Carmilla: Archetype of the Lesbian Vampire, Pt. 2

(cont'd. from yesterday's post)

Crypt of the Vampire (aka Terror in the Crypt) (1964)

 

The weakest of the Carmilla adaptations is the Italian oddity, Crypt of the Vampire, which I found on DVD named Terror in the Crypt.  It borrows largely from the source material; however, vampires not being enough for this story, it also throws in witchcraft and Satanism.  There are Karnsteins galore, but none named Carmilla.

Laura Karnstein (Audry Amber) is tormented by nightmares and is actually suspected of killing members of the family.  Her father (Christopher Lee) believes she's possessed by Scirra of Karnstein, a witch who cursed the family centuries ago.  While investigating Scirra's history, a carriage breaks down in front of the castle and Lyuba (Ursula Davis) becomes a guest.  Guess what?  When a portrait of Scirra is discovered, it resembles Lyuba.

The relationship between Laura and Lyuba is similar to that in the original story, although it's the most squeaky-clean version of any of the adaptations.  Minus the subplot of the housekeeper using the hand of one of the victims to worship the devil, we end up in the same place: the Karnstein tomb.  When it is opened, Lyuba lies in it and is destroyed.

The film transfer on the Terror in the Crypt DVD is grainy and jumpy.  But I don't think we can blame that entirely for the movie's low production values.  It plays like a foreign TV movie discovered in a vault deeper than Carmilla's, but with little effort made to restore it.  When you say that about a movie starring Christopher Lee, there's a real problem somewhere.

Hammer's "Karnstein Trilogy"

In 1970, Hammer Films released the most faithful version of Carmilla that I've seen.  The Vampire Lovers takes the plot points of the original story and puts them in chronological order.  So we first see Baron Hartog (aka Baron Vordenburg) destroy a vampire, we then see a woman years later leave her daughter Carmilla (Ingrid Pitt) with General von Spielsdorf and his daughter, Laura (Pippa Steel), and we then see the bulk of the story unfold at the household of Mr. Morton with his daughter, Emma (Madeline Smith).  Even though some of the names have changed, we end up in the same place: Carmilla's grave, where she is destroyed.

Following the success of The Vampire Lovers, Hammer quickly produced two other movies loosely based on Carmilla: Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971).  The subsequent movies are not sequels; they merely use the story of the Karnstein vampires as a springboard for exploring (and exploiting) the explicit lesbian themes of the novella.

Many horror fans adore The Vampire Lovers and many Hammer fans claim it as their favorite Hammer film.  But I find it to be the weakest of the trilogy.  Ingrid Pitt makes a handsome vampire, and The Vampire Lovers catapulted her to fame, but she's not even my favorite lesbian vampire in the series.

That would be Yutte Stensgaard in the second film, Lust for a Vampire.  She plays Mircalla, resurrected in 1830 by her parents, Count and Countess Karnstein.  When she checks into a local boarding school, the movie threatens to become the most lesbian-explicit version yet.  Instead, the beautiful vampire becomes the obsession of two men: the headmaster (Ralph Bates) and a visiting author (Michael Johnson), the latter perhaps a nod to earlier Carmilla adaptation, Vampyr.

For me, the true revelation in the Karnstein trilogy is its final movie, Twins of Evil.  Furthest from the original story, it's sometimes considered an unofficial prequel.  When identical twins (Playboy models Mary and Madeleine Collinson) arrive to stay with their puritanical uncle (Peter Cushing), one is tempted by the evil Count Karnstein (Damien Thomas), who has just become a vampire by raising Countess Mircalla Karnstein from her grave.  Following the standard beheading of the lesbian vampire in her crypt, Twins of Evil offers an exciting epilogue in which Cushing battles Thomas on the staircase of a castle.

