Story; The Truth, The 256 Film Quarterly (magazine) 39
Dl Leo, Fernando 140
Cruise. Tom 62 Elusive Song of the Vampire 9 fin du monde, La 270
Diabolique (¡9551 272, 273
Emilfork, Daniel 280
Cry of Apes in a Deserted Valley, The 39-40 Diabolique (1996) 10 Finis Homints see End of Man, The
Enchanted Monkey, The see Loetoeng
Crying Woman, The sss llorona. La Díaboligues, Les (book) 272 Fisher, Terence 10, 273
Kasoraeng
Cul-de-sac 238 Díaboiiques, Les see Diabolique Five Dolls for an August Moon 143
End of Days 241
Culpa 84. 87, 88 Dlegues, Carlos 35 Flemish Tales (story collection) 105
End of Man, The 28, 37
Cult Movies (book) 18 Dika, Vera 182 Florescu. Radu 207
End of the World. The see fin du monde. La
Cure 305 Flower of Evil. A 187
Discourses of the Vanishing: Modernity, Endo, Kenichi 289
Curse of Frankenstein. The 8. 273 Phantasm, Japan (book) 296 Engels, Friedrich 54-56 Flouiers of Hell 186, 202
Curse of the Demon 298 Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. The 235 Englund, Robert 10 Fluch der Gelben Schlange. Dersgg Curse of
Curse of the Devil 74, 75, 80 Difio 185 Epstein. Jean 267-269. 271 the Yellow Snake. The
Curse of the Oily Man, The see Sumpah Orang Era, Itaru 286 fluch der gruñen augen, Der see Caue of the
DJalil, H. TJut 126, 220, 222, 227-229
Minyak Eraserhead 18 Liuing Dead
DJinn 131, 132
Curse of the Vampire. The see Sumpah Dmytryk, Edward 186 Erksan, Metin 213 Fog. The (shortfilm) see Sis (shortfilm)
Poniianak Do Gaz Zameen ke Neeche 245 Erotic Ghost Story 46 Fonda, Jane 279
Curse of the Yellow Snake, The 122, 123 do Rosario, Louise 299 Erotic Ghost Story 2 48 Forced Exposure (magazine) 19
Curtis Harrington and the Underground Roots Doak, Kevin M, 295 Ford, John 23
of the Modern Horror Film (book) 233 Escamotage d'une Dame chez Robert-Haudin Forrest Gump 199
Doctor K 194
Curtis. Dan 207 266 Foul King, The 62. 191
Dol. Shariff 128
Curtiz, Michael 7 Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the End of the Francen, Victor 269, 270
D'Olace, Isidro 101
Cushlng. Peter 273 Century (book) 56 Franciosa, Anthony 143
Doll Maker; The (anthology segment) 34
Escudero. Don 259, 260, 262
Cute Frankenstein gee Seuimii Franfcestayn Dolman 2000 84. 87 Franco. General Francisco 69
espanto surge de la tumba. £í sec Horror Rises
Cutting Edge: Art-Horror and the Horrific Domínguez D.. Berta 18 Franco. Jesus 9. 10. 75, 81, 83. 84. 86-88.
from the Tomb
Avant-Garde (book) 274 Dominid, Arturo 162 106, 273, 274. 277-279
Espinoza. Leandro 81
Cybulski, Zbigniew 231 Don Quixote (book) 240 Franju. Georges 86, 107, 267, 272-274, 278.
Dong-bin, Kim 194 Esta Noite Encarnarei no Tue Cadáver gee This 279. 282
da Costa, Augusto 33 Night I Wiü Possess Your Corpse Frank, Consuelo 99, 100
Don't Open the Window gee. Let Sleeping Estella, Ramón A. 127, 128. 130
Dae-young. Park 199 Frankenstein 7. 16, 99-101. 268, 270
Corpses Lie Esiranho Mundo de Ze do Calxao, O (TV series)
Dai, Lin 188 Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man 69, 70
Doo-kwan. Chun 189 see Strange World of Coffin Joe, Trie (TV series) Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed 10

315
index
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror see. Mark of the Grant. Hugh 239

