I feel that I've stated this several times before in this blog, but I'll state it again: I am a huge fan of horror movies. So watching a documentary about horror films is really ideal to me. I've actually seen several before throughout the years, so a lot of the information given about the films themselves and people interviewed in the documentary "The American Nightmare: The History of Horror's Golden Age" were very familiar to me. However, I also gained a lot of new information and insight from those interviewed about their personal experiences and feelings on both history and American culture.
The interview that stood out to me the most in the film was that of Tom Savini. I have seen interviews with Savini before, but they were purely related to films, rather than his own backstory and interest in the horror genre. His story about eyewitnessing everything happening in Vietnam was ridiculous to me, because I could really not ever imagine being a witness to the events during any war, let alone what we know of Vietnam. It makes sense to me that someone who has gone through that experience would be interested in doing make up for horror films, and also be interested in horror films in general. I feel like with an experience like that, a person would either be completely repelled by the horror genre or completely interested in it. I don't think there can be an in between. So Savini's story made complete sense to me.
I also found it interesting later when Savini was explaining that George Romero's intention was to make the audience numb to the violence. This fits so well with Savini's story, as he explains how the camera acted as some sort of fence or separation from the real dead bodies he was taking pictures of. He was shielding himself and in a way becoming numb to what was around him because he knew he had to in order to get through his ordeal. That entire interview was just very interesting to me.
Something that also stands out to me is something that was presented on the discussion board. Someone stated that they think it is more the analyzers of horror films who are giving them the cultural meaning the movies then take on. While part of me really agreed with this when I first saw the statement, after viewing this film, I think differently. Clearly, not all filmmakers are going out there to produce a groundbreaking, hard-hitting film that will impact us insanely culturally. However, true filmmakers, such as Romero and Craven, really did have a specific meaning and intention behind what they were doing, and that's completely evident from their interviews. There are those out there looking to say something with their work, rather than to just make money. I do find it ironic, however, that many of the filmmakers interviewed in this documentary HAVE in fact gone on to create some God-awful films all for the sake of making a profit. It's very interesting actually, since Carpenter himself says that the filmmakers of the "golden age" were rejecting the dogma of the 50's, but now have sold out and just want to make money. This definitely seems to be true.
I really enjoyed this documentary. It gave me an overwhelmingly unsettling feeling, however. One reason is because of the clips from the film "Shivers". That was just disgusting. I have heard of David Cronenberg, but never this film. While I love horror movies, I really do not like gore and horrifying malformations of bodies, or whatever it was that was going on in those clips. I understood what Cronenberg was getting at with his work, but those clips were really grossing me out and I had a difficult time watching them. Since horror films are supposed to disturb us to our core, I'd say he accomplished his mission.
There is another reason, however, as to why I think the film was unsettling. The interviewees all discussed the idea of the inevitability of death. Romero even went as far as saying that all humans are in fact the living dead, because we are all going to die. Talk like this just unsettles me and makes me uncomfortable. I understand that death is inevitable, but I hate thinking about it. I hate thinking about what happens to us after we die. So to hear all of these filmmakers discuss these ideas really made me unhappy. They are completely right, though, and I know that. That's what I think makes it even more unsettling.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. Aside from the clips from "Shivers" and also from "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", which I have seen but really don't enjoy very much, I liked watching the film and hearing what all those being interviewed had to say. (I dislike "Texas Chainsaw" mostly in part because it claims it is based off of a true story, when in reality, they took a very abstract concept about a serial killer named Ed Gein and ran with it in a completely inappropriate direction. I highly suggest that everyone looks up Ed Gein, by the way. I think he is completely fascinating. And anyone who has seen "Silence of the Lambs" or "Psycho" will see that there are far more accurate representations of him in cinema). I think that any horror buff would definitely want to watch this film. The 60's and 70's really were the golden age of horror films. Films since then have been unoriginal, taking cues from the films of the past but never hitting the same stride. The films from this time are absolutely worth watching and definitely have a story to tell and message to send out.
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