Oddly, as Hammer's reputation descended in the early 70s with its increasing focus on sex, each entry in the Karnstein Trilogy becomes decreasingly sexy, focusing less on the lesbian themes.  The Vampire Lovers seems the most exploitative to me, with more unnecessary scenes of scantily-clad women than the others, and is therefore my least favorite.  (Plus, the story is often repetitive.  I wish I had a nickel for every time characters discussed removing garlic from the room of vampire victim Emma!)

Twins of Evil, though, may actually become my favorite Hammer film.  Peter Cushing, who dropped out of Lust for a Vampire due to his wife's illness, returns in Twins of Evil following her death.  Whether he's still grieving for her or simply performing an acting tour de force, he is nothing short of amazing.  Director John Hough, who would go on to helm some of my 70s favorites (The Legend of Hell House and Escape to Witch Mountain among them) has a distinct style and the score is surprisingly lush.  Just released on Blu-ray, Twins of Evil deserves a more complete review, which I hope to soon provide.

The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)

My second favorite movie adaptation of Carmilla is the Spanish version entitled The Blood Spattered Bride.  When a descendant (Simon Andreu) of Mircalla Karnstein arrives at his childhood home with his new bride Susan (Maribel Martin), Susan begins having nightmares and is haunted by the image of a beautiful woman.  The husband discovers a naked woman named Carmilla buried in the sand who, you guessed it, is really Mircalla, as well as the woman of the wife's dreams.

The two women engage in an intense affair where Susan becomes a vicious murderer.  But The Blood Spattered Bride is almost more a thriller than it is horror; dealing more with a mysterious dagger than a vampire's fangs, even though both women are discovered in coffins at the end.  The lesbian themes are stronger here than in any of the movies I've discussed.  It is also the most atmospheric and mysterious, with nifty psychological twist at the end.

After watching all these movies, a question comes to mind: Why do none of these Carmilla adaptations come from the United States?  The movies in this article were made in Germany, France, Italy, England and Spain.  Are we still so puritanical that the lesbian themes are taboo?   Maybe the story is structurally difficult to film.  That would certainly explain the vast differences in the versions that do exist.  More likely, it isn't considered "commercial".  But for a good part of Europe, the novella Carmilla has inspired movies for nearly 80 years now.  I'd like to see us take a crack at it on this side of the pond.

Carmilla: Archetype of the Lesbian Vampire, Pt. 1

In 1872, 25 years before publication of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wrote a Gothic novella called Carmilla.  First appearing in the magazine, The Dark Blue, and then in a collection of Le Fanu's short stories called In a Glass Darkly, Carmilla is the tale of a female vampire preying upon young women in the state of Styria in southeastern Austria.

Today, the title character is widely considered the archetype of the lesbian vampire in popular culture.  Ever since its publication, adaptations of Carmilla have regularly appeared on stage and screen.  Of the movies I've seen (and am going to talk about here), very few are faithful to the original story, but all feature at least some characteristics of the original character.

Carmilla (1872) – The Novella

 

Before we look at the movie adaptations, it's important to know the story of the original novella.  I find it particularly interesting how various movies have chosen to either feature or ignore the lesbian themes of the source material, not that there was anything salacious about Carmilla's sexuality in 1872.  Instead of graphic depictions of woman-on-woman sex, the story depicts a more subtle love in passages like this one from Chapter IV: Her Habits-A Saunter, where the narrator, Laura, describes an encounter:

She used to place her pretty arms about my neck, draw me to her, and laying her cheek to mine, murmur with her lips near my ear… And when she had spoken such a rhapsody, she would press me more closely in her trembling embrace, and her lips in soft kisses gently glow upon my cheek.

However, immediately following this description, Laura explains that she does not necessarily reciprocate these feelings; rather, she's held in some kind of power by Carmilla:

…I used to wish to extricate myself; but my energies seemed to fail me.  Her murmured words sounded like a lullaby in my ear, and soothed my resistance into a trance, from which I only seemed to recover myself when she withdrew her arms.

