The Living Dead in a Post 9/11 World: George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
The fourth installment of George A. Romero's dead series was 2005's Land of the Dead. The film follows a small city living among the dead which, at this point in the series, has overrun the world. The film takes place in a city based on Pittsburgh where there are two classes living inside the walls of the city. One class consists of the upper class which lives in a high-rise called Fiddler's Green run by a man named Kaufman and the other class consists of a lower class that makes runs to the outlined towns raiding the towns for basic needs: canned food, medicine, etc…..
The zombies in this series have evolved to the point of being able to communicate with each other. The film does open up with seeing that the zombies seem to be "living" and carrying on with their daily "lives". The main zombie, a former gas station mechanic, comes out of the gas station when hearing the bells near the gas pump. The evolution of the zombies is a continuation from Day of the Dead where Dr. Logan says that he can domesticate them. The zombies have, in fact, become more like the living at this point.
Romero has said that he wrote the script to address such issues as poverty and AIDS, but when 9/11 happened, he shelved it because America was not ready to deal with such hard issues. After a couple years, Romero pulled the script and said that the issues today was relevant to do Land. Land, indeed, addresses the issues of a post 9/11 world. Every aspect of the film is a metaphor to what is happening with the government and the world around us.
Fiddler's Green is a huge metaphor for how the rich and privilege live so much above the rest of the society. The people in Fiddler's Green live their daily lives forgetting about what is on the outside of their walls. The upper class like the zombies have gotten back to a kind of normality. One can make the parallel of today's society where the upper class has basically forgotten how bad the world is outside of their walls. The character of Kaufman, played by Dennis Hopper, is basically a Rumsfeldian caricature overlooking his society. Kaufman is the leader of a quasi-government. He has a group of advisors that give him ideas about how to run his "country". He doesn't seem to be worried about the zombies or the people on the outside of his tower. One thing that Kaufman does is to get rid of people who pose a threat to him and his world.
The most obvious metaphor the Romero innacted in Land was his use of military as the main defense of Fiddler's Green. The military in this film is primarily made up of a ragtag group of citizens who basically botch their defending of the city. One could argue that this military is in itself a metaphor for the botched wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
The people on the outside of Fiddler's Green basically live in a slum and fend for themselves. The only thing that Kaufman has done for them is to give them vices to keep them in line. The character Riley, played by Simon Baker, has taken upon himself to protect the people living in the slums and is a leader to them. When Cholo, played by John Leguizamo, steals Dead Reckoning (which was the former title of Land), Riley with a group agrees to steal it back for Kaufman. Riley isn't doing it for Kaufman, but knows the consequences of Cholo's action if he fires upon the city.
The zombies make their way to the city and finally make it to and thought the walls of Fiddler's Green. They represent a metaphor of the middle class coming to devour the upper class and take away what was theirs in the first place. They overrun the people inside, in a way, make a way back to normality to them and the world that they exist. At the end of the film, the group see the zombies leaving the city and he decides not to kill them. The character Slack, played by Asia Argento (daughter of Dario Argento who helped with Romero's Dawn of the Dead) asked Riley why he didn't fire upon them. Riley responds by saying, "They are just looking for a place to go." Riley's line reflects a subconscious yearning of where do we (the American populous) go from here.
Romero has always defended his work by saying there is something political about his films, in particular, his dead films. He goes on by saying they are ultimately about revolution. Land is probably Romero's most political film up to date with everything a metaphor for what's happening in a post 9/11 world.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Susperia
Susperia
One of the most horrifying movies of the last thirty years, Susperia has redefined the horror genre and continues to be a film that scares its audience. Susperia tells the story of Suzy Bannion, played by Jessica Harper, an American, who has traveled to Europe to attend a famous ballet school run by Madame Blanc, played by Joan Bennett and Miss Tanner, played by Alida Valli, Bannion cross paths with a woman who has fled the school only to be brutally murdered by something and when Bannion attends the school strange things begin to happen. She soon realizes that the school is being run by a coven of witches.
Susperia, directed by legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento, is the first film in the Three Mothers trilogy along with Inferno (1980) and La Terza Madre (2007). Argento, along with Goblin who wrote the musical score, and Luciano Tovoli who did the cinematography achieved a symbiotic masterpiece that has been scaring audiences since 1977.
