A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss Part 3 of 3 The American Scream

00:58:48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhgEE1kwRl4

Sintesi

TLDRThis comprehensive exploration of American horror cinema highlights its evolution from Hitchcock's 'Psycho', which broke traditional storytelling rules, through Romero's influential 'Night of the Living Dead', which introduced social commentary tied to contemporary issues. The narrative details the rise of independent horror films in the 1970s, how filmmakers like Tobe Hooper with 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and John Carpenter with 'Halloween' shaped the slasher genre and modern horror. Films like 'The Exorcist' and 'Rosemary's Baby' are discussed for their supernatural elements intertwined with real societal fears. The influence of directors like David Cronenberg, known for body horror, is highlighted as part of horror's transformative journey. Ultimately, the segment reflects on the genre's past, its cultural significance, and its contemporary landscape, raising concerns about the current state of horror films.

Punti di forza

  • 🎥 Psycho shattered storytelling norms in horror cinema.
  • 🧟 Night of the Living Dead redefined zombies as modern threats.
  • 🔪 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre drew from real-life horrors.
  • 👻 Halloween introduced the slasher genre's iconic tropes.
  • 🌪 The Exorcist explored demonic possession seriously.
  • 🕵️‍♂️ Rosemary's Baby tackled women's independence themes.
  • 🧠 Cronenberg revolutionized horror with body transformation.
  • 🛍️ Dawn of the Dead satirized mindless consumerism.
  • 🩸 Horror's evolution reflects societal fears and changes.
  • 🌌 Independent films revitalized the horror genre in the 70s.

Linea temporale

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In 1960, a young woman runs away after making a bad decision regarding her accommodation, which leads to a lasting impact on horror cinema, particularly with Hitchcock's 'Psycho'. This film reshaped storytelling conventions, allowing filmmakers to take risks, changing the landscape of horror forever.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    After 'Psycho', the horror genre evolved significantly, with more contemporary settings and content emerging in the subsequent years, culminating in what became known as a new golden age of American horror cinema that also left behind a complex legacy.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    At a horror convention in Los Angeles, fans celebrate horror cinema, showcasing its resilience. Independent filmmakers, inspired by earlier successes, began to explore horror themes more creatively, beginning with 1968's 'Night of the Living Dead', which redefined the zombie genre undermodern circumstances.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    George A. Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead' brought contemporary relevance to horror as it featured a black protagonist, diverging from typical casting norms of the time. The film contained raw violence that resonated with societal unrest and civil rights issues, serving as a commentary on America.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    Romero utilized independent filmmaking to explore the visceral potential of horror without studio constraints, which allowed him to depict intense and shocking material. The film's social commentary reflected issues like the disintegration of community amid a backdrop of chaos, raising broader conversations about American societal issues.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    Romero's approach to horror also included elements of satire, exemplifying the layered commentary that defined horror cinema of the 60s. His work inspired other directors, allowing independent filmmaking to flourish while prioritizing modern themes over supernatural ones.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Among these influential filmmakers was Tobe Hooper, whose 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' drew inspiration from real-life killer Ed Gein, exploring themes of insanity and familial dysfunction without relying on supernatural elements, creating a deeply unsettling atmosphere that resonated with audiences.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' positioned itself within a socio-political context, mixing horror with dark humor while also challenging traditional notions of what horror could depict. It reframed the family structure as a site of terror, highlighting the psychological rather than merely physical horrors.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:45:00

    The 70s saw horror with significant financial backing, yet independent filmmakers continued to thrive, as demonstrated by films like 'Rosemary's Baby', which embedded sociopolitical commentary into its narrative about satanic rituals, showcasing horror's ability to discuss women's autonomy and societal issues.

  • 00:45:00 - 00:50:00

    As audiences sought new kinds of fear, 'The Exorcist' shocked viewers with its visceral portrayal of demonic possession, emphasizing the dramatic transformation of its character, Regan, and becoming a cultural touchstone for discussions on religion and fear in America, proving to be a monumental success in horror history.

  • 00:50:00 - 00:58:48

    Subsequent films built on this foundation, leading to the blockbuster 'The Omen', which leveraged biblical prophecies to ground its story. Its successes led Hollywood to embrace horror more fully, merging cultural themes with big-budget productions while independent horror continued to innovate and influence mainstream films.

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Video Domande e Risposte

  • What film did Alfred Hitchcock direct that impacted horror cinema?

    Psycho

  • Which director reinvented zombies with 'Night of the Living Dead'?

    George A. Romero

  • What is a significant theme in 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'?

    The connection to real-life killer Ed Gein and the portrayal of rural America.

  • Which film is considered the first horror blockbuster?

    The Omen

  • What trend did 'Halloween' establish in horror films?

    The slasher movie genre.

  • What era is referred to as the golden age of horror cinema?

    The late 1960s and 1970s.

  • Which film introduced demonic possession as a significant horror theme?

    The Exorcist.

  • How did David Cronenberg influence horror films?

    Through explorations of body horror and psychological themes.

  • What social issue was addressed in 'Rosemary's Baby'?

    Women's independence and societal control.

  • How did 'Dawn of the Dead' mix humor with horror?

    By satirizing consumerism through zombies.

