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Monsters 101 By Venessa Paech 9 August, 2008 Found in : features   Comment     Submit to Slashdot Email     Digg this Print     Add to del.icio.us External Links Monster Movies at Amazon UK

People who can see the creativity, social commentary and punch of a good monster are more in touch with their primal instincts, rather than beating them down.

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Melbourne geek, writer and cinephile Emma Westwood has assembled a pocketsized compendium of the monster on celluloid that for some will become as indispensible as their iPhone.

The mini-tome includes interviews with monster mavens Roger Corman, John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, Bong Joon-ho and more.

We cornered Emma on a dark and stormy night to chat about the meat of Monster Movies.

GI: Horror and science fiction on screen echoes the socio-cultural and political pulse of the era - Cold War paranoia, post-Vietnam listlessness and existentialism, masculine crises, and so on. Where does the Monster fit in into this paradigm?

EW: The Monster, quite simply, is the physical manifestation of our broader socio-cultural paranoias and fears. It is one of the most vibrant and exciting ways to manifest such primal emotions on screen.

Most significantly, the Monster has been identified with the ‘50s and ’60s Cold War/nuclear threat – the list of films is almost endless… Them! Godzilla, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Fiend without a Face…

But I don’t go into in-depth academic dissection about such things.

This book is really the work of a fan girl who likes a good monster and a good storyline. I set the social climate for each film but, apart from that, it’s mainly about fleshing out the individual monsters and providing interesting trivia that goes along with each film.

In the filmmaker interviews, we delve a bit more into the theoretical side of monster movies. In particular, Adam Simon, who directed Roger Corman’s Carnosaur, has some really interesting things to say about monster lore and monster culture, but apart from that, it’s a very light and easy read. The aim was to inspire lots of people to watch monster movies – not just students.

GI: Monsters are also inspired by myth and legend. Can you tell us about some recognisable movie monsters and their mythological antecedents?

EW: God – there are heaps of movie monsters inspired by legend and myth. The question really is where to start.

To pick one, the most popular would have to be the vampire myth. Bela Lugosi as Dracula was the first talkie supernatural thriller, so this was a very important film.

Just look at all the vampire signifiers (capes, thick accent, bats, etc)… they all come from this film. I must confess, it’s not one of my favourite movies, but you can’t deny its impact on the broader social consciousness.

I prefer Nosferatu. Now there’s one scary-arsed monster.

Of course, you also have things like lycanthropes… you know, werewolves, witches, demons, mummies, wendigos… they all come from mythological backgrounds.
 
GI: Technology has transformed the shape of the screen monster. Has FX whiz-bangery diminished any of the Monster's primal power?

EW: Unfortunately, I think computers have taken a bit of shine off the monster, although this doesn’t actually have to be the case.

It’s just that, with CGI, creators can slap together a fairly believable monster and have it do things like crush buildings and tear down bridges at a fraction of the cost of producing models, etc.

What happens is you get, what I feel, are ‘rush-jobs’ that underplay the power of the monster. Something like the recent versions of The Mummy are like that to me. The CGI is way too pristine and ‘modern’ – it just doesn’t gel with the fact that we’re presenting a monster from the ancient world.

But, that said, CGI can be a fabulous tool when used with a little bit of thought and creativity, and especially when combined with other FX technology – like  puppetry.

Jurassic Park is a perfect example of how combining the two can be extremely effective. It was one of the forerunners in this field – a wonderful example of where we were heading with SFX – and, surprisingly, very few filmmakers have taken its lead.

Something like

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Also written by Venessa Paech

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