Nostalgia - The Films of Val Lewton

Halloween is fun no matter what your age. Is it because of the costumes, the parties, or the brief spurts of cardio rewarded with large amounts of sugar? Of course not, it’s because of all the horror movies on TV. Halloween is the one day of the year you are guaranteed to find Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and Michael Myers somewhere on your cable box. There are dozens of different sub-genres of horror that can be found today. There are slasher flicks, monster movies, and found footage films, but there is one small sliver of scary cinema that is much harder to find these days: Val Lewton’s pictures.

 In 1942 producer Val Lewton found himself with one of the luckiest set of circumstances in Hollywood history. The hugely popular Universal Monster movies were starting to plateau. People were craving horror and were starting to look for it in other forms. Plus, Orson Welles had nearly bankrupt RKO studios with the high cost and low box office performances of Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. In an effort to turn their fortunes around, RKO hired Lewton, a protégé of David O. Selznick, to produce low budget horror movies. In the next four years, Lewton made nine films: Cat People (1942), I Walked With a Zombie (1943), The Leopard Man (1943), The 7^th Victim (1943), The Ghost Ship (1943), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Body Snatcher (1945), Isle of the Dead (1945), and Bedlam (1946).

       

            All of these films are proof positive of a simple idea that I first heard from director Nicholas Meyer: Art thrives on restrictions. They were all made with relatively small budgets and Lewton made them look beautiful.  The most frightening things are never shown on screen. One scene in Cat People just shows a woman treading water in an indoor swimming pool. By playing with the lighting, shadows and sound effects, Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur create true terror and we all genuinely fear for the woman’s life. Earlier in that film the same woman is running through Central Park running from a Panther that we never see. Just when it seems like she is done for, a bus pulls up out of nowhere and all of the danger immediately disappears. Any time you see a coed run around a frat house screaming, and she opens a door to an empty room, it is a carbon copy of this moment.

Another interesting aspect of these films is that in many cases the studio would simply give Lewton a title and leave him to figure out the rest. So while I Walked with a Zombie sounds like a modern comedy starring Simon Pegg, Lewton decided to present a cryptic and cerebral story about guilt and human nature.  The Curse of the Cat People is about a small girl struggling to reconcile the difference between reality and childhood fantasy.

Every year hundreds of horror movies are made with even smaller budgets than Val Lewton worked with. Many of them are found footage films like The Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity that trade on the fact that they look cheap and “homemade.” What makes Lewton’s work unique is that he refused to settle for generic Halloween schlock and instead made something truly artistic. It makes one wonder if today’s studio system would allow for someone like Val Lewton to take the same risks.

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 10/23/13

Superman #24 - Eddy Barrows rocks it on art. Lois' story arc is interesting but ends on a strange note.
Batman: The Dark Knight #24 - Here we get a very long and drawn-out origin for Clayface. I preferred the treatment he received during Villains Month. This story seemed completely unnecessary.
Catwoman #24 - I have no idea what is going on here. Catwoman is caught up in some kind of sewer gang war but I have no clue when this story takes place.
Talon #12 - The body forms and facial expressions in the art are inconsistent, especially during action beats.
Justice League #24 - That's what I'm talking about! There is a two-page splash that made me fist-pump and cheer.
Aquaman #24 - This issue is mostly exposition. It was written and drawn well but I would have liked to see more action and story development.
The Flash #24 - We get a really strong conclusion to the current storyline.  Every character gets sincere, emotional moments and Manapul's art hits every beat just right.
Larfleeze #4 - Everyone out there complaining that there is no fun in the DCU can find it all hiding in this title. Larfleeze's showdown with the Orange Corps is hysterical. Plus the b-plot provides some great cosmic world-building.
Red Lanterns #24 - This moves the "Lights Out" story forward but the art looks amateurish and needs to be more defined.
Justice League Dark #24 - I love the way J.M. DeMatteis can sneaks in great jokes and is still able to keep a dramatic tone. Mikel Janin's art is as strong as ever.
All-Star Western #24 - This storyline feels too gimmicky. I wish Jonah Hex was back in the Old West.
Teen Titans #24 - A storm of confusing exposition dump ends in an unsatisfying reveal. We get a peak at Kid Flash's backstory but not enough to make this issue worth it.
The Green Team: Teen Trillionaires #5 - Everyone keeps asking the same questions over and over. None of the characters are listening to each other.
DC Universe Vs. Masters of the Universe #2 (of 6) - Keith Giffen and Tony Bedard are not pulling any punches in what could have been a generic crossover. I also enjoy Dexter Soy's quirky art style.
Pretty Deadly #1 - The opening pages are beautiful and the style of storytelling is very original. I got a little lost in the middle but it picked up nicely towards the end.
Velvet #1 - The narration captions are well-written. I love it when you leave a book knowing everything and nothing at the same time. There is a brief essay on Spy novels at the back that is also a great read.

