CARLOS CLARENS AND HIS CLASSIC BOOK

On Christmas morning, 1967, I opened a present that would forever galvanize my obsession with monster movies. Already indoctrinated with FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and others, and after having watched numerous monster movies, I was ready to become a serious Monsterologist.

Under the wrapping was a copy of Carlos Clarens' "The Illustrated History of the Horror Film". I was awestruck. The fact that my parents even bought it for me showed that they were finally giving up on "protecting" me from these awful things!

I can't tell you how many hours I spent looking at the photos, many of which I'd never seen before. Then, when I finally got down to reading it, I found some of the writing to be a little above my 13 year-old head. But read it I did, and found much of it to be accessible for my youthful level.

Over the subsequent years, I've read it several more times with a complete comprehension, and have come to appreciate it even more.

Clarens pulls no punches, and criticizes those films he thought weren't up to par for various reasons. In any event, it was -- and still is -- one of the best books on the subject. Of course, since then there has been many more books on the history of horror films, but to anyone wanting a baseline on the topic, you can't go wrong with this book.

Carlos Clarens.

Carlos Clarens (b. July 7, 1930, Havana, Cuba, d. February 8, 1987, New York, NY) was of Cuban heritage and is recognized as a prominent film historian for his early books on the above mentioned, as well as crime movies. He was multi-lingual and, after leaving Havana, spent time in Paris where he provided subtitles for various films. He died at the age of 56.

CAGNEY, CELEBRITY STOCKS AND CHARITY

Here's a two-page featurette from SHOW magazine (June 1957) that promo's James Cagney's role as Lon Chaney in MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES that was to be released in August of that year. It includes the apocryphal statement that the many body contorting techniques of Chaney's make up were partially to blame for his death (!).

Even in the 1950's, actors were trying to escape the shadow of the IRS. Here's a story on how they were trying to avoid high taxes by making a business out of their name and selling stock (!).

And, finally, here's a story about a Hollywood charity ball that included Jayne "Fully Packed" Mansfield as a cigarette girl (!).

WOMEN SCREAMED AT THE SIGHT OF HIM!

Peter Lorre terrified film audiences. Was it because he was born in the Carpathian Mountains, home to Dracula and vampires? No, it was because of his role as Hans Beckert, perverted murderer of little girls in Fritz Lang's M (1931)! A woman was reported as having died in the audience while watching the film, and women literally screamed when they saw him on the street. Even his friends began to send their children to their rooms when Lorre came visiting.

M was Lang's first sound film and his most favorite. Besides the subject matter, it was notable for using a voice over track, as well as being one of, if not the first time in cinema history where a musical theme ("In the Hall of the Mountain King" from Edvard Grieg's "Peer Gynt Suite No. 1") was used to intentionally identify a particular character in a film. It was adopted from the same technique, called leitmotif, used in classical music and has been used countless times since.

M was banned by the Nazis in 1934. Lorre, who was Jewish, fled Germany not long after the release of the film. Lang wisely fled two years later.

This article from the February 1935 issue of MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE, is quite possibly the first published interview with Peter Lorre in a movie fan magazine. It was conducted between his roles in Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and MGM's MAD LOVE. The article treats Mr. Lorre fairly and tones down the sensationalist angle. As a result, he seems to be very candid with his responses.

A rare glimpse into horror history!

6 COMMON HORROR FILM TROPES

This post, from the Raindance Film Festival website, discusses some of the more often-used tropes (a nicer word for cliche) used in horror films. Like in other media it's how the trope is used in the context of the rest of the story as to its effectiveness.

6 Common Horror Film Tropes
by Matt Loggie | 9 January, 2017 | Filmmaking, Screenwriting

We all love a good scare, well most of us do. A good horror film can do this in a number of different ways, from a creeping sense of dread to a heart stopping moment of shock. Horror films get your heart thumping and your blood pumping.

Horror may be the most ‘tropey’ genre in film. It uses and re-uses concepts and familiar settings over and over. Humans fear the unknown, so after the 14th time seeing a main character walk through the halls of a dark house, or abandoned insane asylum coming face to face with the ghost that’s been terrorizing him it’s not really all that scary any more, to me anyway.

Most horror films in recent years feel like they are going by a checklist. A dark house, a vengeful spirit, and jump scares every 5 minutes. Here’s a list of commonly used tropes and themes associated with the horror genre. Lets take a look at how and why they are used and maybe inspire you to do things a little different.

Jump Scare
This one is such a common trope some might consider it integral to the genre maybe even a necessity. Jump scares can be effective at getting the heart rate of the audience pumping, giving them a quick chemical injection of Dopamine and Adrenaline. We get a buzz from the release of these chemicals.

This buzz can hide certain flaws in the film and might disguise weak writing or poor character development. I feel it can be ineffective and even counter productive for a film if overused. Great horror films like The Shining (1980), The Babadook (2014) and The Witch (2015) try to avoid the jump scare, instead favouring to build up the fear and uneasiness over time, letting the audience stay in that feeling longer.

No Coverage
Being chased by a killer through the woods? Hiding from the monster in the closet? If you’re a character in a horror film, chances are your cell phone will have no coverage at a crucial point in your survival. This trope is a product of the times. Years ago these kinds of scenes didn’t exist along with the cell phones used in them. As cell phones became more common scriptwriters had to come up with a way to explain why people couldn’t just call for help at any time. The easiest way to solve this problem? No coverage. This is a tough one to work around at this point, everyone has a smart phone and coverage is pretty good in most places.

