The Many Faces of King Kong

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TRAILER TRASH: King Kong Edition!

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The Lucky 13: Week Two: Creature Features/Monster Movies

Welcome back for the second weekly installment of The Lucky 13, The Vault's summer-long collaboration with Brutal as Hell. After last week's descent into the debauchery of grindhouse and exploitation, this week we visit one of the most traditional of horror sub-genres, perhaps the most traditional of all--monster movies and creature features.

Technically speaking, if one were in the hair-splitting mood, these two can indeed be separated into distinct sub-subgenres, with monster movies implying more old-school humanoid beasties, and creature features referring to more of the giant-behemoth-on-the-loose premise. But for our purposes this week, we're taking an all-inclusive look at the bizarre, other-worldy abominations of nature that haunt the history of horror cinema!

B-Sol on Bride of Frankenstein

This could very well be the most skillfully made horror film of them all--certainly of the so-called "classic era" of horror movies, in which, very often, they were treated as mere children's fare. Bride of Frankenstein is so much more than that. It's a sublime expression of cinema as art, wrapped subversively in the guise of a monster movie. For one thing, the film is tinged with a daring Christian allegory that only adds to the viewing experience. Who would've thought that the Frankenstein monster could become a Christ figure, yet this movie does it. Heavy stuff for a creature feature!

Bride of Frankenstein is filled with unforgettable scenes. Chief among these is the rightfully famous log cabin scene with the blind hermit. Parodied in Young Frankenstein almost as famously, this is nevertheless one of the truly immortal film scenes, and for my money may be the most emotionally moving one I've ever seen in a horror film. It's for moments like this one that the film totally transcends the genre.

Bride of Frankenstein is a film that is far more sublime and wonderful than it has any right to be. Filled with remarkable imagery and delightful performances, it is the kind of film you show to someone who has yet to appreciate the finer points of what genre entertainment has to offer. There is a handful of horror films of such high quality that one can literally classify them among the greatest movies ever made. Bride of Frankenstein is one of them. It's the shining triumph of the beloved Universal cycle of monster films.



Cinema Suicide's Bryan White on The Thing (1982)

These days I'm over moaning about remakes, but I used to get pretty angry about the entire notion. It just doesn't make any sense to me. While complaining about remakes, though, I would always conveniently forget that one of my favorite John Carpenter movies is, in fact, a remake in the most genuine sense of the word. Remakes often keep the general framework of the source material intact while taking giant liberties with the specifics, and that's pretty much what's happening in The Thing.

John Carpenter is a noted fan of the 1951 Howard Hawks film, The Thing From Another World, which is in turn based on a 1938 short story called Who Goes There. Hawks' film keeps the general idea of a frozen alien space ship, but throws out a lot of the short story's details in favor of casting a tangible villain with a hideous appearance. Carpenter's remake actually comes a lot closer to Who Goes There by setting the movie in a location as remote as you can get, Antarctica, and then pits a small arctic research team against a monster that it really can't even see. This is the weirdest part of choosing The Thing as my monster movie pick because when you get down to brass tacks, the titular Thing is actually a microbe that takes the form of the research team, occasionally revealing itself to be a nasty piece of bio-horror as it assimilates its victims. By the end of the movie, its true form is revealed to be a throbbing tower of flesh and teeth, but on the way, the monster--usually the draw to these monster movies--just looks like the rest of the cast.

Carpenter's flick is an examination of paranoia, and a spiral of horror that suggests that the craft they found may not even be The Thing but it's latest victim, and Earth is its latest conquest. Though the original Hawks picture is a monster movie by definition, Carpenter's version manages to fall just inside the confines because of its ambiguity. I'm in love with Rob Bottin's unbelievably nasty special effects, too. When the movie suddenly starts to feel like a body horror movie, someone's severed head sprouts legs and beats a hasty retreat. The Thing is colorful, completely nasty and is home to a brand of paranoia that is downright suffocating at times.



From Beyond Depraved's Joe Monster on King Kong

In the pantheon of giant monster movies, King Kong remains one of the reigning champions of the form, a king of the jungle in the most appropriate sense. It can’t be denied that this film seems to have it all: an engaging story, incredible special effects, and one of, if not THE, greatest scene of a giant creature’s rampage in a bustling metropolis. But there’s something that Kong possesses that other monster movies of its ilk seemed to have missed. King Kong has a wonderful sense of humanity, exhibited not only in the likable characters, but also in the monstrous form of Kong himself.

Willis O’Brien and his team of expert technicians worked wonders in their exciting world of stop-motion dinosaurs and beasts. The smallest of details were rendered by their deft hands. I’m still blown away every time I see tufts of Kong’s fur blown by the wind. But those are just superficial matters. Where the genius of the special effects crew truly shines through is during the brief but ever-so-intimate moments when the audience is able to look past Kong’s roaring terror into the warm heart that lies beneath his giant chest. This is especially seen during one of my personal favorite moments, when Kong innocently but curiously plucks off Fay Wray’s garments. The looks on Kong’s face appear so cleverly human. We can relate to him. A 25-foot jungle ape that we can sympathize with. How can you argue over the greatness of something like that?