Living with her widowed father in a castle in Styria, 18-year old Laura is disappointed that General Spielsdorf is no longer bringing his niece to visit (she died suddenly), but is thrilled when a mysterious woman arranges to leave her daughter (Carmilla) in their care after a carriage accident in front of their home.  Laura and Carmilla grow close, but their relationship is complicated by the feelings and actions related above.

Carmilla exhibits odd behavior such as abrupt mood changes, sleeping during the day, sleepwalking at night and reacting violently when a Christian hymn is sung.  She's also the spitting image of a woman in a portrait from 1698, "Mircalla, Countess Karnstein".  En route to a deserted village called "Karnstein", Laura and her father meet General Spielsdorf, who, in a story within the story, relates how exactly his niece died.

It seems a mysterious woman arranged to leave her daughter (Millarca) in his care while she attended to urgent business.  His niece soon became mysteriously ill (with symptoms that Laura now possesses, by the way) and the General was convinced she was the victim of  a vampire.  One night, he hid in a closet and watched a cat-like creature attack her.  He leapt from the closet and the startled creature turned into Millarca, who fled.  His niece then died.

If readers have not yet figured it out, Carmilla and Millarca are anagrams for Countess Mircalla Karnstein.  Laura's father and General Spielsdorf are joined by Baron Vordenburg, whose ancestor supposedly destroyed all the vampires in the area a long time ago.  They locate Mircalla's tomb and destroy her body.

Vampyr (1932)

The first feature-length movie officially based on the works of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is the French-German film, Vampyr (1932), although the opening credits say it is based on the entire collection, In a Glass Darkly, rather than simply Carmilla.  I find very little in Vampyr that is similar to the plot of the original novella, so I assume key elements came from other stories in the collection.  In this movie, the female vampire is not Carmilla (or any of its anagrams) and there is no mention of any Karnsteins or the novella's lesbian themes.

Vampyr is not a silent movie; however, there is very little dialogue and most of its exposition is revealed through title cards.  Allan Gray (Nicolas de Gunzburg) is introduced as a traveler with an interest in the supernatural.  While staying at an inn, he wanders upon a castle where one of its inhabitants, a young woman named Leone, appears to be the victim of a vampire.  Ultimately, the vampire is tracked to the grave of Marguerite Chopin, where she is killed by driving a metal bar through her heart.

This is only a fraction of the story in Vampyr.  It is part of a larger plot involving a mysterious doctor who is the movie's true villain.  But neither story matters as much as the style and atmosphere of Vampyr.  The movie is slow and sometimes doesn't seem to make sense, but offers some of the most haunting imagery I've ever seen in a horror movie.  For me, though, it peaks early and becomes a little repetitive and tiresome by the end.

For its time, Vampyr is incredibly inventive.  For example, ghosts, or what I assume are ghosts, are portrayed as shadows that rise from the ground and move across the landscape.  The scene that sticks with me, though, is a dream or vision Allan Gray has of being buried alive.  I couldn’t tell you how or why it fits into the story, but it's a classic.

Blood and Roses (1960)

 

The next movie based on Carmilla (that I've seen) is Blood and Roses (1960).  It introduces elements from the novella, although the story structure is not the same.  Here, the family name is von Karnstein, but rather than the actual vampire Millarca rising, it's her spirit that possesses her descendant, Carmilla. 

Carmilla (Elsa Martinelli) is jealous of Georgia Monte Verdi (Annette Vadim) because she is marrying her cousin, Leopoldo von Karnstein (Mel Ferrer), with whom she is in love.  When an accident in the family cemetery unearths Millarca's grave, Carmilla in drawn to it.  That's where the possession or transfer of souls (or whatever you want to call it) takes place.  Blood and Roses isn't as straightforward as this brief synopsis makes it sound.  In fact, I'm not able to recount the details of the story for you without the Internet Movie Database to assist. 

Carmilla focuses her attacks on Georgia, I assume because she believes that she can then be with Leopoldo.  Director Roger Vadim (And God Created Woman) gives us a smoldering scene or two between the two women.  The lesbian themes are there for the first time; however, I don't believe Millarca (or Carmilla) are lesbians, because they were/are both in love with men.

