It Came From Cold War America, Chapter 4: Science in the Fifties

Another quiet week as far as movies and movie news are concerned. Therefore, I'll post eyt another chapter of my first major science fiction paper It Came From Cold War America. After all, now that I've started posting this paper bit by bit, I can't not finish it (that's just not in my neurotic nature!). Besides, I'm sure you're all dying to know how it ends.

Hoofdstuk 4: ‘Science’ en de tijdsgeest

Paragraaf 4.1: Wat speelde er in deze tijd?

Zoals al gezegd in het voorgaande historisch overzicht werd het leven in de jaren vijftig gedomineerd door de consequenties van de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Hoewel Amerika en haar bondgenoten de vijand verslagen hadden, doemde een nieuwe potentiële vijand op, de Sovjet-Unie. Aangezien deze staat door het communisme, een ideologie die haaks stond op het Amerikaanse ideaal van de kapitalistische samenleving, gedreven werd, resulteerde het wantrouwen tussen beide staten in een periode van angst en paranoia. Tijdens deze Koude Oorlog werd het Amerikaanse publiek continu herinnerd aan de bedreiging die het communisme voor de Amerikaanse maatschappij en haar normen en waarden vormde. Mensen die van de norm afwijkende opvattingen hanteerden werden met argwaan bekeken. Desondanks bestond het ‘rode gevaar’ voornamelijk in het Amerikaanse collectieve bewustzijn¹. In de praktijk viel het allemaal wel mee.

Bovendien ging de angst voor de Sovjet-Unie gepaard met de angst voor de atoombom. Dit wapen had de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Amerika’s voordeel beëindigd, maar had ook het vertrouwen van veel mensen in technologische vooruitgang geschaad. Toen de Sovjet-Unie in staat bleek eigen atoomwapens te kunnen ontwikkelen, vreesden veel mensen voor een atoomoorlog, die mogelijk de ondergang van de menselijke beschaving zou kunnen betekenen. Technologische ontwikkeling was niet langer een garantie voor een mooie toekomst. Technologie was een beangstigend iets geworden².

Tegelijkertijd veranderde de samenleving in Amerika van binnenuit op sociaal gebied. Op economisch gebied ging het Amerika voor de wind. De welvaart steeg enorm, mede dankzij de nieuwe Europese markt die door de Marshallhulp tot stand was gekomen. Veel mensen, vooral diegenen die de depressiejaren hadden meegemaakt, waren zeer tevreden met deze nieuwe welvaart: hierdoor heerste, vooral in de meer conservatieve kringen, sterk de angst dat men deze nieuwe geborgenheid kon verliezen door toedoen van atoomwapens, vijandige staten en dergelijke zaken³.

Desondanks was er ook kritiek op de welvaart en haar gevolgen, voornamelijk op het Fordistische systeem dat het met zich meebracht. De samenleving werd een ‘technocratic society’⁴. Mensen werden slechts raderen in het systeem en verloren controle over hun eigen bestaan. Het leven werd een routine, waarin er geen ruimte was voor andersdenkenden en diversiteit⁵. De massacultuur nam het systeem over: mensen meenden hun identiteit kwijt te raken. De man-in-de-straat verloor zijn individuele status en ging op in de grote grijze massa. 

Voorts vond er een generatieconflict plaats. De jongere generatie van na de Tweede Wereldoorlog, de zogenaamde babyboomers, bleek van een heel ander slag dan de voorgaande generatie. Deze jongeren groeiden op met welvaart en waren niet anders gewend. Ze hadden geld en tijd te besteden op een schaal die voor de oorlog ondenkbaar was, aangezien Amerika toen nog uit de depressiejaren opkrabbelde⁶. De jongeren rebelleerden tegen de starre wereld van hun ouders, en schiepen een eigen jeugdcultuur, vaak tot afkeuring van de oudere generatie.

Tenslotte was er de veranderende positie van de vrouw. De Tweede Wereldoorlog had de maatschappij ertoe genoopt vrouwen in te zetten op plaatsen die voorheen door mannen bezet worden, zoals fabrieken. Toen de oorlog was afgelopen wilden vrouwen deze plaatsen niet afstaan, waardoor rollenpatronen verschoven. In de jaren vijftig was de taak van de vrouw weliswaar nog steeds vaak in het huiselijk leven te vinden, maar ook was het nu meer geaccepteerd voor vrouwen om ander werk te hebben, gedeeltelijk omdat ze door technologische innovaties (wasmachines, stofzuigers) meer vrije tijd kregen. Ook in de wetenschap namen vrouwen een steeds grotere rol in, niet alleen als assistentes, maar ook als volbloed wetenschappers. De nieuwe plaats van de vrouw werd desondanks door veel mannen met moeite geaccepteerd in de patriarchale Amerikaanse maatschappij, omdat zij onder andere vreesden voor het aftakelen van Amerikaanse normen en waarden, zoals het gezinsleven, opvoeding van kinderen en dergelijke zaken⁷.

Paragraaf 4.2: Negatieve opvattingen en representatie van wetenschap in SF-films

Dankzij de atoombom hadden veel mensen het vertrouwen in de wetenschap verloren. De wetenschap had het ultieme vernietigingswapen voortgebracht, en voor de dreiging van een atoomoorlog gezorgd. Veel mensen waren bang voor totale vernietiging. Het is daarom niet verwonderlijk dat Hollywood snel insprong op films die handelden over atoomwapens, of uit de hand gelopen wetenschap in het algemeen. Een groot deel van de sciencefictionfilms van de vijftiger jaren heeft in meer of mindere mate met dit onderwerp te maken. Het idee van ‘science gone bad’ was echter niet nieuw. Al vroeg in de jaren dertig speelde Hollywood erop in, onder andere in films als Frankenstein (USA: James Whale, 1931) en Island of Lost Souls (USA: Erle C. Kenton, 1933) waarin wetenschappers worden opgevoerd die zich bezighouden met bizarre experimenten die resulteren in horror en doodslag.

De wetenschap in films uit de dertiger jaren was echter vrij lukraak (er zat geen plan achter), en nauwelijks gebonden aan de tijdsgeest. In deze tijd speelde wetenschap niet de belangrijke rol die het speelde in de jaren vijftig: die paar films waarin wetenschap gerepresenteerd werd werden niet gemaakt om in te haken op wetenschaps-issues die speelden in de samenleving, maar gewoon om dezelfde reden dat andere films gemaakt werden (om geld op te brengen en het publiek te vermaken). De manier waarop er in horror en sciencefictionfilms uit de jaren vijftig mee omgegaan werd haakte daarentegen sterk in op de tijdsgeest. De atoombom, of atoomenergie in het algemeen, was een vaak terugkerend motief in het genre. Een groot aantal films speelde in op de angsten omtrent atoomwapens die het publiek koesterde. Doorgaans werd echter gebruik gemaakt van metaforen in plaats van het tonen van realistische gevolgen van een atoomoorlog. Zo maakte het terrestrial creature subgenre gebruik van monsters voortgebracht door uit de hand gelopen atoomexperimenten. De monsters stonden in dit geval symbool voor de vernietiging die door atoombommen aangericht kon worden, doordat zij eveneens op grote schaal dood en verderf zaaiden. Bovendien waren veel monsters het product van mutaties veroorzaakt door straling, waarmee ingespeeld werd op de angst voor zulke straling: het bracht groteske en tegennatuurlijke misvormingen met zich mee. Zo kon een ongrijpbaar iets als atoomstraling gereduceerd worden tot iets tastbaars, dat effectief met wapens en soldaten bestreden kon worden.

