Documenting screen horror
Horror fans don’t just passively watch a zombie ramming splintered wood into a woman’s eyeball. They discuss it afterwards. They ask questions. How did they fake that squishy eyeball? Who was the actress? Where can I buy the funky-ass soundtrack? Yes, we fans don’t just swallow horror, we digest it. It’s no surprise, then, to find that horror film documentaries have become a popular genre. Here’s my current pick.
Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror is streaming exclusively on Shudder, and it’s a revealing, overdue film full of food for thought. For instance, it examines the giant bug invasion movies of the 1950s and notes that there were hardly any black characters. Why? Because these films were so often set in the world of science, a supposedly whites-only field. Then there’s the black stereotypes, from the savage, brainless zombies lusting after white women to the tokenist black friends in Nineties slasher movies, who only existed to nurture and serve the white heroine. To realise this routine ‘colour casting’ was happening so recently only demonstrates how revolutionary and unusual the more empowering films were; Night of the Living Dead and Ganja and Hess really were exceptions to the rule. It’s only in the last decade that we’ve seen black voices better represented in the genre. What’s really great about Horror Noire is that it makes the necessary swipes at the culture, but it doesn’t use horror as a cheap platform to score political points. It’s a letter of love and pain to a genre that has always resonated with black audiences. “We’ve always loved horror,” one interviewee says. “But horror hasn’t always loved us.”
Horror Noire takes a broad view of the genre, but there’s a bevy of films that focus on single films or franchises instead. You’re So Cool Brewster: The Story of Fright Night (2016), Birth of the Living Dead (2014), Leviathan: The Story of Hellraiser (2015) and Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary (2017) are all recommended, and are on Shudder now. For a doc that explores the space in which horror films slip into reality, you really must try
My Amityville Horror (2013, DVD and Amazon Prime). Here, Daniel Lutz (son of the infamous George and Kathy) breaks his 35-year silence about the murder/haunting that would terrify readers and moviegoers across the globe. A troubled, visibly agitated Daniel pulls few punches when talking about his father, George Lutz, who he paints as a flawed, vain and controlling man. But if the psychological shivers aren’t enough, Daniel keeps insisting that the ghosts of Amityville were real.
For a charming and funny account of the atrocious (i.e. amazing) 80s movie Troll 2, you must see Best Worst Movie (2017). And don’t miss Room 237 (2013), which explores the bafflingly whacky fan theories about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, or The American Scream (2012), which profiles a small community in Massachusetts who turn their homes into elaborate horror houses for the public to enjoy each Hallowe’en.
If you have BBC iPlayer, you should check out Fear Itself (2015), a hypnotic exploration of the human condition seen through the lens of horror movie clips, while Video Nasties: The Definitive Guide 1&2 (2010, 2014) is also essential viewing for UK horror fans. without giving much thought to tone – which is, frankly, all over the place. Given this, it’s difficult to really invest in any of the characters aside from Sue Ann herself. Sadly, what the film lacks in tonal integrity it doesn’t make up for in atmosphere or gore. The visual horror elements are nothing to write home about, being largely formulaic and lacking in build-up, but there is nonetheless fun to be had, even if the film inevitably amuses more than it scares.
Leyla Mikkelsen
★★★★★
It’s only in the last decade that we’ve seen black voices better represented