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 10/16/13

It's all DC books this week. Here goes:

Batman / Superman #4 - Interesting use of dueling inner monologues. The ending reflects Bruce and Clark's relationship nicely.
Supergirl #24 - We get more than our fill of explosions and exposition. Diogenes Neves kicks ass on art, giving us storng splash pages and detailed facial expressions.
Batman and Two-Face #24 - The best opening page of the week. We get a look into Two-Face's origin and Batman seems to completely move on from this title's previous arc.
Red Hood and the Outlaws #24 - The art here doesn't seem to have the same personality as previous Red Hood issues.
Batwoman #24 - This story feels too contrived. It is a shame that this is going to be J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman's last issue.
Birds of Prey #24 - I could barely get through this one. The story is way too convoluted and I just don't care about these characters anymore.
Justice League of America #8 - Oooooo... A Labyrinth... I love Labyrinths. Matt Kindt gives us an in-depth psychological look at the League.
Wonder Woman #24 - Oh, political intrigue. Giving writer Brian Azzarello free reign and creative control is the best decision DC has made in the past few years. Artist Goran Sudzuka's style is perfectly suited to fill in for Cliff Chiang.
Justice League of America's Vibe #8 - It's nice to see Amethyst again. We get some cool reveals and a nice setup for the upcoming storyline.
Green Lantern: New Guardians #24 - Lots of pretty colors. Hal Jordan is always wrong, no matter what. I did not see that ending coming.
Animal Man #24 - Rafael Albuquerque draws a gorgeous collage of monsters and animals who are all standing around talking about war. This guy was born to draw The Red.
Trinity of Sin: Pandora #4 - This starts slow with exposition dumps but gets cooking when Vandal Savage shows up.
Trinity of Sin: The Phantom Stranger #12 - Sin Eater sounds like a Hall and Oates song. Writer J.M. DeMatteis has put the Stranger through the ringer lately, but he is still searching for answers.
Forever Evil: Rogues Rebellion #1 (of 6) - Bad guys with consciences are always fun. Patrick Zircher's art is very different from Scott Hepburn's and things get confusing but the personalities still shine through.

Review - "Machete Kills"

There have been several films I have heard everyone get excited about over the last few weeks, but the movie that I really wanted to see was Machete Kills. Evidently I was the only one. The Grindhouse sequel squeeked out a measly $3.7 million at the box office and is probably going to be called one of the biggest flops of the year.  Let’s explore why.

The premise of the first Machete was simple. A big Mexican guy (played by Danny Trejo) beats the crap out of a bunch of people in increasing gruesome ways. It was based on a fake trailer that ran with Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse experiment. The weird thing is that none of the movies I have mentioned in this review have been wildly successful, but they keep getting made because Robert Rodriguez literally shoots them in his garage (it’s a really big garage) and works as the Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Composer and Janitor (remember, it’s his garage). What made Machete so appealing was the quirky satire, solid action scenes, a barrage of celebrity cameos, and political commentary that was thinly veiled but not shoved down our throats. It also premiered right around the time of the Arizona ID controversy, so it had some social relevance.