Wolfman. The House of Wax 105 Jamuna 252
Grapes of Death 278
Frantic 239 House on (he Edge of the Park. The 182 Jan Dora 62, 64. 65
Grau. Jorge 73, 162-164 House with the Windows that Laugh The 143.
Freak in the Night 39 Jannings. Emll 43
Great Ghost War. The 298 170
Freak's 23, 100, 269. 270 Japan's High Schools (book) 303
Green Fish 190 Housemaid, The 188
Freda, Rlccardo 105. 143. 161. 173 Jasmine 252
Green, Joseph 273 How to Win Friends and Influence People
French Film (book) 271 Jaws 85
French Science-Fiction, Fantasy. Horror and Griffith, D.W. 24. 95, 267 (book) 241
Griios en la noche see. Awful Dr. Orloff, The Jefford, Barbara 241
Pulp Fiction (book) 280 Howard. William K. 122 Je-gyu. Kong 185, 190, 193. 194. 198
Freund, Karl 7. 99 Gu u)u Xing shiji see. Tales of a Corpse-Ride Houilo/theOeuil 77. 151
Old House Jenks. Carol 280
Fria Jenny (anthology segment) 87 Howling. The 76
Guerra. Bianca 20 Jetée. La see. Pier, The
Friday the 13th 181 Hu. King 188
Guinness. Alec 7 Jeunet, Jean-Pierre 280-282
Hui. Ann 52
Frledkin. William 74,212,213.225,244 Gum gee yuk yip see He's a Woman She's a Jian gui S£fi Eye. The
Human Beasts 76. 150
Friedman, Milton 56 Jiménez. Agustín 97
Human Cobras 143
Friend 202 Jing. Wong 53. 54
Gumising Ka. Maruja 258-259 Human Monster The seg Dark Eyes of Londoi
Fright Night 249 Jingling, Hong 42
Günbay. Altan 209 The
Frisch. Arno 178. 180 Jln-hee, Park 192
Gutierrez, Pedro Juan 82. 83 Hummel, Lisbeth 234
frissons des vampires. Le see. Sex and the Jinn. Ong Lay see. DJinn
Gynt. Greta 119 Humphries. Reynold 136. 143
Vampire Jtsaisu Circle see Suicide Club
Front Page. The 8 Hun, Agah 213
Haarmann, Fritz 175 Jttensha Toikt see. Bicycle Sighs
Frosch m(t der MasJce, Der see Fefloinship of Hunchback of Notre Dame. The (1923) 7, 100 Jitnukul. Tanlt 62
HadJi-Lazaro.Francois 172 Hunchback of Notre Dame, The (1939) 16
the Frog Jitters, The 10
Hagiwara, Yuki 304 Hunchback of the Morgue 71, 72
Frumkes. Roy 164 Jl-woon, Kim 62, 188. 191, 198
Hairy Arm, The (book) 115 Hungry Snake Woman. The see Snake Queen
Frye. Dwight 116. 120 Jodorowsky. Adan 19
Hale. Creighton 101 The
Fuchsberger, Joachim 112, 116. 117, 121. Jodorowsky. Alejandro 15-24. 83. 85. 236
Hall, Huntz 119 Hunshi mowang see Deoit Incarnate
123 Jodorowsky, Axel 19. 22. 146
Haller, Magda 97 Hussin. Hamzah 127. 129
Fudoh: The New Generation 285. 286. 287. Halloween 8. 169, 181 Jodorowsky. Teo 21
288-291 Hye-jin. Shim 202
Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind 35 Jogoku 297
Pukasaku, Kinji 306 Hyeok-jin. Gweon 187
Hamilton, Cicely 112 Johnson, Richard 162
Hyeon-ho. Shin 186
Fulcl. Luclo 10. 83, 84, 86. 138. 143. 162. Hamnett, Brian R, 94 Johnson. Tor 120
Hyong-mo. Han 186
163. 165. 167. 169. 170. 173. 182 Joint Security Area 202
Hampton. Robert S££ Freda, Rlccardo Hyon-mok, Yu 186
Funny Games 175. 178-182 Jonathan 217
Han Jiang luo yan see. Goose Alights on the Hyoryuu-Gui see City of Lost Souls
furia del Hombre Lobo, La see Fury of the Jong-chan. Yoon 201
Wintry Rfrjer, A Hyung-rae, Shim 194
Wolfman, The Jong-hak, Baek 196, 199
Han. Tian 41 Hyun-Jun, Shin 191
Furneaux, Yvonne 238 Jong-il. Kim 188, 189
Hana-Bi 286 Hyun-myung. Kim 196
Fury of the Wolfman, The 70
Handel. George Friderlc 41 Joong-hoon. Park 202
Haneke. Michael 175. 177-182 Joon-ho, Boog 199
Gabel. Sclila 106, 107, 109 / Accuse ass J'accuse
Hanging Woman, The 70. 72-73 jorobado de la morgue. El sen Hunchback of
Gaichu ass Harmful Insect lAmSonoSion(shortfdm) 307
Haplos 255. 256-257 the Morgue
Galeen. Henrik 106 / Had My Brother's Wife see. Suzuz Yaz
Happiness of the Katakuris. The 290 JSA see Joint Security Area
Gallaga. Peque 260-262 1 Know What You Did Last Summer 252
Hard-BoOed 45, 48 I Spy (TV series) 69 Juan Carlos I 77
Galsworthy, John 112
Hardy. Phil 10, 95 I Walked With a Zombie 8, 163. 271 Juárez, Jesús 19
Games 248
Hark. Tsui 46, 81, 288, 291 Ibulong Mo Sa Hangin 256 Judex (1916) 272
Gance, Abel 269, 270. 278 Judex (1963) 272. 278
Harmful Insect 306, 311 Jchi the Killer 159, 202, 284, 285, 286, 2SS,
Gance, Margueritte 268 Judgement Day (short fiCm) 27. 29
Harpy 185. 197, 201 290, 291
Garces. Armando 257 Judith of Bethulla 169
Harrington, Curtis 248 Ideologia (antliology segment) See Ideology
Garcia Bogliano. Ramiro 84 Julian, Rupert 42
Harris, Thomas 135 (anthology segment)
Garcia Rlera, Emllio 93 Jung, Carl Gustav 105
Garcia. Eddie 257 HartaKarun 220 Ideology (anthology segment) 34
Has. Wojciech 231. 232 Junoon 251
Garcia, Juan Antonio 88 iguana daka lingua di fuoco. V see. Iguana
Hatyarin 250 Jorges. Jürgen 179
Garcia. Luis Alberto 82. 86 with a Tongue of Fire. The
Haunted Castle. Tfie 298 Iguana with a Tongue of Fire. The 143. 144 Just Do it 199
Garon. Sheldon 296
Haunted House. The £££ Maid's Bitter Story. A llarde. Rico Maria 262 Jy-hye, Yoon 192
Gate of Hell 186
Haunting. The 85 niustraled History of the Horror Film, An (book)
Gatfi rossi in un labirinto di vetro see. Eyelxill Kabrastan 248. 249, 252
Hawkins. Joan 274 9
gatto a nove code. 11 see Cat O'Nine Tails. The Kobrastan fce Peeche 252
Hawks. Howard 8 Il-sun. Kim 188
gatto dagli occhi di giada, fl see Cat's Victims. Kader Diyelim (unreleased) 215.216
Hawthorne. Nathaniel 106 Imamura. Shohei 285,291
The Kaldan Botandero 298
Healy, Ted 101 Immoral Tales 233
Gautama Putra. Slsworo 223-226 Kaidan Katame no Otoko 298
Hearn, Lajcadio 296 Immoral Totes; European Sex and Horror
Gay-Lussac. B. 274 Kaldan Semushi Otoko 298
Heauen and Earth. 131 Movies 1956 1984 (book) 10,235
Geceyorisi Sinemasi (magazine) 214 Kaidan Yuktooro 298
Hebi Onna see. Snake Woman. The immortale, V 216 Kriiro see Pulse
Grhrat/ce 244
Heider. Kail G. 222. 224 Impakto 259 Kal-wah, Ng 58
Gein, Ed 175
Gemma, Giullano 143 Heilbroner, Robert 59 Imperial Leather: Race. Gender, and SeJOialiiy Kakashi see Scarecrow. The
George. John 24 Hell gee Jogoku in the Colonial Contest (book) 143 Ka-kut, Ho 53
Germany Pale Mother 179 Hellraiser 194. 229 important c'esl d'amier, V see Most Important Kam -fid. Law 47
Germi, Pietro 173 Helm. Brigitte 106 Thing is to Love. The Kamil, Salleh 128
Gerrard, Charles 101 Helye guairen see. Freak in the Night In Search of Dracula (book) 207 Kanno. Miho 303
Ghost 194 Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 47, 176 Incontro d'amore a Bali 143 Kaosu see Chaos
Ghost in Love 194 Herbert, Frank 18 Incubo sulta clttd contaminata see Nightmare Kaplan. Atif 206
herencia macabra. La 99. 100, 101. 102 CUy Kara Boga 209-210. 212
Ghost in the Cemetery. The see Ang Muilo sa
Herrero, Subas 262 Karanlik Sular 214.215-217
Llbingan Indonesian Cinema: Framing the New Order
Hershfleld. Joanne 93,98. 102 (book) 219 Kargl, Gerald 175-179,181.182
Ghost Taxi 199
Herzog, Werner 212, 239 KartsumassE Charisma
Ghunghroo Ki Away. 246 Indonesian Cinema: National Culture on Screen
He's a Woman She's a Man 62 Karlatos, Olga 163
Gierlng, Frank 178 (book) 222
Hexen bis aufs blut gequält ass Mark of the Karlen. John 280
GiJllam, Terry 279-281 Inferno Carnal 36
GfngkoBed. The 190. 191, 193, 202 Devd
inferno del mortf-uiuenti see. Zombie Creeping Karioff. Boris 7. 8. 28. 70. 102. 108. 269
Giordano. Mariangela 168, 169 Heya see Room, The
Flesh Kar-wai. Wong 58. 82. 84, 202. 203
Giornata nera per t'ariete £££ Fifth Cord, The Hidden Treasure gee Harta Karun
Inoue. Tetsujiro 296 Katakuri-ke no kôfuku see Happiness of the
glorno delta cfuetta. tl (book) see Day of the Hillyer, Lambert 108
Jnquisiclon sge Inquisition Katakuris, The
Crow. The (book) Hiroku Kaibyoden see. Haunted Castle. The inquisition 74. 75
Histoires extraordinaires see. Spirits of the Kaun? 252
Glraud, Jean 18 Insanity 47
Dead Kaze see. Wind. The
Insect Woman, The 188 Kazifcli Voyuoda (book) 206-208
Girl Who Knew Too Much The 136. 138. 140. History of Mexico. The (book) 94 Insomnia 11 Ketko Desu Kedo 307
143 Hitchcock. Alfred 21. 23, 24. 39. 117. 136. Inspector Danush 251 Kekkou Kamen (film series) 302
Girolaml. Marino 164 140, 169. 173. 215, 272. 274. 266 In-su, Kim 197 Keller. Sarah 165
glace a trots faces. La 267 Hitler. Adolf 112 intolerance 95 Kennedy, Arthur 164
Glaessner, Verina 10 Ho-beom, Ra 197 Invaders from Mars 168 Kenton. Erie C. 163
Go Tell the Marines 7 Hoberman, J. 17 Invisible Man. The 21, 23, 99, 101 Kerry, Norman 24
Goblin 166 Ho-Jung. Kim 202 Invisible Ray, The 108 Khoj 247
Godard, Jean-Luc 274. 279 Hole, The 190-191, 201 lodo 188
Goddess of Mercy 188 Holland, Tom 249 Khooni Dracula 252
Godzilla (1998) 10 Ishibashl. Ryo 289, 305, 309, 311 Khooni Mahal 248
Godzilla (1998) 189 Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula Island of Lost Souls 99. 163
from Novel to Stage to Screen (book) 94 Khooni Murdaa 249, 252
Gokudo Kuroshakai see Rainy Dog /step/the Dead 8 Khooni Panja 154, 255
Gokudd Sengokushi: Fudo see. Fudoh: The New Holofemes 169 Isle, The 185. 198, 202
Holoubek, Güstow 232 Ki-duk, Kim 187, 198, 201, 202
Generation Ismail. Usmar 220 Kler, Udo 235
Holy Mountain. The 18. 25. 146 It! 71
Goldberg. Ruth 85. 90 Home Alone 76 Ki-hoon. Kim 198
Golem, The 93 Itim 255, 258. 259. 261 Kl hyung. Park 192. 193. 198
Hong Kong Cinema: The Extra Dimensions it's Ativel 8 KlltafcFrankesiayn'aKdrsi 212
Good Harvest see Aswang
(book) 39 Ivy. Marilyn 296 Küink ¡stanbufaa 211
Goodfellas 66
Hong-kyun. Na 197 Iwai. Shunjl 306
Goose Alights on the Wintry River. A 40 Kill Barbara with Terror seg Paiayin sa Sindak
Honoguari Mizu No Sofco Kara see. Dark Water Izuno. Orle 298
Goosebumps see. Sorum si Barbara
Hooper, Tobe 8, 85
Gorezone (magazine) 111 KÜier Butterfly 188
Hoosmann, AI 115 Jaani Dustiman 244
Gorilla, The 101 Killing in fstanbui gee. Kilink fstanbul'da
Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. The see Eyes J'accuse(I91SJ 270
Goto lisle d'amour see. Goto. Island of Love Without a Face Killing Versus Frankenstein SSS Kilink
Goto, Island of Love 233 J-accuse (1937) 269-271,273
Horror Express Train 190 Frankestayn'a Karsi
Gottlieb. Franz Josef 122 Jack el destripador de Londres see Jack the King Kong 7. 100. 101. Ill
Horror Game Movie, The 197, 201 Ripper of London
G&tz, Rudolf 177 King Kong (1976) 187
Horror of the Zombies 168
Govar. Rene 70 Jack the Ripper 10 King of Kings 69
Horror Rises from the Tomb 72. 74-76 Jack the Ripper of London 71
Gramsci. Antonio 135 King. Stephen 8. 253
Horror Years, The (book) 9
gran amor del Conde Dracula, Elase. Count Jackson Five. The 310 Kingsley. Ben 239
Dracuta's Great Love Horror-uwd (webzine) 47 Jackson, Jalil see. DjaJll. H. Tjut Kinoeye (journal) 136. 143
Hotel 246. 248. 252
gran amor del Conde Dracula, El £££ Dracula's Jackson, Neil 163 Klnskl. Klaus 116. 120. 121. 157, 236
House by the Cemetery, Trie 1G2. 164. 165 Jackson. Peter 282
Great Love Klrkwood, Burton 94
House of Death 189
Grand Evil Monster Yonggary see Yongary, Jacopctti, Gualtiern ¡63 Kltano. "Beat" Takeshi 286.291
House of Psychotic Women gee. Blue Eyes of JaduTona 244 Kl-woong, Nam 203
Monster from the Deep
the Broken Doll Kl-young. Kim 188
Jaka Sembung. see. Warrior. The
316
index
Klainer. Sergio 15 Lola + Billdíkld 216