While there is not exactly a story within a story like there is in the novella, there is a detailed verbal recounting of the von Karnstein family history that's similar.  In 1765 (nearly 100 years later than in the novella), the von Karnsteins were believed to be vampires.  All but one, Millarca, were destroyed.  She was saved by her cousin, Ludwig von Karnstein, with whom she was in love.  When he was later unfaithful to her, each of his subsequent fiancées died mysteriously before their weddings.  Missing from this history is what ultimately happened to Millarca.  If she was a vampire, was she destroyed?  How did she end up in a grave, her body unable to rise, but her spirit ready to wander?

Blood and Roses is one of those movies I feel like I should watch again, because I don't understand why it is so highly regarded in the horror community.  Vampyr, I understand; it's artful and moody.  But Blood and Roses has no such aspirations; it just sordid to be sordid.

To be continued...

The Decade in Horror: The 1960s

"We have a lot of reason to be fearful in the world," Frank Farley, Temple University

One of the common theories used to explain the horror paradox is that people watch horror movies as a way of coping with actual fears or violence.  Since one source of our fears in undoubtedly the world in which we live, I thought it would be interesting to look at the popular horror movies of different decades to see how they reflect the general fears and uncertainties of the times.

The 1960s

The horror boom of the late 50s continued into the 60s, where it reached new heights.  However, the teenagers who made horror so big at the drive-in were now adults whose fears were more deeply rooted in reality.  In a rapidly changing world, the monsters of the 50s seemed silly.  And since there had not been a nuclear holocaust in the years following World War II and aliens had never landed (that we know of), society looked inward, focusing on its own psyche rather than any external threats.

With all the changes happening in the 1960s, social stability was gone.  The Vietnam War and the anti-war movement.  The Sexual Revolution and the feminism movement.  The Cuban Missile Crisis.  The civil and gay rights movements.  Collectively, the turmoil produced an underlying counterculture movement that would provide ample opportunity for horror movies to explore new ways of exploring sex and violence.

The decade in horror began with the B-movies of William Castle and Roger Corman, but one movie soon changed the entire landscape forever.  Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho not only ushered in an era of intense psychological horror, but was also the first horror movie in the "slasher" sub-genre.  Other movies also took a minimalist approach compared to those of the past.  They featured characters, usually women, who don't believe what is happening to them until the end, at which point the forces of evil usually win.

Among my favorite all-time horror movies are these four American films from the 60s:  House of Usher, The Innocents, The Pit & the Pendulum and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.

Hammer Films from England continued to go strong through most of the 60s until late in the decade when it took the same route as Universal in the 40s and began trotting out multiple sequels for its signature monsters, each with diminishing quality.  But in this decade, the United States was also exposed to unique genre movies and directors from other foreign countries: Mario Bava from Italy and Jess Franco from Spain, to name two.

Among my favorite all-time horror movies are these six from foreign lands: The Brides of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, Frankenstein Must be Destroyed, Mothra vs. Godzilla and Repulsion.

The turmoil and social upheaval of the decade may best be demonstrated by the fact that there were four assassinations of important public figures: President John F. Kennedy in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968.  And the state of the horror movie in the decade may best be demonstrated by the release of three landmark films: Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby and Targets, each excellent in their own rights, but also terrifying reflections of the 60s.

Four landmark horror movies of the 60s:  Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary's Baby and Targets.

At the end of the decade, two events occurred that couldn't have been any more different.  In August of 1969, "3 days of peace & music" was celebrated at Woodstock, while only a week earlier the Manson Family murders had occurred on the other side of the country.  Calling the 1960s "turbulent" would be an understatement.  What in the world was going to happen in the 1970s?  Check back tomorrow and find out...

