May 10 2008

Even though they were shot in monochrome black and white and had primitive special effects, the early monster movies, such as Frankenstein, Dracula and The Wolf Man, had something that modern horror flicks lack. That something was a sense of pathos. Audiences in those days were frightened by the monsters, but people had a certain sympathy for them too.

For example, in James Whale's Frankenstein, the creature is just a big confused child who finds himself in a world that he cannot understand, faced by strangers who hate him out of fear and predjudice. He kills a little girl by accident and is hunted by a mob carrying torches and pitchforks. The scene where the villagers have the terrified creature tied to a stake and are preparing to burn him looks suspiciously like a picture of the Crucifixion of Christ.  Whale was a gay man at a time when homosexuality got people sent to prison.  He understood what it was like to be seen as a dangerous freak.

Dracula is much more evil monster, but even he is pathetic in a way.  Once a handome and powerful nobleman, he can only survive now by hiding from the daylight, hunting for blood at night like an animal. His immortality comes at a terrible price.

Consider the Wolf Man. Through no fault of his own, Larry Talbot gets bitten by a werewolf and is forced to become one himself.  Horrified at what he has done and at the threat he poses to the people he loves, Talbot begs his girlfriend to kill him with a silver bullet, so that he can find peace.

Even that rampaging ape King Kong has a nobler side.  After placing Fay Wray in a safe niche on the Empire State Building, Kong turns to face his fate from the machine guns of the Army planes, a metaphor about technology crushing Nature. Kong falls to his death, then a passing policeman says sadly, "It wasn't the planes. 'Twas beauty that killed the beast."  Rest in peace, Kong.

I believe that this empathy shown for the monsters added to the power of such early movies and helped to establish them as classics.  Modern horror movies, such as Predator feature creatures that have a high "yuk factor", but no sympathetic traits whatever. They're just plain evil and they exist only to be zapped at the end of the movie.

The only exception I can remember is David Cronenberg's remake of The Fly which was a throwback to the early horror films with its likeable young scientist who is transformed into a loathsome insect by an experiment gone wrong. Like the Wolf Man, the Fly begs his wife to kill him and end the pain.

What do you think?  Would today's monster movies be improved if the creatures were shown in a more sympathetic way?  I'd be interested in your opinion.

George

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