LEWTONESQUE: Biased Observer Watches Fantastic Film: MISSION STATEMENT

This blog exists because I have long intended to do a thorough survey of 'fantastic film' (that is to say, horror, science-fiction and fantasy movies) from around the world and all periods. I'm a fan, and I seem to have gone through all the usual suspects: now it's time to find out what else is out there. What I'd really like to do is get a handle on ALL film, but I figure this is a good, somewhat less overwhelming place to start.

And where exactly are we starting, I hear you ask? Well, in 1942. Why 1942? Because that's the year Val Lewton made Cat People (that's star Simone Simon on the phone in a still from the film), which, as far as I'm concerned, is as big a milestone for fantasy film as the arrival of the talky was for movies in general. There were, of course, horror, sci-fi and fantasy films prior to 1942 -- great ones -- and I have no intention of ignoring them, but a year by year survey of these genres beginning at the start of celluloid would take quite a long time to build up much momentum.

So, what I propose to do is work both forward and back from Cat People in 1942, meaning that after I've dealt with 1942 I will move on to 1943 and 1941, then 1944 and 1940, 1945 and 1939, 1946 and 1938, etc., until I run out of descending history and am left only with ascending, which should come as something of a relief. For just consider these numbers:

According to The Internet Movie Database, in 1942 there were: 20 films released that could be at least loosely categorised as having horror elements; 9 sci-fi films; and 10 fantasy. Keep in mind that Rene Clair's I Married A Witch appears on two of those lists, and Ghost of Frankenstein on all three, so there's quite a bit of overlap.

By contrast, in 2009 alone there were 448 horror; 152 sci-fi; and 137 fantasy. Again, lots of overlap, I am sure, but still...

So, what will I be doing here? Basically reading about movies and listing anything that strikes my extremely biased fancy. It's to be the diary of my researches, comprised largely of notes to myself as to what I've seen that I liked, and what I've read about that I would dearly love to see. I will also take every opportunity for endless digressions, particularly when a tangent will allow me to talk about something that interests me, but which doesn't neatly fit within the confines of the stated purpose of the blog.

You may as well know a couple of things right now. First, I'm not a huge fan of Universal's classic horrors (well, with a few exceptions -- I like Horror Island, generally thought of as the least of the Universal horror offerings, enormously). Second, I find the fact that 'torture porn' has made it into our pop cultural lexicon extremely worrisome. Third, I consider Un Chien Andalou 'fantastic film', and it's going to be discussed here, in due course, right alongside Horror Island, Friday The 13th and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was scarred for life by Bad Ronald, which I won't be discussing because, frankly, you had to be there, but which might give you an idea of how old I am.

I love Suspiria, Valerie's Week Of Wonders, Wings Of Desire, Nosferatu (silent and remake), The Legend Of Hillbilly John, and Walt Disney's Child Of Glass, among many, many others. (If you want to a bit more evidence as to whether or not it's worth your while to hang around, check my Top 10 in the major genres by clicking here.)

It's movies like these last mentioned -- little genre pictures that just try harder -- that I am in search of.

So here's a message in a bottle: if anyone ever finds this, please let me know if I've overlooked anything of peculiar interest. Or even just peculiar...

Well, then. Let's begin. Turn the dial to 1942...

Biased Critical Terminology

Fantastique: a French term for a literary and cinematic genre that overlaps with science fiction, horror and fantasy. We'll be spelling it with a 'c' instead of 'que' so as not to look any goofier than we already do, but the Fantastic is generally what we will be looking for here, and the hoity-toitier it is the better we like it. Expect to see Jean Ray mentioned wherever we can figure out how to shoehorn him in.

Auteur: 1950s-era auteur theory, associated with the French New Wave and the critics who wrote for Cahiers Du Cinema, holds that the films of a good director (or, at any rate, an interesting one) reflect their personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of the films in question being made as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinctive enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference. Another good place for this to occur is in the making of low budget films and films made outside the studio system. We're particularly fond of films that subvert genre to the nefarious purpose of a writer or director with a bone to pick.

Semiotics: Biased Observer keeps looking this word up, but finds that the definition slides out of his memory like his brain was made of Teflon, and it will therefore not be used except in this sidebar. That was it just now.

Mise en Scene: has been called film criticism's 'grand undefined term'. That means that everyone who uses it presumably has some idea of what they mean by it, but anyone who reads it has to guess, which makes it a pretty sloppy word for anyone to employ who actually wants to be understood. But it makes you sound like an intellectual, so I'll try to fit it in every three sentences or so.

Good Kill: term used by splatter and slasher film fans to describe a particularly wet or inventive murder or, on occasion, other mode of buying it. While we don't have a problem with gore effects in general, we don't particularly care for films that are distinguished entirely by their catalogue of good kills, and that's not what we're after here, though a good exploding sheep a la Bad Taste is a joy forever, make no mistake.

Lewtonensque: This term is going to crop up over and over here. Val Lewton was a producer, not a director, though the term auteur suits his output perfectly, as his personality is ground into every film his name was attached to, particularly the B horror films he left a lucrative career by David O. Selznick's side to make for a pittance at RKO. His early films in particular are firmly grounded in the urban present (of the 1940's) and are models of restraint as they depict the fantastic intruding into modern life, and not a pitchfork wielding villager anywhere to be seen.

Cronenbergesque: A positive descriptor. Clinical, chilly, and intellectual are all terms characteristically used to describe David Cronenberg, but 'humane', 'humanist' and 'a fantastic interview' apply equally well. Canada's answer to J.G. Ballard, on whose behalf the term 'body horror' was coined, though I dunno by whom.

LEWTONESQUE: Biased Observer Watches Fantastic Film

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