Burton’s film of Stephen Sondheim’s musical telling of the tale. With Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd and Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett.
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
Cannibal Holocaust [Ruggero Deodato, 1980]
Shot in the rainforests of the Amazon using indigenous people as the cannibals, this is about a documentary crew who are captured and eaten. Using “found footage” that shows us what happened in explicit detail, this is a pretty disgusting film. Over 30 years later it remains controversial.
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
Manhunter [Michael Mann, 1986]
Brian Cox as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Mann’s adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon[1981]. The screen debut of “Hannibal the Cannibal.”
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
The Old Dark House [James Whale, 1932]
Morgan (Boris Karloff) has evil thoughts concerning Margaret Waverton (Gloria Stuart).
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
White Heat [Raoul Walsh, 1949]
James Cagney as psychopathic, mother-fixated gangster Cody Jarrett. Edmond O’Brien’s undercover cop corners Cody atop a gas storage tank; Cody shouts, “Made it Ma, top of the world!” and fires his gun into the tank, which explodes in a gigantic fireball.
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
Kiss of Death [Henry Hathaway, 1947]
A film noirthat introduced Richard Widmark as psychotic killer Tommy Udo. Widmark plays Udo full tilt, complete with insane giggle as he ties an old lady to her wheelchair and then pushes her down the stairs.
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
Peeping Tom [Michael Powell, 1960]
Carl Boehm and Anna Massey in this study of a psychotic voyeur. A movie so disturbing it basically ended Powell’s career.
Human Monsters[ Book Contents]
Jack the Ripper [Robert S. Baker, Monty Berman, 1959]
A straightforward account of Britain’s most infamous serial killer. Considered very brutal when it was released, its violence is rather tame for today’s jaded audience.
Putting finishing toucheson Boris Karloff’s costume and make-up for The Mummy[Karl Freund, 1932].
MONSTER MAKERS
From the earliest days of the Nickelodeons, filmmakers have consistently invented new techniques to help us “suspend our disbelief.”
The French filmmaking pioneer Georges Méliès was one of the first to use the camera to create visual effects. By pausing in turning the hand crank on his camera for a moment, Méliès was able to make people and objects appear and disappear as if by magic.
Linwood G. Dunn’s work in the 1920s perfected the optical printer, revolutionizing optical effects. Literally a camera set up to re-photograph already exposed film, creating multiple layers of images onto a negative, the optical printer enabled the movies to present astonishing compositions on screen. One of the greatest creators of “optical effects” was John P. Fulton, whose innovative and stunning work on The Invisible Man[James Whale, 1933] still dazzles the eye. My favorite of Fulton’s effects are the homunculi Dr. Pretorius so proudly displays in The Bride of Frankenstein[James Whale, 1935].
Building sets and vehicles to a much smaller scale allowed scenes of breathtaking destruction to be shot with minimal cost and danger. “Miniature” car crashes, airplanes, explosions, volcanoes, rocket ships, and more, have all been constructed on a stage or back lot to help visualize story elements that would have been impractical to recreate full size. Master miniature makers include the legendary Lydecker Brothers, Howard and Theodore. The Lydecker Brothers were on staff at Republic Pictures and worked on such classic serials as Adventures of Captain Marvel[1941], and Commander Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe[aka Radar Men From The Moon, 1952-3]. Japanese master Eiji Tsuburaya was the resident special FX go-to guy for Toho Studios. Tsuburaya’s work is seen in almost every Godzillafilm. Derek Meddings started work on the Gerry and Sylvia Anderson puppet TV shows like Fireball XL5[1962] and Thunderbirds[1965-66]. Derek went on to do the miniatures on Superman[Richard Donner, 1978] and for the James Bond pictures The Man with the Golden Gun[Guy Hamilton, 1974] and The Spy Who Loved Me[Lewis Gilbert, 1977].
Greg Jein built the iconic miniature of the Death Star for Star Wars[George Lucas, 1977], and the aliens’ mother ship for Close Encounters of the Third Kind[Steven Spielberg, 1977].
Matte painters like Albert Whitlock, Harrison Ellenshaw, Peter Ellenshaw, Norman Dawn, and Matthew Yuricich created remarkable illusions for movies with a paint brush and a pane of glass (see the illustrations given in the section Matte Painting).
The producer and director George Lucas and his crew at Industrial Light & Magic have brought movies into the digital age. Special effects in the movies will continue to evolve, but never forget that every movie you see, has been literally handmade.
Two giants of the fantasy film:Georges Méliès and Carl Laemmle meet in Paris. Méliès is the father of special effects; Laemmle was one of the founders of Universal Pictures, the studio that produced most of the classic monster movies.
Shooting a close-upof Boris Karloff as the Monster in Frankenstein[James Whale, 1931].
The Monster Makers[ Book Contents]
Creature From the Black Lagoon [Jack Arnold, 1954]
Bob Dawn (white shirt), Robert Hickman (kneeling), and Jack Kevan (black suit) adjust the Gill-Man costume on Ben Chapman (Ricou Browning did the underwater swimming in Florida). Universal’s head of make-up Bud Westmore got sole screen credit, but Jack Kevan did most of the work.
Willis O’Brienposes with the full-size head used for close-ups in King Kong[Cooper, Schoedsack, 1933].
MONSTER DIRECTORS
James Whale, Tod Browning, George A. Romero, William Castle, and Jack Arnold are five directors whose monster movies have had lasting impact and influence. Between them, they have brought us Dracula, Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, The Tingler, Creature From the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and many more classic movie monsters!