Editorials
The Man Behind the Shadows: The Horrors of Val Lewton
It’s easy to cite dozens upon dozens of directors, icons, and even writers that shaped the genre over the decades when looking back at the evolution of horror cinema and its history. But very few producers manage to achieve horror stardom in quite the same way, save for a notable handful of pioneers whose vital work in the genre became too vast to go unnoticed. That’s the case with Val Lewton, a legendary producer who developed a reputation for creating A-movie horror on a B-movie budget by leaning into implied and suggestive horror amidst heavily shadowed landscapes.
The Russian-born father of low budget horror started as a writer at MGM’s publicity office before becoming the right-hand man to famed Hollywood mogul David O. Selznick (Rebecca, King Kong). In 1942, Lewton was hired by RKO Pictures to run a unit dedicated to horror; the studio needed money fast after the commercial failure of Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and hoped to emulate Universal Pictures’ success with their monster movies. Assembling a group of filmmakers that he’d worked with before, Lewton was given a fraction of Universal’s budget to achieve similar success. That suited Lewton just fine as he felt imagination was the key. He built his films around dread, unsettling atmosphere, and fear of the unseen.
Lewton guided every facet of the movies he made, no matter the director. It was his vision on screen, and he wrote a shooting script for every feature, often using a pen name or working in an uncredited capacity. Lewton guided his directors behind the scenes on ways to build suspense. All of which is why he’s credited for creating the blueprint for the modern jump scare referred to as the Lewton Bus (from Cat People), and known for transforming minuscule budgets into high-art horror. During Lewton’s reign, RKO’s output delivered psychological-based terror, haunting ambiance, progressive commentaries, sexual menace or tension, and, of course, stunning use of darkness and shadows.
When RKO head and Lewton supporter Charles Koerner died in 1946, it put the studio through an upheaval that resulted in Lewton’s ousting. It marked the decline in Lewton’s health; he suffered a minor heart attack shortly after. Through his connections and the merits of a screenplay he wrote, Lewton did find subsequent work at Paramount, where he produced a couple of non-genre features, but the filmmaker suffered an additional series of heart attacks that cut his life short at the age of 46.
In his time at RKO, Lewton produced eleven features- nine of them horror- over just four years. That insane workload, especially with how incredibly hands-on he was with each movie, no doubt attributed to his heart health. A tragic end to a crucial pioneer in the early advent of horror in the sound-era of film, Lewton left an indelible mark.
While any of Lewton’s horror films are worth checking out, here are four movies to get you started.
Cat People
The most well-known of Lewton’s films happens to be the first horror film produced for RKO. It’s also the best entry point. RKO gave Lewton a budget of $150,000 and gave him creative control to handle the rest. He enlisted Jacques Tourneur to direct and Mark Robson to edit. The plot sees Serbian-born fashion illustrator Irena (Simone Simon) struggling with repressed sexuality once she falls for handsome engineer Oliver (Kent Reed). They meet-cute then get married, but Irena refuses to consummate their marriage as she fears physical intimacy will transform her into a predatory cat of Serbian legend. A betrayal and jealousy may indeed trigger the curse anyway. With such a small budget, Tourneur couldn’t precisely create a cat person, so he relied on cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca and stylish lighting to create suspense and fear from implied menace lurking in the shadows. The scene in which Irena stalks her rival Alice (Jane Randolph) on the darkened empty street birthed the Lewton Bus jump scare, but the iconic pool scene that sees Alice tormented by a predator in the dark also stands out.
I Walked with a Zombie
For Lewton’s next production, RKO provided him with a title; I Walked with a Zombie. He instructed his writers to research Haitian voodoo practices and look to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre for structure purposes. Tourneur and Robson both carried over in director and editor capacity, respectively. In the film, Young Canadian nurse Betsy (Frances Dee) relays how she once walked with a zombie, recounting the tale of her job caring for the wife of a sugar plantation owner on a Caribbean island. The wife, naturally, has been acting very strangely. Voodoo zombies factor into this atmospheric gem in a big way, of course. There’s a dreamlike quality about I Walked with a Zombie, and it was progressive for its time for the somber portrayal of slaves.
The Seventh Victim
The Seventh Victim isn’t as overtly rooted in horror as Lewton’s other films, but it is one of his absolute best. Director Mark Robson begins this noir film like a classic dark mystery; a young woman learns her older sister has gone missing and hasn’t paid her tuition in months. She departs her boarding school and begins her search, meeting several characters along the way that’ll aid and hinder her investigation. Robson weaves in horror ever so slowly, building toward a nihilistic finish as the older sister is revealed to have gotten mixed up in a Satanic cult. This is the film that sparked criticism from a studio exec unhappy that Lewton’s films lacked a message, and Lewton famously retorted, “I’m sorry, but we do have a message, and our message is that death is good.” Outside of its reputation for blending noir and horror and its bleak ending, The Seventh Victim also boldly introduced a Satanic cult among the city’s social elite, way ahead of Rosemary’s Baby.
The Body Snatcher
Loosely based on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Body Snatcher” short story, Lewton helped adapt for the screen under the pen name Carlos Keith. Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1831, a ruthless doctor and his young prize student find themselves continually harassed by their murderous supplier of illegal cadavers. Directed by Robert Wise (The Haunting, The Curse of the Cat People), The Body Snatcher stars Universal Studios’ horror icons, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. It turns the tale of famous Scotland serial killers William Burke and William Hare into a fictional account of graverobbing and grisly murder with its own distinct set of characters. The Body Snatcher continues the streak of elevating a meager budget to deliver something haunting and gorgeous. Still, it’s most notable for being the first of three collaborations between Karloff and Lewton. It’s also the best, in terms of Karloff’s masterful performances.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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