But don’t for one moment be mistaken, dear reader. King Kong isn’t merely a sappy romantic comedy that has Tom Hanks replaced by a slightly more attractive lead. There’s red-blooded adventure and intrigue galore. And what’s a giant monster movie without scenes of terrible, wanton destruction and carnage? You’ll watch in rapt fear as Kong busts through the giant wooden gate that has kept him at bay for all these years. And who isn’t familiar with the instantly classic scene of Kong crushing his way through the skyscrapers of 1930s New York? Kong may be a softy at heart, but he never lets you forget that he is a titanic gorilla on a mission of death. He mercilessly stuffs humans into his mouth and grinds them into the earth under the weight of his colossal monkey foot. And as mentioned before, the craftsmanship of O’Brien is awesomely exhibited during the scenes where Kong wages hairy battle against the monsters of the island, most notably the snapping T-Rex.

This is the stuff that dreams of Saturday matinee boys and girls are made of. The climax atop the Empire State Building has just as much resonance now as it did over 70 years ago. It’s the last stand of a beast from a distant world against the forces of a realm it has no knowledge of. Don’t be surprised if you feel a lump develop in your throat as Kong languishes on the building as the airplanes rain their bullets upon him. This is more than just a monster movie. This is cinema at its finest.



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Head over to Brutal as Hell to see what Marc Patterson and his crew have come up with. And if you're interested in taking part in the future, just give Marc or myself a holler.

Join us next week for The Lucky 13, as we peer into the realm of Demons, Witches & The Devil...

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Retro Review: King Kong (1933)

So there I was, banging my head over how to tie in Thanksgiving somehow here at the Vault, when none other than Mrs. B-Sol pointed out a connection so obvious I'm still kicking myself for missing it. I don't know about you, but when we were kids growing up in the New York area, the airing of King Kong on syndicated television each Thanksgiving was a bona fide holiday tradition. I never quite got the relationship, but you can be damn sure I was glued to the TV every Turkey Day immediately after the big meal to catch this, the granddaddy of all giant monster flicks.

And that is why this week's Retro Review is for Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack's timeless 1933 masterpiece.

It is almost impossible to fully imagine the kind of impact this film must have had for movie audiences at the time. Virtually nothing like this had ever been seen before, and the sheer spectacle of it cannot be overstated. In our own age of overdone CGI effects blockbusters, some may find it quaint--yet for my money, the skill with which this movie is executed, particularly form a technical standpoint, has always been and continues to be breathtaking.

Naturally, the true star here is Willis O'Brien, the genius responsible for pioneering stop-motion animation in film, and the man who brought the Eighth Wonder of the World to life. Kong is a living, breathing character, with pathos and depth of personality. He is brought to life in a way few animated characters ever have been, before or since.

The scenes with the monster are all pure joy to watch. His encounters with other fantastical creatures on Skull Island, in particular, stand out. One can't help but get the impression, watching something like the legendary battle with the T-Rex, that the filmmakers were profoundly confident in their work, and so wanted to showcase it as strongly as possible. The attention to detail is staggering, especially when we consider that the labor involved far exceeds anything undertaken in the field of CGI today. It should also be mentioned that the fine work of Hollywood sound effects man extraordinaire Murray Spivack goes a long way toward bringing these creatures to life as well.

The acting is a bit stilted, even by early 1930s standards (when stage-style delivery was still often the norm), but after all, we're not here to watch the actors. Nevertheless, it needs to be pointed out that Robert Armstrong is magnificent as the master showman/filmmaker/entrepreneur Carl Denham. His awesomeness is only further highlighted in the wake of the catastrophically bad performance of the hideously miscast Jack Black in Peter Jackson's well-intentioned yet disappointing 2005 remake.

And then there's Fay Wray. Although she would never again attain the level of prominence this role gave her, she will forever be etched into the annals of Hollywood immortality as Ann Darrow, the stunning "Beauty" to Kong's "Beast". Her screen presence is truly remarkable, exuding a certain aura that only comes from the demure and ethereal leading ladies of this era. It should also be mentioned that the gal could scream like a champ, and manages to get across an impressive amount of understated sexual charisma during her scenes with her decidedly wooden and uncharismatic leading man, Bruce Cabot.

Max Steiner, the go-to guy for Hollywood film scores during much of the 1930s and 1940s, provides one of his absolute gems for this film. Particularly memorable is the plaintive motif I like to call "Kong's Theme", which Kong fans will instantly recognize when they hear it. A simple melody, it nevertheless puts over the tragedy of the monster so very effectively.

But once again, it's the special effects that are the stars of this film. Decades before Lucas and Speilberg put the concept of special effects movies on the map, here is this 1933 black and white film that still has the power to dazzle with some incredible set pieces. The Stegosaurus; the log scene; the destruction of the native village; the New York rampage; and of course, that iconic Empire State Building battle with the bi-planes.

What a testament it is to the work of Cooper, Schoedsack and O'Brien that we feel so deeply for this creature by the time he's gunned down at the end. Watching him fight off those fighter pilots, who can help rooting for the big guy? And seeing him take bullet after bullet, desperately hanging on all the while as his life slips away, gets me every time. Very rarely has a CGI creation moved me to this degree.

You don't need me to tell you that King Kong is a classic--perhaps the classic of golden age genre cinema--but I can tell you that I definitely rediscovered that fact today, as I showed it to my kids, nieces and nephews on DVD to continue the tradition I myself enjoyed as a child. Long live Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World.

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