Editorials
Dear Filmmakers: Subvert A Genre All You Want, But You Have To Respect It First.
A little while ago I tossed up an article about the sale of Black Rock at Sundance. In fact, it should be the piece right below this one.
Right after doing so I saw that Devin Faraci, one of my favorite critics, had already filed his review of the film over at Badass Digest so I headed over there to check it out. You can do the same by clicking here.
Now I’m gonna state in bold letters that I have not seen Black Rock. For all I know it could become my favorite movie of 2012. I don’t always agree with Devin (maybe 70% of the time), but he’s one of a handful of about 5 or 6 critics whose reviews are my “go-tos” when I’m deciding what films to spend my time or money on as a consumer (I don’t always see everything for free, especially non-horror stuff). Whether or not I ultimately agree with his take on something, he’s got a knack for thoroughly explaining the reasoning behind his reactions that’s in a language I can relate to.
So I was surprised to come across a couple lines in his piece on Black Rock that echoed something that’s been on my mind for sometime in regard to genre and people who think they’re slumming in it.
Hit the jump to see what I’m talking about. From his review, “I rarely take such things into consideration, but at the Q&A after the movie Aselton said the script was written in 18 hours. I’m surprised it took them that long. There’s something so contemptuous about this movie – such a sense of ‘We can do one of those, no problem, no effort’ – that I find myself going from disliking ‘Black Rock’ to actually hating it. ‘Black Rock’ plays like a movie made by people who have never seen stalk and kill horror films; it’s easy to believe that Aselton and Duplass thought they were doing something unique with the genre by having the girls fight back, but this has been happening in the genre for decades now.”
Again – I have not seen the film. And until I do so, I can’t speak to whether or not I personally feel this sentiment applies to it.
But I do feel it’s applicable to more and more genre efforts these days. In the case of horror, it sometimes seems that studios and indie filmmakers alike think of it as a way to just get something made. A product. After all, horror’s often cheap(ish) to make. And there’s a built in audience – you. And a lot of people don’t think you’re as smart as you actually are.
At least half the horror movies I see are made with an utter disdain for the genre and its audience.
It’s often assumed that it requires almost no effort to craft a horror film that will satisfy its audience. I find it especially strange that people who are successful in other genres of filmmaking could somehow believe that making a good horror film is somehow less difficult. As filmmakers in the trenches they have to know by now that making a good film – of any kind – will always require, thought, consideration, sleepless nights and thousands upon thousands of hours of hard work.
Ironically, I think it’s these exact people who have the skill set required to make the very best horror films. While horror is one of my favorite genres, I don’t think it’s possible to make a truly great horror film without embracing a ton of other styles of film and filmmaking as well.
If Alexander Payne were to followup The Descendants with a slasher film I would hope that he’d put as much consideration into the characters he’s slaughtering as he did the King family in that film. If Diablo Cody ever returns to horror (Evil Dead polish aside) after hitting a new creative peak with Young Adult I’d want her to imbue her new protagonist with just as much inner turmoil as she did Mavis Gary. While the genre often dictates that just as much screen time is devoted to kills as it is to character – neither should be skimmed on in terms of effort and imagination.
And that’s not even speaking to the technical/editorial side of things, which I don’t have time to get into right now (and which it sounds like Black Rock bungles as well).
It all boils down to this – anybody working on any film should be always pushing themselves to the best of their abilities and beyond*. It doesn’t always mean the film will be great, but it’s kind of the nature of the game. And it’s part of the nature of paying respect to those paying to see your film.
*As an admitted fan of Friday The 13th: Part 2 I feel somewhat hypocritical saying this. As with anything, there are no absolutes, and I must admit that some films I do like don’t exactly qualify as “pushing the envelope” material.
Some of my favorite horror films (admittedly a muddled mix off the top of my head) where I can feel the filmmakers pushing themselves are: Halloween, The Thing, Friday The 13th: Part 6, An American Werewolf In London, The Shining, Scream, Kill List, Shaun Of The Dead, Seven, You’re Next, Let The Right One In, Psycho, and, of course, Jaws.*
How about you? What are your favorite horror movies that make you taste the filmmakers’ blood, sweat and tears?
*EDIT – perhaps I should clarify that list and clear up some confusion. I don’t mean that all of those films are of equally quality, or are all classics. It’s just that I love them all. I know JASON LIVES is not as good as JAWS.
Having grown up in a religious family, Christian movie night was something that happened a lot more often than I care to admit. However, back when I was a teenager, my parents showed up one night with an unusually cool-looking DVD of a movie that had been recommended to them by a church leader. Curious to see what new kind of evangelical propaganda my parents had rented this time, I proceeded to watch the film with them expecting a heavy-handed snoozefest.
