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Dec. 29th, 2014 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreThis morning, I started reading the book on horror movies I got for Christmas, which is Caligari's Children. So far, I am very much enjoying it, as I always enjoy horror scholarship, even the wacky stuff. This one is not terribly wacky thus far, just enjoyable. Of course, at this point, we're still doing the "here is a potted history of the horror genre in film."
Three things:
- So the book was published in 1980 and written in 1978. This isn't terribly important to its content, as its main subjects are films from the 20's and 30's. However, during the history bit, the author talks about the waves of horror films in the 20th century (silent movies, the Universal era in the 30's, the 40's and 50's films with the giant bugs and the space men, etc) and mentions that, as he's writing in 1978, he feels that the genre has just ended a wave of what he calls "meat movies" - Texas Chainsaw Massacre, et al. And I read that and thought, "1978 - that's when Halloween came out. Oh buddy, get ready to catch that next wave!" I wonder if he enjoyed watching that happen.
- The author mentioned Fritz Lang's Dr Mabuse series (which I keep meaning to watch but have not yet). Sometimes I think about the existence of that series and am just amazed. I mean, Dr Mabuse the Gambler came out in 1922 and The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse came out in 1960. I mean, just think about that - here's a guy who was making movies in an era where we still had title cards and pantomime and just kept making them till 1960. That is a vast and astounding amount of history and technological innovation for one person's career to cover, let alone one single film trilogy.
- Books about horror movies always end up making me want to watch movies from the 60's and 70's. Which is a problem because I really dislike vast swathes of American film from the 60's and 70's. I mean, I can do it if I have to but you would have to pay me money to make me sit through Rosemary's Baby again. Reading about 60's and 70's film works out much better because I can thoroughly enjoy the movie I make up in my head.
Three things:
- So the book was published in 1980 and written in 1978. This isn't terribly important to its content, as its main subjects are films from the 20's and 30's. However, during the history bit, the author talks about the waves of horror films in the 20th century (silent movies, the Universal era in the 30's, the 40's and 50's films with the giant bugs and the space men, etc) and mentions that, as he's writing in 1978, he feels that the genre has just ended a wave of what he calls "meat movies" - Texas Chainsaw Massacre, et al. And I read that and thought, "1978 - that's when Halloween came out. Oh buddy, get ready to catch that next wave!" I wonder if he enjoyed watching that happen.
- The author mentioned Fritz Lang's Dr Mabuse series (which I keep meaning to watch but have not yet). Sometimes I think about the existence of that series and am just amazed. I mean, Dr Mabuse the Gambler came out in 1922 and The Thousand Eyes of Dr Mabuse came out in 1960. I mean, just think about that - here's a guy who was making movies in an era where we still had title cards and pantomime and just kept making them till 1960. That is a vast and astounding amount of history and technological innovation for one person's career to cover, let alone one single film trilogy.
- Books about horror movies always end up making me want to watch movies from the 60's and 70's. Which is a problem because I really dislike vast swathes of American film from the 60's and 70's. I mean, I can do it if I have to but you would have to pay me money to make me sit through Rosemary's Baby again. Reading about 60's and 70's film works out much better because I can thoroughly enjoy the movie I make up in my head.