Wetenschappers zelf kwamen er niet altijd even goed vanaf. Hoewel verscheidene sciencefictionfilms wetenschappers in een positief daglicht stellen en ze als heroïsche protagonisten opvoeren, is er ook een vrij groot aantal films waarin de wetenschappers juist afgeschilderd worden als boosdoeners. De wetenschapper wordt neergezet als koud en meedogenloos, met de neiging mensen op te offeren in naam van de wetenschap.Een treffend voorbeeld vinden we in de persoon van Dr. Carrington in The Thing from Another World. Wanneer in deze film de alien de mensen aanvalt, probeert Carrington ervoor te zorgen dat het wezen geen strobreed in de weg gelegd word, aangezien hij het beschouwt als een hogere levensvorm. Bovendien beschermt hij het nageslacht van het wezen, ongeacht het feit dat het mensenlevens kost, en hij saboteert een poging het wezen te vernietigen⁸. Als de protagonist, kapitein Hendry, hem confronteert met zijn onorthodoxe gedrag, resulteert dat in het volgende gesprek:

Carrington: ‘Knowledge is more important than life. We’ve only one excuse for existing. To think, to find out, to learn. (…) We’ve thought our way into nature, we’ve split the atom…’

Hendry: ‘Yes, and that sure made the world happy, didn’t it?’⁹

Carrington is het schoolvoorbeeld van de wetenschapper die te ver gaat in zijn vertrouwen in de wetenschap, en zich erdoor laat verleiden onmenselijke dingen te doen. Hoewel hij in principe goede bedoelingen heeft, het verheffen van het menselijke kennispeil, leidt dit in The Thing from Another World niet tot positieve resultaten¹⁰. Dit geldt overigens voor de meeste goede bedoelingen in sciencefictionfilms uit deze periode. In veel films wordt een wetenschapper opgevoerd die de mensheid probeert te helpen, waarbij zijn experimenten uit de hand lopen en rampspoed met zich meebrengen. Vooral in het altered human subgenre zien we dit thema vaak terug.

Wetenschappers worden ook vaak gepresenteerd als sociaal onaangepast, en ook deze opvatting komt in The Thing from Another World sterk naar voren¹¹. Ze zijn emotieloos, kennen geen vreugde en leven alleen voor hun werk. Slechts voor hun wetenschap hebben ze interesse. Ze zien geen kwaad in hun werk en nemen weinig verantwoordelijkheid. In sommige gevallen worden ze vergeleken met kinderen, onvoorzichtig, onwetend en altijd hun zin doordrijvend. In The Thing from Another World maakt ook Hendry deze vergelijking:

‘They’re kids. Like nine year olds drooling over a new fire engine.’¹²

Veel mensen hadden in de jaren vijftig ook dergelijke opvattingen over wetenschappers. Ze werden gezien als een intellectuele elite¹³, mensen zonder sociaal leven of connectie met “normale” mensen, die enthousiast praten over dingen waar ‘gewone’ mensen geen verstand van hebben in een onbegrijpelijk wetenschappelijk taaltje. De sfeer in het begin van de vijftiger jaren was sterk anti-intellectueel. Alle mensen die meer hun hoofd dan hun handen gebruikten in hun beroep werden simpelweg als eggheads beschouwd¹⁴. Bovendien werden wetenschappers als potentieel gevaarlijk gezien, aangezien zij verantwoordelijk waren voor de schepping van de atoombom¹⁵. De lancering van de Sputnik in 1957 en de hierop volgende space race brachten verandering in deze visie, aangezien men doorkreeg dat wetenschappers een beslissende rol speelden in het verslaan van de Sovjets wat betreft de ruimtevaart, zodat wetenschap meer in een constructief en serieus daglicht kwam te staan, en het anti-intellectualisme afnam¹⁶.

Paragraaf 4.3: Positieve opvattingen en representatie van wetenschap in SF-films

Hoewel veel mensen wetenschappers als een gevaar zagen, waren er ook velen die juist het tegenovergestelde dachten. Zij zagen wetenschap als hulpmiddel om een hogere levensstandaard te bereiken. Hoewel wetenschap de atoombom had voortgebracht, kon het de mensheid ook redden van oorlog, honger en ziektes. En hoewel experimenten met het atoom een verschrikkelijk massavernietigingswapen hadden voortgebracht, beloofde de wetenschap ook veel goeds door het atoom als energiebron te ontwikkelen. Hierbij kreeg zij steun van de Amerikaanse overheid die zich niet slechts wilde profileren als afnemer van atoomwapens, maar het publiek wilde doen inzien dat atoomenergie een beter leefbare wereld kon vormen¹⁷. De positieve kant van het wetenschappelijk spectrum vond haast net zo veel navolging in het sciencefictiongenre in de jaren vijftig als de negatieve kant.

Deze positieve kanten van wetenschap zien we het sterkst terug in de alien invasion en terrestrial creature subgenres. Wetenschap is hier een krachtig hulpmiddel om de mens te helpen de indringers te verslaan. Vaak zijn de protagonisten van films uit deze subgenres wetenschappers, die dankzij een gedegen analyse van de aliens een middel vinden om hen te verslaan: Lucanio duidt hen aan als scientist heroes¹⁸. Bij het terrestrial creature subgenre treffen we echter een dualiteit aan, aangezien wetenschap, en vaak zelfs dezelfde wetenschappers, ook verantwoordelijk is voor het ontstaan van de indringers. Dit geeft wel het effect dat de wetenschappers een sterk gevoel van verantwoordelijkheid lijken te hebben: integer als ze zijn ruimen ze de rommel die ze gemaakt hebben ook weer op.

In de realiteit werden wetenschappers in de vijftiger jaren niet geconfronteerd met buitenaardse invasies of reusachtige mutaties. Zij trachtten de mensheid, of in ieder geval de Amerikaanse portie hiervan, op andere manieren te helpen. Hun voornaamste doel was technologische ontwikkeling en vooruitgang, om de levensstandaard en welvaart te verhogen.