Other 1960s milestones:

1960.  The contraceptive "Pill" was released after FDA approval.
1961.  The Peace Corps was established.
1963.  Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech.
1964.  The first trans-Pacific satellite broadcast ocurred.
1964.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted.
1965.  The National Voting Rights Act of 1965 was enacted.
1967.  The MPAA removed its Production Code.

Sources:

Horror Film History: Horror Films in the 1960s

The Decade in Horror: The 1950s

"We have a lot of reason to be fearful in the world," Frank Farley, Temple University

One of the common theories used to explain the horror paradox is that people watch horror movies as a way of coping with actual fears or violence.  Since one source of our fears in undoubtedly the world in which we live, I thought it would be interesting to look at the popular horror movies of different decades to see how they reflect the general fears and uncertainties of the times.

The 1950s

Horror output remained low during the first part of the 1950s; however, beginning mid-decade, the number grew each year resulting in the most horror movies yet in 1959.  It seems there were two main reasons for the horror explosion: a major shift in the popular consciousness of American movie goers and a lifting of the horror ban in Britain.

While the actual horrors of World War II had ended, there soon rose something more unnerving: the threat of another war.  While the United States had to deal with the trauma of dropping the bomb, it also lived under the fear of a future apocalypse. As the Cold War began, a new monster was spawned and it was more human than ever before.  These monsters were mad scientists, the extreme representations of the men who created the atom bomb and facilitated the Holocaust.

The horror movies of the 1950s reflected society's mistrust of science and technology.  During this era, the iconic monsters of previous decades had all but vanished.  The new monsters were not only the mad scientists, but the mutations resulting from their experiments and from science run amok.  There were giant beasts from beneath the sea, giant ants, giant tarantulas, giant crabs, giant preying mantises and more.  The pinnacle of this era came from Japan in a movie we called Godzilla, King of the Monsters.

In 1947, the first flying saucer had been spotted in the skies, soon followed by the incident at Roswell.  So, in the 50s, many of our monsters also came from outer space.  Most of the horror/sci-fi movies were pessimistic, but even when the aliens were friendly, they were misunderstood and the stories ended on a dark note.  In the pinnacle of this era, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the aliens became us and we could not distinguish them from humans.

Two of my favorite all-time horror movies were 50s sci-fi: The Day the Earth Stood Still and

The Thing from Another World.

Meanwhile across the pond, Hammer Films was enjoying the success of an alien movie of their own, The Quatermass Xperiment.  In 1957, Hammer produced The Curse of Frankenstein, which would kickstart a series of movies that revisited the iconic monsters of the past and presented them for the first time in gory and glorious color.  Interestingly enough, the original Universal Monsters experienced a resurgence as their movies were broadcast on television for a new generation.  In my opinion, this would have been one of the greatest times to be a horror fan.  You could have watched the classics on TV and seen the new breed at the drive-in.

Two of my favorite all-time horror movies were from Hammer Films in the 50s: The Curse of Frankenstein and

(The Horror of) Dracula.

Speaking of drive-ins, they must also be credited for the proliferation of horror movies in the late 50s.  At this time, the primary audience for horror was teenagers.  With quantity doesn't necessarily come quality, and it's quite evident in these "B movies" (of which American International Pictures was king) as story and production values were sacrificed purely for action and thrills. 

Along with the times, the landscape of horror was changing quickly throughout the 50s.  While the 30s and 40s represented distinct evolutions, the 50s represented three and didn't follow the cycle of the two previous decades.  Horror seemed to be snowballing.  Would this phenomenon continue into the 1960s?  Check back tomorrow and find out...

Other 1950s milestones:

1951.  Transcontinental television service inaugurated on September 4.
1952.  The first passenger jets entered service in Britain.
1952.  The United States conducts its first hydrogen bomb explosion test.
1954.  The world's first nuclear power plant opened near Moscow.
1957.  The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite to orbit the earth.