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Scorrimento automatico:
  • 00:00:06
    in 1960 a young woman was running away
  • 00:00:10
    from something something that she
  • 00:00:12
    shouldn't have done everything would
  • 00:00:14
    have been fine if it hadn't been for her
  • 00:00:16
    choice of accommodation after that
  • 00:00:24
    horror cinema and taking a shower would
  • 00:00:27
    never be quite the same again
  • 00:01:07
    psycho casts a long shadow over American
  • 00:01:10
    horror cinema and not just because of
  • 00:01:12
    its shocking set pieces its commercial
  • 00:01:15
    and critical success gave filmmakers
  • 00:01:17
    permission to break the established
  • 00:01:18
    rules of storytelling you fancy killing
  • 00:01:21
    off your lead halfway through the
  • 00:01:22
    picture by all means psycho promised to
  • 00:01:26
    make the cinema a far more dangerous
  • 00:01:27
    place or anything could happen mrs.
  • 00:01:31
    Bates
  • 00:01:39
    you
  • 00:01:46
    it took a few years for this promise to
  • 00:01:48
    be fulfilled but when it was an
  • 00:01:50
    explosion of American films dragged
  • 00:01:52
    horror kicking and screaming into the
  • 00:01:55
    present day with their contemporary
  • 00:01:58
    settings and uncompromising content he
  • 00:02:01
    remained controversial
  • 00:02:15
    for me this was a new golden age of
  • 00:02:19
    Horus cinema but it also left a rather
  • 00:02:22
    troubling legacy
  • 00:02:48
    it's am a weekend in Los Angeles and I'm
  • 00:02:51
    learning the correct way to film someone
  • 00:02:53
    stabbing you with a large twig it's all
  • 00:02:56
    down to getting the correct angle for
  • 00:02:58
    the blood splatter 60 degree boil wash
  • 00:03:02
    while she's at it this is a horror
  • 00:03:10
    convention where fans from across
  • 00:03:12
    America have gathered for a festival of
  • 00:03:14
    shopping film screenings and fancy dress
  • 00:03:19
    horror cinema now has a loyal following
  • 00:03:22
    the protective from the periodic slumps
  • 00:03:24
    of its earlier years more than anything
  • 00:03:27
    else it was the new wave of American
  • 00:03:29
    films that emerged after the late 60s
  • 00:03:32
    that made this possible thanks to their
  • 00:03:36
    fearsome reputation these films are
  • 00:03:38
    often seen as only being for hardcore
  • 00:03:40
    horror fans but I think they deserve a
  • 00:03:42
    wider audience
  • 00:03:46
    to find out why let's flip back to
  • 00:03:48
    nineteen sixty-eight when a small
  • 00:03:50
    independent film appeared almost out of
  • 00:03:52
    nowhere and put American Horror back on
  • 00:03:55
    the map we are the very thing they're
  • 00:04:00
    coming to get you Barbara stop it you're
  • 00:04:03
    acting like a child they're coming for
  • 00:04:06
    you look that comes one of them now
  • 00:04:10
    he'll hear you here he comes now I'm
  • 00:04:13
    getting out of John in Night of the
  • 00:04:30
    Living Dead director george a romero
  • 00:04:32
    reinvented zombies as a non supernatural
  • 00:04:35
    thoroughly modern menace I was very
  • 00:04:41
    struck again watching it recently how I
  • 00:04:43
    really really good the zombies are
  • 00:04:47
    everything which know people do as their
  • 00:04:49
    standard zombie it's absolutely there
  • 00:04:51
    what did you actually ask them to do to
  • 00:04:54
    be the living dead right from the top
  • 00:05:01
    I've said just do your best dead don't
  • 00:05:05
    do Frankenstein just if you were dead
  • 00:05:07
    and weak and you were having a hard time
  • 00:05:10
    walking and just do what you'd like and
  • 00:05:13
    I find that people are just so
  • 00:05:14
    creatively
  • 00:05:31
    like psycho Night of the Living Dead was
  • 00:05:33
    made cheaply and resourceful e-shop by
  • 00:05:35
    Romero and a group of friends at
  • 00:05:37
    weekends but unlike psycho it was made
  • 00:05:44
    independently of the big studios free
  • 00:05:47
    from the constraints of Hollywood Romero
  • 00:05:50
    could test the limits of on-screen
  • 00:05:52
    horror we decided from the beginning
  • 00:05:58
    that we were going to push the envelope
  • 00:05:59
    a bit that we weren't going to cut away
  • 00:06:01
    we were gonna actually show some of this
  • 00:06:03
    we didn't know how much we didn't know
  • 00:06:06
    how much the actors would be willing to
  • 00:06:07
    do and there's a shot that I
  • 00:06:11
    particularly remember where this zombie
  • 00:06:14
    has a Liberty the thing is obviously
  • 00:06:18
    real and it's squishy and it's Anna yeah
  • 00:06:23
    I mean it gave me a bit of laws and then
  • 00:06:26
    we said I let's let it all hang out
  • 00:06:35
    but the film challenged audience
  • 00:06:38
    expectations in even more important ways
  • 00:06:40
    I think the biggest reason that that
  • 00:06:46
    night of Living Dead was sort of talked
  • 00:06:48
    about as sort of essential American
  • 00:06:50
    cinema particularly of that decade was
  • 00:06:53
    because the lead actor was an
  • 00:06:55
    african-american and that i have to say
  • 00:06:57
    was damn near pure accident Duane Jones
  • 00:07:04
    was the best actor from among our friend
  • 00:07:11
    when John Russo and I wrote the script
  • 00:07:14
    we were thinking of this guy as a white
  • 00:07:16
    guy it's all right but when he became
  • 00:07:23
    african-american though the film became
  • 00:07:26
    so much younger
  • 00:07:38
    Night of the Living Dead is raw and
  • 00:07:40
    violent but not i think gratuitous
  • 00:07:44
    because it feels true to the ero in
  • 00:07:46
    which it was made one of civil rights
  • 00:07:51
    protests political assassinations and
  • 00:07:55
    the Vietnam War this is the horror film
  • 00:07:59
    as social commentary the metaphor for
  • 00:08:01
    America turning against itself enhanced
  • 00:08:05
    by Romero satirical but quite convincing
  • 00:08:07
    fake newsreel footage chief if I were
  • 00:08:11
    surrounded by six or eight of these
  • 00:08:12
    things would I stand a chance with him
  • 00:08:14
    well there's no problem if you had a gun
  • 00:08:15
    shoot him in the head that's a sure way
  • 00:08:17
    to kill him if you don't get yourself a
  • 00:08:19
    club or a torch beat him or burn him
  • 00:08:21
    they go up pretty easy we knew that
  • 00:08:22
    there was some anger in the film what we
  • 00:08:25
    were talking about mostly was the
  • 00:08:27
    disintegration of the family unit and of
  • 00:08:29
    the communal the community the
  • 00:08:31
    disintegration of community was what we
  • 00:08:34
    felt also a bit of anger that peace and
  • 00:08:37
    love had not worked as well as we might
  • 00:08:39
    have liked and all of a sudden you know
  • 00:08:43
    the world was still in the same sort of
  • 00:08:45
    state of collapse and and chaos that
  • 00:08:48
    we'd all been trying to repair
  • 00:08:55
    romero's zombies oh nothing to the
  • 00:08:57
    supernatural it suggested that this
  • 00:09:00
    outbreak of the undead may be the result