Argento has collaborated with the band Goblin since Susperia on projects such as: George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (which Argento did his own edit of the film) and Tenebre (1982). Goblin's score of Susperia lends another character to the film. The opening scene where Suzy Bannion is walking out of the terminal to the street in order to hail a cab has a schizophrenic feel to it while Tovoli's camerawork of breaking up the POV of Bannion. As the film continues, Goblin almost has a split personality with two contrasting musical scores in some scenes where you get an almost serene underlying of sound with a frightening overtone. Some of the score reinforce what Argento is doing in Susperia by adding a soundtrack that conveys a sheer uneasiness of some of the other characters such as when Bannion is walking down the hall passing one of the cooks and the little boy. Another aspect of Goblin's score that is brilliant in Susperia is how unnerving the music which lends to the overall feel of the film. Goblin's score is a masterpiece lending Susperia an unknown character that underlies what Argento and Tovoli are doing in the film.
Luciano Tovoli's cinematography in Susperia lends Argento another character that truly makes Susperia one of the all-time horror films. Tovoli has since worked with Argento on Tenebre (1982). Tovoli's use of color, red in specific, gives Susperia a hallucinogenic overtone. The use of red also symbolizes not only blood, but also a madness that Suzy Bannion soon realizes throughout the film. Tovoli's use of color also reinforces the emotional settings in certain scenes as in the blue hue of the attic giving it a cold demeanor.
What Argento does in Susperia that makes this film truly horrifying is not letting up on the suspense that Bannion goes through from the time she comes in contact with the student who is brutally murdered to the very end when she discovers the coven of witches. Argento is brilliant at setting up every scene with a style and using movement to convey the simplest of messages. For example, the scene where the blind man and his dog are walking through a wide-open square with two buildings in the neo-classical style of architecture. Tovoli's complex camera shots convey the sheer terror of the scene. One might say that this is Argento's statement of fascism. The scene has a buildup of its own with Daniel walking with just a simple score of bells that turn from being very calming to a pounding of drums that heighten the suspense of what comes next in the scene. One of the more horrifying aspect of Susperia that Argento brings is how he uses a very calm and control movement of the camera to frame his characters in the film to buildup the suspense and horror. The scene where Sara slowly climbs the boxes to slip through the little window to escape the witches and falls into the coils of barb wire. The frame is still while Sara struggles in the wire. The terror on her face is Argento needed to capture such a horrific shot. One of the most brutal visions of Susperia happens at the beginning of the film where the student that ran away from the school is brutally murdered. The murder is one of the most gruesome in modern horror films. The climax of that scene where she falls through the glass ceiling being hung by the curtain rope is one that has been copied in such films as Demoni (1985) which is a film that Argento co-wrote with Lamberto Bava.
Susperia is one of the most horrifying films to come out in the last thirty years. It's influence can be traced to such films as Scream, The Witches, and even Halloween II. Susperia will continue to be an influence in future directors that are making the next truly horrifying film. Susperia's symbiotic use of color, sound, and movement make this a very unique horror film and one that continue to horrify the next generation of horror fans.
One of the most horrifying movies of the last thirty years, Susperia has redefined the horror genre and continues to be a film that scares its audience. Susperia tells the story of Suzy Bannion, played by Jessica Harper, an American, who has traveled to Europe to attend a famous ballet school run by Madame Blanc, played by Joan Bennett and Miss Tanner, played by Alida Valli, Bannion cross paths with a woman who has fled the school only to be brutally murdered by something and when Bannion attends the school strange things begin to happen. She soon realizes that the school is being run by a coven of witches.
Susperia, directed by legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento, is the first film in the Three Mothers trilogy along with Inferno (1980) and La Terza Madre (2007). Argento, along with Goblin who wrote the musical score, and Luciano Tovoli who did the cinematography achieved a symbiotic masterpiece that has been scaring audiences since 1977.
Argento has collaborated with the band Goblin since Susperia on projects such as: George Romero's Dawn of the Dead (which Argento did his own edit of the film) and Tenebre (1982). Goblin's score of Susperia lends another character to the film. The opening scene where Suzy Bannion is walking out of the terminal to the street in order to hail a cab has a schizophrenic feel to it while Tovoli's camerawork of breaking up the POV of Bannion. As the film continues, Goblin almost has a split personality with two contrasting musical scores in some scenes where you get an almost serene underlying of sound with a frightening overtone. Some of the score reinforce what Argento is doing in Susperia by adding a soundtrack that conveys a sheer uneasiness of some of the other characters such as when Bannion is walking down the hall passing one of the cooks and the little boy. Another aspect of Goblin's score that is brilliant in Susperia is how unnerving the music which lends to the overall feel of the film. Goblin's score is a masterpiece lending Susperia an unknown character that underlies what Argento and Tovoli are doing in the film.