Hier dient ook gelet te worden op het onderscheid dat Lucanio maakt tussen de klassieke tekst en de Prometheustekst. De klassieke tekst omvat die films die zich richten op indringers die de mensheid aanvallen. Vervolgens moet de samenleving als eenheid terugslaan, onder leiding van een heldhaftig personage dat gebruik maakt van gezond verstand en logica en de situatie rationeel analyseert. Lucanio noemt The War of the Worlds van H.G. Wells als prototype voor deze variatie¹⁹. De meeste sciencefictionfilms die in deze categorie geschaard kunnen worden komen uit de alien invasion en terrestrial creature subgenres. Hiertegenover staat de Prometheustekst, waarin het personage gestuurd wordt door intuïtie en emotie. Deze variatie handelt meer over een personage dat wetenschappelijke experimenten uitvoert die zich tegen hem en zijn omgeving richten. Onder deze categorie valt vooral het altered human subgenre, alsmede enkele terrestrial creature films. In tegenstelling tot de meer onorthodoxe wetenschappers die we aantreffen in de klassieke tekst (zoals voornoemde Dr. Carrington) kon het publiek in de vijftiger jaren zich makkelijker met de Prometheus-wetenschappers identificeren omdat ze normale menselijke eigenschappen vertoonden, in plaats van geportretteerd werden als onderdeel van een intellectuele elite²⁰.

Een andere vorm van wetenschappelijke representatie zien we in een bepaald narratief effect, waarin een wetenschapper indirect, door middel van uitgebreide expositie, aan de andere personages, maar hoofdzakelijk aan het publiek, uitlegt wat er aan de hand is. De wetenschapper dient hier als leraar, en geeft het publiek enige educatie mee²¹. Dit narratieve stijlmiddel komt in alle subgenres voor: zo worden dingen uitgelegd over de voor- en nadelen van atoomenergie, genetica, biologie en andere zaken. Voorbeelden treffen we aan in Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (USA: Eugène Lourié, 1953), The War of the Worlds en eigenlijk bijna alle serieuzere sciencefictionfilms. Ook in het man into space subgenre is het een belangrijk hulpmiddel om het publiek wetenschappelijke zaken uit te leggen, aangezien weinig mensen buiten de wetenschap bekend zijn met de werking van ruimtevaarttechnologie. Zo stimuleerde het sciencefictiongenre de algemene ontwikkeling ook nog enigszins.

Ook op een ander terrein was wetenschap de Amerikaanse samenleving behulpzaam. Samen met het leger vormde ze een sterke eenheid tegen de technische capaciteiten van de Sovjet-Unie. Amerika kon zich geen gezichtsverlies veroorloven, en begreep de noodzaak de Sovjets niet de boventoon te laten voeren in technologische ontwikkeling, met name de space race. Deze gedachtegang zien we het sterkst terug in het man into space subgenre. Destination Moon vormt een sterk voorbeeld. In deze film tracht een stel wetenschappers in samenwerking met enkele particuliere bedrijven een raket te bouwen om naar de maan te reizen. De noodzaak van zo’n missie wordt meerdere keren in duidelijke taal benadrukt door een generaal:

‘A rocket is an absolute necessity. If any other power gets on into space before we do, we’ll no longer be the United States, we’ll be the disunited world.’

‘The race is on and we’d better win it, because there’s absolutely no way to stop an attack from outer space. The first country that can use the moon for the launching of missiles will control the Earth.’²²

Hij blijkt gelijk te krijgen, want al snel worden de pogingen het project van de grond te krijgen ondermijnd door propaganda van een “unfriendly foreign power”²³. Deze natie wordt niet bij naam genoemd, maar dat is ook niet nodig. Eens te meer bleek Destination Moon profetisch: aan het eind van het decennium barstte de space race uit, hoewel het dubieus is dat de betrokken naties van plan waren raketinstallaties op de maan te installeren. In ieder geval won Amerika de race, toen in 1969 de eerste maanlanding plaatsvond. Tot raketinstallaties op de maan is het overigens nooit gekomen.

Ook de veranderende positie van de vrouw, een sociaal thema dat speelde in de jaren vijftig, werd niet overgeslagen in sciencefictionfilms uit deze periode. In verscheidene films zien we vrouwen in typisch mannelijke posities, waaronder de wetenschap (Them!, It Came from Beneath the Sea (USA: Robert Gordon, 1955)) en zelfs het leger (The Thing from Another World). In deze posities doen ze geenszins onder voor hun mannelijke tegenhangers, die echter wel hun bedenkingen hebben over een vrouw in het team dat de indringers bestrijdt: ze laten echter zien dat ze kennis van zaken over hun vakgebied hebben, en deze kennis constructief en relevant weten in te zetten²⁴. Desondanks portretteerden veel films vrouwen nog steeds als damsels in distress, vooral in de latere jaren vijftig, toen de nadruk op horror in het genre groter werd. 

1 Lucanio 1987: 76-77

2 Edelson 1975: 39

3 Katovich en Kinkade 1993: 621

4 Jancovich, Mark. Horror. Londen: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1992: p. 63

5 Jancovich 1996: 19-23

6 Jancovich 1996: 86-87/Veith 2001: 80-81

7 Noonan beschrijft de positie van de vrouw in de vijftiger jaren met betrekking tot het sciencefictiongenre in groot detail in haar artikel ‘"Science in Skirts": Representations of Women in Science in the "B" Science Fiction Films of the 1950s.’. Het onderwerp is te breed om hier voldoende aandacht te krijgen. Voor een beter beeld van dit onderwerp raad ik aan haar artikel onder de loep te nemen.

8 Vieira 2003: 163-164/Katovich en Kinkade 1993: 626

9 Thing From Another World, the. Reg. Christian Nyby. Winchester Picture Corporation, 1951.

10 Jancovich 1992: 64-65

11 Baxter 1970: 106-107

12 Thing From Another World, the. Reg. Christian Nyby. Winchester Picture Corporation, 1951.

13 Lucanio 1987: 51-52

14 Vieth 2001: 63-64

15 Brosnan 1978: 72

16 Vieth 2001: 65

17 Lucanio 1987: 88

18 Lucanio 1987: 25, 27-49

19 Lucanio 1987: 25

20 Lucanio 1987: 51-52

21 Vieth 2001: 163-167

22 Destination Moon. Reg. Irving Pichel. George Pal Productions, 1950.

23 Brosnan 1978: 75

24 Vieth 2001: 45-56

Blob, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Odd mix of horror and juvenile delinquency films launched the brilliant career of the noted actor Steve McQueen (The Great Escape, The Towering Inferno). When a bizarre lifeform lands on Earth and starts devouring all life it comes in contact with, growing ever bigger in the process, Steve and his girl, along with their buddies and the police, must find a way to stop it. Quite the potential for great horror here (something the eighties' remake realized full well, considering just how insanely gorier it was), but unfortunately this was ignored in favor of scenes involving teens cruising around in their cars and playing loud music, which made it a hit with the kids of the day (something the studio hoped for, which is why the movie was made in colour). In fact, the film's  catchy but obnoxious opening music became a smash hit. It spawned a completely useless and campy sequel in 1972, titled Beware! The Blob. This movie, despite being plain silly, retains a charm and a cult following all its own.

Starring: Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe

Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.

