With the recent release of Cloverfield, I felt it was the right time to talk a bit about the horror film and its importance in our society. Many cinema goers would agree that the horror film has lost its way over the past decade. However, there is a more disturbing trend that has become very apparent. It is the idea the we no longer have horror icons in which to attach ourselves too. JJ Abrams made this abundantly clear when he wanted to provide a “Godzilla” for Americans with the Cloverfield monster. While he helped to create a legitimately mean looking creature for the screen, there is a denial of what has already been created before and the lust for something which is not ours.
Godzilla is a Japanese creation. It is inherently Japanese and cannot be removed from that environment with any kind of success. The 1998 film where a gofer looking lizard crawls around New York City subways is a good example of this. Godzilla is the embodiment of atomic war to the Japanese people. By rampaging through the streets, viewers are able to release their pent up fear and anger over a point in time where true terror took place. Godzilla is a product of a post World War Japan and belongs there. We as American film goers can never fully understand the true meaning behind such a character when it is placed in our environment. While we experienced 9/11 as the pinnacle of destruction and terror in our time, and Cloverfield does have very specific references to that event, the monster does not and cannot embody the same fear that was experienced through Godzilla. This is not a bash on the film. I personally did not like Cloverfield but I am not instructing anyone else to like or dislike it. The movie failed to provide substance for a rampaging figure. Instead what it did do was make us see how ridiculous we might look under circumstances outside of our small social sphere. It was more of an embarrassment than and exercise in terror.
Our monster is one that is inherently American. King Kong is the microcosm of American history. It is a representation of slavery, oppression, civil and uncivil disobedience, and the success or failure of the “American Dream.” The black ape is taken from his homeland, forcefully chained, presented to white (American) society, and is eventually killed for its continuous disobedience. That is our monster, these are our demons. While it seems that we wish to fully understand destruction from an outside aggressors point of view, it is nearly impossible to do for American audiences without a sense of camp or unbelievability. Foreign tanks have never rolled down the streets of Times Square, bombs have never leveled Harlem, and war has never touched the modern United States. The idea of racism, an uneven class structure, and frustration with capturing what we believe the American Dream might be, is a very understandable situation.
For some reason, leaving business out of this, many horror productions are remakes of foreign films or an American swing on an outside idea. Instead of attempting to recreate new franchises, we should embrace the ideas that we have. Look back to the great works of filmmakers such as Tod Browning for where to go in the future. Leave outside terror to those who can interpret it best. The forced assimilation in films such as, Shutter, The Grudge, and The Ring are not only forced but creating holes in an already insecure genre.
The more I watch current horror films the more I notice the past slink away in a false insecurity. There needs to be more confidence in the future of home grown horror films and less of a dependence on what is being done on the other side of the world. They are great films as they are but not meant for reproduction here.
A small list of classic American made horror films are:
Freaks
Dracula
Dracula’s Daughter
Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
The Wolfman
The Thing From Another World
Halloween
The Exorcist
King Kong (except for Peter Jackson’s)
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Friday the 13th
Last House on the Left
The Shining
This is just a few and I’m sure others will have a ton more.