  • 00:09:03
    of radioactive contamination and somehow
  • 00:09:05
    this just adds to the film's
  • 00:09:07
    unflinchingly bleak tone in which even
  • 00:09:09
    children turn against their parents and
  • 00:09:18
    taking a cue from Hitchcock Romero is
  • 00:09:21
    unsentimental about the fate of even his
  • 00:09:23
    most sympathetic characters you drag
  • 00:09:29
    that out of here and throw it on the
  • 00:09:30
    fire nothing down here all right go
  • 00:09:33
    ahead down and give him a hand let's go
  • 00:09:35
    check out the house there's something
  • 00:09:36
    there I heard a noise all right man hit
  • 00:09:43
    him in the head right between the yacht
  • 00:09:45
    we were able to actually completely
  • 00:09:47
    finish the film make an answer print the
  • 00:09:49
    first print of the film and we were
  • 00:09:52
    driving into New York my one of my
  • 00:09:53
    partners and I and in yeah I think the
  • 00:09:57
    first print of night Living Dead is in
  • 00:09:58
    the trunk of our car and on the radio
  • 00:10:00
    along the drive we heard that Martin
  • 00:10:03
    Luther King had been assassinated good
  • 00:10:09
    shot the success of Night of the Living
  • 00:10:12
    Dead changed the horror business model
  • 00:10:14
    it showed that low-budget independent
  • 00:10:16
    films could turn a decent profit
  • 00:10:29
    other young directors picked up their
  • 00:10:31
    lightweight cameras and followed
  • 00:10:32
    Romero's lead I've come to a los angeles
  • 00:10:35
    suburb to meet the mild-mannered
  • 00:10:37
    gentleman responsible for perhaps the
  • 00:10:39
    most notorious of these films he says it
  • 00:10:43
    all goes back to stories from his
  • 00:10:44
    childhood about the infamous real-life
  • 00:10:46
    killer and Dean my Wisconsin relatives
  • 00:10:54
    would would tell me about this this this
  • 00:10:59
    man Ed Gein that had been taken in
  • 00:11:03
    custody and that they found human skin
  • 00:11:05
    lampshades and human skin furniture
  • 00:11:08
    maybe there were body parts in the
  • 00:11:10
    refrigerator it seemed like you know the
  • 00:11:12
    bogeyman I mean I had enough information
  • 00:11:16
    to scare the hell out of me
  • 00:11:26
    the same case inspired both psycho and
  • 00:11:29
    Hooper's 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw
  • 00:11:31
    Massacre which presents itself as a true
  • 00:11:34
    story the kind of crime watch
  • 00:11:36
    reconstruction from hell there's nothing
  • 00:11:40
    supernatural or even science fiction
  • 00:11:43
    about the film but its characters find
  • 00:11:45
    themselves trapped in a backwoods
  • 00:11:47
    America which seems to have been
  • 00:11:49
    bypassed by progress the place where a
  • 00:11:51
    family house can also be a slaughter
  • 00:11:54
    house the place that's atavistic and
  • 00:11:57
    cannibalistic before I'm making change
  • 00:12:01
    so I started really considering what
  • 00:12:03
    makes hard work based on my experience
  • 00:12:06
    seeing films and I found to me the films
  • 00:12:10
    set in and around death gave it an
  • 00:12:13
    additional tone because I mean the death
  • 00:12:15
    is the ultimate monster also I wanted to
  • 00:12:19
    show that the process of death wasn't as
  • 00:12:23
    simple as taking someone with a knife
  • 00:12:25
    and two frames later there expire hello
  • 00:12:55
    the film's bogeyman his Leatherface a
  • 00:13:00
    massive former slaughterhouse worker
  • 00:13:02
    forever hidden behind a mask made from
  • 00:13:05
    someone's skin and perhaps the first
  • 00:13:08
    iconic American horror monster since the
  • 00:13:10
    1940s Leatherface himself going back to
  • 00:13:16
    the sort of classic monster tradition is
  • 00:13:17
    is quite Karloff like from an initially
  • 00:13:22
    terrifying sort of hulking brute he has
  • 00:13:25
    moments of pathos absolute farce it's
  • 00:13:28
    all about a very bad day mr. it's a bad
  • 00:13:33
    day for everyone it's a terrible day for
  • 00:13:34
    Leatherface Leatherface he keeps
  • 00:13:39
    wondering where the hell are all these
  • 00:13:40
    kids coming from and you know to the
  • 00:13:42
    point he goes sit down by the window and
  • 00:13:45
    he looks out and then he starts patting
  • 00:13:47
    his face because he knows his ass isn't
  • 00:13:50
    such terrible truffle
  • 00:13:54
    this dark strain of humor came as
  • 00:13:56
    something of a surprise when I
  • 00:13:57
    eventually saw the film having always
  • 00:13:59
    been slightly scared off by the title
  • 00:14:02
    surely one of the starkest a most
  • 00:14:05
    perfect in cinema history I was also
  • 00:14:08
    surprised by the lack of gore this is a
  • 00:14:14
    film where it's not what you see but
  • 00:14:16
    what you hear that's truly terrifying
  • 00:14:26
    that the sound designer is is so great
  • 00:14:28
    that there's a sort of pneumatic drill
  • 00:14:31
    almost subliminal again kind of pounding
  • 00:14:34
    away and Sally screams become so endless
  • 00:14:39
    it starts to freak you out I think the
  • 00:14:42
    whole thing becomes like a genuine
  • 00:14:44
    nightmare
  • 00:14:48
    the screams that she was making or so
  • 00:14:55
    real that you felt the sound the sound
  • 00:15:00
    went into you and you knew it was the
  • 00:15:02
    sound of truth
  • 00:15:09
    if those been fake Hollywood screams it
  • 00:15:15
    would meant nothing I mean it had to be
  • 00:15:18
    someone that just knew she was going to
  • 00:15:20
    be ripped apart rest assured gentle
  • 00:15:25
    fewer you don't see anyone being ripped
  • 00:15:27
    apart in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre for
  • 00:15:31
    all its reputation this is a film about
  • 00:15:33
    psychological rather than physical
  • 00:15:34
    torture although the actual filming
  • 00:15:37
    seems to have involved a bit of both the
  • 00:15:42
    real sense of insanity came from it 117
  • 00:15:45
    degrees in that house the hoplites
  • 00:15:52
    started cooking the props the cast and
  • 00:15:57
    crew would run to the window and heave
  • 00:16:00
    you know because of this nauseous odor
  • 00:16:03
    of dead things that light the time under
  • 00:16:10
    those conditions for everybody got a
  • 00:16:12
    little crazy
  • 00:16:17
    they all hated me at the end of the
  • 00:16:20
    movie I mean there are two wrap parties
  • 00:16:23
    going on one the groups were split my
  • 00:16:26
    wrap party was sitting on the porch of
  • 00:16:27
    the house all by myself haha low-budget
  • 00:16:33
    independent films brought a new realism
  • 00:16:35
    and immediacy to horror taking their
  • 00:16:38
    inspiration from television news and
  • 00:16:40
    documentary rather than the gothic
  • 00:16:42
    tradition
  • 00:16:54
    but horror was also getting proper money
  • 00:16:56
    behind it once more the big Hollywood
  • 00:17:01
    studios have been rediscovering horror
  • 00:17:02
    but like the independence they didn't
  • 00:17:05