USA: Fairview Productions, 1958

Black Scorpion, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Hugely underrated and often ignored fifties' monster flick. In Mexico, giant scorpions are freed from their subterranean imprisonment by volcanic activity and ravage the countryside, after which an American geologist (Richard Denning, a favourite actor in the genre of fifties' creature features) must work with the Mexican armed forces to destroy them before they rampage through Mexico City. The plot of course is not the most important ingredient here, the fabulously animated stop motion creatures are, vividly brought to life by effects pioneer Willis O'Brien in one of his last features. Though he never relived the fame and success of King Kong (1933), this movie at least provides a similar amount of adventurous excitement and monster fun as that masterpiece did, while the animation is almost on par with its famous predecessor. The movie's most thrilling sequences include huge scorpions wrecking a train and an excursion into the underground realm of the beasts which is also populated by various other beasts (including some of King Kong's 'lost spider pit' leftovers!). Often maligned as just another silly forgetful B-movie of the drive-in days, this movie deserves more love and respect, at least from stop motion enthusiasts.

Starring: Richard Denning, Mara Corday, Carlos Rivas

Directed by Edward Ludwig

USA: Amex Productions, 1957

Black Death

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Thematically intriguing but too overtly low budget and conflicted action/fantasy flick set in medieval times. When England is struck by the outbreak of the Black Death, the bubonic plague, the young monk Osmund (Eddie Redmayne) is ordered to investigate a remote village which supposedly has not been stricken by the disease, much to the chagrin of church authorities who suspect witchcraft is involved. Accompanied by a band of grizzly mercenaries under the command of the butch but superstitious knight Ulric (Sean Bean once again playing in the genre he fits in the most), Osmund discovers a peaceful community of atheists led by the beautiful “witch” Langiva ("our" own Carice van Houten, but with a normal English accent this time) who do not take kindly to the intruders intending to introduce God to the villagers by force and violently dispatch the wicked woman, instead casting the first stone upon them, which leads to a harrowing series of executions, chases and general goriness. The notion of atheists forcing Christians to renounce their religion in a time when that religion tolerated no different points of view is a charming reversal of roles, but the resulting dark climax of the film either doesn't bother making a point or simplistically states 'we're all just faulty human beings'. Overall, playing with religious themes and upturning them makes for an interesting addition to the genre, but eventually ends in general bloodshed all too easily without taking such intriguing content much further. Good action and damn fine acting regardless.

Starring: Sean Bean, Carice van Houten, Eddie Redmayne

Directed by Christopher Smith

UK/Germany: HanWay Films, 2010

Black Dahlia, The

Rating: ***/*****, or 6/10

Intriguing and stylistically successful but ultimately haphazard and chaotic movie concerning the 'Black Dahlia' murder mystery of 1947, involving the investigation by two cops of a brutally slain and grotesquely mutilated young woman, based on the novel by James Ellroy. Brian De Palma, no stranger to the genre and the time period, is fully capable of making the scenery and circumstances surrounding the homicide both uncomfortably abject and the object of morbid fascination while utilizing a style that obviously pays homage to film noir, but the overall farfetched yet fairly predictable conclusion of the plot leaves much to be desired, as does Josh Hartnett's acting as a battered cop who's supposedly seen it all, a role that just wasn't suited to his age at the time of shooting this film (way too young, really). Aaron Eckhart does a better job at playing his colleague, as does Scarlett Johansson playing the obligatory beautiful but traumatized femme fatale. The love triangle between the three of them is generally irritating for hindering the progress of the film, but the overall story about abuse of power, corruption in the upper echelons of the law and the vicious objectification of women to deadly consequences remains interesting enough to carry most of the picture.

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Aaron Eckhart, Scarlett Johansson

Directed by Brian De Palma

USA: Universal Pictures, 2006

Big Tits Zombie

Rating: */*****, or 1/10

Absolutely dismal attempt to make something resembling a horror comedy, like only the Japanese in their sick psycho minds could produce (any Japanese people that have seen this thing would undubitably concur with me in that last bigotry ridden statement). Easily one of the worst films I've ever seen, which unfortunately even ended up in my movie collection (I never knew my friends disliked me so much they would give me this monstrosity for my birthday... but at least I didn't pay for it, except for the ten years it took away from my life by giving me brain rot). Except for a few nice naked breasts sparsely displayed throughout, there's just nothing redeemable about this audiovisual piece of poo that by rights shouldn't even be allowed to be called a movie, since that would insult anyone who's ever worked on proper films. The plot, if there is such a thing here, revolves around a few exotic dancers (a bunch of girls with hardly any acting experience, which is clearly revealed) who find themselves under siege by completely unconvincing looking zombies (my cat's fleas could have provided better make-up effects!) after discovering some old book containing incantations capable of resurrecting the dead. Every supposed joke the brainless mutants called 'writers' make misses its mark completely, making this movie so painfully cringeworthy this flick is very hard to sit through, even though it's running for only 74 minutes. To make matters worse – yes, that is actually possible – the movie boasts 3D effects: every time an icon pops up in the corner of the screen, you can put on your 3D glasses, but what is seen when wearing these is not 3D, it's just jumbled, messed up imagery, inducing nasty headaches within seconds. Depth is obviously non-existent in every way here, it might as well be called a 0D movie. If there ever is such a thing as a public movie burning rally somewhere, this is the title you're most likely to see in agony on the bon fire; I'd be first in line to make sure no copies of this horrific pile of garbage survive the event. Original Japanese title: Kyonyȗ Doragon: Onsen zonbi vs sutorippȃ 5: if there's indeed a part 1 through 4 of this (I never bothered finding this out), watching the series in a marathon is nothing short of committing seppuku, the dishonourable version.

“Starring”: Sola Aoi, Risa Kasumi, Mari Sakurai

“Directed” by Takao Nakano

Japan: Big Tits Dragon Production Committee, 2010

Blood of Dracula

Rating: **/*****, or 4/10

Beware! Misleading title here! This movie has nothing to do with the Dracula character in whatever incarnation, despite some semi-vampiric presence in the plot. A better title would have been 'I was a Teenage Dracula', considering this was produced by the same company behind I was a Teenage Werewolf, also released in 1957, to which it bears more than just a coincidental resemblance story wise as it tells of a troubled teenage girl (Sandra Harrison) dumped at a boarding school by her father, who finds herself subjected to hypnotic experiments by the evil headmistress (Louise Lewis), that turn her into a vampire at her behest. This results in a few suspenseless murders here and there and a dull subplot about police investigators trying to find out what's going on. This movie was released as a double bill for drive-ins with I was a Teenage Frankenstein. Production company American International Pictures (AIP) was responsible for many a lousy B-movie in the latter half of the fifties (many of them with overly grandiose, incorrect and thus irresponsible titles): though this flick is far from good, it's by no means the worst of this extensive bunch.