Sources:

Horror Film History: Horror Films in the 1950s

The Decade in Horror: The 1940s

"We have a lot of reason to be fearful in the world," Frank Farley, Temple University

One of the common theories used to explain the horror paradox is that people watch horror movies as a way of coping with actual fears or violence.  Since one source of our fears in undoubtedly the world in which we live, I thought it would be interesting to look at the popular horror movies of different decades to see how they reflect the general fears and uncertainties of the times.

The 1940s

If the horror movies of the 1930s looked back to the 19th century for inspiration from its fictional monsters, those from the 1940s looked within.  With the horror ban continuing in Britain, horror movies were made primarily for audiences on this side of the pond.  Early in the decade, Americans may have felt safe and removed from the war in Europe; however, when the United States joined Word War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, they needed an escape from reality more than ever.

With the popularity of Son of Frankenstein in 1939, Universal Pictures discovered a formula for success and began trotting out sequels based on the iconic representations it had created a decade before.  The Invisible Man returned.  The Mummy had a hand, a tomb, a curse and a ghost.  Frankenstein had a ghost.  Dracula had a son.  Frankenstein and Dracula had a house.  And Frankenstein met The Wolfman.

By the time Abbott and Costello met Frankenstein in 1948, the once frightening monsters had taken supporting roles in slapstick comedies.  While this period signalled the decline of horror at Universal, it also introduced its most sympathetic character.  Lon Chaney, Jr. played Larry Talbot, who, when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright, transforms into The Wolfman.

The Wolfman was significant because, while the other Universal Monsters had their origins in fiction or mythology, Larry Talbot and his furry alter ego were largely original creations, cobbled together from several different legends as well as new story elements.  It would nevertheless become an archetype for lycanthropy in all media that remains with us today.

Two of my all-time favorite horror films came from the 1940s:  Cat People and The Picture of Dorian Gray. 

While innovation in horror lacking at Universal, it was evolving at RKO.  Beginning with Cat People in 1942, producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur led the way with movies focusing less on visible monsters and more on shadows and atmosphere.  In these movies, the fear came not from what audiences saw, but from what they didn't see.  And they provided a new template for the horror movies that followed.

Just as it did in the 1930s, the number of horror films decreased at the end of the decade, suggesting a 10-year cycle of popularity for the genre.  With World War II over, perhaps the collective mood had lifted and audiences no longer wanted to be scared.  Would this cycle repeat in the 1950s?  Check back tomorrow and we'll find out...

Other 1940s milestones:

1941.  Velcro was invented.
1945.  Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasake.
1945.  First Slinky was demonstrated at Gimbles department store in Philadelphia.
1946.  Tupperware was developed.
1947.  The first microwave oven became commercially available.
1948.  The first Frisbees were produced.

Sources:

Horror Film History: Horror Films in the 1940s

The Decade in Horror: The 1930s

"We have a lot of reason to be fearful in the world," Frank Farley, Temple University

One of the common theories used to explain the horror paradox is that people watch horror movies as a way of coping with actual fears or violence.  Since one source of our fears is undoubtedly the world in which we live, I thought it would be interesting to look at the popular horror movies of different decades to see how they reflect the general fears and uncertainties of the times.

The 1930s

As if the stock market crash of 1929, which helped trigger the Great Depression, was not bad enough for the United States, the Dust Bowl also occurred in the first half of the decade, resulting in severe draught, food shortages and a reduction in wages.   Even though radio was the dominant form of media, audiences flocked to movies that were far removed from their everyday realities.  It was in this decade that the movie going public accepted horror as a genre.

Not only were the stories of 1930s horror movies an escape, but also the locations.  Movies like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and Werewolf of London contained fantastic characters and situations, but they also took place far from the troubled United States.  Most of these movies had a gothic influence and dealt more with science and adventure than the supernatural.

Take the four movies mentioned above and add Freaks, Island of Lost Souls, The Most Dangerous Game, The Old Dark House, White Zombie, King Kong, The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein, and it's undeniable that the 1930s was the golden age of the horror movie.  This was also the decade in which Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi became stars and horror legends as they created iconic representations of literary and mythological monsters.