    want to let the supernatural go but even
  • 00:17:08
    their glossiest productions now had a
  • 00:17:10
    fresh contemporary edge
  • 00:17:16
    at the forefront of this new cycle of
  • 00:17:18
    Hollywood horror was paramount pictures
  • 00:17:20
    Rosemary's Baby released in 1968 it's
  • 00:17:24
    the story of a young couple who move
  • 00:17:26
    into a new york apartment unaware that
  • 00:17:28
    their elderly neighbors are Satanists it
  • 00:17:32
    was the first American picture by an
  • 00:17:34
    acclaimed European director Roman
  • 00:17:36
    Polanski and it starred a fashionable
  • 00:17:38
    young actress Mia Farrow as rosemary
  • 00:17:40
    sporting an equally fashionable videl
  • 00:17:43
    Sassoon haircut Rosemary's Baby had an
  • 00:17:49
    interesting topical subtext about
  • 00:17:51
    women's independence and control over
  • 00:17:53
    their bodies but it also served up a
  • 00:17:56
    classic horror climax where some
  • 00:17:58
    delicious dialogue helps Polanski get
  • 00:18:01
    away with not actually delivering a
  • 00:18:02
    shock reveal what have you done to it
  • 00:18:15
    what have you done to it sighs he has
  • 00:18:19
    his father's eyes
  • 00:18:25
    are you talking about guys are normal
  • 00:18:28
    what have you done damn you may say to
  • 00:18:32
    mrs. father not guy he came up from hell
  • 00:18:36
    and begat a son of mortal woman hail
  • 00:18:38
    Satan Satan is his father hail Satan
  • 00:18:42
    indeed rosemarie didn't just give birth
  • 00:18:44
    to the devil's baby she spawned a whole
  • 00:18:46
    brood of films about demonic children
  • 00:18:50
    looking back it's clear why this theme
  • 00:18:53
    may have resonated with American
  • 00:18:54
    audiences at the time a generation gap
  • 00:18:59
    appeared to be opening up between the
  • 00:19:01
    establishment and young people the model
  • 00:19:04
    clean could youth of America seemed
  • 00:19:06
    increasingly to have been replaced by
  • 00:19:07
    shouting swearing angry young men and
  • 00:19:10
    women it was like they've become
  • 00:19:13
    possessed
  • 00:19:23
    but who would have thought that one of
  • 00:19:25
    the most disturbing screen monsters of
  • 00:19:27
    all time would be played by a wholesome
  • 00:19:29
    looking fourteen-year-old called Linda
  • 00:19:31
    Blair whilst rosemary's baby has a sly
  • 00:19:44
    sense of humor The Exorcist takes good
  • 00:19:47
    evil and religion very seriously it
  • 00:19:51
    depicts in graphic detail the
  • 00:19:52
    transformation of a loving daughter into
  • 00:19:55
    a hideous demon-possessed creature it's
  • 00:19:58
    a tough film to watch at times even for
  • 00:20:00
    hardened horror fans it seems like this
  • 00:20:10
    one director William Friedkin veers
  • 00:20:12
    between an intensely physical education
  • 00:20:14
    of a child's pain and suffering the
  • 00:20:16
    burst of unexpected foul-mouthed
  • 00:20:18
    violence boy the flowers mine The
  • 00:20:25
    Exorcist was one of the most widely seen
  • 00:20:27
    films of its time and it's projectile
  • 00:20:29
    vomiting and rotating heads have become
  • 00:20:31
    part of the lexicon of popular culture
  • 00:20:33
    but i think that lurking beneath the
  • 00:20:36
    set-pieces has an even richer and more
  • 00:20:39
    disturbing film
  • 00:20:46
    there's one particular set up and pay
  • 00:20:49
    off that I find very effective this is
  • 00:20:52
    Father Damien Karras the closest thing
  • 00:20:54
    the film has to a hero a man wrestling
  • 00:20:58
    with his own guilt and doubts father you
  • 00:21:04
    helpin all the boy I'm a Catholic it's
  • 00:21:13
    not until an hour of screen time later
  • 00:21:15
    that Kara's finally meets the possessed
  • 00:21:18
    Regan well then let's introduce
  • 00:21:20
    ourselves I'm Damien Karras and I get
  • 00:21:23
    devil now kindly undo these straps if
  • 00:21:27
    you're the devil 1 i'll make the straps
  • 00:21:28
    disappear that's much too vulgar display
  • 00:21:31
    of power terrace where's Regan in here
  • 00:21:36
    with us show me a Reagan and I'll loosen
  • 00:21:40
    one of the straps yeah helping all altar
  • 00:21:43
    boy father you help an old all the boy
  • 00:21:48
    father me that simple echoed line is the
  • 00:21:52
    most disturbing moment in the film
  • 00:21:53
    perhaps because it suggests and on the
  • 00:21:56
    presence of evil that the devil is
  • 00:21:58
    always watching us I'm taking notes
  • 00:22:03
    helped by some enthusiastic endorsement
  • 00:22:06
    from Catholics after all it's a film
  • 00:22:08
    where priests saved the day The Exorcist
  • 00:22:10
    proved even more successful than its
  • 00:22:12
    makers had expected Satan had cemented
  • 00:22:23
    his position at the head of the box
  • 00:22:24
    office and Hollywood now felt confident
  • 00:22:26
    enough to put big money and big stars
  • 00:22:29
    behind him 1976 or the arrival of what
  • 00:22:37
    is arguably the first horror blockbuster
  • 00:22:39
    even though it was an American
  • 00:22:41
    production with American stars the film
  • 00:22:43
    boasted a fine British supporting cast
  • 00:22:45
    and a host of memorable British
  • 00:22:47
    locations such as this All Saints Church
  • 00:22:49
    and Fulham site of a memorable impaling
  • 00:22:51
    the film is of course the fantastic The
  • 00:22:54
    Omen
  • 00:22:58
    when the Jews returned design when a
  • 00:23:01
    comet rips the sky and the Holy Roman
  • 00:23:03
    Empire Rises than you and I must die
  • 00:23:06
    from the eternal sea he rises creating
  • 00:23:09
    armies on either Shore turning man
  • 00:23:12
    against his brother till man exists the
  • 00:23:26
    omen purports to be based on biblical
  • 00:23:27
    prophecy but you'll struggle to find its
  • 00:23:30
    most famous verses in the book of
  • 00:23:31
    Revelation they were a complete
  • 00:23:33
    invention by writer david seltzer
  • 00:23:40
    digging into the book of Revelation I
  • 00:23:44
    just fell in love with mythology and the
  • 00:23:46
    characters and the plots and the
  • 00:23:49
    preposterous pneus of the whole thing
  • 00:23:51
    and I thought I'm going to do something
  • 00:23:54
    preposterous and it's going to look real
  • 00:24:02
    seltzer uses the myth of the apocalypse
  • 00:24:04
    to create a plot in which the American
  • 00:24:07
    ambassador to London play by Gregory
  • 00:24:09
    Peck no less adopts the Antichrist Satan
  • 00:24:15
    has determined to place his child in
  • 00:24:20
    position of political influence and
  • 00:24:23
    power in the United States he uses me my
  • 00:24:27
    wife Lee Remick and me as as a vehicle's
  • 00:24:32
    dupes so to speak and we don't know that
  • 00:24:36
    it's the devil child how do you feel
  • 00:24:44
    when Gregory Peck came on board Gregory
  • 00:24:48
    Peck made the movie happen before Greg I
  • 00:24:51
    knew him before Gregory Peck I don't
  • 00:24:54
    want to be one of these Hollywood assets
  • 00:24:55
    before Gregory Peck came aboard it was a
  • 00:24:58