Klein, Allen 16 Medina. Pen 260 My Destiny In Your Hands 29
Lola + Bitty the Kid see Lola + BÜidfkid Medved. Michael 10
Kleln-Rogge. Rudolf 107. 114 LomI, Giampaolo 143 Myeong-Jae. Kim 189
Mekas, Jonas 17 Myers, Mike 56
Kllmovsky. León 70, 72, 75, 144 López Moctezuma, Juan 16 Melford, George 94
Kniesek, Werner 175. 178, 182 Lord of the Rings 282 Myrna Diones Story: Lord Have Mercy. The
Knife in the Water 238 Loire, Peter 7, 105 MéJíés, Georges 9, 250, 265 267. 270. 273 256
Knife of Ice 138 Los Angeles Times (newspaper) 16 Memento Mori 158. 185. 195-197. 199. 201 Mystery of the Ghastly Face, The see misterio
Kobayashi. Masakl 296, 298. 299 Loscln, Rio 257 Memento Mori 2 see Memento Mori del rostro pálido. El
Koga, Shinichl 302 Losi Souls 241 MemotrsofaWolfMan(book) 77 Mystery of the Wax Museum 7. 104, 105
Kohll. Rajkumar 244 Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Mysíírs in Bali 126, 220. 221, 222, 223. 226,
Lothar, Susanne 178. 179. 181 Modem Horror Film (book) 52
Koji. Suzuki 194 227. 229
Loud, Lance 21 Menado, Maria 127-130
Kon. Satoshl 144 Loue and Gold 39 Mythologies of Violence in Postmodern Media
Kondrat. Tadeusz 232 Méndez, Fernando 103 (book) 56
Loue Freak. The 39
Kong gu yuan sheng see Cry of Apes in a Mendik. Xavier 233
Lovecraft, H.P. 8, 165
Deserted Valley. The Menzies. William Cameron 168 Na srebnym globie see Siluer Globe. The
Lovelock, Ray 164
Koroshi No Rakuin ses Branded to Kill Merhige. E. Elias 268 Nabisss Butterfly, The
Lowenstein. Adam 272
Koroshiya I see Ichi the Killer Lowitz, Siegfried 112 Merry-Go Round. The see manege, Iji (short Nacar. Behcet 209. 210
Krishnan. Laksamanan 127, 128. 130 Lucas. Tim JO, 111, 22S, 278, 280 film) Nachrufjur einen Morder 175
Kronos 85 Lucchettl, Rubens Francisco 36 Meu Destino em Tuas Maos see My Destiny in Nadja 280
Kubrick. Stanley 167, 178 lucertola con la pelle di donna. Una see. Lizard Your Hands Nagai. Go 302
Kuk-hyung. Kim 197 in a Woman's Skin. A Meurisse. Paul 272 Naigach, Raveekant 244
Kumar. Kiran 154. 242, 249. 252 Mexican Cinema: Reflections of a Society, Nakagawa. Nobuo 297
Lugosi. Bela 7-9.23,28, 102, 111, 112. 116, ¡896-1980 (book) 94 Nakama. Yukie 300
Kümel, Harry 279. 280 117. 119, 120. 206
Kung Bakit Dugo any Kulay ng Gobi 256 Mexico (book) 94 Nakata. Hideo 194, 295. 299. 305
Lukschy. Wolfgang 119 Nakatlni. Mikl 300
Kuroda, Yoshlyuki 298 Mexico; From Montezuma to NAFTA. Chiapas.
Lumière Brothers 265 and Beyond (book) 98 Naked Küler 46
Kuroi Ame see Black Rain Lumière. Louis 266. 267
Kuroki, Kazuo 291 Mexico's Cinema: A Century of Film and Naked Mask (film series) see. Kekkou Kamen
Lunch. Lydia 81
Kurosawa. Aklra 46, 84. 85. 98, 125 Filmmakers (book) 93 (film series)
Lupo. Michèle 143 Meyer, Russ 226
Kurosawa, Klyoshi 291.305.311 Lust for a Vampire 279 Name of the Rose. The (book) 135
Kiirten. Peter 175, 176 Michaëlis. Darlo 161 Nanay (antliology segment! 261-262
Lynch. David 18, 49, 306
Kurtoglu, Haluk 215 Midi-Minuit Fantastique (magazíne) 9, 277 Nang ¿Yak 60, 61-66
Kwaidan 296. 297, 298. 299 Midnight at Madame Tussaud's 105 Narccjac, Thomas 272
M 111 Midnight Moules (book) 17
Kwang-Chun. Park 191 Naschy, Paul 10,69-80.151
M.D.C. - Maschera di cera see Wax Mask. The Midnight Song 38, 40-43
Kyrou, Ado 278 Nasty Hunter 227-229
Maa Ki Shakti see Ammoru Midnight Song II 42-43
Kyi ia see Cure National Geographic (magazine) 125
Macabre Legacy. The see herencia macabra, La Mid-Nightmare 43
Kyu-ri, Kim 192. 197 Motional Pastime: Contemporary Philippine
Macabre Nightmare (anthology segment) 34 Miike, Takashi 11, 202, 285-293. 305. 306,
Macabre Tmnk. The see baúl macabro. El Cinema, The (book) 255
LaBlne, Jarrad 24 311 Nature and Logic of Capitalism. The (book) 59
Macbeth 239 Ml-jo, Yoon 198
Lady Battlecop 302 Necronomicon: The Journal of Horror & Erotic
MacColl. Catriona 165
Lady in Red Kilts Seven Times, The 140, 142, Milano, morte sospetta di una minorenne 135 Cinema. Book One (book) 280
Machurrucutu II: Haz lo incorrecto 84 Milestone. Lewis 117
145 Macie), David R. 93 Neighbour. The (anthology segment) §££ Ang
Lady Terminator see Nasty Hunter Mill of the Stone Women 1. 105-109 Kapitbahay (anthology segment)
Mad Loue 10.99. 101, 105 Miller, John 229
Lahaie. Brigitte 278 Mad Monsler Party? 76 Neill, Sam 236, 237
Loila Mqjnun 127 Mills. Jack see Naschy, Paul Nepomueeno. Jose 255
Madra. Putra 220 Milne, Tom 10
Lake of Dracula 9, 298 Mafirng nil see Leper Woman Nerval. Gerard de 271
Laloux. René 279 Milton. John 303 New Tenant 45, 57-59
Mai, Ching 53 Min, Kim 202
Lam. Bosco 52. 53 Maid's Bitter Story. A 43 New York Ripper, The 182
Urn, Rtngo 288. 291 Ming-Hang, Tsal 190 New York Times, The fnewspaperj 18
main du diable. La 270, 271, 273 Mln-sun, Kim 195
lama nel corpo, La see Murder Clinic, The Newman, Kim 11
Mainly on the Plains (TV series episode) 70 Mlraglia. Emilio P. 143
Lamar, Adriana 95 Majano. Anton Giulio 273 IVext.' 137. 138
Lane. Margaret 112 Mirror with Three Panels, The see glace à trois Ng. Lawrence 52
Makakl. Mio 304 faces, La
Lane. Sirpa 233 Nicholson, Jack 239
Making Things Perfectly Queer: Interpreting misterio del rostro pálido. El 92, 99-102
Lanetti Kadinlar 215 Mass Culture (book) 142 Wight of Terror 115
Lang. Fritz 107, 111. 114. 277 Mistretta. Gaetano 162. 170 Night of the Living Dead 8. 23, 75, 161, 163,
maldición de la bestia. La see Werewolf and Mitchum, Robert 178
Langella. Frank 240 164. 168. 169
the Yeli. The Mi-Youn, Lee 192
Langlols. Henri 274 Malkocoglu 211 Night of the Seagulls. The 168
Larraz. José Ramón 247 Mlzoguchi. Kenjl 125
Malkoçoglu (comic book) 211 Night of the Zombies sec Kung Baku Dugo ang
Last House on the Left, The 8 Modem Germanies (book) 112 Kulay ng Gobi
Maípertuís 280 Moebius see Glraud. Jean
Last Woman of Shang. The 188 Man Sells His Ufe. A 187 Night of the Zombies S£S Zombie Creeping