Luciano Tovoli's cinematography in Susperia lends Argento another character that truly makes Susperia one of the all-time horror films. Tovoli has since worked with Argento on Tenebre (1982). Tovoli's use of color, red in specific, gives Susperia a hallucinogenic overtone. The use of red also symbolizes not only blood, but also a madness that Suzy Bannion soon realizes throughout the film. Tovoli's use of color also reinforces the emotional settings in certain scenes as in the blue hue of the attic giving it a cold demeanor.
What Argento does in Susperia that makes this film truly horrifying is not letting up on the suspense that Bannion goes through from the time she comes in contact with the student who is brutally murdered to the very end when she discovers the coven of witches. Argento is brilliant at setting up every scene with a style and using movement to convey the simplest of messages. For example, the scene where the blind man and his dog are walking through a wide-open square with two buildings in the neo-classical style of architecture. Tovoli's complex camera shots convey the sheer terror of the scene. One might say that this is Argento's statement of fascism. The scene has a buildup of its own with Daniel walking with just a simple score of bells that turn from being very calming to a pounding of drums that heighten the suspense of what comes next in the scene. One of the more horrifying aspect of Susperia that Argento brings is how he uses a very calm and control movement of the camera to frame his characters in the film to buildup the suspense and horror. The scene where Sara slowly climbs the boxes to slip through the little window to escape the witches and falls into the coils of barb wire. The frame is still while Sara struggles in the wire. The terror on her face is Argento needed to capture such a horrific shot. One of the most brutal visions of Susperia happens at the beginning of the film where the student that ran away from the school is brutally murdered. The murder is one of the most gruesome in modern horror films. The climax of that scene where she falls through the glass ceiling being hung by the curtain rope is one that has been copied in such films as Demoni (1985) which is a film that Argento co-wrote with Lamberto Bava.
Susperia is one of the most horrifying films to come out in the last thirty years. It's influence can be traced to such films as Scream, The Witches, and even Halloween II. Susperia will continue to be an influence in future directors that are making the next truly horrifying film. Susperia's symbiotic use of color, sound, and movement make this a very unique horror film and one that continue to horrify the next generation of horror fans.
What Are the Limits to Our Depravity
What Are the Limits of Our Depravity: Hostel
There has been times documented throughout history of how far human beings will go in appeasing their depravity. Whether it was the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, or even today's question over torture of terrorists, human beings walk the fine line between torture for information vs. torture for pleasure. It's this depravity that is brought up in Eli Roth's Hostel.
Hostel, released in 2005, tells the story of two American backpackers along with an Icelandic friend that back pack all over Europe. The Americans are sowing their wild oats before settling down into their careers or the end of their education. They soon learn about a place where the women are virtuous and will not say no to foreigners. The three do not realize that the place they're going is a place where business men pay to torture and kill other humans. It is this idea of paying to be able to inflict physical pain to appease their masochistic and depravity that make Hostel on the few truly horrific films to come out in the last few years.
One of the main themes in Hostel is a very anti-American sentiment throughout the film. The two Americans: Paxton, played by Jay Hernandez and Josh, played by Derek Richardson, are seen as very naïve in the countries they visit. The two get into a fight at one of the disco's and pick a fight with a guy who was defending his girlfriend. Roth paints the picture that is felt throughout the world where America is viewed as a country that uses violence to solve their problems. Roth portrays Paxton and Josh as the aggressors and the indigenes as the passive ones.
Roth uses a slow buildup to reinforce what his audience is in for; a kind of pseudo-torture for his audience. The first half of the movie Roth is portraying his characters having the time of their lives and the lighting of the film reflects the mood. It's not until the three arrive in their final destination that the lighting and sound change the tone of the film. When they arrive in Slovakia, the surroundings are harsh and uninviting. They travel into the country where there is not much color there. When they check into the hostel they pass a TV showing a scene of Pulp Fiction whose infamous scene contain images of abject depravity. Everything has a harsh appeal to it. Roth has said that he didn't mean for the film to be offensive to Slovakia, even though it was shot in the Czech Republic, but to show "American's ignorance to the world around them." What is ironic in Hostel is how the moral choices the three characters which some say is evil is what leads them to their torturers.