    whole different kind of movie it was a
  • 00:24:59
    b-movie the original cast was Charles
  • 00:25:04
    Bronson in the Gregory Peck role playing
  • 00:25:06
    the ambassador to the court of st. James
  • 00:25:08
    I don't think so suddenly Gregory Peck
  • 00:25:13
    agreed to do it was in love with it the
  • 00:25:18
    fact that he brought this straight face
  • 00:25:20
    to it this incredible dignity is what
  • 00:25:23
    made it work Charles Bronson would have
  • 00:25:25
    made it joke a supporting cast of
  • 00:25:29
    respectable British actors including
  • 00:25:31
    David Warner lent the omen and had
  • 00:25:34
    gravitas do you think a key to the
  • 00:25:37
    film's success is the fact that everyone
  • 00:25:39
    plays it with a straight bat oh
  • 00:25:40
    absolutely there was no tongue in cheek
  • 00:25:42
    there was no sending out he was played
  • 00:25:44
    absolutely for real pay before one scene
  • 00:25:49
    just said if we can convince them with
  • 00:25:54
    this we all deserve Oscars that's what
  • 00:25:58
    he said you can see the challenge Warner
  • 00:26:03
    and peck faced in this piece of textual
  • 00:26:06
    exegesis that's for the rise of the
  • 00:26:08
    Roman Empire scholars think that that
  • 00:26:11
    could well mean the formation of the
  • 00:26:12
    Common Market the Treaty of Rome bit of
  • 00:26:14
    a stretch is for what about this in
  • 00:26:16
    Revelations it says he shall rise from
  • 00:26:19
    the eternal sea but that's the poem
  • 00:26:21
    again from the eternal sea he rises
  • 00:26:23
    creating armies on either Shore that was
  • 00:26:26
    the beginning of it and theologians
  • 00:26:28
    already interpreted the eternal sea as
  • 00:26:30
    meaning the world of politics the sea
  • 00:26:33
    that constantly rages with turmoil and
  • 00:26:35
    revolution so the devil's child will
  • 00:26:40
    rise from the world of politics
  • 00:26:46
    the omen is all the more effective for
  • 00:26:49
    the fact that we never see anything
  • 00:26:50
    explicitly supernatural happen on screen
  • 00:26:53
    just a series of rather unfortunate
  • 00:26:56
    events such as a nanny hanging yourself
  • 00:26:59
    at a children's party
  • 00:27:05
    the reason it felt so frightening is
  • 00:27:08
    that there was a critical mass and
  • 00:27:09
    accumulation of coincidental horrific
  • 00:27:13
    accidents any one of which out of
  • 00:27:15
    context could have looked like it could
  • 00:27:18
    have happened but then you began to get
  • 00:27:21
    the accumulation and understand that
  • 00:27:24
    there was this wave of evil coming
  • 00:27:26
    toward these characters that they would
  • 00:27:28
    ultimately not be able to escape the
  • 00:27:32
    film really begins to raise its game
  • 00:27:33
    with the death of a priest and former
  • 00:27:35
    doctor who staged here in Fulham with an
  • 00:27:38
    almost operatic flamboyance you there
  • 00:27:42
    for the spearing of Patrick Troughton I
  • 00:27:44
    was there on the day that Patrick
  • 00:27:47
    Troughton was speared and I think these
  • 00:27:49
    days it would have been all done CGI but
  • 00:27:52
    we were just a bunch of kids putting on
  • 00:27:55
    a show with with cardboard and scotch
  • 00:27:58
    tape there was a fishing line that went
  • 00:28:00
    from the top of the church and was
  • 00:28:02
    anchored in the ground behind Patrick
  • 00:28:05
    and on cue it was sent sliding down
  • 00:28:10
    there was just a little wooden spear
  • 00:28:11
    very light since sliding down that
  • 00:28:13
    fishing line and as it supposedly came
  • 00:28:16
    through it was really landing behind him
  • 00:28:18
    Patrick just went and that's in fact
  • 00:28:22
    that would cost two hundred thousand
  • 00:28:24
    dollars tonight across about seven bucks
  • 00:28:41
    cuz it could be argued the next to the
  • 00:28:44
    Exorcist and Rosemary's Baby the omen is
  • 00:28:47
    rather unsophisticated fair but it's
  • 00:28:49
    really a different beast it's a compact
  • 00:28:52
    highly efficient studio thrill ride but
  • 00:28:54
    owes more to the set pieces of films
  • 00:28:56
    like jaws than it does to the
  • 00:28:58
    slow-burning traditions of Val Lewton
  • 00:29:01
    but what the film does share with Luton
  • 00:29:04
    is panache and ingenuity no more so than
  • 00:29:07
    in one of the greatest on-screen deaths
  • 00:29:09
    in horror cinema staged by director
  • 00:29:11
    Richard Donner with startling
  • 00:29:13
    originality the way I had written it was
  • 00:29:17
    that the David Warner character is
  • 00:29:20
    bending down to pick up these daggers
  • 00:29:22
    and a construction crane carrying a huge
  • 00:29:25
    piece of glass drops it and Dick put it
  • 00:29:30
    on a horizontal plane
  • 00:29:42
    when I saw that head twirling and I saw
  • 00:29:45
    the dailies have a twirling in slow
  • 00:29:47
    motion I thought oh yeah tickets tickets
  • 00:29:50
    doing something very special here
  • 00:29:57
    do you have any idea what happened to
  • 00:30:00
    your severed head I lost it in the
  • 00:30:03
    divorce unlike in The Exorcist good does
  • 00:30:12
    not triumph in the omen excuse me mr.
  • 00:30:15
    president when you're ready to leave
  • 00:30:17
    your cars right over there in a moment
  • 00:30:19
    yes sir at the end of the tail Damien
  • 00:30:23
    the Antichrist is the last character
  • 00:30:24
    standing but in its very final shot the
  • 00:30:27
    film does something highly daring for a
  • 00:30:29
    70s horror film it breaks the fourth
  • 00:30:32
    wall does that smile mean we're all in
  • 00:30:37
    on the joke all that the devil knows
  • 00:30:39
    we're watching but you don't believe in
  • 00:30:42
    the devil no no certainly not I wouldn't
  • 00:30:45
    be messing around with stuff like this
  • 00:30:47
    if I did
  • 00:30:53
    the figures spoke for themselves and
  • 00:30:56
    Hollywood now felt able to embrace
  • 00:30:58
    horror to an extent unmatched since the
  • 00:31:01
    1930s there's a fascinating footnote to
  • 00:31:05
    these big studio extravaganzas
  • 00:31:07
    independent filmmakers hadn't entirely
  • 00:31:10
    given up on the supernatural one of my
  • 00:31:12
    favorite horror pictures of the 70s is a
  • 00:31:14
    little-known low-budget effort from
  • 00:31:16
    George Romero called Martin it's a
  • 00:31:19
    vampire film but with an intriguingly
  • 00:31:21
    modern twist Martin is a vampire who
  • 00:31:25
    looks like a teenage boy or possibly
  • 00:31:28
    just a teenage boy who thinks he's a
  • 00:31:30
    vampire
  • 00:31:54
    with no obvious supernatural powers he
  • 00:31:58
    subdues his victims using drugs and
  • 00:32:00
    violence I didn't want to do another
  • 00:32:10
    strictly horror film and so I initially
  • 00:32:13
    said well let's do a spoof initially
  • 00:32:16
    that was my idea let's do a spoof a
  • 00:32:19
    vampire who is having problems living in
  • 00:32:22
    the modern age somewhere along the way
  • 00:32:26
    an idea came to me that this could be