Lasi Year at Marlenbad 279, 280 Mojica, Carmen 27 flesh
Man Who Saues the World, The see Dünyayi Mok, Karen 46
Latidos de panico see Cries of Terror Kurtaran Adam Nightmare City 164, 166-168
Lattuada, Alberto 173 Molina, Enrique 69 Nightmare on Elm Street (film series) 249
Manananggal in Manila 254, 260, 262 Molina. Jorge 11,81-90
Laughton, Charles 7. 16 Nightmare on Elm Street. A 197
Manchurfan Candidate, The 194 Molina, Sergio 77
Lavia. Gabriele 170 Nightmare on Main Street: Angels,
manège. Le (short film) 280 Molina's Culpa ses. Culpa
Law. Alex 45 Sadomasochism, and the Culture of Gothic
Mang Tano, Nuno ng mga Aswang 255 Molina's Test (short film) 81-84, 86. 87-89
Le Fami. J. Sheridan 279 (book) 257
Man-hui, Lee 186 momia azteca. La 9
Leak Ngakak (book) 220 Manhunter 176 Nightmare see. Horror Game Movie, The
Leak s££ Mystics in Ball Momoi, Haruko 310
Mann. Micahel 176 Nights of Terror see Burial Ground
Mondo cane 163 Wights of the WeretoolJ 70
Leder. Erwln 152. 174, 176. 177, 182 Mann, Thomas 16
Lee. Bruce 188 mondo di Yor. Jl see Yór. the Hunter from the Nihon Kuroshakai see Ley Lines
Manners, David 206 Future
Lee, Christopher 18. 19, 72. 207 Man's Flower Road. A (shortfilm) 307 Nimibutr, Nonzee 11,61-66
Lee. Danny 45. 47. 49. 51. 55 Mondo Macabro: Weird & Wonderful Cinema Ninth Gate. The 240-241
Manson Family, The (cult) 239 Around the World (book) 10, 37. 226. 255
Lee. Norman 112 Manster. The 274 Nisen Mn No Otoko To Yatta Jyoshid Aisei vs.
Lee, Ricardo 257 Moniceili, Mario 173
Marais. Jean 264, 270, 271 Anime Otaku No Doler 311
Legend of the Mountain 188 Monrak Transistor ses Transistor Love Story Nitya Sumangalt 127
marca del Hambre-lnbo. La see Mark of the Monster Commando (film series) 302
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, The 9 Wolfman, The No profanar el sueño de los muertos see Let
Leni. Paul 7. 105 Monster of London City, The 122 Sleeping Corpses Lie
Marceau, Marcel 16, 21 Monster Shorn: A Cultural History of Horror,
Lennon, John 17 Marceau. Sophie 237 No. 3 190
The (book)
Lenzl. Umberto 138, 140. 167. 168. 173 Mare, Jl 185 noche de las gaviotas. La see Night of the
Leone, Sergio 163 monstruos del terror. Los see Assignment Seagulls. The
Margheriti. Antonio 105 Terror
Leopard Man, The 8 Marins. Antonio 27. 36 noche de Walpurgis. La see. Werewolfs
Leper Woman 42 Montefiore, Luigi 169 Shadow
Marins. José Mojica 9. 10. 26. 27-37. 81, 83. Mora, Carl J, 94
Leroux, Gaston 39-41 84. 148. 149.225 noche del terror ciego. La see. Tombs of the
Lesoeur. Daniel 277 Moreno. Alma 260
mariscal del infierno. El ses Devil's Possessed. Blind Dead
Lesoeur. Marius 277 Moretti. Nanni 173
The noches del Hombre Lobo, Las see Nights of the
Morris, Marc 278
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie 73, 162-164 Mariscal. Diana 15 Werewolf
Morrissey, Paul 17 Noll Me Tangere (book) 257
Let's Say It's Fate (unreleased) see Kader Mark of the Devil 75
Diyelim (unreleased) Most Dangerous Game. The 101. 102 nome deíla rasa, II(book) see Name of the
Mark of the Vampire 7
Leung Chlu-wal, Tony 48 Most Important Thing Is to Love. The 236 Rose. The (boo/cj
Mark of the Wolfman. The 70
Levin, Ira 238, 239 Mother (anthology segment) see Nanay
Marker. Chris 279 Non si deve profanare II sonno dei morti se£ Let
(anthology segment)
lèvres rouges, Les see Daughters of Darkness Marriage Trap. The 39 Sleeping Corpses Lie
Lewis. Herschell Gordon 226 Mr. Tano, the Elder of the Witches see Mang Nonhosonno see. Sleepless
Martin 8
Lewton. Va] 8, 239 Tano. Nuno ng mga Asutang Noriega. Manuel 98. 101
Martin, Frank gee. Girolami. Marino Mr. Vampire (film series) 9
Ley Lines 285 Noroi no Yakata: Chi O Suu Me see Lake of
Martlno. Sergio 135.138 Muertos hablan. Los 99. 101, 102
libélula para cada muerto. Una see Dragonfly Martyred. The 186 Dracula
for Each Corpse. A Mûrie. Ulrich 178, 181 Nosferatu 125. 206. 268
Maruja (I967J 256. 257 Mukthar. Mehmet 206-208
Liberatore, Ugo 143 Maruja (1995) 258 Nosferatu the Vampyre 212. 239
Mulargia, Edoardo 143 Nostradamus 102
Licántropo: El asesino de ¡a luna ¡lena ses Marx. Karl 48. 59
Licantropus; The Moonlight Murders mulino délie donne di pietra. H see Mťťř of the notti del (errare. Le ses Burial Ground
Mary. Mary. Bloody Mary 16 Stone Women
Licantropus: The Moonlight Murders 77 Mas fuerte que el deber see Stronger Than Novak. Harry 278
Liebman, Stuart 269 Müller, Paul 161 Noveck, Fima 280
Duty Mulvey, Laura 51
Lt-hua, Li 188 Masako 299 noria ensangrentada. La see Blood Spattered
Lim. Bliss 255 Mummy, The 7, 96, 99
maschera del demonio, La see. Black Sunday Bride. Tfie
Linda. Boguslaw 238 Murakami. Ryu 286 Novo, Salvador 101
maschera del demonio, La see Mask of Satan, Murdaa Ghar 252
Liueiiriood see Penghidupan The Now You See Love. Now You Don't 45
Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue. The see Murder By Proxy see Phantom of Soho, The Nowhere to Hide 202
Mask of Fu Manchu, The 7 Murder By Television 102
Lei Sleeping Corpses Lie Mask of Satan. The 9. 161. 162. 297 Nowicki, Jan 232
Lizard in a Woman s Skin. A i 38 Murder Clinic. The 135
Masked Devil gee Maskell Seytan Noz w tuodzie see Knife in the Water
llorona La 94-96, 98, 100. 102, 103 Murder on Diamond Row 122 Nuda per Satana see Nude for Satan
Maskelt Seytan 212
Lobo. Jose 31 Murders in the Rue Morgue 7. 99. 100, 102. Nude for Satan 212
Massaccesi. Aristide 162, 169. 173. 176 273
Lodger, The 7 Nude per I'assasstno see Strip Nude for Your
Matsushlma, Nanako 298. 299. 300 Murders in the Zoo 101
Loetocng Kasomeng 219 Mattel. Bruno 166 Killer
Lofflcier. Jean-Marc 280 Murnau, F.W. 125
McCllntock. Anne 143 Nun, The (anthology segment) see Ang Madre
Musa: The Warrior 202
Lofìlcler. Randy 280 McfVaHy. Raymond 207 lanlhology segment)
Musante. Tony 140
Loke, Ho Ah 128 McNaughton, John 47. 176 Nyi Blorong S£s Snake Queen. The
Mussolini. Benito 135

