Author: unkle lancifer
Traumafessions :: Reader Bigwig on The Snow Queen
Hi Aunt and Unk,
They used to show an animated film somewhere around Christmas every year, before the advent of VCRs; one that our mother used to circle in the TV Guide as not to miss. "It's a beautiful story", she would say. Mom also thought that the story of THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL was beautiful, so you see where this is leading. Not surprising, both were by HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, who evidently gave the BROTHERS GRIMM some stiff competition in terms of painting the bleakest possible situations for children in stories.
THE SNOW QUEEN, at least the version I saw, and I guess there have been others, almost had a '40s Disney vibe to it, at least in terms of animation quality. And along the lines of PINOCCHIO and SNOW WHITE, it didn't hold back in dishing out some old school fear. It was narrated by a little fat elf named Old Dreamy.
The main gist of THE SNOW QUEEN is that it spins the tale of two blonde-haired kids, a girl and boy, up North in Finland or somewhere in the 1800s, who are happy by the fire in their cottage during a cold winter's night. One of them makes a joking remark, offending the Snow Queen, who is some kind of supernatural goddess type with an icy heart who rules in a castle even further north, and has command of the weather. I guess she can hear all too, and is not to be taken lightly.
In retribution, we see her large face fill up the window looking inside. The kids gasp, and she sends an ice storm into the house, which blows open the window, and somehow affects the young boy by entering him through his eye, turning him into a cold-hearted, mean-spirited jerk. I remember him stomping on the little girl's roses and making her cry. He is later picked up by the Snow Queen in a sleigh, and held captive in her castle, much the same in spirit as the Narnia Ice Queen. The rest of the story is the little girl's harrowing ordeal to get him back, since Lord knows, no adults seem to be interested.
Fast-forward to the end, where she gets to the castle, hugs the mean boy, and melts his icy heart, bringing him back to her. Something is expelled from his eye, and we get a look at it… an ice splinter, about two inches long. Somehow after that, it all gets better and the story ends.
My sister and I both found this more horrible than a decapitation. We grew up in an old wood house without much carpeting, with plenty of splinters extracted by Dad, armed with a needle and a cigarette lighter for "sterilization," so splinter trauma abounded. Couple that trauma with the eyeball, and even a normal splinter would be too awful to bear, but to get a look at the roofing nail of a pointy ice dagger that was somehow stuck in this little boy's eye…..oh, I'm getting nauseated just writing about it.
I'm almost certain this was pulled from the Yuletide T.V. schedule for being just too plain miserable for kids to watch.
Anyone remember this?
Bigwig
UNK SEZ: Bigwig, thanks for the frosty traumafession! Sorry if the images I gathered are from a different version of THE SNOW QUEEN than the one you speak of. (They are all from the acclaimed, 1957 Soviet version.) I myself seem to recall THE SNOW QUEEN being shown back-to-back with THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL in the early eighties but I can't find any reference to it on IMDb even when I search under HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. Let me know if you ever locate the version you are looking for. By the way, my mom had a thing for THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL too!
Looker (1981)
There is many a genre picture released in the early eighties to universal shrugs that went on to become a recognized classic. Not so much LOOKER, MICHAEL CRICHTON's unjustly forgotten 1981 prophetic skewering of both television advertising and the siren call of evasive physical perfection. The movie undeniably has its blond moments and some major structural issues but it also spills a handbag full of fascinating notions on the floor and if you bend with it a bit, it's quirky fun and anything but superficial.
Dare I say that LOOKER is just the type of movie that should be remade? Its blemishes are so prominent they could be nip/tucked with ease and its concept is more relevant now than ever. Many of the technological advancements that it daydreams about are now commonplace. In 1981 the idea that actors could be completely replaced with computer generated images of themselves seemed far-fetched. Today, it's not only possible but in some cases (I'm thinking MEL GIBSON), maybe something we should encourage. (LOOKER actually features the very first CGI human character ever depicted on screen.)