Machete Kills has a more ambitious story with lacking execution. Rodriguez makes Machete less of an outlaw and more of a secret agent. The beginning feels like an early ‘70s James Bond movie with pretty girls running around and a bunch of knife fights and gun fights.  Later on it becomes a fugitive-on-the-run movie and by the end it shifts into a late ‘70s James Bond movie with futuristic technology, people in jumpsuits, and villains who can monologue with the best of them.  There are about a dozen different celebrities who pop in and out of the movie because they just wanted to hang out for a couple of days, chew all the scenery in site, and move on. These characters are fun but the film really needs more Machete. Trejo spends too much time reacting to everybody else and not enough time being proactive and taking the fight to the bad guys. I wanted to see him flex and get angry. I do not remember a single one-liner. That is a problem.

The saddest thing about the failure of Machete Kills is that now it is unlikely that we will get to see the planned sequel, Machete Kills Again… In Space. Doesn’t that sound amazing? Unfortunately, one can only wonder what could have been. 

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 10/9/13

There were a lot of fun new books this week. Here are my thoughts:

Superman / Wonder Woman #1 - Tony Daniel rocks it on art. This is also the best use of Clark Kent's current professional situation I have seen so far.
Superboy #24 - This is chock full of good, old-fashioned monologueing (screw you spell-check, that's a word) from the new Psycho Pirate. The action beats could have been stronger and it would have been nice to see Superboy be more proactive.
Batman #24 - CHRIS NOLAN EAT YOUR HEART OUT! This is Batman for the 21st century. I would not have changed a thing.
Nightwing #24 - Writer Kyle Higgins does a really solid job tying up this story arc. The art makes it hard to tell who is who towards the end.
Batgirl #24 - The body forms look strange. Some more close-ups and reaction shots would really elevate the emotional impact of this story.
Worlds' Finest #16 - I hate to sound like a broken record but the art is inconsistent and the character dynamics are really strong.
Katana #8 - Cool Urumi swordfight. Are those things actually real? This title has been rough to read lately but this issue is a step in the right direction.
Green Lantern Corps - I love the way John Stewart employed military strategy and how effective the Corps can be even when their home is being annihilated.
Constantine #7 - There is a lot going on in this issue. Szymon Kudranski's art is perfect for this world.
Suicide Squad #24 - The hectic pace makes this a great Forever Evil tie-in. The chickens are coming home to roost for Amanda Waller. The plot twist at the end was perfectly executed.
Forever Evil: Arkham War #1 (of 6) - All of Batman's Villains are at each other's throats. What more could you ask for? The detail in the art, especially the facial expressions, really let these bad guys revel in their evil.
Coffin Hill #1 - Nice Crime / Supernatural blend. The main character is very distant and mysterious. I can't decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing.
The Shaolin Cowboy #1 - The recap is two pages long, each with three columns of 4 point text. You don't have to read it but you should. This is tons of fun. Dave Stewart's colors really pop.
Rocket Girl #1 - Time travel, jet packs, and 1980s New York City. This is how you kick off a series. It is very quirky and lots of fun.
Three #1 - This feels too much like a history textbook. The first two thirds are flat and boring. The tension does pick up toward the end but by that time I did not really care anymore.

Lament: What to Watch Tonight?

I spent last Sunday night with my old pal, Satan, watching the Series Finale of Breaking Bad. It was the eighth straight Sunday I had spent up until all hours of the night rethinking Walter White's choices, trying to predict what was going to happen to the characters next.  I still vividly remember the night I decided to watch the first episode on Netflix Instant and was so drawn in I watched the entire first season in one sitting. Now the show is finally over. Sunday night is one of the few nights during the week I find myself wanting to watch prime-time TV. Unfortunately The Walking Dead does not premiere until next Sunday, and I am definitely not going to watch Low Winter Sun tonight. So instead I am probably going to end up watching football. First world problems, eh.