317
index
Obregón, Alvaro 94 Picasso. Pablo 233

O'Brien, Glenn 17 Reeves. Michael 75 Santos, Vilma 257
Picasso, Paloma 233
Obsession (anthology segment) 34 regina del cannibalf. La see Zombi Holocaust
Pieczka, Franciszek 233 Saragossa Manuscript, The 152, 231-233,
occhi freddi della paura. GII see. Cold Eyes of Reincarnation of Isabel, The 212 241
Pier, The 279
Fear Reinl. Harald 112. 115
Pierce. Jack 270 Saragossa Manuscript, The (book) 231
Reis. Michelle 288
occhio nel labirinto, V gee Eye in the Labyrinth, Pierro, Marina 230. 235, 236 Sarne. Michael 17
Rekopis znaleziony w Saragossie see
The P'Imak sg£ House of Death Sartsanaüeng. Wisit 62
Saragossa Manuscript, The
Odlshon see Audition Ping, Hu 38 Satan see Seytan
Replay 295
Offer, Tonya 229 Pinon, Dominique 281 Satay. Wahid 129
Reptile, The 72
O'Hara, Mario 260, 262 Pirandello. Luigi 181 Sato, Hitomi 299
Reptilian 194
Oily Man see Orang Minyak Plague of the Zombies. The 72 Savada, Elias 23
Repulsion 196. 238-239
Oilyman Strikes Again. The gee Serangan Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the At Sauage Man, Savage Beast 163
t Requiem for a Vampire 278
Orang Minyak of Entertainment (book) 46 Saving Private Ryan 270
ojos azules de la muñeca rota. Los gee Slue Planet of the Apes, The 270 Requiem pour un vampire see Requiem for a Savini. Tom 162
Eyes of the Broken Doll planéte sauvage. La see Fantastic Planet Vampire Say Yes 185.200.201.202
Old Dark House. The 81, 84. 269 Playgirls and the Vampire. The 9 Resnais, Alain 267, 279 Scandal in Bohemia. A (story) 240
Olin, Lena 240 Pleasencc. Donald 169 Resurrected Rose 43 Scardamaglla. Elio 135
ólüler Konusmazki 212 Poe. Edgar Allan 7, 8, 109. 135, 143. 253, retorno de Walpurgis, El see Curse of the Devil Scarecrow. The 300
Ólüm Sauascisi 212 268 retorno del Hombre Lobo, El s££ Return of the Scared to Death 100
Omar, Latlfah 128 Wolfinan Scars ofDracula 206
Polanski. Roman 49. 129, 238-241 Retribution Sight Unseen 52 Scary Taxi see. Ghost Taxi
Ómer the Tourist in Star Trek see Turist Omer Polselli, Renato 212 Schatten gee Warning Shadows
Uzay Yolunda Return of the Blind Dead. The 168
Poltergeist 246 Return of the Wolfman 75-76 Schneider. Romy 236
Onchi, Hideo 291 Pontianak 9, 126-129 Schneider. Stephen Jay 105.182,233
One Hundred Ghost Siories 298 Return to Pontianak 124, 131-132
Pontianak (197S) 131 Return to Salem's Lot. A 8 School KfUer 77
Onibaba 296, 297, 298 Pontianak Gua Musang 130. 131
Ono, Yoko 17 Reoenge of the Dead see. Zeder. Voices from the
Pontianak Kembali 128, 130 Beyond School Legend 185. 196-197.201
Opera 140 Popió! / diament see. Ashes and Diamonds Schräder, Paul 81
Oppenheimer, Paul 166 positions: east asia cultures critique (journal) Revenge of the Vampire see. Dendam Pontianak Schreck. Max 206
Oppenhetmer, Robert 270 255 Reyes, Jose Javier 258 Schüfftan, Eugen 273
Oran, Bülent 205, 206, 209 Reyes. Lore 260-262 Schulz. Bruno 233
Possession 236-237 Reynes, Manilyn 260, 261
Orong Minyak 127 Schulze, Klaus 176
Postscript: Essays on Film and the Humanities Riegel. Karyn 81
Ordinary Heroes 52 Sciascia, Leonardo 135
(magazine) 59. 163. 182 Ring (1998) 194. 197. 291. 298-300. 302.
Orellana, Carlos 103 Scissors see. Horror Game Movie. The
Potioodmoorden, De see. Pencil Murders, The 304. 305
Orfei. Liana 107 Scob. Edith 272
Potocki, Count Jan 231 Ring (2002) 11 Scorsese, Martin 66
orgia de los muertos. La gee. Hanging Woman. Powell, Michael 274
Ring (film series) 295, 298-302 Scott, George C. 168
The Pradeaux, Maurizio 140
Ring 0 300. 301 Scott, Susan 142
orgia nocturna de los vampiros. La see Preiss. Wolfgang 106. 107, 108. 109
Ring 0: Baasudei 300 Scream 77, 182. 197, 198. 252
Vampire's Night Orgy Presley, EMs 69
Ring 2 194, 300. 302, 304 Screams in the Night sge. Awful Dr. Orloff, The
Orpheé 170
Pnce of Doubt, The (unreleased) gee Süpfienin Ring Virus. The 184, 194 Se7en 194, 201
orribile segreto del Dottor Htchcock, V gee. Bedeli funreleased) Seal of Dracula. The (book) 10
Rtngu 2 see Ring 2
Terror of Dr. Hichcock. The Secret Tears 198, 199, 203
Price. Vincent 8. 105 Ringu see. Ring f J 998)
Ortin, Leopoldo 'Chato' 99. 101 Seddok. l'erede dl Satana see. Atom Age
Prima, Barry 224-226 Riri Shushu no súbete see. All About Lily Chou-
Ortolani. Riz 170 Vampire
Prison of Love 39 Chou
Oshikirisee. Straw Cutter, The
Psychic, The 143 Rites of Love 236
Ossessione 136 Seguerra. Alza 260. 262
Ossorìo. Amando de 168 Psycho 11. 21. 23, 215. 216. 272, 274 Rites of May. The see. Itim Seguin, Louis 23
Otaka, Rlkiya 300 Psychology and Aichemy (book) 105 Ritt magie nere e segrete orge nel trecento gee
Public Affairs (magazine) 47 Sei donne per l'assassino see. Blood and Black
OToole, Peter 18, 19 Reincarnation of Isabel, The
Pul. Hui 53 Lace
Outmet, Danielle 280 Rivault, Pascale 235
Pulgasari 189 Seigner, Emmanuelle 240
Out of the Past 271 Riza). Jose 257
Seilers. Peter 7
Ouai Portrait, The (story) 268 Pulse 305, 311 Robbe-Grillet. Alain 216
Sen, Krishna 219
Owen. Arthur E. 120 Parana Mandir 246-248 Robinson, Pete 23
Seoul Jesus 190
Ózgüc, Agah 206 Purdom, Edmund 169 Robles, German 10
Ozu, Yasujiro 286. 288 Pure Blood 9 Robotrix 46 Serangan Orang Minyak 128, 130-131
Pabst. G.W. Ill Pusaka Pontianak 130 Robson, Mark 8 Sermet, özen 209
Padosi ki Btwi 248 Pye. Merrill 23 Roces, Susan 257. 258 Serpent's Tafe s££ Karanlik Sular
Palance, Jack 207 Rocha, Glauber 35 Sesselmann, Sabine 112. 121
Pyushchye Krovy see. Blood-Suckers
PaJau, Pierre 271 Rocky Horror Picture Show, The 81 sefe uamptras, As see 7 Vampires
Palmerini. Luca M. 162, 170 Roderick. Olga 23 Sette note in nero see Psychic. The