The major problem with LOOKER is that it forgets its opening premise mid-way through the film. An intriguing mystery is set up and only vaguely defused by its awkward climax. Ironically, folks who caught this one on commercial television were gifted a motive to the happenings thanks to an additional scene. If you caught it on cable or in the theater though, you were on your own. See Mr. CRICHTON, television ain't so bad after all! In order to sell more products, they lengthened your movie to the point where it actually had time enough to explain itself. Damn, that really is irony, look it up!
ALBERT FINNEY is plastic surgeon LARRY ROBERTS who is perplexed by the fact that already beautiful young women are asking for surgery to improve themselves further. (Can you imagine such a thing?) When several of the "perfect" women that he has worked on start ending up dead (mostly from falling out of buildings) he becomes suspect numero uno because somebody stole his pen. Trying to save his own ass and protect the lone, not-murdered-yet "perfect" beauty Cindy Fairmont (Awwwww, SUSAN DEY), he discovers a nefarious corporate operation utilizing subliminal mind control and the coolest gun ever made. The coolest gun ever made is the L.O.O.K.E.R. gun, its name stands for Light, Ocular-Oriented, Kinetic, something, something and it is a true blast. It hypnotizes the target with light and allows the shooter to make hay while the sun shines and the victim is dazed and confused. Hmmm, wonder if I could find a use for such a thing.
The "lost time" experience that the gun provokes is an interesting phenomenon to behold. The first couple of times we witness its use we are given no explanation and the effect is wonderfully confounding. (Although it should be said that anyone who has ever been abducted by aliens, has a serious drinking problem, or even just access to the Internet should be able to relate.) Just as LOOKER's interest in body dysmorphia and the power of false images is uncannily contemporary, so too is this playing with a character's perspective through his understanding of time. Go ahead and call LOOKER a bimbo if you like, just make sure you realize that it is a creative, forward thinking psychic bimbo who can see into the future.
There's one surprisingly poignant scene where DEY's character returns home seeking comfort from her parents only to find herself competing with an I LOVE LUCY rerun but for the most part; LOOKER is breezy fun despite it's sometimes slack pacing. The subject matter, serious as it may be can't help but slide into goofy camp on occasion and the years have made that slide all the more steep. Amusingly, much of what CRICHTON rallies against in LOOKER now seems positively quaint. A climactic battle that cleverly takes place inside a slew of commercials as they are being televised (shades of WES CRAVEN's SHOCKER) is beyond unlikely but clever and hilarious anyway. It's dated for sure and frankly I look forward to it becoming even more dated as the years go on.
Ugh, I'm sick of writing and isn't it boring to have to read things? Let's look at some pretty pictures and I'll share some more about why I think LOOKER is just plain adorable…
Because of my monster sized love of all things BLADE RUNNER the LADD COMPANY logo will forever fill my pretend heart with glee.
One thing is for sure and that is that LOOKER has the choicest theme song in the world thanks to one SUE SAAD. Once you hear it it will be stuck in your head for exactly one century. It's too bad a soundtrack was never released as the entire score is synth-awesome.
Who doesn't dig the DEY and what's wrong with you?
You have to admit the gun is just too cool.
So are these shades!
Let's hear it for zero chemistry!
COBURN!
Hey, it's the evil shrink from FRIDAY THE 13th PART 7: THE NEW BLOOD! (TERRY KISER.)
Oh look it's the guy from MASSACRE AT CENTRAL HIGH! (DERREL MAURY.)
Meanie Mustachio is ex-Philadelpha Eagle TIM ROSSOVICH! His lil bro is RICK ROSSOVICH who stared in the AUDRA LINDLEY smash SPELLBINDER! Can you believe that TIM used to be roommates with TOM SELLECK?
OMG, it's Vicki's dad from SMALL WONDER (DICK CHRISTIE)!
Holy moly… super bananas backwards slo-mo!
Kinder-Quiz!
QUESTION: Can you guess which of these five videos makes Unk the most excited?
ANSWER: It's a five-way tie!
Traumafessions :: Kinder-treasure Senski on Super Chicken Toupee
OK, guys…this one is strange.