Some can argue that Hostel can be compared to a show like 24 for the common theme of torture. The only difference is that in 24 torture is used to extract information where Hostel torture is used for pleasure. An argument can arise whether or not Hostel is a growing sentiment about the Bush Administration and its use of torture. The question still remains whether torture is the right technique to gain information. In a way, the torturing to gain information is a different kind of pleasure than in Hostel.
There are various images contained in Hostel that reinforce whether we have gone to the limits of depravity. As the story unfolds, the Icelander Oli, played by Eythor Gudjonsson winds up missing ending up in a dark and wet basement. We are then shown his fate and as the camera pans back we are shown the blurred image of a woman and all we hear is her screams. We know, now, what is going to happen to her. As the film moves along, Paxton and Josh, meet up with their two female roommates who take them to another disco. Josh gets up to leave feeling very dizzy and then cutting to a scene where he is laid down on his bed. We are shown Josh full framed, but at the bottom we see someone coming into frame giving its audience an uneasy feeling. The next scene is from Josh's point of view which is just through an eyehole focusing on a person dressed in a cross between a butcher and a surgeon. The room that Josh is in has a very harsh tone to it. He pans down to see a tray of surgical and non surgical tools which are also very harsh looking. The camera pans back as he sees who is doing the torturing and recognizing him as someone he has met before. Josh's realization makes this scene even more horrific and unnerving.
When Paxton goes to find Josh, he is led to the place where all this torture is taking place and there is nothing but silence as Paxton and his female roommate Natalya is riding in the back of a car. Paxton makes eye contact with a Japanese man, played by Takashi Miike, who is well known for his masterpiece Audition. Audition (1999) is using torture to gain revenge for wronging a right. Miike uses a slow buildup to one of the most famous scenes of torture in film. The silence gives the audience a feel of emptiness and helplessness because we know what is in store for Paxton. When Paxton comes across the German businessman, played by Jan Vlasak, and realizes what he is doing to his friend, Paxton backs out and all we get is Natalya laughing which reverberates through the hallway giving a feeling that Paxton is now trapped in this hellish world.
Paxton is strapped into a chair and enters a bodyguard showing someone who he might be torturing. The man is dressed in the same garb as the German businessman. What makes him more ominous is that he revokes images of the Nazi's and their use of torture of the Jews in the concentration camps. He is just this frail man who is conflicted on how to torture and what to use to do the torture which makes the audience uneasy.
One of the most horrifying scenes in Hostel is the scene where Paxton meets up with a businessman, played by Rick Hoffman. What is horrifying is not that his is going to torture someone, but his attitudes towards it. Hoffman is very gung-ho in wanting to do it right that his masochistic needs are already satisfied. He questions Paxton on how he should do it. He holds up a shiny silver gun and says, "Yea, yea, no, no fuck that shit. Fuck this. This is too American. I'm going old school" Again, Roth displays an anti-American sentiment that the world sees. The fact that Hoffman's character is getting so much pleasure in the thought of how he is going to torture makes this scene so terrifying. He is also so impressed with the fact that Paxton says he paid for an American and that Americans are worth more gives off more of the same anti-American sentiment.
Hostel is not about the notion of paying for the right to torture, but evokes an ever growing question of how we would go in satisfying our masochistic and depraved needs. Would we ever pay for the right to torture? The vast majority would say no, but there are some who could not fully answer that. What are the limits to our depravity? Are they just rolled up in a dark fantasy that would not see the light of day? Have we seen the limits of depravity?
There has been times documented throughout history of how far human beings will go in appeasing their depravity. Whether it was the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, or even today's question over torture of terrorists, human beings walk the fine line between torture for information vs. torture for pleasure. It's this depravity that is brought up in Eli Roth's Hostel.
Hostel, released in 2005, tells the story of two American backpackers along with an Icelandic friend that back pack all over Europe. The Americans are sowing their wild oats before settling down into their careers or the end of their education. They soon learn about a place where the women are virtuous and will not say no to foreigners. The three do not realize that the place they're going is a place where business men pay to torture and kill other humans. It is this idea of paying to be able to inflict physical pain to appease their masochistic and depravity that make Hostel on the few truly horrific films to come out in the last few years.
One of the main themes in Hostel is a very anti-American sentiment throughout the film. The two Americans: Paxton, played by Jay Hernandez and Josh, played by Derek Richardson, are seen as very naïve in the countries they visit. The two get into a fight at one of the disco's and pick a fight with a guy who was defending his girlfriend. Roth paints the picture that is felt throughout the world where America is viewed as a country that uses violence to solve their problems. Roth portrays Paxton and Josh as the aggressors and the indigenes as the passive ones.