To my surprise, I was a few minutes in when Denzel Washington proceeded to dismember a band of cannibal raiders when I realized that this was in fact a real movie. My mom was horrified by the flick’s extreme violence and dark subject matter, but I instantly became a fan of the Hughes Brothers’ faith-based 2010 thriller, The Book of Eli. And with the film’s atomic apocalypse having apparently taken place in 2024, I think this is the perfect time to dive into why this grim parable might also be entertaining for horror fans.
Originally penned by gaming journalist and The Walking Dead: The Game co-writer Gary Whitta, the spec script for The Book of Eli was already making waves back in 2007 when it appeared on the coveted Blacklist. It wasn’t long before Columbia and Warner Bros. snatched up the rights to the project, hiring From Hell directors Albert and Allen Hughes while also garnering attention from industry heavyweights like Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman.
After a series of revisions by Anthony Peckham meant to make the story more consumer-friendly, the picture was finally released in January of 2010, with the finished film following Denzel as a mysterious wanderer making his way across a post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book. Along the way, he encounters a run-down settlement controlled by Bill Carnegie (Gary Oldman), a man desperate to get his hands on Eli’s book so he can motivate his underlings to expand his empire. Unwilling to let this power fall into the wrong hands, Eli embarks on a dangerous journey that will test the limits of his faith.
SO WHY IS IT WORTH WATCHING?
Judging by the film’s box-office success, mainstream audiences appear to have enjoyed the Hughes’ bleak vision of a future where everything went wrong, but critics were left divided by the flick’s trope-heavy narrative and unapologetic religious elements. And while I’ll be the first to admit that The Book of Eli isn’t particularly subtle or original, I appreciate the film’s earnest execution of familiar ideas.
For starters, I’d like to address the religious elephant in the room, as I understand the hesitation that some folks (myself included) might have about watching something that sounds like Christian propaganda. Faith does indeed play a huge part in the narrative here, but I’d argue that the film is more about the power of stories than a specific religion. The entire point of Oldman’s character is that he needs a unifying narrative that he can take advantage of in order to manipulate others, while Eli ultimately chooses to deliver his gift to a community of scholars. In fact, the movie even makes a point of placing the Bible in between equally culturally important books like the Torah and Quran, which I think is pretty poignant for a flick inspired by exploitation cinema.
Sure, the film has its fair share of logical inconsistencies (ranging from the extent of Eli’s Daredevil superpowers to his impossibly small Braille Bible), but I think the film more than makes up for these nitpicks with a genuine passion for classic post-apocalyptic cinema. Several critics accused the film of being a knockoff of superior productions, but I’d argue that both Whitta and the Hughes knowingly crafted a loving pastiche of genre influences like Mad Max and A Boy and His Dog.
Lastly, it’s no surprise that the cast here absolutely kicks ass. Denzel plays the title role of a stoic badass perfectly (going so far as to train with Bruce Lee’s protégée in order to perform his own stunts) while Oldman effortlessly assumes a surprisingly subdued yet incredibly intimidating persona. Even Mila Kunis is remarkably charming here, though I wish the script had taken the time to develop these secondary characters a little further. And hey, did I mention that Tom Waits is in this?
AND WHAT MAKES IT HORROR ADJACENT?
Denzel’s very first interaction with another human being in this movie results in a gory fight scene culminating in a face-off against a masked brute wielding a chainsaw (which he presumably uses to butcher travelers before eating them), so I think it’s safe to say that this dog-eat-dog vision of America will likely appeal to horror fans.
From diseased cannibals to hyper-violent motorcycle gangs roaming the wasteland, there’s plenty of disturbing R-rated material here – which is even more impressive when you remember that this story revolves around the bible. And while there are a few too many references to sexual assault for my taste, even if it does make sense in-universe, the flick does a great job of immersing you in this post-nuclear nightmare.
The excessively depressing color palette and obvious green screen effects may take some viewers out of the experience, but the beat-up and lived-in sets and costume design do their best to bring this dead world to life – which might just be the scariest part of the experience.
Ultimately, I believe your enjoyment of The Book of Eli will largely depend on how willing you are to overlook some ham-fisted biblical references in order to enjoy some brutal post-apocalyptic shenanigans. And while I can’t really blame folks who’d rather not deal with that, I think it would be a shame to miss out on a genuinely engaging thrill-ride because of one minor detail.
With that in mind, I’m incredibly curious to see what Whitta and the Hughes Brothers have planned for the upcoming prequel series starring John Boyega…
There’s no understating the importance of a balanced media diet, and since bloody and disgusting entertainment isn’t exclusive to the horror genre, we’ve come up with Horror Adjacent – a recurring column where we recommend non-horror movies that horror fans might enjoy.
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