  • 00:32:28
    quite tragic
  • 00:32:33
    the film cleverly straddles the classic
  • 00:32:36
    supernatural and contemporary secular
  • 00:32:38
    strands of horror cinema Martin is
  • 00:32:44
    haunted by memories or maybe just
  • 00:32:46
    fantasies of a romantic gothic past but
  • 00:32:55
    in reality he's a shy deeply lonely
  • 00:32:58
    figure who struggles to communicate with
  • 00:33:00
    women uh you must be Martin is a is tied
  • 00:33:13
    to khuda home yet I said what if this is
  • 00:33:21
    some kid who just is it is attracted to
  • 00:33:26
    women but doesn't know how to approach
  • 00:33:29
    it is this mystery how do I get there I
  • 00:33:32
    mean he keeps saying I'd love to do the
  • 00:33:34
    sexy stuff sexy stuff when someone is
  • 00:33:38
    awake I mean you know but he feels he
  • 00:33:41
    has a knock them out in order to do it I
  • 00:33:44
    was just trying all across the way to
  • 00:33:47
    sort of worked it out Romero confronts
  • 00:33:52
    head-on what other filmmakers were only
  • 00:33:54
    prepared to imply that vampirism is
  • 00:33:57
    little different from rape no matter how
  • 00:33:59
    much Martin tries to romanticize his
  • 00:34:01
    actions
  • 00:34:09
    is he a Fanta sister thinks he's a
  • 00:34:12
    vampire oh gosh I think completely he is
  • 00:34:15
    completely I mean you have to make a
  • 00:34:16
    decision when you're doing a film like
  • 00:34:19
    that where you want it to be ambiguous
  • 00:34:21
    and but you have to make a decision so
  • 00:34:23
    that you don't violate your own rules
  • 00:34:28
    but while George Romero is
  • 00:34:30
    deconstructing traditional horror a
  • 00:34:32
    Canadian director was taking the genre
  • 00:34:34
    in an entirely new direction
  • 00:34:44
    even a mention of the name David
  • 00:34:47
    Cronenberg is enough to strike terror
  • 00:34:49
    into the hearts of lesser mortals where
  • 00:34:55
    better to contemplate the work of david
  • 00:34:56
    cronenberg in here at the canadian
  • 00:34:58
    academy for erotic inquiry subject of
  • 00:35:00
    one of his early short films it's not
  • 00:35:03
    real of course the Cronenberg's work is
  • 00:35:05
    replete with fictitious clinics and
  • 00:35:07
    institutes were at landish research
  • 00:35:09
    resulted in physical and often sexual
  • 00:35:12
    transformations perhaps it's true to say
  • 00:35:14
    that if there was a Canadian Academy for
  • 00:35:16
    erotic inquiry Cronenberg would
  • 00:35:18
    definitely be in charge but then he
  • 00:35:22
    tells me that everything is erotic that
  • 00:35:28
    everything is sexual you know what I
  • 00:35:31
    mean he tells me that even old flesh is
  • 00:35:38
    erotic flesh that disease is the love of
  • 00:35:42
    two alien kinds of creatures for each
  • 00:35:45
    other that even dying is an act of
  • 00:35:51
    aratus ism
  • 00:35:55
    a talking is sexual that breathing is
  • 00:36:01
    sexual that even to physically exist is
  • 00:36:05
    sexual and I believed him and we make
  • 00:36:12
    love beautiful shivers also known as the
  • 00:36:18
    parasite murders and they came from
  • 00:36:20
    within his Cronenberg's first
  • 00:36:22
    full-length feature and it perfectly
  • 00:36:24
    encapsulates his abiding preoccupation
  • 00:36:26
    with sex and body horror it explores
  • 00:36:32
    what happens to the inhabitants of a
  • 00:36:33
    plush Montreal apartment block when
  • 00:36:35
    they're infected by an outbreak of
  • 00:36:37
    venereal parasites oh oh good heavens
  • 00:36:55
    it's fair to say that Cronenberg's cast
  • 00:36:58
    which included horror queen barbara
  • 00:37:00
    steele may not quite have realized what
  • 00:37:02
    they were in for I don't think I read
  • 00:37:05
    the script carefully enough I just oh
  • 00:37:07
    well that'll be a nice little trip to
  • 00:37:08
    Canada Cronenberg loves bodily fluids as
  • 00:37:12
    we found out in subsequent movies you
  • 00:37:14
    know they materialized all over the
  • 00:37:16
    place and he certainly sort of pulled it
  • 00:37:19
    off with that the parasite murders or
  • 00:37:22
    shivers are these repulsive creatures
  • 00:37:26
    coming out of the I'm in the bathtub
  • 00:37:29
    earnest and same kind of disgusting
  • 00:37:32
    falling apart parasitical thing that
  • 00:37:36
    looks like you know the crown jewels
  • 00:37:39
    coming up towards me I just thought God
  • 00:37:42
    what am I doing here this is insane
  • 00:37:59
    Oh
  • 00:38:22
    watching shivers is a strange experience
  • 00:38:24
    as if we're observing a live experiment
  • 00:38:27
    to the Canadian Academy for erotic
  • 00:38:29
    inquiry Cronenberg makes no real effort
  • 00:38:34
    to get us to sympathize with his
  • 00:38:36
    characters many of whom start off as a
  • 00:38:38
    rather bland repressed lot the effect is
  • 00:38:42
    to make us watch with fascination as
  • 00:38:44
    much as fear as the parasite spread by
  • 00:38:47
    releasing everyone's sexual urges
  • 00:39:01
    I think he is more comfortable when he
  • 00:39:05
    was filming there things looked really
  • 00:39:06
    important to him which were in fact of
  • 00:39:09
    course all the parasites and all all the
  • 00:39:14
    repellent stuff the relentless squelchy
  • 00:39:23
    detail of shivers was pioneering in the
  • 00:39:25
    mid-seventies easily written off as a
  • 00:39:27
    gratuitous way of achieving shock
  • 00:39:28
    through discussed I think what really
  • 00:39:37
    depresses me about that film is that
  • 00:39:39
    it's so utterly unhealthy it's not going
  • 00:39:41
    to corrupt anybody but equally it's not
  • 00:39:43
    going to do anybody any good it's after
  • 00:39:45
    effect is to leave you with a memory of
  • 00:39:46
    obscene and ID images and who needs that
  • 00:39:49
    the Cronenberg's later films such as
  • 00:39:52
    scanners and the fly showed that the
  • 00:39:54
    effect of physical and psychological
  • 00:39:56
    transformation is an abiding theme in
  • 00:39:59
    his work he often suggest it should be
  • 00:40:04
    accepted rather than feared perhaps like
  • 00:40:07
    our own experience of disease and aging
  • 00:40:10
    of all the film makers to emerge during
  • 00:40:12
    this era Cronenberg has the most
  • 00:40:15
    intellectual agenda
  • 00:40:24
    the film ends with the parasites
  • 00:40:27
    triumphant free to spread and infect the
  • 00:40:29
    rest of society
  • 00:40:44
    shivers boasts the classic 70s downbeat
  • 00:40:48
    ending or does it what's particularly
  • 00:40:51
    chilling is that Cronenberg is at best
  • 00:40:53
    ambivalent towards the parasites perhaps
  • 00:40:56
    his characters have been strangely
  • 00:40:58
    liberated most horror movies have a
  • 00:41:01
    pretty clear sense of defeat or victory
  • 00:41:03
    few end on such a disturbingly ambiguous
  • 00:41:07
    note
  • 00:41:13
    remarkably Cronenberg's full frontal
  • 00:41:16
    assault and Canadian values was
  • 00:41:17
    partially bankrolled by taxpayers money