There were many things that made Breaking Bad special. When describing the show to friends, I have always said that one episode has more character development than most other shows will go through in an entire season. The show constantly raised the stakes and while Bryan Cranston's Walter White may have been a genius, it always seemed like he was in over his head. Nothing is more attractive to audiences than watching a character overcome insurmountable odds, even if that character is doing terrible and unforgivable things. That might be what really made the show unique. It gave the audience an even more awkward moral dilemma: "Do I still like this person?" It had all of the elements I enjoy in the best graphic novels. Over six years, the show never had a dip in quality and it ended in a way that answered every question. Some may say that it tied too neat a bow, but I can guarantee you that true fans of the show would not have it any other way.

Unfortunately AMC did not have the same luck with Low Winter Sun.  It seemed like a no-brainer. You had Mark Strong (the bald bad guy from every other action movie of the last few years) and Lennie James (Snatch, The Walking Dead) playing Detroit cops trying to cover up the murder of a crooked cop. There's intrigue and deception. What more could you want? Well, for starters a joke or two might have helped. I'm not saying this should have been a sitcom, but the show is bone-crushingly depressing and takes itself way too seriously. I know Detroit is a rough place to live. I have heard it described as Beirut without the palm trees. However, there was never a moment where we got to see these characters relax. There was no reason for us to relate to them. So in the end we just stopped caring and stopped watching. Even the most serious episodes of Breaking Bad had at least one moment that had me laugh out loud. That comparison may seem unfair, but AMC should not have had Low Winter Sun follow Breaking Bad if they did not want us to compare the two.

Next week I have the season premiere of The Walking Dead to look forward to. This show also has a very different feel. Instead of piling on action and tension every episode, it really takes its time. The premiere will allow the audience to get its bearings and see how the group has changed since last season. Then something exciting will happen and the next few episodes will be spent showing how everyone in the group reacts to those events and fights with each other to decide what to do next. Then the group finally reacts, everything hits the fan again, and the cycle starts over. It is predictable but people keep watching because they identify with these characters and struggle to figure out if they would react in the same way. Can Rick stop Carl from becoming too cold-hearted? Will Glenn and Maggie be able to start a family? Was Andrea really that stupid?

I guess I'll have to wait another week to answer those questions. In the meantime, go 49ers!

Shotgun Reviews - Week of 10/02/13

Villains Month is over and it is time to get back into the swing of the New 52. Plus I read a new Vertigo book and a couple of anthology books. Here are my thoughts:

Action Comics #24 - We get a strong re-introduction of Psycho Pirate but I would have liked to see more of his origin instead of reading him monologue about it. The second half of this issue really dragged.

Detective Comics #24 - The writing is a little heavy-handed but the action scenes are gorgeous.

Batwing #24 - The romantic arc here is really confusing. Ever since they took this book away from Africa it has become just another generic superhero book.

Earth 2 #16 - Some well-drawn fight sequences lead to a reveal that could have been much more shocking.

Green Arrow #24 - I love when Andrea Sorrentino's art gets cerebral. This story perfectly follows Count Vertigo's Villains issue and the ending reveal is very intriguing.

Green Lantern #24 - Relic really struts his stuff here but the art is not very detailed and does not hold up at times, especially the wide shots.

Swamp Thing #24 - Nice setup for what looks like an awesome showdown between Swamp Thing and the Seeder later this month in the Swamp Thing Annual.

The Movement #5 - The art makes my head hurt. I wish there was more of the Prince of Rats. He is by far the most interesting character in this title.

Forever Evil #2 (of 7) - Yay Otis! Geoff Johns brings one of my favorite DC movie characters into comics and then he has to be a jerk about it. Seriously, this is a really solid issue.

Hinterkind #1 - It is nice to see that New Yorkers still talk like New Yorkers after the apocalypse. This is a fresh take showing us the world years after everything hit the fan.

The Witching Hour #1 - Eclectic mix of stories. My favorites were "Fellow Travelers" and "Mars to Stay" which has nothing to do with Witches but was truly haunted.

CBLDF Liberty Annual 2013 - All of these stories were great fun. I liked how they went beyond comics and addressed the battle between censorship and free speech across all types of media. My favorite story was "The Shoot" because it reminded me of my film school days.