Four of my favorite horror movies of all time were released in the 1930s: Frankenstein, The Most Dangerous Game, King Kong and Bride of Frankenstein.

It should be noted that most of these movies were made during the first half of the decade.  In 1935, the British Board of Film Censors introduced the "H" (Horrific) rating and was attached to "any films likely to frighten or horrify children under the age of 16 years.  Subsequently, in 1936, Hollywood embraced a strict production code limiting the violence and sexuality that could be portrayed in films.  These policies resulted in virtually no horror films being produced in 1937 and 1938.

Horror movies experienced a resurgence in 1939, the same year that gave us two of the most beloved movies of any genre, Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz.  It seemed that with the classic lines from those movies, "Tomorrow is another day" and "There's no place like home", the Great Depression was winding down and the public was becoming more hopeful.  What would that mean for horror?  Check back tomorrow and we'll find out…

Other 1930s milestones:

1930.  Warner Brothers released the first all-talking, all-color movie, Song of the Flame.

 

1931.  RCA Victor introduced the first long-playing phonograph record; the Empire State Building opened.

 

1932.  Franklin D. Roosevelt elected President of the United States.

 

1933.  Prohibition ended in the United States; in Europe, Hitler rose to power.

 

1937.  The German dirigible Hindenburg exploded in New Jersey; Disney's Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs was released; the Golden Gate Bridge opened.

 

1938.  Radar was invented.

Sources:

From Halloween to Horror Movies, Why We Loveto Be Afraid, Susan Donaldson James, 10-25-11

Hollywood Movie Memories: Horror Films in the1930s

Horror Film History: Horror Films in the1930s

Countdown to Halloween

Not too long ago, I watched a particularly awful horror movie and, for the first time in my life, I had to ask myself, “Why do I watch this garbage?”  The plot was predictable, the acting was bad and the violence was excessive.  When I realized those are the characteristics of many horror movies, I began to seriously question why I love them so much.   I always have and, at this point, I suppose I always will.

I’m not the only one who loves horror movies or they probably wouldn’t continue to get made.  On the WebMD website, Richard Sine states, “…you may be puzzled about why people put themselves through the ordeal of watching such movies.”  As he points out, and as I realized while doing research, “Many behavioral researchers share your puzzlement”. 

Assuming that horror movies are fundamentally about fear, there are a multitude of psychological and physiological explanations for why we enjoy being scared.  Norman N. Holland, Ph.D asks, “Why would we enjoy having the most negative of negative emotions, fear?”  It’s a phenomenon of which I read mention in several places and it’s called the “horror paradox”.

The horror paradox might best be described by Science Daily, "A bedrock assumption in theories that explain and predict human behavior if people's motiviation to pursue pleasure and avoid pain.  How can this be reconciled with the decision to engage in experiences known to elicit negative feelings, such as horror movies?  It certainly seems counterintuitive that so many people would voluntarily immerse themselves in almost two hours of fear, disgust and terror.  Why do people pay for this?  How is this enjoyable?"

These are the questions I want to examine in my countdown to Halloween.   I’m going to look at historical cycles of horror films as well as at least ten different theories about why we love horror movies.  And when I say, “we”, or course I mean, “I”.  After all, the blog is called “It Came from Beneath My Mind”.

I’ll also post some other fun stuff along the way.  I’ve got a comics-to-movie comparison of 30 Days of Night and a feature about the archetype for the lesbian vampire, Carmilla.  I’m sure there will be some other reviews and surprises, as well.  Please join me and check back frequently.  I can’t promise something new every day between now and October 31, but I can promise you mostly treats and very few tricks.

Sources:
WhyWe Love Scary Movies, Richard Sine, WebMD, 10-25-2007
WhyAre There Horror Movies?, Norman N. Holland, PhD, This Is Your Brain on Culture, 1-4-2010
Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They EnjoyBeing Scared,  Science Daily, 7-31-2007