Starring: Sandra Harrison, Louise Lewis, Gail Ganley

Directed by Herbert L. Strock

USA: AIP, 1957

Blob, The (1988)

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

This remake of the 1958 original film is less of a mixed bag genre wise and more of a straightforward horror film: the abundance of gore makes it clear it has no pretensions to be anything else. An gelatinous alien organism lands on Earth in a small American town and starts devouring its inhabitants, quickly increasing in mass until little escape seems possible for the remaining survivors, who also find themselves confronted with a secret government agency intent on capturing the life form for its own shady purposes. Several teenagers must try to evade both these sinister agents and the hungry entity itself to stay alive, in the classic eighties horror tradition. If you can stand the goriness of people being consumed alive, you might find this a fun though otherwise unremarkable decent horror flick. However, the typical love triangle between teenagers present in this film can cause some irritation. At least you won't end up with a very annoying theme song stuck in your head as you would have in 1958.

Starring: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch

Directed by Chuck Russell

USA: TriStar Pictures, 1988

The stuff of dreams...

Not much movie news this week, nor have I seen any new movies that immediately warrant my critique, so I thought I'd take the time to share some of my dream movie projects, movies that I'd really really like to see get made, even though it seems far from likely they ever actually will be. If I ever got to be a director (fat chance!), these movies would be on top of my priority list to shoot. Now I just have to live in hope someone else will make these films some time or another, though I know the chances of that happening, or even the chances of the final products turning out satisfactory, are tremendously slim to say the least.

Storm

Based on the comic books (there's no better translation for the Dutch 'stripalbums' available) by top artist Don Lawrence (RIP, 1928-2003), Storm is positively space opera gold. After receiving international acclaim with his wonderfully bizarre but epic Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire, Lawrence began work on this new science fiction series for the Dutch Eppo comic magazine: it soon turned out to be his magnum opus. Revolving around the astronaut Storm who gets lost in time and returns to Earth finding it irrevocably changed, it follows his quest to discover what happened to his home planet. It soon turns out that in his absence Earth was conquered by the extra-terrestrial Azurian race who reduced the human populace to a barbarian state. Now Storm and his new found female companion Roodhaar (whose original English translation is not Redhair, but Ember) must start an uprising of humanity against their sinister and powerful Azurian overlords. 

It gets even better in the second half of the Storm series. After returning peace to Earth, Storm and Ember are swept across time and space to the other side of the galaxy, to the giant planet Pandarve, occupying a pocket of space all its own, where normal rules of physics don't apply and even planets themselves turn out to be life forms. The creepy and cruel ruler of Pandarve, theocrat Marduk, has brought Storm there for his own wicked purposes (conquering the multiverse, whatever that means), which of course Storm defies, after which he sets out on a new journey, exploring the strange new world of Pandarve while evading Marduk's numerous agents. 

Both the Earth and Pandarve segments of the Storm series feature a wide variety of extremely exotic locales, fantastic monsters and beautiful women (including some lovely gratuitous nudity), all superbly drawn by Lawrence, and, after his death, by various other talented artists who bravely continued his legacy. Many fans have dreamed of a Storm movie for decades, and even though at times there seemed to be something genuine in the works, it never materialized and most likely never will. The main reason is, as it usually is, a matter of money. To translate Storm to the silver screen in an acceptable fashion, pleasing fans and drawing in crowds of people new to this material, would require a very large sum of cash, along the lines only Hollywood could afford. Storm being Dutch property, it certainly will never be made in the Netherlands, unless it is a cartoon, which isn't a very appealing thought. And at this point in cinema history, an expensive space opera blockbuster is not something Hollywood studios are willing to ship out the big bucks for, considering the very recent flop called John Carter (which, I must strongly state, never deserved to flop!). Additionally, to do the source material justice, one Storm film just won't cut it. The series reads like classic science fiction serials, often ending openly enough for more. To condense the Earth saga (which was six to nine albums long, depending on where you feel it ended) into one film would either make for a very long film (which I don't mind), or a very feeble film. A TV series might do the trick in this regard, but the money issue remains, thus making quite sure Storm will probably stay a comic character for now, instead of storming to movie theatres.

Shadows of the Empire

This would be Star Wars Episode 5.5, which alone would make it a dubious project for many. However, that didn't stop Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the animated Episode 2.5 movie, which showed exactly what direction no fan would ever hope Shadows of the Empire would take. A live action film of Shadows of the Empire could however be a fabulous event, reuniting several beloved characters and returning to the classic style of Star Wars' finest hour, The Empire Strikes Back.

Set directly after that grandest of all Star Wars films, the Shadows of the Empire comic books basically tell three stories. Firstly, there's the continuing mission of the original hero characters Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia to rescue their friend Han Solo, encased in carbonite, from the clutches of the ruthless bounty hunter Boba Fett. Secondly, it tells of Boba's own experiences trying to get Solo to Jabba the Hutt to claim his prize, while staying in one piece after his rival bounty hunters band together to open the hunt on him, with the purpose of claiming Solo for their own and putting an end to the career of the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy. And lastly, there's Darth Vader's ungoing quest to draw his son Luke to the Dark Side of the Force, in which he finds himself thwarted by the reptilian alien Xizor, the leader of the Black Sun crime syndicate who has his own agenda, eliminating Vader and becoming the Emperor's “heir”. A lot of character potential here, unlike most of the Star Wars movies allowed, but still with the familiar and ever popular Star Wars planets, aliens and set pieces everybody has come to love. 

So why not make this into a movie? If you even got George Lucas to agree (which seems completely out of the question), the question then remains, how would you do it if not animated? The Clone Wars film turned out a total dud, but you can't get original characters like Luke and Leia to return after thirty years, except if you were to recast them, which undoubtedly many people would feel bad about, including the original actors. A live action Shadows of the Empire film, no matter how awesome the end result would be, is best described as a fanboy's dream about the now lost times of the good ol' Star Wars heydays. And it's probably best to just pick up the comic again whenever you've reached this particular level of dreamy nostalgia. Or play the video game. Or enjoy the action figures. Remember, despite the limited number of Star Wars films, the franchise has spawned enough merchandise to enjoy it on many alternate levels.

The Lost World

Now here's a book that has been made into a film on multiple occasions already, unlike the other entries on this list. However, all of the Lost World films left something to be desired. The best iteration, for example, lacked sound and colour, being a silent film from 1925. And some of the other incarnations were so abysmally lousy they are best forgotten altogether. Still, this is a classic tale from the age of early 20^th century exploration, written by world renowned author Arthur Conan Doyle, that despite many attempts still hasn't fully been done justice, despite its straightforward and fairly simple story line. The hot headed London professor Challenger claims he has found a lost world of prehistoric creatures on a mountain plateau in the South American jungle, after which an expedition is sent out to validate his bold statements. Upon arrival, they find out just how right he was, and the small group is stranded on the remote plateau amidst all sorts of nasty “extinct” creatures, where they have to fight for survival against overwhelming odds. Seems like a certain hit, a great mix of adventure, action and excitement. Think Peter Jackson's King Kong without the monkey. 