Qian Nu You Hun see. Chinese Ghost Story, A
Pang Brothers 62 Roel, Marta 96 Seite selaüi di seta glalla see. Crimes of the
Qing chang guairen see. Love Freak, The
Rohlen, Thomas P, 303. 304 Black Cat
Qiu haitang see. Autumn Begonia
Panic Fables (comic strip) see Fábulas Pánicas Roland, Jürgen 115 Seung-wook, Moon 202
Quartet 237
(comic strip) Rollin, Jean 10. 277-280 Seven Women Prisoners 186
Queita villa accanto al cimitero see House by
Paradise Lost (book) 303 Roily 310 Seventh Continent, The 175, 180
the Cemetery, The
Parbpayon Siam (magazine) 61 Román. Leticia 136 Seuered Heads, The (book) 16
¿Quien sabe? see Bullet for the General, A Romeo and Juliet (play) 257
Pardavè, Joaquin 102 Sevimli Frankestayn 212
Quiet Family. The 62. 191. 199 Romero, George A. 8, 23. 85, 143. 161-164.
Paris After Dark see, fin du monde, La Sex and the Vampire 9
guintos. Floy 260 166. 169. 228
Pasolini. Pier Paolo 173 Se-yeon, Choi 192
Passi di danza su una lama di rasoio ge£ Quionglou hen see. Maids Bitter Story. A RoohaniTaaqat 249 Seyfi. Ali Riza 206-208
Death Carries a Cane guirk, Robert E. 94, 98 Room, The 307 Seyrig. Delphine 280
Pastor, Rachel 81 guizon, Eric 262 Rosemary's Baby 8. 238. 239 Seyian 153.204.212-214.216
Pastore, Sergio 140 Rosenbaum. Jonathan 17 Seytan Kovma (short film) 216
Patayin sa Sindak si Barbara 256 Raat 251, 252 Rossellini, Roberto 173 Shadow of the Vampire 268
Pattison, Barrie 10 Rabal. Francisco 167 Rosset, Edith 177 Shafie, Fadzlina Mohamad 124.132
Paul. Robert W. 266 Rabenreither. Silvia 177 Rosso sartgue see Absurd Shaitaani Rlaka 247
Rabid 8. 88 Rote Kreis. Der see. Crimson Circle, The Snake. Rattle & Roll (film series) 261
Paura nella città dei morti viventi see City of Rdcher, Per see Avenger The rouge aux lèvres. Le see Daughters of Shake, Raute & Roll HI 261, 262
the Living Dead ragazza che sapeva troppo. La see. Girl Who Darkness Shake, Rattle & Roll TV 260-262, 263
Pear Blossom in the Storm 39 Knew Too Much, The Shakespeare, William 257
Peary, Danny 18 Raimi. Sam 212. 282
Ruang talok 69 see 6ixtynin9 Shaman, The 237-238
Peeping Tom 274 Rainbow Thief. The 18. 19
Ruggles. Charlie 101 Shan, Jin 38, 41
Pembalasan Ratu Pantai Selatan see. Nasty Raines, Claude 7, 21 Shanghai Gesture 84
Run and Kill 47
Hunter Rainy Dog 285 Sharif, Omar 18. 19, 35
Russell, Ken 75. 84
Pencil Murders. The 144 Rais, Gilíes de 74 Sharrett, Christopher 56
Ryan, Edmon 119
Penderecki, Krzysztof 232 Shaw Brothers 125. 127, 128
raisins de la mott. La see. Grapes of Death Rybczynski. Zbigniew 176
Pengabdi Setan 224, 225 Shaw, Daniel 105
Rajhans, B.S. 129
Penghidupan 128 Shaw, George Bernard 112
Ramakrishna. Kodi 253 Sa Piling ng Asujang 262
Peón. Ramón 95 Sheen. Simon see Sang-ok. Shin
Ramirez, Darla 259 Saamrt(I9S5) 246. 247
People Who Oum the Dark, The 75 Ramlee, P. 127, 128, 130. 131 Shelley. Mary 7
Saamri(1998) 252 Shichuan, Zhang 39
Pereda, Ramon 95. 99, 102 Ramos, Maximo D. 259, 260 Sacramental Melodrama (play) 16 Shiina. Eihi 289
Pereira dos Santos. Nelson 35 Ramsay. F.U. 244, 245 Sade, Marquis de 75 Shindo, Kaneto 296, 298
Perez, Antonio Jose 255, 256 Ramsay, Gangu 246 Saint John, Antoine 166 Shining. The 232
Perez, Fernando 83 Ramsay, Keshu 247 Sakei. Hinako 304
Perez, Tony 258 Ramsay. Kiran 246, 247 Sakuya 295
Pérez-Reverte, Arturo 240 Ramsay, Kumar 245, 246 Shiry'uku Kuroshakai: Chinese Mafia Sensö see,
Perfect Blue 144 Ramsay, Shyam 244-247 salaire de ¡a peur. Le see Wages of Fear. The Shtnjuku Triad Society
Perkauiinan Nyt Blorong 222 Ramsay. Tulsi 244-247 Salazaar, Abel 93 Shinjuku Triad Society 285, 286. 288, 291
Perlman. Ron 281 Rangeeia 252 Salem's Lot 8 Shiota. Akihlko 306
Person. Luis Sergio 33 Salkind. Alexander IS Shin 158, 193, 194, 202
Perver, Canan 213 Rao, Balakrishna Narayan 127, 128, 130 Salvador, Phillip 259 Shiuers 8, 88
Peruersao 33, 36 Rape of the Vampire see viol du vampire, Le Salvati, Sergio 162
Rappaccinfs Daughter (book) 106 Shock Theatre (TV series) 111
Samson vs. the Vampire Women 9
Pesadelo Macabro (anthology segment) see Rashomon 98 Shock Wooes 10
San geng g££ Three
Macabre Nightmare (anthology segment) Shohat, Ella 46
Ratanaruang. Pen-Ek 62. 63 Sanada. Hiroyuki 299. 300
Petal A 190 Shrek 56
Rau, Andrea 280 Sanatorium pod klepsydra see Sandglass, The
Petry. Iwona 237, 238 SiConat 219
Raven, The (1943) 271 Sanders-Brahms. Helma 179
Pflug, Eva 114 Sidogllo Smithee 84
Raven, The (1963) 99. 100 Sandglass, The 232-233
Phantasm 225 Rayns. Tony 10 Siebente Kontinent, Der see. Seventh Continent
Saner, Hulkl 213
Phantom Lover, The 43 Razak, Abdul 127, 128 The
sang des bêtes. Le 274
Phantom Of Sono, The 122. 123 RealFiction 201-202 Sign of Death, Trie see signo de la muerte, El
Sang-ok. Shin 186. 188, 189, 202
Phantom of the Convent see fantasma del Rear Windou' 140 Sign of the Four. The (story) 143
Sangre de vírgenes 9
convento. El signo de la muerte. El 101-103
rebelión de las muertas. La gee Vengeance of Sanpasartsupakij, Prince 61
Phantom of the Opera, The (1925) 7, 42. 93, the Zombies Santa 94 Signoret, Simone 272
100. 102 Siguion-Reyna, Armida 262
Rebellion. Die 175
Phantom of the Opera, The (book) 39 Santa Sangre 14, 15. 18-24, 146, 147 Siler.ce of the Lambs, The 11
Rec S££ Record, The
Phantom Don Soho, Das see Phantom of Sofia, Santo contra las mujeres vampiros, El see. Saver Globe, Trie 236
Record. The 197. 198, 201
The Samson Vs. the Vampire Women Simöes, llidio 31
Red Serpent, The 86
Santo, Yos 222
Phool Bani Patthar 251 Reddy. Shyam Prasad 253 Sina do Auentureiro, A see Adventurer's Fate,
Santos, Charo 259, 261
The
318
index
Sineneng. Jerry Lopez 260. 262

