Creature Feature
The creature feature genre was at
its most popular in the 1930’s and 40’s. It included characters that were
inhuman i.e. werewolves and monsters. The main reason for the craze was the
increase in availability of televisions. This allowed the filmmakers to target
a younger audience (teenagers) that watched television on Friday and Saturday
evenings therefore making the distribution cheaper than if it were released in
cinemas.
The reason for the decrease in
the popularity during the 70’s and 80’s was due to the
younger audience being less likely to stay in and watch television, as they
were more likely to go out, decreasing the amount of viewers. Another reason
for the decrease in popularity was because of technological advances in film.
The genre became less popular as the ‘monster’ character became less
believable, making this genre lose its audience.
1930’s
Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein is an adaptation
from a play, directed by James Whale. The story involves a scientist digging up
corpses to build a monster. The film earned Universal approximately $78,000
($1,075,000 in 2015).
Parts of the film were seen as
very controversial. Upon its release, part of one scene involving a little girl
drowning was cut by three states including New York. Kansas requested that 32
scenes should be cut – reducing the movie time by a half. But when rediscovered
in the 1980’s, the scene is now included in modern day versions. This shows
that modern day audiences are less effected by gore and conventional horror
scenes due to less censorship in the media.
Although the film is an
adaptation of a play, the reason for the film could be due to the recent
medical advances in the 1930’s. The doctor in the film is seen as playing God –
creating a life. The medical advances near the time of this film include
vaccines for many fatal diseases and the invention of penicillin (antibiotics).
The creation of the film may be highlighting the social and moral issues of
this.
King Kong (1933)
King Kong is a horror version of
beauty and the beast and has a modern adaptation. The director of King Kong, Merian C
Cooper was a keen adventurer and one of the first US filmmakers. He saw making
King Kong as a technological challenge as the equipment available was very limited.
It was
very popular due to the demand for monkeys. Not many zoo’s in the early 1930’s
had any type of monkeys so there was a popular demand to see them in films and
on television. This lead to the film grossing over $90,000 ($1,228,667 in 2015) on the first weekend – the largest opening ever at the time of
release.
King
Kong could relate to cultural and social issues through the use of the beauty
and the beast. The final line of the film is “It wasn’t the bullets. It was beauty that killed the
beast”, this highlights that the reason Kong died was to protect the
person that he loves, whether he thought they could be together or not.
(1930's King Kong vs. Modern Day remake)
1940’s
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Wolf Man is one of the first
films with a werewolf character and is one of the main influences for how the
creature is depicted today. The make-up used took 6 hours to apply and 3 hours
to remove. Parts of the film consisted of the actor, Lon Chaney, staying still
for up to 6 hours while photographs are taken after each part of make-up added
- to show the man to wolf transformation.
Cat People (1942)
Cat People is a film with
multiple creatures in. There is a mixture of werewolves, werecats and panthers.
Two filming crews were used for the production of the film – one working at
night with the animals, the other filming the cast throughout the day. A technique
called ‘Lewton Bus’ derives from Cat People, it is called this due to the scene
is was included in and the director, Van Lewton.
In the scene, a character who
turns into a panther frequently is following another, at the most tense point,
when the audience expects the character to turn, the silence is broken by a
hissing panther noise. The tension is broken by a shot of a bus pulling up near
the characters. “Any scene in which tension is dissipated by a mere moment of startlement,
is a 'Lewton Bus'”.
The film made an estimated profit
of $4 million with a $134,000 budget.
1950’s
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
(1953)
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,
also known as The Monster from Beneath the Sea is a film following a
resurrected dinosaur on rampage through New York City. It was one of the first
dinosaur movie so inspired lots of other Hollywood films including Godzilla
(1954). The dinosaur was originally going to snort flames, but this was dropped
due to a restriction with the budget.
The film ended up grossing more
than $5 million.
1960’s
The Wasp Woman (1960)
The Wasp Woman is a film about a
woman seeking a treatment to look younger, although the side effects turn her
into a large wasp-woman. She has the body of a human and a head of a wasp. The
director decided to film each death of a character in one take. Due to the film
being in black and white, chocolate syrup was used as an alternative to fake
blood. When the one of the characters throws acid at the wasp woman, the plan
was for the actress to duck behind a table, sprinkle liquid smoke on her mask
and then reappear. In the lead up, the technician put too much on her mask
which ended up going into the mask and her lungs. When they realised the
actress couldn’t breathe, the technicians ripped a hole in the mask as well as
her skin.
1970’s
Jaws (1975)
Jaws is the film adaptation of a
book with the same name. It is directed by Steven Spielberg. The film went both
over budget and over time due to malfunctions in the robotic shark head. It
became the highest grossing film in history, making more than $470 million,
until the release of Star Wars (1977). The well-known music from the film was
composed by John Williams, it consisted of 2 notes played in turn on a tuba.
John Williams was given an academy award for the music.
Alien (1979)
The film took 16 weeks to film,
with the editing taking 20 weeks extra after that. The first draft of the film
was over three hours long, but after final editing, the final draft was just
under 2 hours. The film had a good response from the public, with people
screaming and running out of the theatre. The inside of the egg and parts of
the different aliens were made by using cow and sheep intestines, as well as
puppets. The total gross profit of Alien was over $104,931,801.
1980’s
American Werewolf in London (1981)
The werewolf transformation was
done by using prosthetic and robotic limbs. The make-up techniques were such a large
advance the make-up artist won many awards.
The music for the film consists of using the same song, “Blue Moon”
played in different tones and paces during the course of the film. The film was
very successful and made a total
of $30,565,292.
Modern Day
Creature Features
Due to the decline in demand for creature feature films, there is a scare
amount of them. Recently, the sub-genre of horror has been making a comeback,
some examples include:
Jeepers
Creepers (2001)
The film took its name from the song “Jeepers Creepers” which is played in
the movie. The reception of the film was good, but the public believed that the
plot is predictable which decreased the tension that was built. The film made a
total of $59,217,789 internationally.
Rogue (2007)
Rogue is an Australian creature feature. The film was inspired by the true
story of a crocodile that used to attack boats in the 1970’s, but made into a
horror film for audience’s entertainment. The film was successful in Australia
but when put into theatres in the US, only made $10,452. Although the movie was
a failure in theatres, it had good critic reviews. It holds the rarity of 100%
reviews from 11 Rotten Tomato critics.
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