Horror and SF Movies Through the Decades

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Boss Out of Town
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Horror and SF Movies Through the Decades

Post by Boss Out of Town »

Here are few thoughts from a discussion I was having with friends about an RPG scenario, with comments quoted from Amazon.com reviews.

I was looking up Them!, my favorite monster movie from any decade, and found this interesting analysis of an opening scene, in which a New Mexico state Trooper guarding a crime scene during a night-time sand-storm meets a bad end. Fascinating, considering how many stupid moves we see characters make in horror movies all the time . . .

"Whitmore's partner is left alone--We know what's about to happen to him, don't we?--Whitmore goes for help. His partner (a stern face strong lookin fellow) walks into another room, looks down. Whitmore is heard driving away. He goes into the adjoining room to turn the radio off. A sound is heard--it's the monster sound. He hears it, turns, pulls his gun--smart guy. Without taking his eyes off the direction of the sound, takes a step or two forward to the pull chain light. Standing under it, no expression change on his face--eyes never wavering from the direction of that sound...neither does his gun. He reaches up, finds the pull chain switch without looking and turns the light out. Two steps forward and he is out of that room. A glance left then right to find the light switch, he finds it, turns the light off...his gun never left the direction of the sound, (is this guy combat trained or something?). He eases forward, small steps, soft around fifteen steps, never does his eyes or gun waver in the least from that sound. The monster sound shoots up in volume. He hesitates, eyes swivel left then right like a gun turret, searching for anything--anything at all. His gun never moves off target. The sound is identified as coming from outside, through a big hole in the wall. He steps to the edge of the hole and stops. He turns his head right then left--I figure his was making sure which direction the sound came from. The sound is coming from the left, his head stays turned left, he blinks then steps through the hole. There is no need to go further with this description--we all know what he found. I will say he got off five shots (off screen) before he yelled. So, why am I writing this? Well, it goes to realism. In all the movies you watch, if there is a darkened corner or hole for a monster to crawl into and hide the actors will find a way to walk or crawl close to it until the monster gets them. This law officer had the look on his face and (with a little more training about taking proper cover) attention to stealth, and attention span focusing on a possible enemy I've seen from some of our soldiers during Vietnam. Unlike in the movies...they 'never' took their eyes off their target, and let's face it, his stern face had the look of walking towards a date with destiny. I don't remember who he is, but he sure could act!"

I looked it up: actor Chris Drake, who played Trooper Ed Blackburn in this scene, was a Marine veteran wounded at Guadalcanal. Perceptive fellow, this reviewer. In general, characters in movies from 1945 to 1960 tend to be competent and practical in the face of alien/monstrous threats. With literally millions of war veterans in the population, you do not see the nihilism of later generations of horror movies. George Romero once said that the main point of his Night of the Living Dead franchise was to show how selfish, stupid, and useless most people were in times of crisis. Another of the reviewers of Them! described the characters of this movie in a similar context (political comment warning! . . .but note that the writer has harsh words for all the modern political factions!):

"I also like the fact that decent people back then were presented as just that: decent, and often well-adjusted. These days every decent soul seems to have a tormented background. That's to add a little more drama to the flick. Nobody's just good as they stand; groups and teams aren't well adapted and efficient. There's always the problem person, or the complete jerk, or the worthless or cowardly leader.'

"I love this as a great sci-fi horror flick--in fact it's the prototype for the second Alien film (there's even a "Newt" here, and Newt's broken doll). But more than anything I love it for its portrayal of people working together--selflessly and without ego--to save the world. The only significant bump occurs when the men try to become gallant with the female scientist and she immediately reads them the riot act and the movie proceeds, in fact proceeds with the woman assuming the team leader position. Think about that. This is a Fifties film. She doesn't get the responsibility because of affirmative action, or quotas, or because she's the biggest b*tch around, or even because she's romancing or manipulating the alpha male, she gets it because she's the best qualified for it. This is potent stuff and it's done completely without moralizing, political correctness, or self-consciousness.'

"Today's films seem to be about nothing but ego. "Teams," when you can find them, consist of individuals who constantly duke it out among themselves or agonize over their own predicaments despite the immediacy of dire threats that should have them sticking all that nonsense on a back burner. Sadly, it's an accurate depiction of the real world, especially the corporate world. This movie was made back when plenty of people had pretty recent memories of a war where teams learned how to work together for SURVIVAL. Today you can't even get a bunch of special interest groups to ditch their individual agendas for the few moments it would take to pull together and get one half-baked frat-boy out of the White House."

. . . And that is also one of the things I most like about the movie.
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