Editorials
Biggest Oscars Snub? Tobe Hooper Gets No “In Memoriam” Love
A big night for horror reminds that Hollywood still often forgets about horror.
Early on during last night’s Academy Awards ceremony, a video package celebrating 90 years of the Oscars featured a clip from, among countless other movies, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, which needless to say was really cool to see. My entire Twitter feed was flooded with fans celebrating that one little shout-out from the Academy.
Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for the Academy to piss off that very same group of fans, as the annual “In Memoriam” video tribute package later in the night managed to leave out Chain Saw‘s director, the late (and great) Tobe Hooper. Hooper passed away back in August 2017; and yet, his name and face were absent from the video package.
We realize that these video tributes simply cannot include *everyone* in the film industry who passed away in any given year, as there just wouldn’t be enough time. But for this year’s video to leave out Tobe Hooper, whose most significant contribution to the film industry was important enough to be featured in one of the night’s previous video packages… well, that’s a heartbreaking snub that serves as a sad reminder of how little the Hollywood mainstream appreciates and respects the history of horror cinema.
Sure, Jordan Peele won Best Original Screenplay for Get Out and The Shape of Water took home Best Picture, but how in the same night can you ignore Tobe Hooper?
The thing is, Tobe Hooper’s contributions to horror were massive contributions not just to the horror genre, but to MOVIES at large. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, made on a low budget with a group of friends, was a hugely influential and important independent film, helping to change the very face of an entire genre by ushering in a new wave of realism.
Hooper of course went on to become one of the most notable horror filmmakers of the 1980s, directing Salem’s Lot in 1979 and then The Funhouse, Poltergeist, Lifeforce, Invaders from Mars and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 throughout the ’80s.
Meagan summed up Hooper’s importance in her tribute piece last year:
“Tobe Hooper has had a fascinating career that’s flown more under the radar than fellow horror masters like John Carpenter or Wes Craven. His film credits, full of successes and failures, indicated that he was never afraid of marching to the beat of his own drum. He wasn’t afraid of defying expectations, and he definitely wasn’t afraid of delivering some of the most uncomfortable scenes on screen. His ability to deconstruct current social and political events with biting humor and his fearlessness toward risk-taking makes him a true filmmaking maverick.”
The Academy may have left Hooper behind, but we most certainly will not. Watch Mike Williamson‘s touching tribute to Hooper below, cut together for his memorial service.
Tobe Hooper. A maverick pioneer. A master of horror. A true cinema legend.
Tobe memorial from Mike Williamson on Vimeo.
I was never against Sony’s initial idea to produce solo movies based on Spider-Man’s most memorable supervillains. After all, a hero is only as good as his Rogues’ Gallery is intimidating, so it stands to reason that there were plenty of dark stories to tell here.
While rushed productions like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped, it’s a relief to see James Gunn and the DC Extended Universe learn the right lessons from Marvel’s flops by investing in supervillain stories that aren’t afraid to step into the horror genre.
The new trailer for James Watkins’ upcoming Clayface movie is a great example of this, as the new footage confirms our suspicions that the movie is set to be a full-on piece of body horror focusing more on telling a standalone scary story than setting up a brand.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer in order to find out what we can expect from this highly anticipated comic-book adaptation from hell.
So without further ado, here are four things we learned from the new Clayface trailer!
4. Matt Hagen is a Club Vesuvius Regular
A seedy nightclub owned by “former” mobster Johnny Sabatino, the comic books have established Club Vesuvius as a hotspot for criminal activity and metahuman action since 2009. Throughout the years, the club has seen everything from an attempted arson by Firefly to magical acts performed by Zatanna herself.
The trailer for Clayface appears to suggest that Vesuvius will feature prominently in this story as well, as the footage shows us several shots of Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) casually attending the club as well as a couple of more concerning moments where Gotham City Police roll up to the establishment to deal with some kind of emergency.
3. The Movie Will Not Adapt Any Single Specific Comic
As I mentioned before in my Clayface primer for horror fans who aren’t all that familiar with the character, the initial teaser for the film had me convinced that the project would be more of an adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series’ two-part episode Feat of Clay rather than any specific comic-book.
This latest trailer has only confirmed my suspicions, with Hagen’s predicament here feeling much more in line with Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves’ sympathetic vision of the character than the more traditional criminal that we usually see in the comics. That being said, I’m curious to see how the filmmakers intend to connect this tragic version of Clayface to the more unpleasant monster we saw in Creature Commandos now that it’s been confirmed that these are indeed the same person.
2. James Watkins is Combining Practical and Digital Effects
I’ll always prefer a well-executed practical effect over CGI simply because the former is closer to the stage magic that inspired early moviemaking. That being said, there’s an undeniable artistry to well-crafted visual effects, and I’d argue that a character like Clayface requires the best of both worlds in order to be convincingly brought to life on the big screen.
I’m clearly not the only one who thinks so, as the trailer has shown us that Watkins is combining digital imagery with prosthetics and plenty of flesh-colored goop to depict Hagen’s unique brand of monstrous body horror. James Gunn had already promised us that the film would feature plenty of old-school practical effects wizardry, so it’s exciting to see that this approach in action.
1. Hagen Will Eventually Transform into Clayface’s Iconic True Form
In the comics, whenever Clayface isn’t pretending to be someone else, the character spends most of his time in his “natural” form resembling a gigantic golem-like monster. This look has certainly evolved over the years, but, at this point, most artists have settled on a vaguely humanoid shape accompanied by a gaping maw (though the villain’s terrifying re-imagining in DC’s Absolute Universe is a bit more complicated than that).
While fans were initially skeptical regarding whether or not the upcoming adaptation would even feature this admittedly outlandish design, the trailer has basically confirmed that Hagen’s condition will get progressively worse until he finally resembles the hulking monstrosity from the comics!
Be sure to comment below if you think we overlooked any interesting details in the trailer, and keep in mind that Clayface will be hitting theaters on October 23.
You must be logged in to post a comment.