However, despite such narrative simplicity, it's been a while since a similar project hit movie screens. Maybe it's just too romantic and naive, too old fashioned for the contemporary moviegoing audience. Not to mention it would of course also be quite expensive to see it done right, relying on an abundance of visual effects work. For the moment, Hollywood just isn't very prone to taking risks, since it would rather rely on franchise names to help sell their products more easily, and The Lost World just isn't a franchise (though considering Doyle's number of Challenger stories, Challenger could be called a franchise after all, just not one with enough of a name to apeal to the general audience). However, we are living in the Golden Age of Remakes, where Hollywood is willing to regurgitate any old story in the hopes of making a profit, so revisiting the Lost World is not completely out of the question. Until that time, lost this world will stay.

Batman VS Predator

Speaking of franchise names, Batman currently is one of the biggest around in Hollywood for sure. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have paved the way for a darker Caped Crusader, with overwhelming critical and audience acceptance. The Dark Knight Rises will continue this trend for 2012, but what's in it for Bats after that? How about going even grittier and combining it with a second franchise to make for a super franchise? Sounds like something that would interest Hollywood, were it not for the fact the other franchise is Predator. 

It worked surprisingly well on paper though, when the Dark Knight found himself drawn in a conflict between the Gotham City underworld and an invisible killer who hacked and slashed its way through Gotham's upper echelons, killing mob bosses, prize fighters and police officers alike in his attempt to draw out what he considered to be the ultimate trophy, namely a bit of superhero. After almost killing Batman in their first round, the vicious extra-terrestrial found out he was in for more than just a street brawl when the vigilante returned with a vengeance, bound to clear Gotham of this alien mess. Batman VS Predator was bloody and violent, but it read like a Gothic horror story and looked like one even more with its dark and shadowy colour palette, showing just how much you can do when you combine two very different franchises to good results. But having the two of them join forces cinematically might just prove to be impossible.

Though it has its own loyal fan base, the latest Robert Rodriguez' produced attempt to revitalize the Predator franchise for an average audience, Predators, probably wasn't successful enough for Hollywood's taste. Plus, this franchise works best when rated R, and that's probably a bit too hardcore for Batman fans who are used to PG-13 for now. What's more, there's the issue of copyrights. Fox currently holds the rights for the Predator franchise, while Batman belongs to rival corporation Warner Pictures. At this point, it seems more likely we'll see Fox and Warner go to war for real than it does for Batman and Predator to wrestle each other on the big screen. That at least gives the younger Batman fans the oportunity to grow up and reach the Predator age, so they can go and read the graphic novel without finding it too scary to see their hero being nearly sliced and diced by a creepy alien creature.

Whatever, we knew Batman was gonna win anyway. There's plenty of Predators, but there's only one Dark Knight.

So I end my list of potentially awe inspiring movie projects here, but there's plenty more where that came from. Be prepared to revisit this topic in another slow week because I can think of a few more works in other media that desperately need a movie made.

Big Fish

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Delightful tragicomedy like only Tim Burton can give us, regarding a man (Albert Finney) who spends his entire life telling tall tales, to such an extent his son (Billy Crudup) can't separate fiction from reality, much to his chagrin. In search for the truth the son meets a variety of characters from his father's life, while the audience is treated to a wide array of very amusing and charming stories about the man's past, from his birth and his youth, the first time he falls in love as a young man (played with apparent enthusiasm by a vigorous Ewan McGregor), his days in the army and as a janitor at a circus to his dying days where he is fondly remembered by those he has touched in his eventful life. A wonderful ode to life, Burton mixes his oddball Gothic visual style with a decidedly positive attitude to the very nature of human existence, effectively relaying his carpe diem message of 'don't worry about anything and just enjoy life one day at a time'. In the end, the son and the viewer learn that the tales make the man, and it doesn't really matter what's true and what's not. Both visually and story wise, this is one of Burton's finest achievements – despite (or because of?) the absence of Johnny Depp – as well as a very fun but poignant film in general. Plus, it contains an always useful and welcome guide to conquering the girl of your dreams' heart.

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Helena Bonham Carter

Directed by Tim Burton

USA: Columbia Pictures, 2003

Beowulf & Grendel

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

Fairly low budget old-school movie based on the ancient English poem proves that you don't need an abundance of digital effects, or even a lot of cash, to make a compelling epic period film. The hero Beowulf (Gerard Butler) travels north to aid king Hrothgar (Stellan Skarsgård) in his fight against the giant troll Grendel who continues to plunder his village and slaughter his men. Beowulf fights the monster, but things are not as simple as they appear as he soon finds himself ensnared in a personal vendetta between the king and the beast that goes back many years, in danger of being trapped in an endless cycle of bloodshed without end, as he also has to confront Grendel's mother, lover and son. This version values the psychology of the protagonist, questioning the validity of his reasons to fight, over displaying epic battles with cool monsters. It also utilizes the superb natural vistas Iceland offers to great effect, thus adding to the film's overall grandeur without having to spend millions of dollars over it. Though often hugely underrated, it's undoubtedly the most thought provoking film version of the Beowulf legend around so far.

Starring: Gerard Butler, Stellan Skarsgård, Sarah Polley

Directed by Sturla Gunnarsson

UK/Iceland: Movision, 2005

Beowulf

Rating: ****/*****, or 7/10

Second foray of Robert Zemeckis into the realm of 'performance capture' (the first being The Polar Express (2004), allowing digital artists to record the motions of actors in blue suits on stage, especially their facial movements for maximum emotional impact, and filling in everything else via the computer afterwards. This time Zemeckis appropriated this technique for telling the epic tale of the medieval hero Beowulf (Ray Winstone), a valiant but arrogant warrior who comes to the aid of a king (Anthony Hopkins) who is plagued by the hideous monster Grendel (Crispin Glover). Beowulf fights the monster successfully, but must than deal with his seductive mother (Angelina Jolie) who promises him fame and riches in return for him giving her a new son. Beowulf accepts, but finds he made a deal with the devil: though he gets what was promised it makes him feel empty and alone. When his son returns as a dragon and lays waste to his kingdom, Beowulf gets one last chance to set things right and be a genuine hero again. Plenty of good action and amazing visuals, but the digital technique just didn't prove able to convincingly breathe life into the pixelized cast, making them feel eerily artificial and soulless. It did prove effective for getting Angelina Jolie stark naked though. Zemeckis, not one to give up on an evolving means of effects, applied performance capture a third time to his take on A Christmas Carol (2009). Beowulf was the first film I ever watched in (IMAX) 3D, and still one of the very few I feel made effective use of the 3D process (just before the 3D craze got a hold of Hollywood and most blockbusters used it to squeeze more bucks out of the audience without delivering the promised goods): the way those giant sea serpents alone came at you made the movie quite spectacular, despite its digital shortcomings. Overall, a good version of the old English poem, effectively combining the very old with the very new.