  • 00:41:19
    through the National Film development
  • 00:41:21
    fund questions were asked in Parliament
  • 00:41:24
    but the fuss died down when it emerged
  • 00:41:27
    that shivers had become one of the most
  • 00:41:28
    profitable Canadian pictures ever made
  • 00:41:39
    back in Los Angeles a long way from
  • 00:41:41
    Cronenberg's wintery Montreal a strange
  • 00:41:44
    ritual is being enacted of the horror
  • 00:41:46
    convention this is a zombie walk an
  • 00:41:55
    increasingly popular pastime amongst
  • 00:41:56
    fans who delight and dressing down
  • 00:41:58
    letting their inner ghoul they're going
  • 00:42:06
    to quickly this is not 28 days later
  • 00:42:11
    he's there you properly it's hard to
  • 00:42:15
    imagine Cronenberg Ian parasites or
  • 00:42:18
    demonic children inspiring this kind of
  • 00:42:20
    affection but zombies have now become a
  • 00:42:22
    list monsters and the turning point was
  • 00:42:26
    in 1978 when george romero made a second
  • 00:42:29
    groundbreaking zombie picture dawn of
  • 00:42:31
    the dead.the taught us to love the
  • 00:42:34
    walking dead
  • 00:42:36
    I was so cowed by the things that have
  • 00:42:40
    been written about knives living dead
  • 00:42:42
    that for years I resisted doing another
  • 00:42:45
    one I didn't want to do another one
  • 00:42:46
    which was just zombies in a little
  • 00:42:48
    farmhouse I thought that I needed some
  • 00:42:51
    sort of a really central theme at the
  • 00:42:53
    heart of it and then I socially knew the
  • 00:42:59
    the people who developed a this big
  • 00:43:04
    shopping center it was the first indoor
  • 00:43:08
    shopping mall anywhere near Pittsburgh
  • 00:43:11
    now they're on every street corner I
  • 00:43:14
    said oh here's something that I can
  • 00:43:17
    really have a little fun way
  • 00:43:20
    what the hell is like a shopping center
  • 00:43:24
    where those big indoor malls
  • 00:43:36
    this was the first one of these kids
  • 00:43:39
    this was not the social hangout this is
  • 00:43:42
    not where all the teenagers went every
  • 00:43:45
    night yet Ramirez heroes take refuge in
  • 00:43:50
    the mall surrounded by ravenous zombies
  • 00:43:56
    the film is almost prophetic as a satire
  • 00:43:59
    on quite literally mindless consumerism
  • 00:44:03
    you're still here they're after us they
  • 00:44:08
    know we're still in here after the place
  • 00:44:12
    they don't know why they just remember
  • 00:44:15
    remember that they want to be in here
  • 00:44:18
    what the hell they're us that's all
  • 00:44:22
    there's no more room in Hell spent the
  • 00:44:26
    zombies are the ultimate consumer haha
  • 00:44:29
    do they haha they go back to the mall
  • 00:44:32
    because it's what they've always known
  • 00:44:34
    it's their sort of Valhalla
  • 00:44:38
    seeing them walking the corridors it
  • 00:44:42
    actually occurred to me that these this
  • 00:44:44
    is us this really is awesome there's
  • 00:44:57
    something about desire zombies desire to
  • 00:45:02
    be us they desire to eat us and we
  • 00:45:05
    desire running shoes and stuff you know
  • 00:45:09
    it's candles that smell nice
  • 00:45:20
    is the comedy that the satire very
  • 00:45:23
    important I had tried to put it in there
  • 00:45:25
    from from from the pop into my films I
  • 00:45:29
    think it helped it softens it it it
  • 00:45:32
    makes it more of a conversation between
  • 00:45:36
    you and I it's a little joke it's like a
  • 00:45:40
    joke before an important speech yeah you
  • 00:45:43
    know it says wait a minute no I mean
  • 00:45:45
    we're friends here and you know let's
  • 00:45:47
    chuckle about this and not get too upset
  • 00:45:49
    and I I think it's quite important less
  • 00:45:55
    this is all sounding too respectable it
  • 00:45:58
    should be observed the dawn of the dead
  • 00:45:59
    mixes it's satire with an unprecedented
  • 00:46:02
    dose of gore it had one of the highest
  • 00:46:06
    body counts of any film to date although
  • 00:46:09
    in fairness most of the bodies were
  • 00:46:11
    already dead
  • 00:46:23
    you know the coyote and Roadrunner
  • 00:46:25
    cartoon yeah i think the zombies are the
  • 00:46:28
    Coyotes of monster they're there to be
  • 00:46:31
    damaged say goodbye
  • 00:46:42
    I don't know what forgives it what makes
  • 00:46:45
    it did they're just so sort of jalopy
  • 00:46:49
    there's a certain kind of an enjoyment
  • 00:46:51
    that comes from seeing the coyote fall
  • 00:46:53
    off the cliff but take it from me that
  • 00:46:59
    still best kept at a distance oh it's
  • 00:47:02
    you it's you guys it's good that is soon
  • 00:47:09
    it's our morning dawn of the dead blend
  • 00:47:26
    of slapstick gore and social satire
  • 00:47:28
    showed just how much horror films had
  • 00:47:30
    evolved in the 1970s but the shadow of
  • 00:47:34
    Norman Bates was about to fall across
  • 00:47:36
    small-town America in a film which went
  • 00:47:39
    right back to basics it's so lame to
  • 00:47:42
    scare us out of our wits the final
  • 00:47:49
    destination of my horror itinerary is
  • 00:47:51
    the scene of the crime of halloween
  • 00:47:56
    made in 1978 it sees the murderous
  • 00:47:59
    masked figure of Michael Myers stock
  • 00:48:01
    babysitters in the Midwestern town of
  • 00:48:04
    haddonfield Illinois
  • 00:48:07
    it's one of the most convincing locales
  • 00:48:09
    ever featured in a horror movie but most
  • 00:48:11
    of it was filmed by director john
  • 00:48:12
    carpenter in the Californian suburbs of
  • 00:48:15
    South Pasadena it's John what drew you
  • 00:48:19
    to Pasadena for a location well if we
  • 00:48:22
    look around we it's the trees it's the
  • 00:48:26
    houses it's the feeling of the streets
  • 00:48:28
    it's the way that lawns are kept up it
  • 00:48:31
    feels very middle America to me in a
  • 00:48:35
    kind of a an idealized way I mean true
  • 00:48:39
    they're not houses like this it's just a
  • 00:48:41
    beautiful area there's something about
  • 00:48:46
    my youth in Halloween night sat night in
  • 00:48:49
    the little town I grew up in him
  • 00:48:50
    Kentucky is this the same kind of feel
  • 00:48:52
    to it nobody was around nobody went out
  • 00:48:57
    the bleakness is that is the issue I
  • 00:49:00
    wanted the empty streets I wanted it
  • 00:49:02
    quiet almost like a ghost town carpenter
  • 00:49:11
    uses the empty streets to build a
  • 00:49:13
    pervasive sense that his characters are
  • 00:49:15
    under surveillance from a barely
  • 00:49:17
    glimpsed figure
  • 00:49:23
    we just didn't have any money so you had
  • 00:49:26
    to rely on seeing him not seeing him all
  • 00:49:29
    sorts of tricks look look we're behind
  • 00:49:42
    the bush I don't see any pari-mutuel by
  • 00:49:46
    so fast thought when you yelled at
  • 00:49:49
    savile isn't he
  • 00:49:58
    Halloween was in the first film to have
  • 00:50:00
    a faceless killer terrorizing a bunch of
  • 00:50:02
    teenagers but its sheer visceral power