Tate, Sharon 238, 239
Slodmak. Curt 7 Hollywood Canon (book) 233 Werewolf and the Yeti, The 74-75
Taxi Hunter 45
Sis (short film) 216 Ungeheuer von London City, Das see Monster WereWolf of London, The 7
Taygun, Meral 213
Siii Zubaidah 128 of London City. The
Taylor, Jack 240 Werewolf s Shadow 70, 71. 75. 78
Siu-Tung, Ching 10, 83 Unholy Three, The 7
Teah 288 Weston. Armand 169
SkaJ, David J. 23, 94, 269 Unknoum. The 24, 100
Tears of the Black Tiger 62 Whale. James 7, 21, 23, 24, 41-43, 81. 84,
Skeldon, Ronald 47 Unsane see Tenebrae
Teenage Hooker Becomes Killing Machine 2( 85
Slaughter Hotel 140. 142, 143 Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and What Have You Done to Solange? 123
Telephone 247
Sleepless 138 the Media (book) 46
Tell Me Something 185, 194, 202. 203 What? 239
Sloane. Paul 115 Untold Story II. The 55
Tema, Muzaffer 206 Wheel, The (anthology segment) 62. 67
Snake gueen. The 156, 218, 222, 223-225 Untold Story. The 45, 48-52, 54. 55. 59
Tenant. The 239, 240 While Paris Sleeps 105
Snake Woman, The 295 uomo più velenoso del cobra. L' sec Human
Teneoroe 136. 143 Whisper to the Wind see Ibulong Mo Sa Hangin
So Sweet. So Perverse 135 Cobras
Teo. Stephen 39, 43 Whispering Corridors 185. 191-193. 196-198.
Soavi, Mlchele 172, 173 Urquijo, Raul 99
Tepes, Vlad 207-209, 280 202.203
Soler, Julian 101 Urruchua, Victor 97
Terminator. The 190 White Zombie 7
Song at Midnight see Midnight Song Urueta. Chano 101. 297
Terrible People, The 115 White. Timothy 129
Sono, Sion 11, 305-311 Useless is Useful (CD) 45
Terror Aboard 115 Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why? 135
sopravvissuti della cltta morta, I see Ark of the Utsushimi 307
Terror of Dr. Hichcock. The 105 Wife and Son of Dr. Caligari, The (short film)
Uygun. Metin 215
Sun God. The Terza ipotesi su un caso di perfetta strategia see Dr. Caligad'nin Karisi ve Oglu (short film)
Uzumaki see Spiral
Sorin, Carlos 84 crimfriale gee. Who Killed the Prosecutor and WildOne, The 131
Sorum 185, 199. 201 Why? Wilde, Oscar 108
Soul Guardians, The 191. 197 Vadim. Annette 279
Testament of Dr. Mabuse, The 114 Wilder. Billy 83. 84
Soylent Green 75 Vadim, Roger 279, 280
Testl, Fabio 236 Willeman. Paul 10
Spaghetti Nightmares (book) 162. 170 Valdez, Indira 81
Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The 8 Williams. Linda 140
Spellbound 186 Vaili. Alida 107. 273
That is the Point see Ahl estd el detalie Vampire Bat, The 7. 101 Williams. Patrick 51
Sphinx, The 102 That They May Live see J'accuse Williams, Tony 59
Vampire Doll, The 298
Spies 111. 114 Thatcher, Margaret 46 Wilmington, Michael 16
Vampire in Brooklyn, A 8
Spiral 295 Theatre of Death 10 Wilson. William S. 47
Vampire Loiters, The 279
Spirits of the Dead 279 Theatre of Mr. And Mrs. Kabal, The 233 Wind. The 307
Vampire of the Cave. The see Pontianak Gua
Spooky School see. School Legend They're Coming to Get You 138 Winters, Shelley 239
Musang
squartatore di New York. Lo see New York Thi Le, Hiep 131 Wise, Robert 8. 85
Ripper. The Thing From Another World, The 8 Vampire People. The 9
Witch with Flying Head. The 126.220
Squeaker, The see. Murder on Diamond Row Thing. The 247 Vampire Returns, The see, Pontianalt Kembali Witch, The see Ang Aswang
Squires. Chris 216 Thirst 9 Vampire, The 9, 103 Witch, The see Impakto
Stam. Robert 46 Vampire. The see Pontianak
This JVight I Will Possess Your Corpse 31 -33, Witchfmder General 75
Star Trek (TV series) 213 Vampires 8
37, 149 Witch's Mirror. The 297
Star Wars 212 Vampires in Havana 9
Thousand on One Nights. The (stories) 130 Witcombe, L.C.E, 125
Siar, The (Malasian newspaper) 126 Vampire's Night Orgy 70
Three 62 With the Witch see Sa Piling ng Aswang
Steele, Barbara 161 Vampires, Les (film serial) 267
Three Musketeers. The (book) 240 vampiri, 1 105, 161-162, 169 Wizard of Darkness (film seriesj sge Eko Eko
Stevenson, R.L. 7 Azarak (film series)
Three Ninjas (film series) 189 vampiro, El see Vampire. The
Stevenson. Robert Louis 235,271 Threepenny Opera, The 112 Wohi Bhayaanak Raat 155,242,249-250
jVampiros en La Habana! see Vampires in
Stiglitz, Hugo 167 Thrower, Steve 10 Wolf Man. The 8
Havana
Stigmata 241 Thys, Guy Lee 144 Wolnyoul Han 9
Vampyr 279
Stockwell, Guy 19 Ti, Le 43 Woman of Fire 82, The 188
Vampyres 247
Stoker. Bram 7. 206-208, 279 Van Gogh, Vincent 193 Woman of Fire, The 188
Tian mi mi see. Comrades: Almost a Love Story
Stoloff. Benjamin 115 Van Welgen. Pieter 105 Wong Brothers 219
Tianak 255
Stone, Oliver 131. 179 Vanilla Sky 11 Wong, Anthony 11,44.45-59.154
TihMinh (film serial) 267
Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Woo, John 45. 48, 288. 291
Time Bandits 281
(book) 235 Vanishing Lady, The see Escamotage d'une
Timeless, Bottomless, Bad Movie see. Bad Woo, Lian Sing 126
Strange Hostel of Naked Pleasures 29 Dame chez Robert-Haudin
Movie Wood. Miles 52
Strange World of Coffin Joe. The 33-35 Vanishing, The (1988) 201
Titanic 61. 64, 185. 194 World and I. The (magazine) 303
Strange World of Coffin Joe, The (TV series) 32 Vanishing, The (1993) 10, 11
Tixou, Thelma 20, 147 World Fact Book of Criminal Justice (book) 51
Strange World ofZe do Caixao, The 27 Vari, Giuseppe 135
To Each His Own (book) 135 Varma. Ramgopal 251, 252 Wray, Fay 104
strano vizio della signora Wardh, Lo see. Next! Todd. Bobby 120 Wu-hyeok. Lee 191
Vasques, Romeo 257
Straw Cutter, The 295 Tohin. Cathal 235 Wfistenhagen, Harry 120
Veer Kumari 127
Strickfaden. Kenneth 101 Tokyo Decadence 286 Veerana 247
Stringer, Julian 56 Tomb of Ligeia (story) 268 Xiaoping, Deng 46
Velasco. Rolfie L. 255
Strip Nude for Your KiMer 142 Tombs of the Blind Dead 168 Xinghai, Xian 41. 43
Stroheim. Eric von 16 Tombs, Pete 10. 37, 226, 235, 255 uenganza de la momia. La see Vengeance of
Stronger Than Duty 93 Tominaga, Amina 303 the Mummy, The Yalinkilic. Yavuz 212
Styron, William 59 Top Banana Club 45 venganza del Dr. Mabuse, La 274 Yam, Simon 47. 48. 52
Subspecies (film series) 9 Topor, Roland 16, 239 Vengeance of the Mummy, The 73 Yamamoto. Hideo 286
Suchllckl, Jaime 98 Torn Curtain 169 Vengeance of the Zombies 72, 79 Yamamoto, Michio 298
Sudarto. Gatot 223 Toshiaki, Toyoda 306 Vernon, Howard 151 Yasuda, Klmiyoshi 298
Vertigo 173. 272 Yau, Herman 47-52, 54-57, 154
Suharto, General Mohamed 220, 225-228
foten augen von London, Die see Dead Eyes of vertigo del crimen, El IBI
Suicide Club 305-311 Yeban gesheng gee Midnight Song
London Victor. Henry 23
Sukarno. General Achmad 220 Yeban gesheng xuji see. Midnight Song II
Touch Me Not (book) see. Noli Me Tangere (book) Video Junkie (magazine) 47 Yeh-jln. Park 185
Summers. Walter 111 Tourneur, Jacques 8, 163, 271, 298 Video Watchdog (magazine) 10, 228, 278, 280
Sumpah Orang Minyak 128. 130. 131 Tburneur, Maurice 105, 271 Vieujing Positions: Ways of Seeing Film (book) yeux sans visage, Les see Eyes Without a Face
Sumpah Pontianak 127-129 Tovar, Lupita 93, 94 140 Yiu-kuen. Ng 55
Sundelbolong 225 Towne, Robert 239 Yo-ao-kuei-dam see Whispering Corridors
Sung-hong, Kim 201 Village Voice, The (newspaper) 17 Yokai Datsenso see Great Ghost War, The
Transistor Love Story 62
Sun-woo. Jang 190 VfHarias, Carlos 93. 94. 99, 102 Yokai Hyaku Monagatari see. One Hundred
Treasure Island 7
Villatoro, Carlos 96. 97 Ghost Stories
Super Adam IstanbuVda 212 Trilogia de Terror see Trilogy of Terror viol du vampire, Le 276, 278
supedoco, El 99-102 Tdlogy of Terror 33, 34 Yongary, Monster from the Deep 187, 194
Virus see Zombie Creeping Flesh
Superman 18 Tristana 108 Yong-min, Lee 187
Viscera Sucking Witch, The see Ang
Superman In Istanbul see Super Adam Tropical Animal (book) 82 Yong-min, Yi 186
Manananggal
Jstanbui'da Trotter. Laura 167 Yong-nyeo, Lee 192
Visconti, Luchino 136, 173 Yong-su, Park 192
SQphenin Bedeii (unreleased) 215 Truffaut, Francois 274, 279
Visitor Q 286-290 Yoon-hyun, Chang 194
Suspiria 247 Truth About Charlie, The 202
Sutton. Roger 131 Tsuruta, Norto 300 Visual and Other Pleasures (book) 51 Yor, the Hunter from the Future 212
Suzuki. Koji 298 Tsuruya, Nanboku 297 Vizconde Massacre: God Help Us, The 256 Yòs, Bails 216
Suzuki. Seijun 84, 286 Tun Fatimah 128 Vohrer. Alfred 116-118. 120, 121 Yoshino, Kirolka 302
SuzuzYaz 213 Vbiuode uiith the Stakes, The (book) see Kazikli Yotsuya Kaidan 297
Tur mit den 7 Schldssern. Die see Door toith Vbyuoda (book) Yoisuya Kaidan (play) 297
Suzzanna 218, 222.223. 227 Seven Locks, The (1962) Vural, Vahdet 215 You hun see Marriage Trap, The
Swallows, The 130 Twist Omer Uzay Yolunda 213
Swanson, Gloria 18 Young Frankenstein 212
Turk Filmleri S&zlugu (book) 206 Young Girl Space Detective Bloomer 302
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance 202 u.'achsjigurenkabinett, Das gee Waxworks
Tusk 18,19 Young-jin, Lee 185
Szamanka SCS Shaman. The Wages of Fear. The 272
Tutti i colori del buio see They're Coming to Get Wajda. Andrzej 231 Yu, Ronny 43, 45, 46, 83
You Wakasugl, Kazuko 297 Yun-fat, Chow 45. 48
Takahashi, Hlroshi 300 Tioelue Monkeys 279 Wake up, Maruja see Gumtsing Ka, Maruja Yungk-yoon. Shin 188
Takahata. Akio 303 Twilight Zone, The (TV series.) 202 Wallace, Bryan Edgar 122
Takan: The Golden Medallion see. Tarkan: Altin Tuitns of Evil 279 Wallace. Edgar 111, 112. 115-117. 119, 120. Yureiyashiki no Kyofu: Chi O Suu Ningyoo see
Madalyon Ttw>EuilEyes 143 122. 123 Vampire Doll, The
Takeuchi, Riki 288 Two Monks see Dos monjes
Waller, Gregory A. 182 Zagury, Fabrice 267
Takeuchi, Yuko 299
Walter, Wilfrid 118 Zarate, Ernie 259
Takot ka ba sa Dtitm 260 uccello dalle piume di cristaUo, L' see Bird with Wong-Mogul 187 Zbonek, Edwin 122
Tales from the Crypt (comic book) 30 the Crystal Plumage, The War of the Worlds, The 85 Ze do Caixao see Marins. José Mojica
Tales of a Corpse-Ridden Old House 41 Uchu Shojo Keiii Buruma see Young Gir! Space Warbeck. David 165 Zedd, Nick 84
Talwar, Vinod 249-251 Detective Bloomer Warning Shadows 97
Tarn. Alan 57 Ueno, Katsuhito 304 Zeder: Voices from the Beyond 164. 170, 172
Warren, Jerry 9
Tan. Sooi Beng 129 L/getsu monogatari 125 Zee Horror Shou). The (TV series) 251
Warrior The 225-226 Zegen 285
Tangerine Dream 176 Ulmer, Edgar G. 7. 273
Watanabe, Kazushi 289 ZlndaLaash 243
Tapia, Faviola Elenka 20 Ulrich. Kurt 115. 116, 121
Tara (antliology segment) see. Obsession Watering the Gardener see arroseur arrosé, L Ziyi. Zhang 202
ultima preda del vampiro. L' see Playgirls and
Wax Mask. The 105 Zombi 2 see Zombie Flesh-Eaters
(anthology segment) the Vampire, The
Waxworks 105 Zombi 3 164
Tarantlno, Quentin 285 Ultime prida daiia sauana: La grande caccia Way, Fay 7 Zombi Holocaust 160. 164
Tarkan (comic book) 210, 211 see Savage Man, Savage Beast Weaver, Sigourney 240 Zombi see Daum of the Dead
Tarkan: Altin Madalyon 210, 211 Ultimo dcseo see People Who Own the Dark. Weber, Amy 229 Zombie 6: Monster Hunter see Absurd
Tarkan: Gumiis Eger 211, 217 The
Weekend Murders, The 143 Zombie Creeping Flesh 164. 166-167, 169
Tarkan: The Silver Saddle £££ Tarkan: Gumus Ulucav. Ahmet 216 Wegener. Paul 106 Zombie Flesh-Eaters 162-165
Eger tfna), Clhan 213 Weibang, Maxu 39-43 Zulawskl. Andrzej 236-238
Tarkhana 247 Underdog Rock (CD) 45 Welsser. Thomas 296 Zurakowska, Dyanlk 70
Tarot of Marseilles (cards) 18 Underground Banker The 45, 52-54 Welles, Orson 18. 88. 97. 173, 277
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy 209 Underground USA: Film-making Beyond the Wells, H.G. 270