Starring: Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

USA: Paramount Pictures, 2007

Ben-Hur

Rating: ****/*****, or 8/10

One of the greatest Hollywood epics of all time, the first film ever to win the record amount of 11 Academy Awards, most of them well deserved. Charlton Heston stars as the Jewish nobleman Juda Ben-Hur, who finds out his once close friendship with the young Roman aristocrat Messala (Stephen Boyd) has succumbed to his strict duties as a Roman officer. This new distrust between them soon turns to hatred when, after an accident that leaves the new Roman governor of Judea wounded, Messala condemns Juda to the galleys as a slave and sends his family to the dungeons. However, Juda survives his ordeal, fueled by his hate, and in a grandiose naval battle between the Roman fleet and pirates, rescues the life of Roman Consul Arrius (Jack Hawkins), after which he is redeemed by the Emperor, adopted by Arrius and embarks on a star career as a charioteer before returning to Judea to seek vengeance on Messala in the sands of the most famous chariot race in film history. However, winning the race and fatally crippling his adversary in the process does not return his family or his happiness, things only Christ can give him on the Cross. For the majority of modern day viewers, the overt Christian overtones in the final third of the movie – the film is subtitled 'a Tale of the Christ after all – are hard to bear in their cheesiness, but this movie remains a solid undying classic in every other respect (with extra credit going to the great CinemaScope cinematography, the wonderful, catchy music and the excellent production design): the fabulous naval battle and the highly exciting chariot race remain unsurpassed.

Starring: Charlton Heston, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins

Directed by William Wyler

USA: MGM, 1959

Beneath the Planet of the Apes

Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10

Spooky and gritty sequel to the brilliant (and naturally better) Planet of the Apes (1968) continues directly where its predecessor left us. Taylor (Charlton Heston) roams the wastelands of what he now realizes is his own home planet of Earth in hopes of finding answers as to what caused the catastrophic downfall of man and the rise of apes. Meanwhile, his fellow astronaut Brent (James Franciscus) has begun a search for him and encounters some ape troubles of his own in the shape of a gorilla army hellbent on destroying all humans. A third party enters the playing field in the shape of the mutants, disfigured telepathic humans living in the underground remains of the city of New York, where they worship a doomsday bomb that can eradicate all life. Can Taylor and Brent stop them from using it against the vicious gorillas coming to wipe them out? A decent follow-up, expanding the known universe of this franchise intriguingly and containing some great visuals, but overall lacking in both action and plot. Heston is out of the picture for most of the film so Franciscus can take centre stage, but in all fairness, Taylor is just a much more interesting character than Brent. Also, not as much ape involvement as one would have hoped for. Hauntingly sinister ending though, exemplary for the dystopian and apocalyptic trend of seventies' Sci-Fi films.

Starring: Charlton Heston, James Franciscus, Maurice Evans

Directed by Ted Post

USA: 20^th Century-Fox, 1970

The Return of the King!

Great news this week for fans of classic cinema and specifically for the Jurassic Park community, of which I am a very very avid member: come July 2013, the first Jurassic Park movie will finally return to theatres worldwide! Fully recognizing its 20^th anniversary (yes, it's really been that long ago and we've all gotten really old), Universal Pictures will re-release it in all its glory, bringing the rampaging dinosaurs back to the silver screen for older generations to fondly remember in an orgy of excessive nostalgia and for the younger generation, which has remaind blatantly ignorant of its awesome power in theatres, to finally re-discover in the way it looks best, on the big screen. It seems the small scale re-release in the UK (lucky bastards!) of late september was indeed, as many JP fans speculated it was, meant to test the waters for a potential full scale re-release around the globe. The waters apparently have been deemed favourable enough, considering JP drew in respectable numbers for a movie which only ran in a limited number of theatres and was withheld a basic advertising and marketing campaign of any kind, so the Brits only knew it was running in their local movie theatres if they stumbled upon it, or if they'd been perceptive enough online to know what cinematic gold they were bestowed upon by the studio executive powers that be. But now the whole world will have a chance to enjoy these animals again in all their glory of old...

...with one slight addition to the whole...

…as it will be a much dreaded 3-D re-release. People who know me will recall I'm not at all in favour of post-converting movies in 3-D, especially if these movies are decades old and were fully compelling to begin with and thus not in need of any extra dimensions. However, in the current movie market, re-releasing a classic without the added 3-D effect (and thus the additional admission ticket costs, which studios and theatres crave so much), is simply 'not done'. So we'll have to sit through JP watching it with an extra dimension, and hope they did a good enough job to make it look better, instead of worse. If we take the recent example of Star Wars Episode I 3-D, it will likely be the latter. That particular re-release was not improved by the 3-D effects at all. In fact, the 3-D was hardly noticeable and severely underwhelming considering all the ruckus with which Lucasfilm had previously announced it. In the Netherlands, it flopped big time, despite being Star Wars (because no matter how disappointing the 3-D turned out to be, seeing Star Wars on the silver screen again still was throughly enjoyable, even in the case of Episode I). Jurassic Park will undoubtedly receive a similar treatment, being a big franchise name which the studio will feel is appealing enough for the general audience, so it won't have to pull out all the stops to make the 3-D really worthwhile as spectators will flock to their theatres anyway, or so the studio hopes. Unless of course, studio executives got the message Star Wars Episode I 3-D delivered, namely re-releasing a big name franchise film with lousy 3-D just won't be enough these days. Even though I hate to compare JP to Episode I, it is the closest example.

Fortunately July 2013 is still a while away, so Universal has ample time left to decide on a potent strategy for making this re-release a success, and maybe even have their effects magicians come up with excellently added 3-D effects after all (though that seems less likely). Let's see how Titanic 3-D does first next month. Maybe the Star Wars Episode I 3-D incident will prove to have been just that, an incident, involving an already much maligned film adorned with less than stellar 3-D post-conversion.

For now, I'm thankful Jurassic Park gets re-released at all (and I sincerely hope it reaches Dutch theatres, since not all re-releases do). Even if the 3-D turns out to be utter trash, it will be very hard to ruin this film, considered by me as the grandest of all motion pictures, for me or my fellow JP fanatics. After all, I haven't seen it in theatres for nearly 20 years... but fortunately Ian Malcolm turned out to be right: life has, again, found a way!

Daniel Radcliffe gets scared shitless

The Woman in Black:

****/*****, or 7/10

It seems Hammer Studios is back with a vengeance. The once grand British motion picture company with its proud history of producing eerie, creepy and successful horror movies from the Fifties till the Seventies, more or less disappeared in the Eighties, but has recently been revived, thanks to Dutch producer John de Mol. It has now continued its tradition of producing suspenseful thrillers and horror films, so far with mixed success. While Let Me In, the English spoken remake of the superb Swedish vampire flick Let the Right One In, proved a thoughtful and surprisingly restrained movie that respected its European predecessor, the following voyeur thriller The Resident was less of a success, maligned by critics and underwhelming audiences. Hammer now returns to the roots of its former fame, the Gothic horror film, which in the previous century helped the studio establish its well earned name as a leading House of Horror in the film industry – like Universal Pictures used to be in the Thirties and Fourties – thanks to their classic takes on Dracula and Frankenstein, not to mention the production of dozens of other monster movies. Hammer's latest entry in the game, The Woman in Black, fits in perfectly in its long record of producing quality horror movies that are based mostly on atmosphere and suspense, instead of the more typical blood and gore that have become common place in the genre in the last decade.