When I was a tyke, I hated, HATED getting my hair cut. In the small town where I grew up, our barber actually made house calls to cut the hair of small children, and it was always an unpleasant experience. I can recall the hideous sound his antique electric clippers made, and the way they overheated and filled the kitchen with the sickening scent of burning hair. And I just wailed like a banshee through it all, watching my hair fall on the floor in big, blond clumps. To my mind, that hair was a part of me that was being lopped off, no different than a hand or limb, and now it was on the floor, dead. And I also was very upset by the trope of sudden baldness as a source for T.V. comedy. (In fact, as I write this, I'm recalling seeing either a sitcom episode or a movie about a beauty parlor full of beautiful women, all having their hair burned off by malfunctioning hair driers, and being played for laughs. I'll have to do a Name That Trauma search on that!)
But my adverse reaction to disembodied hair reached its apex in an episode of SUPER CHICKEN, one of the other animated series that accompanied installments of GEORGE OF THE JUNGLE in 1967. In it, Super Chicken and Fred combat a giant living toupee, growing to Kong-like proportions and wreaking havoc across America. My brain didn't register it as animation, and I had nightmares for months about that writhing, ferocious mass of hair. And how did they kill it? By causing it to shed! This just verified what I thought — that my life was endangered every time I had a visit from the barber. (Add the fact that in the cartoon they use the deceased scalp for a practical purpose, and that just layered a whole 'nother level of weirdness on for me.)
This wasn't a trauma that lasted long; by the time I was seven, I was going to the barber shop without incident (and to his credit, he invested in new clippers). Now I just consider it a prescient flash-forward, as male pattern baldness made me its bitch starting in college. Maybe I was screaming and carrying on because I should have been sweeping up my precious locks and saving them for a follicle-challenged day!
UNK SEZ: Thanks Senski for the wonderful traumafession! If any of you out there have not visited Kindertrauma legend Senski's fortress of smartitude HEART IN A JAR then remedy your folly right quick YONDER! Biggie thanks to clucking awesome DAVE'S UN-OFFICIAL SUPER CHICKEN HOMEPAGE for the hirsute capture above!
Ghostkeeper (1981)
There ain't no cure for the summer time blues but 1981's GHOSTKEEPER works as a mighty fine placebo. Director JIM MAKICHUK thankfully resists gilding the lily and permits the frozen Canadian landscape to play its own chilly tune. There's no spray-on frost on these windowpanes. Snow encrusted trees tower like glittering skyscrapers and we're shown that walking a few feet through the accumulation is a feat in and of itself. Filmed on location in a preexisting lodge/hotel, the devil's in the details everywhere you look. Some accuse this movie of being a poor man's THE SHINING but you'll find no clean, calculated imagery here, it's all very worn and haggard and the dark, damaged indoor photography reads like bad memories better left avoided. There's a vibe established and it's pretty powerful even if the spine of GHOSTKEEPER is frustratingly brittle.
Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before; malfunctioning vehicles result in the seeking of shelter in a seemingly abandoned whatever. Hoary as it may be, this is my jam; this is my favorite song on the radio. Let me introduce you to Jenny (RIVA SPIER) an introverted doormat-in-training who lives in fear of losing control like her insane mother once did. Then there's Marty (MURRAY ORD) her too casual boyfriend who understands that ambivalence is the sharpest knife in the drawer when tormenting your partner. Our "three's a crowd" trio even comes complete with a bubbly flirtatious blonde ripe for punishment named Chrissy (SHERI McFADDEN). I think we're meant to dislike Chrissy, but thank God she's present. Sure, she's a floozy and macking on Marty but at least she's lively. It's New Year's Eve gang, lighten up!
These characters don't sound particularly likable because they're not but their dysfunction adds to the grim mood. There doesn't seem to be any space for gallantry and we sense early on that Jenny stands alone. The three eventually encounter the caretaker of the hotel, a foreboding older woman (an invaluable GEORGIE COLLINS) who apparently buys her apparel at "Gap for witches." The crone wastes no time sprouting ominous warnings and suggestively compliments Jenny on her "inner strength." I don't want to give away the ending but there's a bit of a lift from THE HAUNTING going on here. Jenny is being groomed and her so-called "inner strength" seems to be her advanced ability to stay tight-lipped while catering to others. The point is made that Jenny is a seasoned pro at keeping certain monsters at bay and that the old woman is getting a bit long in the tooth for whatever her mysterious racket may be. I should also mention that the hag has a son who runs around with a chainsaw and that there is a weird igloo prison in the basement housing a ghoul.