Roth uses a slow buildup to reinforce what his audience is in for; a kind of pseudo-torture for his audience. The first half of the movie Roth is portraying his characters having the time of their lives and the lighting of the film reflects the mood. It's not until the three arrive in their final destination that the lighting and sound change the tone of the film. When they arrive in Slovakia, the surroundings are harsh and uninviting. They travel into the country where there is not much color there. When they check into the hostel they pass a TV showing a scene of Pulp Fiction whose infamous scene contain images of abject depravity. Everything has a harsh appeal to it. Roth has said that he didn't mean for the film to be offensive to Slovakia, even though it was shot in the Czech Republic, but to show "American's ignorance to the world around them." What is ironic in Hostel is how the moral choices the three characters which some say is evil is what leads them to their torturers.
Some can argue that Hostel can be compared to a show like 24 for the common theme of torture. The only difference is that in 24 torture is used to extract information where Hostel torture is used for pleasure. An argument can arise whether or not Hostel is a growing sentiment about the Bush Administration and its use of torture. The question still remains whether torture is the right technique to gain information. In a way, the torturing to gain information is a different kind of pleasure than in Hostel.
There are various images contained in Hostel that reinforce whether we have gone to the limits of depravity. As the story unfolds, the Icelander Oli, played by Eythor Gudjonsson winds up missing ending up in a dark and wet basement. We are then shown his fate and as the camera pans back we are shown the blurred image of a woman and all we hear is her screams. We know, now, what is going to happen to her. As the film moves along, Paxton and Josh, meet up with their two female roommates who take them to another disco. Josh gets up to leave feeling very dizzy and then cutting to a scene where he is laid down on his bed. We are shown Josh full framed, but at the bottom we see someone coming into frame giving its audience an uneasy feeling. The next scene is from Josh's point of view which is just through an eyehole focusing on a person dressed in a cross between a butcher and a surgeon. The room that Josh is in has a very harsh tone to it. He pans down to see a tray of surgical and non surgical tools which are also very harsh looking. The camera pans back as he sees who is doing the torturing and recognizing him as someone he has met before. Josh's realization makes this scene even more horrific and unnerving.
When Paxton goes to find Josh, he is led to the place where all this torture is taking place and there is nothing but silence as Paxton and his female roommate Natalya is riding in the back of a car. Paxton makes eye contact with a Japanese man, played by Takashi Miike, who is well known for his masterpiece Audition. Audition (1999) is using torture to gain revenge for wronging a right. Miike uses a slow buildup to one of the most famous scenes of torture in film. The silence gives the audience a feel of emptiness and helplessness because we know what is in store for Paxton. When Paxton comes across the German businessman, played by Jan Vlasak, and realizes what he is doing to his friend, Paxton backs out and all we get is Natalya laughing which reverberates through the hallway giving a feeling that Paxton is now trapped in this hellish world.
Paxton is strapped into a chair and enters a bodyguard showing someone who he might be torturing. The man is dressed in the same garb as the German businessman. What makes him more ominous is that he revokes images of the Nazi's and their use of torture of the Jews in the concentration camps. He is just this frail man who is conflicted on how to torture and what to use to do the torture which makes the audience uneasy.
One of the most horrifying scenes in Hostel is the scene where Paxton meets up with a businessman, played by Rick Hoffman. What is horrifying is not that his is going to torture someone, but his attitudes towards it. Hoffman is very gung-ho in wanting to do it right that his masochistic needs are already satisfied. He questions Paxton on how he should do it. He holds up a shiny silver gun and says, "Yea, yea, no, no fuck that shit. Fuck this. This is too American. I'm going old school" Again, Roth displays an anti-American sentiment that the world sees. The fact that Hoffman's character is getting so much pleasure in the thought of how he is going to torture makes this scene so terrifying. He is also so impressed with the fact that Paxton says he paid for an American and that Americans are worth more gives off more of the same anti-American sentiment.
Hostel is not about the notion of paying for the right to torture, but evokes an ever growing question of how we would go in satisfying our masochistic and depraved needs. Would we ever pay for the right to torture? The vast majority would say no, but there are some who could not fully answer that. What are the limits to our depravity? Are they just rolled up in a dark fantasy that would not see the light of day? Have we seen the limits of depravity?
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