  • 00:50:05
    and the skill of carpenters direction
  • 00:50:07
    gave it an impact and a success beyond
  • 00:50:09
    any of his predecessors more than any
  • 00:50:11
    other film Halloween ushered in the age
  • 00:50:14
    of the slasher movie the scariest seen
  • 00:50:21
    psycho is Ann Arbor gas comes up the
  • 00:50:23
    stairs
  • 00:50:40
    that moment of coming out of nowhere
  • 00:50:42
    influenced me for Halloween I thought
  • 00:50:45
    well have you established this guy and
  • 00:50:49
    you establish he can be anywhere then
  • 00:50:51
    the audience is gonna start to believe
  • 00:50:53
    he's anywhere in any shadow
  • 00:51:14
    it's with this increasing sense that the
  • 00:51:17
    killer is omnipresent that Halloween
  • 00:51:19
    becomes a true horror film something
  • 00:51:21
    much more than just a well-executed
  • 00:51:22
    thriller like the devil in The Exorcist
  • 00:51:26
    Michael Myers is anywhere and everywhere
  • 00:51:29
    and seems unstoppable by any physical
  • 00:51:32
    means it makes the film an immensely
  • 00:51:36
    scary watch
  • 00:51:48
    I'm watched it with an audience and I've
  • 00:51:50
    never heard screaming like this you just
  • 00:51:53
    about out and out screaming
  • 00:52:11
    the scene after the closet scene
  • 00:52:14
    panavision shot so she's in the
  • 00:52:15
    foreground in the doorway we're on
  • 00:52:17
    focused on her and in the background his
  • 00:52:19
    bodies lying there out of focus and he
  • 00:52:20
    sits up there place goes nuts
  • 00:52:33
    a long time since I think so this is
  • 00:52:41
    Laurie Strode house it is it is it is
  • 00:52:44
    Wow we have a little shrine so that's
  • 00:52:47
    your eye on it's perfectly timed release
  • 00:52:51
    at Halloween in 1978 carpenters film
  • 00:52:54
    became an enormous success Perry there
  • 00:52:58
    are halloween tours staba thongs around
  • 00:53:01
    this neighbor neighborhood how do you
  • 00:53:03
    feel about that I had no clue at the
  • 00:53:05
    time any of this would be taking place
  • 00:53:08
    because all I wanted to do all we wanted
  • 00:53:12
    to do was make a movie we were young the
  • 00:53:15
    future was ahead of us life was great
  • 00:53:18
    and all we cared about was getting a
  • 00:53:20
    movie that had no idea this would happen
  • 00:53:26
    Halloween is the consummate /a movie but
  • 00:53:30
    I'm not too enthusiastic about its
  • 00:53:31
    legacy the slew of lower quality
  • 00:53:34
    increasingly gory serial killer outings
  • 00:53:36
    that would overwhelm the genre for years
  • 00:53:39
    to come Mike hores equivalent of Dutch
  • 00:53:42
    elm disease one of the reasons that
  • 00:53:47
    Halloween assert ushered in so many
  • 00:53:49
    horror films was it because it was cheap
  • 00:53:52
    and it made a lot of money so others
  • 00:53:55
    said I'll great what a great way to make
  • 00:53:58
    some money just because I opened the
  • 00:54:01
    door doesn't mean that every person that
  • 00:54:05
    steps through is going to take the
  • 00:54:07
    horror film to it it's next plateau but
  • 00:54:09
    uh I could have you can blame me for
  • 00:54:12
    anything you want to I take full
  • 00:54:14
    responsibility horror convention the
  • 00:54:24
    zombies are having a lie-in and i'm
  • 00:54:26
    looking at a roll call of more than half
  • 00:54:27
    a dozen actors who've played Michael
  • 00:54:29
    Myers in what's become an unkillable
  • 00:54:31
    Halloween franchise
  • 00:54:36
    sometimes it doesn't feel like things
  • 00:54:37
    have moved on much since 1978 which were
  • 00:54:40
    me marks the end of the last sustained
  • 00:54:42
    period of horror creativity today's
  • 00:54:46
    directors often seen content just to
  • 00:54:47
    follow zombie like in the footsteps of
  • 00:54:50
    carpenter Cooper and Romero yes there
  • 00:54:59
    have been standout single films and some
  • 00:55:03
    splendid flourishing Xin places like
  • 00:55:05
    Japan Spain and Mexico but in America in
  • 00:55:10
    Britain too much horror seems like more
  • 00:55:12
    of the same fair spiced up with
  • 00:55:14
    pointless torture and at the risk of
  • 00:55:16
    sounding like an old curmudgeon I have
  • 00:55:19
    little appetite for it I think the older
  • 00:55:22
    you get the more you fear your own
  • 00:55:24
    mortality the more you're sort of tastes
  • 00:55:26
    shift mine are certainly shifted more
  • 00:55:29
    towards a love of ghosts and and
  • 00:55:33
    spookiness and away from blood and gore
  • 00:55:36
    which is a teenager I sort of lapped up
  • 00:55:40
    to 12 a better expression
  • 00:55:44
    I don't in any way impugn anyone's
  • 00:55:48
    thrill and fun but I'm very much with
  • 00:55:51
    George Romero the without satire without
  • 00:55:54
    a sort of without a context it can be
  • 00:55:58
    just exactly what it looks like which is
  • 00:56:01
    just people having their throats slit
  • 00:56:03
    back when I was a young horror fan it
  • 00:56:06
    felt like a somewhat solitary existence
  • 00:56:08
    now there's a huge thriving horror
  • 00:56:11
    subculture the kind of constituency of
  • 00:56:13
    horror there the loyal custodians of the
  • 00:56:17
    genre but I worry that horror cinema
  • 00:56:19
    feels it no longer needs to reach out
  • 00:56:21
    beyond them and many ordinary filmgoers
  • 00:56:24
    feel excluded from today's horror
  • 00:56:26
    pictures
  • 00:56:35
    making this series has reminded me the
  • 00:56:38
    great horror can be highly personal and
  • 00:56:40
    speak to a wide audience and I hope I've
  • 00:56:45
    been able to share my enthusiasm and
  • 00:56:47
    even make some converts to the horror
  • 00:56:49
    cause
  • 00:56:53
    after all it's always nicer to have
  • 00:56:56
    plenty of company in the cinema
  • 00:56:58
    otherwise who knows what could be
  • 00:57:00
    lurking in the shadows you helping old
  • 00:57:06
    altar boy fodder
  • 00:57:20
    just a moment ladies and gentlemen we
  • 00:57:27
    hope that the memories of zombies
  • 00:57:32
    Leatherface Michael Myers and company
  • 00:57:36
    won't give you bad dream so a word of
  • 00:57:41
    reassurance when you switch off the
  • 00:57:45
    television and the lights have been
  • 00:57:48
    turned out and you dread to look behind
  • 00:57:52
    the curtain in case you see a face of
  • 00:57:55
    here at the window we're just pull
  • 00:58:00
    yourself together and remember that
  • 00:58:03
    after all there are such things
  • 00:58:24
    stay with us there's classic horror
  • 00:58:26
    coming up next with Dawn of the Dead and
  • 00:58:28
    then at ten to eleven on Wednesday don't
  • 00:58:30
    miss the sci-fi horror film scanners as
  • 00:58:33
    we venture into the terrifying world of
  • 00:58:35
    mind control
  • 00:58:44
    you
Tag
  • American Horror Cinema
  • Psycho
  • Night of the Living Dead
  • Zombie
  • Slasher
  • Body Horror
  • The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
  • The Exorcist
  • Social Commentary
  • Cultural Significance