cinema history class: the horror of it all

Session: Documentary Month, Week 1
Movie: The Horror of It All (1983)
Directed by Gene Feldman and Suzette Winter
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL

For my writeups of documentary month films, I am abandoning the my usual format. These are documentaries, so there's no real plot as such. And we decided not to rate these.

I was looking forward to documentary month more than I recall looking forward to any other session -- with the possible exception of "Bring Your Own Movie Month," which is a perennial favorite. I think that's because, of the guys in the class, I'm the one who is least into horror movies. I mean, I enjoy them -- but at this point the bigger attractions of the class (for me) are the social aspect and the fact that Ethan is really into it. But, while I'm not necessarily into horror movies, I do find the subject fascinating. And a good documentary about an interesting topic sounds great.

The Horror of It All featured a really good mix of clips, narration and interviews, giving a really good overview of horror movies, going back to 1920's The Golem and The Cabinet of Caligari. I think what I liked most about it was the way they tried to tie the themes in movies into the popular cultures of the time. Notably, the nuclear fears of the 1950s are tied into the monster movies of the time. And the mechanism behind the Jeckyl/Hyde transformation (a drink) is tied into prohibition.

I would have preferred though, for it to cover trends that got closer to the documentary's 1983 release date. In fact, near the end, the interviewees -- Robert Bloch and Gloria Stuart among them -- decry the spatter films that were then the rage. Now, there's some merit to their criticism. But I think the documentary would have worked better if the trend had been noted and some clips presented.

Two themes that are touched on repeatedly, are the idea that playing God -- even with the best of intentions -- ends in disaster and that the leading man is always ineffectual.

The production was bookended with clips of the old haunted mansion in Long Branch, NJ (which closed due to fire in 1987. The conceit was that this nostalgic trip through horror history paralleled a walk through the mansion.It was kind of cute in a hokey way.

As an extra, Keith showed us a segment of Tom Snyder's Tomorrow show from the 1970s. In honor of a horror film festival in New York, Snyder hosted a 45 (or so?) minute conversation with film star Peter Cushing, and film experts Forest Ackerman and Leonard Wolf. That segment was great for showing off Cushing's sense of humor. Wolf struck me as being a little too stiff. Keith, Ethan and Joe noted that he made a bunch of mistakes. But in an era before you could read up on any topic on the internet, or watch and rewatch movies at will.

Overall, a great experience.