Now I know that all sounds inviting but don't let's everybody jump on the GHOSTKEEPER train just yet. Exactly half of you will hate it. There's zero gore and it loses some major steam toward the end. In other words, you need to put two quarters in for every gumball you get out of this machine and I don't think everybody is going to have the patience for that. It's really rather frustrating because it does such a fine job of setting you up and then just when it has you where it wants you, it loosens its grip. It whispers in your ear, expertly tunes your fork and just when you're preparing for the bite down it mumbles something about Indian legends and lets the moment pass. Still, somehow some of the seemingly throw away imagery (for example: a long line of empty chairs facing windows filled with nothingness) wedge their way under your skin and set up camp there. A chase scene through the attic is not exactly miraculously staged but the attic itself is an authentically unnerving space where you'd never want to be.
The ultimate ending is gratifying enough but things do get murky just as they should be crystallizing. If you happen to favor misty ghost stories that linger rather than jack in the box scares though this is a true find. Personally, I've never met an early eighties Canadian horror film scored by the guy who did MY BLOODY VALENTINE and edited by the guy who did BLACK CHRISTMAS that I didn't like. It's true that I craved for it to gel and be less gentle but the apprehension it inspires (at least for awhile) is pretty impressive. It's hard to forgive a film for not dropping the hammer when it has you in the position to do so, but it certainly deserves some credit for getting you in that position in the first place. So O.K., maybe my snowshoes were not exactly blown off but I did feel a chill in July during a hellish heat wave and that my friends is pretty darn cool.
NOTE: Thanks to Amanda and Taylor for pushing me to see this one!
NOTE 2: The above video has nothing officially to do with GHOSTKEEPER but who cares. I think they make a good team.
Atmospheria (Episode One)
While watching a movie for review recently I was stunned by how much I got into the atmosphere of the film regardless of my reservations about the rest of its content. Nothing beats a film that is successful on all levels including storyline, dialogue, acting and direction but atmosphere, it seems to me, is something special, particularly in the realm of horror. A part of me in fact, feels capable of forgiving a film's failure in other areas if it is able to capture that certain something elusive that many neglect to. To me, there is a certain magical element to a film's atmosphere and it goes beyond just capturing a flashy image. It's a marriage of sound, tone, color and stance that can offer the viewer a rewarding experience even when other areas of the movie may disappoint.
I'm going to do myself a huge solid by not trying to attempt to cover all of the films I want to talk about in one single post, this will be an ongoing series. I'm also going to treat myself to not using any kind of numerical rating system. You'll see that all of the movies mentioned will range greatly in overall quality but that they share one thing in common. These are movies that, to me, capture a gratifying ambience even if only momentarily. My hope is to go beyond speaking about how they simply look on a visual level and talk more about the overall feeling or mood established.
So let's get started, that top image of the castle that I used for the post's title card is from WILLIAM PETER BLATTY's 1980 film THE NINTH CONFIGURATION. Here BLATTY worked with cinematographer GERRY FISHER who he teamed up with again for the equally excellent THE EXORCIST III. I was going to write about how I wished that BLATTY directed more often but I'm not sure if we, as an audience, even deserve such a thing. Maybe let's all appreciate the incredible work he has already gifted us with and then perhaps we'll deserve more of his fascinating work.
At first glance we have a traditional foreboding castle dunked in fog but this is no ordinary castle, it's being used as a mental institution. I think those hanging branches work well as a stand in for bars of a cage. The shattering effect of the twigs cracking outward could also represent vision through a fractured mind. This shot is used early in the film and instantly sets a sense of place. Cold isolation prevails and we are informed that we are far off the beaten track. If you haven't seen NINTH yet, get on it quick, not only will it blow your mind but you'll also get to meet a very young TOM ATKINS.