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FEAR WITHOUT FRONTIERS:

HORROR CINEMA ACROSS THE GLOBE

First edition published July 2003

Text copyright © 2003 Steven Jay Schneider and individual contributors.

Design and layout by Harvey Fenton.

This Volume copyright © FAB Press 2003

Copyright of illustrations is the property of the production or distribution companies concerned.

Front cover illustration:

Back cover illustrations:

PART I: ARTISTS, ACTORS, AUTEURS

Return of the phantom: Maxu Weibang's Midnight Song 39

Enfant terrible: the terrorful, wonderful world of Anthony Wong 45

The rain beneath the earth: an interview with Nonzee Nimibutr 61

Cinema of the doomed: the tragic horror of Paul Naschy 69

PART II: FILMS, SERIES, CYCLES

The exotic pontianaks 125

Playing with genre: defining the Italian giallo 135

The Italian zombie film: from derivation to invention 161

Between appropriation and innovation: Turkish horror cinema 205

Witches, spells and politics: the horror films of Indonesia 219

The unreliable narrator: subversive storytelling in Polish horror cinema 231

In a climate of terror: the Filipino monster movie 255

French revolution: the secret history of Gallic horror movies 265

PART IV: CASE STUDY - JAPANESE HORROR CINEMA

The urban techno-alienation of Sion Sono's Suicide Club 305

Notes on contributors 312

horror cinema across the globe 7

about Prohibition and snarl their copy

8 fear without frontiers

horror cinema across the globe 9

(though not necessarily worse) styles of Fear Without Frontiers is not an

10 fear without frontiers

horror cinema across the globe

Any edited collection is the product of

fear without frontiers

Madmen, visionaries and freaks: the films of Alejandro Jodorowsky 15

Return of the phantom: Maxu Weibang's Midnight Song 39

Enfant terrible: the terrorful, wonderful world of Anthony Wong 45

The rain beneath the earth: an interview with Nonzee Nimibutr 61

Cinema of the doomed: the tragic horror of Paul Naschy 69

Madmen, visionaries and freaks:

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a director who Olympics covered the massacre. When

horror cinema across the globe Í5

Maurice Chevalier, who was making his

16 fear without frontiers

horror cinema across the globe 17

18 fear without frontiers

O'Toole - left a bad taste in Jodorowsky's

horror cinema across the globe 19

20 fear without frontiers

of poverty and political powerlessness, himself does. This is especially important

horror cinema across the globe 21

22 fear without frontiers

love - as it is about horror, murder or Jay Carr of the

horror cinema across the globe 23

opposite: were good. My favourite was the man who

24 fear without frontiers

horror cinema across the globe 25