And thank heaven for that! With the success of Saw back in 2004, the horror genre has been dominated by utter gore fests ever since, driven only by carnage and splatter to “thrill” its audiences, though few of them were genuinely scary: it was largely based on the levels of disgust triggered in spectators than on actually spooking them. And even though the first Saw featured an ingenious and well crafted suspenseful plot, none of its many sequels or its numerous copycats, the likes of Hostel and My Bloody Valentine, seemed to care about plot too much, but were driven only by the urge to freak viewers out by showcasing ever more original and messy ways of cutting victims up, even in 3D. The horror genre, at least in the USA, seemed to slip into full decline and was reduced largely to simple 'torture porn'. It took some films from Japan and Europe, including the aforementioned Let the Right One In, to demonstrate horror really benefited from a more subtle approach to things to acquire acclaim and scared audiences. At this point the genre seems to swing back to the more traditional style of disturbing people, using suggestion and shadows as its main tactics, as indicated by the success of the Paranormal Activity series and recent films like Don't be Afraid of the Dark. Hammer Studios, once a master of creating tense laden films in this way, does the right thing to completely ignore the goryness of last decade's horror films, and continue to do what it did before by reestablishing the gothic horror movie, as evidenced by The Woman in Black, directed by James Watkins, who previously directed the shocking Eden Lake, an earlier recent exception to the still dominant rule of gore run horror flicks. Though only his second job in the director's chair, Eden Lake alone has established him as fully capable of heading an extremely chilling and uncomfortable horror movie, so it's perfectly understandable Hammer felt him to be a right man for directing this particular film.

Set in the Edwardian era, the film introduces London solicitor Arthur Kipps (played by Daniel Radcliffe), a young widower who recently lost his wife in childbirth, leaving him alone with his son, now four years old. Due to financial problems, Arthur is forced by his law firm to take a case in a small English village near the coast, handling the estate of a deceased woman who owned a splendid manor, the Eel Marsh House, on a small island near the town. Leaving his son behind, with the intention of him and his nanny joining him on the countryside for the weekend, Kipps departs. Upon his arrival in the village, Kipps finds out the locals are less than friendly or welcoming, and would much prefer him to leave town immediately, which of course he does not. Only the rich landowner Sam Daily (performed by the always thoroughly reliable and impeccable Ciaran Hinds), who himself is a bit of an outsider in the village, proves amicable towards him, having suffered a personal loss of his own when his son died, which left his wife in a mentally unhinged state, which she claims is her dead son visiting her. Kipps journeys to Eel Marsh House, a totally sinister and creepy place which you would have a hard time believing not to be haunted, but Kipps doesn't, though he does hear all kinds of eerie sounds and sees a woman dressed in black staring at him on several occassions. Upon returning to the town he is confronted with a little girl having swallowed lye and dying in his arms. He's now met with open hostility, when it is revealed to him that seeing the woman in black means local children will commit suicide afterwards, as he just dramatically witnessed. Still refusing to leave, Kipps stays to complete his job while investigating the ghostly apparition further. He discovers the woman in black is the ghost of a mentally unstable woman who once lived in Eel Marsh House with her son, who was taken away from her and raised by her sister only to die in her custody, after which his real mother hung herself. Now she takes other people's children by manipulating them to their deaths. Mrs. Daily informs Kipps his son, who will be in town in a short while, is next and so he convinces himself he must find a way to appease the spirit somehow before his son is taken by her too.

So there you have it: a more refined horror story, without any need for overly graphic gutting or splitting people's bodies revealing their inner anatomy in much more detail than most sensible people would ever want to see it. The Woman in Black resorts to the more trite and true ways of creeping people out, spooking them with effective use of shadows, eerie sound FX at otherwise quiet moments, illogically moving furniture and Radcliffe looking generally at ill ease, which he does well enough considering his still somewhat limited experience in the field of acting. As a whole, he carries the movie adequately, though his character seems stupendously naive and Radcliffe himself is definitely still too young to convincingly pull off a mourning widower aged around 25 years old. However, his known stardom is not detracting enough to ever really get into the way of the film's overall progression. You know him for sure, but you don't care enough about knowing him from other works to let it fully cloud your viewing experience. There's hope for Radcliffe's further career yet. He's obviously no match for the talented Hinds who's proven to be a very capable actor time and again, most fondly remembered for his role as Caesar in HBO's TV series Rome. The veteran actor delivers a more credible and natural performance, but of course he doesn't need to carry the picture like his younger colleague does. The two of them work well together (again), and though Hinds is clearly the better actor he, nor any of the other actors/actresses, doesn't steal the scenes they share, which would also have felt wrong.

The film's main attraction, aside from the expected and effective scares of course, lies in its visuals. The movie feels like a genuine period piece set in the early 1900s, with delicious costume and art design to match, as well as a wonderful old Rolls Royce car thrown in to make it feel even more authentic. The misty, murky environment of Eel Marsh already has a nightmarish feel to it, which is only completed by the abandoned and decaying Gothic mansion and its plethora of insufficiently lit nooks and crannies, ancient furniture, dark corridors and stately rooms, and a large collection of incredibly unsettling toys no parent in their right mind would ever let near their kid. Watkins uses this brooding atmosphere to great effect with simple ideas like chairs seemingly moving on their own accord, toys playing by themselves and a distorted woman's face just randomly appearing here and there. Of course such tricks have been text book scary scenarios for many decades (also thanks to Hammer Studios), but in this film they work surprisingly well regardless: it's as it the numbing effect of watching so much torture porn in the last few years has made us totally forget said tricks, with The Woman in Black now re-introducing us to their spooky effect. And in this case it's really just scares it triggers, instead of actully feeling disgusted, which is a nice change our bodies will also welcome. The opening sequence alone, in which three little girls are just playing with their dolls, only to look off-screen, walk to the window and jump out together, after which we hear the terrified shrieks of their mother, without ever leaving the room or seeing the result of the girls' actions, is enough to make us feel really chilled to the bone instead of sickened and nauseated through and through: all achieved by a simple combination of subtle camera work, sound and suggestion.

The Woman in Black is Hammer's definite return to old school form, showing audiences that the ancient tricks still work best when applied by a capable director to truly scary effect. Though the lead actor's performance is not exactly of the highest quality, it's sufficient to draw you into the mood the film wants you to be in to frighten you successfully. In terms of story it may not be the most original work, despite its ending which is undecidedly happy or in fact the complete opposite, but it delivers much in terms of atmosphere and completely achieves what it sets up to do: shock the shit out of you for about ninety minutes. A welcome reprieve from the overabundance of gore filled genre films of the last few years, and hopefully it will put the horror genre back on the right path again.

And I managed to write this whole review without ever mentioning Harry Potter at all... oh, damn...!

And watch the trailer here:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/thewomaninblack/