Editorials
A Retrospective of 1997: It Was a Good Year for Horror!
It has been suggested in the comments here at Bloody Disgusting that the 90s were a pretty terrible decade for horror movies. Many of you (whether it be the majority of horror fans in the world or just a vocal minority on this site) think that 1997 is a low point for the genre. I’m not sure where this misconception with the 90s came from, because the 90s were actually pretty fantastic. Our own Daniel Baldwin has gone to great lengths to defend this unjustly maligned decade with an ongoing series about 90s horror in his “Exhumed & Exonerated Series,” but I wanted to put the spotlight on 1997 specifically, because it is hands down one of my favorite years for horror.
Maybe it’s because I was born in 1989, so I was 8 for the majority of 1997. I was young, impressionable and naive. Or maybe it’s just that 1997 was actually host to several fantastic horror films that are still brought up in conversations and debates today. One thing to keep in mind is that even though Scream was released on December 20, 1996, it stayed in the Top 10 through mid-February, making 1997 get off to a strong start for horror.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? The first big weekend of the year was January 10th, which saw the release of The Relic, the Peter Hyams-directed adaptation of the Douglas Preston/Lincoln Child novel. While not a box office hit, it open at the number one spot at the box office its opening weekend with just $9 million (it would go on to gross $33.9 million domestically). As a monster movie, The Relic hits all the right notes, and has a nice balance of CGI and practical effects. It’s actually surprising that the film isn’t mentioned more in modern conversations, but maybe it’s due to a lack of star power. It’s not like Penelope Ann Miller and Tom Sizemore are household names, but it’s still a lamentable fact.
1997 wouldn’t see another horror movie hit the big screen until three months later, when Anaconda was released on April 11th. It was so successful, in fact, that it earned the number one spot at the box office for two weekends in a row. Now, when it comes to creature features, you can’t do much better than Anaconda. Sure, it’s cheesy. It’s about several giant killer snakes! Cheesy as it is, it’s got some fantastic kills, nifty special effects (save for some spotty CGI in places) and great cinematography. It also features Jennifer Lopez in one of her early film roles, before she became Jenny Fromdabloc. She’s great in the film. Sue me. Anaconda gets a bad rap but it is one of the better (and more fun) mainstream killer animal movies in existence. Hell, Roger Ebert even gave it three and a half stars!
Horror had another dry spell for a few months, but it came back swinging in August with the one-two punch of Event Horizon on the 15th and Guillermo Del Toro’s Mimic just one week later on the 22nd. Neither film fared very well at the box office, earning $26 million and $25 million respectively.Event Horizon is one of those movies that didn’t make much of an impression upon its initial release but has slowly gained a sizable cult following over the years. Sure, some people still don’t like it, but it is arguably Paul W.S. Anderson’s best film to date (not that there’s much competition there). With Mimic, I’m beginning to see why I love 1997 so much. My affinity for creature features is clearly no coincidence, as 1997 was filled with them. How a movie about giant cockroaches was able to nab a cast that included the likes of Mira Sorvino (then fresh off her Academy Award win for Mighty Aphrodite and her amazing turn as Romy White in Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, aka one of the best movies of all time), Josh Brolin and Jeremy Northam is a question I’ll never be able to answer, but suffice it to say that Mimic boasts an impressive pedigree both in front of and behind the camera
The only major release in September was the Wes Craven-produced Wishmaster, which Daniel has already covered, so I won’t delve too deeply into the film, but it’s not exactly a good go-to for why 1997 was a good year for horror. The film opened at number 3 with $6 million, behind Frank Oz’s In & Out (a funny movie but definitely a product of its time) and David Fincher’s The Game. While it may not be remembered as a horror classic, it did feature several horror legends together on the big screen (no doubt thanks to the connections of producer Wes Craven and director Robert Kurtzman) and have a certain kind of terrible charm about itself.
October was surprisingly sparse for horror, but that paved the way for I Know What You Did Last Summer to make a killing at the box office when it opened on October 17th. Not only did open in the number one spot with $15 million, it stayed there for three more weeks (the rest of October). Of course it probably helped that the marketing for the film had “From the Writer of Scream” plastered all over it, but the fact that it was the sole horror offering in October of that year didn’t hurt it. I’ve got a soft spot for the film, as many of you may know. It’s one of my favorite horror movies to come out of the 90s, but many people who weren’t children during that time seem to have a special kind of loathing for it. Say what you want about this Scream knockoff (a knockoff in the same way that Friday the 13th was a knockoff of Halloween, a subject that is a particular hot button issue lately), but some people seem to really enjoy it, as evidenced by the box office numbers. Plus, you can’t go wrong with a 10-minute-long chase scene involving Sarah Michelle Gellar.
November was actually a pretty decent month for horror. The first weekend of the month saw Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers get released (more of a sci-fi than a horror but c’mon, it’s about giant killer bugs) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s controversial sequel Alien: Resurrection. Starship Troopers is another one of those movies that had a fairly polarizing reception upon its release but has gained a rather sizable cult following over the years thanks to its biting satire and wit. When it comes to Alien: Resurrection, I won’t defend it. Don’t get me wrong, I do think it’s a highly entertaining film. It’s a messy and entertaining film that nearly destroyed the Alien franchise, but it’s entertaining nonetheless. While many fans now consider it to be an atrocious film, it actually didn’t have as negative of a reception at the time of its release. Maybe that was just people trying to convince themselves that the fourth Alien film was good though, as people are wont to do with middling entries in respectable franchises.
Finally, the world saw the release of one of the greatest horror sequels of all time: Scream 2. In a rather brilliant bit of counter-programming, Scream 2 opened on December 12 (less than a year after the original’s release) against Amistad, For Richer or Poorer and Home Alone 3. Needless to say, it snagged the number 1 box office spot easily with $32.9 million (it was knocked down 2 pegs the following week by Titanic and Tomorrow Never Dies). Between Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer, it was a good year to be Kevin Williamson. Does 1997 really need to be defended any more? My feelings toward Scream 2 are made apparent in nearly every article I write for Bloody Disgusting, but if you need more convincing, consider some of the data: it has better reviews than the original and it has one of the best audience scores out of any horror sequel ever made. All of this despite numerous script re-writes after multiple versions were leaked on the internet.
Let’s not forget about the foreign horror that came out in 1997 either. That year also saw the releases of the Vincenzo Natali’s Cube and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. While they weren’t given wide theatrical releases in America, they still left their mark on the year in the best way possible. What are your thoughts on 1997 in terms of horror quality? Do you still believe that it was a terrible year for horror? Or have you crossed over to the dark side and begun to understand my reasoning? Let me know in the comments below or shoot me a Tweet. 1997 horror is something I’ll never get tired of discussing so fire away!
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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