Can you believe this shot is from THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES? You know, I really like this film and I hardly mention it because it's stuck in some "thriller" isle in my head (working in a video store for years will do that to you.) It's so good though and the type of horror it instills is the superior kind that opens your mind and really makes you wonder. It was filmed in Kittanning, PA and you may recognize some locations from 2009's MY BLOODY VALENTINE which was filmed there too. I have Pennsylvania all through my blood so maybe I'm extra susceptible to this film's environment. There's an off-putting collision between woodsy nature and the run down industrial throughout. (Don't be put off by RICHARD GERE and DEBRA MESSING being in this movie, it's good enough to survive even that.) The current for much of the film reminds me of waking up in the middle of the night and walking about before your eyes have had a chance to focus. Nothing is clear but everything is clearly "off."
Here is another director I feel I have to defend, JOE DANTE. This guy truly had the goods and it's a shame that his talent wasn't nurtured in the direction that it should have been. Creating an ominous forest atmosphere at night is challenging enough but just look what DANTE is able to achieve during the day in 1981's THE HOWLING! There is a fairy tale aspect but it never loses a sense of the recognizable. We get the idea that the everyday could transform into the fantastic at any given moment. Besides establishing truly wonderful outdoor dioramas, the film opens on the direct opposite side of the thematic fence thrusting us into neon mazes of urban sex shop sleaze. These woods are where one would expect to escape unseemliness but in DANTE's paws, the audience is well aware that danger is still around every corner.
It's almost too easy throwing LET'S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH on to the operating table. This film, directed by JOHN D. HANCOCK, oozes atmosphere like a squashed donut oozes jelly. For the most part it's like an ethereal waking dream as viewed through cheesecloth. I had my pick of hundreds of haunting moments to choose from but I had to select this more earthbound and blatant capture. First of all, nothing beats authentic locations, the SCARE JESSICA house absolutely has a personality all its own. I love how the center of the frame is split down the middle by the weathered road. Although Jessica is outdoors she seems trapped, in fact, it rather looks like she's being chased by a giant house and tree! She appears bullied by her surroundings, a doll-like plaything to the fates. I'm quite confident that I will never fully understand what is going on in this movie and I like that. Why should the viewer get all of the answers while Jessica flaps around like a confused goldfish that fell out of its bowl?
The hardest part for me about selecting images based solely on atmosphere was not picking films with snowy winter backdrops EVERY time. I knew my fetish going in so I've tried to steer myself away from it as much as I could. The fact remains though that snowy horror movies kick ass and there's just nothing I can do to change that. 1987's DEAD OF WINTER directed by ARTHUR PENN was obviously meant to elbow HITCHCOCK but for me it mostly registers as snow porn. Yes I admit it, this old biddy bait curls my toes and would you please be a dear and fetch me my afghan? What I've grown to notice is that this pet favorite's persuasive atmosphere is not solely kept to the outdoors as the above image testifies. Wow, that's MARY STEENBURGEN and doesn't that resemble the cover of some potboiler gothic paperback from the sixties? The chance of any of the happenings in this mousetrap identity swap mystery occurring in the real world are a million to nil but if you muzzle your critical mind, the cozy, parlor game aspect of it pays off in spades.
While we're on the subject of snow, let's just get this one out of the way now, as it is perhaps the epitome of what I'm talking about. It is probably complete utter madness to expect a mortal being to translate the sheer epic phantasmagorical quality of PETER STRAUB's magnum opus GHOST STORY to the big screen. It ‘s kind of like trying to shove a zeppelin into a fanny-pack. Those who have read the book may be able to fill in the blanks but a standard theatrical running time just isn't enough time to do the tale justice (someone get on the snow ball and do a miniseries, please!) Although the screenplay and running time fail the subject matter, nobody has a right to complain about the aura created by director JOHN IRVIN with notable visual assists by ALBERT WHITLOCK. I've always hankered for a bit more of DICK SMITH's fantastic make-up effects on display but the truth is some of the film's most lingering chills come from its more vague illusions. The above shot is one of my all time favorites and I'd put it in league with ROBERT WISE's delicately brutal hand in THE HAUNTING (1963). Like a bug in amber, a pristine moment is caught where an image starts to form… seemingly from nothing. It's a forced a-ha moment that keeps the viewer cautious throughout the rest of the film.