The Abandoned Place
Weather it’s a haunted house or dilapidated hospital, horror films love putting characters in creepy abandoned places. There is something about imagery depicting places human beings have left behind that strike a chord with people. We think about what could have happened that drove the people away, what was life like before they left? who were they? These are some major reasons why filmmakers choose to set films in these types of locations. However, the scariness of your film should not be tied to the creepiness of your location. Try to write script that would be scary no matter where it took place, where the fear is based on internal factors within characters, not the external factors of the set. 

The Vengeful Spirit
This one is very popular. In films ghosts always seem to have a grudge against the living. They spend eternity trying to exact revenge on our characters for the suffering they endured in the past. Eventually our character discovers the truth, solves the riddle and sets right a wrong that eventually brings peace to the angry apparition. This one seems to be the most popular trope in recent years with films like The Grudge (2004), Paranormal Activity (2007), The Conjuring (2013), It Follows (2015),

The list goes on. Have you ever noticed in most of these films characters eventually just seem to accept the fact the ghost exists and that they need to help them. After they succeed everything is happy and they can go back to their normal lives, but what about the fact they now have proof of an existence after death, and a terrible, anger filled one at that. This is a world changing revelation, even if just to the person who experiences it. How would someone really deal with that?

Death by Sex
Death by sex is the ultimate 80’s horror trope. It still pops up every now and then but is mostly remembered from classic horror films like Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and it is effective because it prays upon the psyche of the young adults watching the film. Come on, getting caught in the act by anyone let alone a masked killer is a terrifying thought, especially to younger people. This trope seems to have died off I recent years (no pun intended) but it still pops up from time to time.

The Final Girl
This classic trope is more commonly found in the slasher sub-genre and usually starts with a group of teenagers having a good time together and ends with all but one girl dead and dismembered. I think the reason this trope became so popular among filmmakers is kind of due to the necessities of slasher films. The audience identifies and (usually) empathizes with the lead character so you want them to be perceived as vulnerable in the face of danger hence why the last person alive usually is a small, terrified woman instead of a large, angry man.

These films usually start with a larger group of young people. Each character usually represents an archetype (The Jock, The Slut, The Nerd). The filmmaker wants the audience to be unsure who is going to live and who is going to die so having a large cast that gets picked off one by one helps with that. The final girl is usually innocent, and shy in the beginning of the film. In the end she is revealed to be the most intelligent and resourceful character and in the end usually finds the strength to defeat the killer.

This trope connects with the Death by Sex trope as they were both popularized in the late 70’s early 80’s and usually in the same types of films but has appeared in more recent films like Cabin in the Woods (2012), a film that pays tribute to the horror genre and puts a twist on many of the tropes in this list.

These are just a few of the many tropes commonly associated with the horror genre. Will you use them or will you break them? Whatever you decide; if your are planning on writing a horror film it is important to know the history and conventions of the genre so to better understand how you can innovate and stand out.

[SOURCE: Raindance.org.]

THE STATE OF THE HORROR FILM, 1959

"Horror is now one of the basic American commodities, like breakfast cereal and soap." 

- Charles Beaumont and Hollis Alpert

Buried away in the March, 1959 issue of PLAYBOY, is this hidden gem of an article co-authored by then Contributing Editor (and TWILIGHT ZONE scripter) Charles Beaumont and famous film critic, Hollis Alpert (later to co-write the PLAYBOY SEX IN CINEMA series with Arthur Knight). The piece analyses the current state of the horror film and its influence on the movie-going public. The authors convincingly discuss the similarities between the successful formulas used in both Western and horror films and conclude that these are the reason for their popularity.

In 1959, however, it was the science-fiction and horror film that reigned at the box-office, especially at the drive-in, where the nation's youth could go and spend their money on "cheap thrills" as well as other "recreational activities". . . sex and horror -- the perfect match.

Producer Robert Newman stated that "Horror movies are sexually stimulating to people, whether they know it or not. The monster itself is usually a symbol of sexual power unleashed." The authors confirm this by adding that King Kong, Frankenstein, Dracula, the Creature From the Black Lagoon and Caligari's Cesare were all "skirt chasers". Considering the publication that the article appeared in, this angle is covered in depth.

The piece goes on to delve into the machinations of Hollywood and provides several anecdotes regarding the love/hate relationship between Tinsletown producers and their biggest meal ticket, horror films, proving its hard not to look a gift monster in the mouth.

Oh, and if you're wondering who the Playmate of the Month was for the issue, it was the tastefully posed "girl next door", Audrey Daston.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM (PART 2)

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM (PART 1)

STARBURST THE ANNUAL OF CINEMA & TELEVISION FANTASY: CLASSICS OF THE HORROR FILM
1982 (Annual)
Marvel Comics/Grandreams
Editor: John Baraclough
Writer: Alan Murdoch
Design: Steve O' Leary and Rahid Khan
Art Assistant: Richard Vaughn
Editorial Assistant: Alan McKenzie
Cover: ?
Pages: 62
Cover price: £2.50

This annual from STARBURST covers the history of horror films from the 1930's through the 1970's. It is suitable to serve as an introduction to new fans with little knowledge of the classics and to more seasoned fans who want to walk once more down the haunted path of Memory Lane. Included is a nice color film poster gallery.