ALEJANDRO AMENABAR's 2001 film THE OTHERS' only crime is following in the footsteps of THE SIXTH SENSE which came out the year before. Both films close with similar rug pulls but if you want to talk oppressive atmosphere THE OTHERS runs rings. There probably aren't many shots in the film that are not impeccable but I find the one above exceptionally satisfying considering the story. Is the great monstrous mass of fog erasing the world or are we looking at an unfinished canvas that some unseen creator has neglected to continue with? The lonely figure sweeping the stairs suggests that some semblance of existence must go on either way. I think it's a gorgeously somber way to present a dwelling filled with characters that our world has unknowingly left behind.
Have you ever just wanted to grab TIM BURTON by the shoulders and shake him? I know I sure as hell have. When he's not acting goofy he's capable of sublime beauty and when he eases up and lets it flow, he's a true force. Unfortunately, some of his films unnecessarily ramble into knots of convoluted crapitude. Take SLEEPY HOLLOW for example, what a drop dead gorgeous looking film. BURTON's even able to believably capture a time period where people were just barely living off the land and still had one foot stuck in the muck of ancient fears. It's really a shame that the plot ends up ravaging everything earned. WASHINGTON IRVING's Headless Horseman needs little garnish. It's a simple tale and as such, it has prodded goose bumps out of anyone who has heard it for hundreds of years. BURTON's movie tries too hard, throws too many unswallowable spices into the pot and ends up some kind of weird porridge but again, there's nothing like it as far as atmosphere goes. I learned to approach SLEEPY HOLLOW as I would a beautiful buffoon. I smile, nod, take in the scenery and let it babble on. Jeez, check out how in the above image the kid's posture echoes that of the gravestone in the background; one of several perfect moments in an imperfect film.
GARY SHERMAN's DEAD AND BURIED has loads of atmosphere but damn if it's not difficult to capture in one shot. The visual style of the film is pretty straight forward and often times murky. To best experience the seaside town of Potter's Bluff in all its glory you have to collect bits and shards throughout the film and just wade in the accumulative effect. The film within the film is a different story altogether, it's an avalanche of gritty and disturbing imagery that's way ahead of its time. Decades later this type of trash chic would pop up everywhere from FIONA APPLE videos to underwear ads, not to mention tiny indie flicks nobody has ever heard of like THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. Whereas something truly low budget like BLAIR and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE wore its own jeans to work and allowed its grunge to speak for itself, DEAD AND BURIED consciously uses this hand held, dipped in sewer gruff in contrast to the rest of the film. The startling effect places the viewer into the chair of an unwitting co-witness to debauchery and murder. Hey, guess what? You're watching a snuff film! The capture above speaks for itself; we're voyeurs being peeped on by a voyeur. There's barely any distinction between indoors and out and we're caught red handed in his gaze.
We can't talk about atmosphere and not bow toward producer VAL LEWTON and director JACQUES TOURNEUR. Their 1942 psycho-sexual game changing stunner CAT PEOPLE laps up mood like milk. Creating a dark shadowy world that echoed the psyche of the film's characters was the first order of business for these two. I want to make sure that I impress that good atmosphere is not all about the weather outside and gloomy vistas. This simple, intimate living room scene of Oliver (KENT SMITH) and Irena (SIMONE SIMON) communicating their fears illustrates that human figures make great landscapes as well. Check out the body language with smitten Oliver lying back on the couch and repressed Irene straddling the fence so to speak. It's all about them and they may as well be the owl and the pussy cat off to sea in a beautiful pea green boat. You don't have to guess who the pussy cat is, just check out the cat ear shadow provided by the chair in the background!
I think we'll be seeing more of LEWTON and TOURNEUR in future episodes of "Atmospheria," but this is a good place for us to part ways for now.
Keep the fireplace burning kiddies, you never know what the shadows hide!
