Doing things in good faith is a perfect way of getting it in the gub. It's a life lesson I can't quite grasp, even though it's happened to me so often. I enter into things with an open mind and end up getting kicked in the brain*. I have been approaching some modern horror films with this attitude of late, fool that I am.
I'm still not finished with this little jag; there are a load of horror films from the last few years I haven't seen. In truth there are some older horror films I haven't seen – wouldn't mind giving Don't Look Now and Freaks a go around. By the same token I'm not interested in some newer horror films like The Human Centipede 2 or any of the Hostel films. I am not squeamish, as you'll know if you've read some of my fiction, but the retarded and boring fascination with gore and debasement** just doesn't do anything for me. Add to that, the first Human Centipede was some of the most inept film making I've ever seen and it didn't bode well for the follow-up. Use an idea as the basis for a story, but it shouldn't be the entire fucking thing.
Anyway, I entered into watching a couple of Rob Zombie films a few days ago. Yeah, I suppose walking into Rob Zombie film-making exploits is a big invitation to getting a toe in the frontal lobe, but I decided I should, just to see if the impression left by House of 1,000 Corpses was erroneous. This is the point where I stick a disclaimer in your face: I have liked Rob Zombie's music for a long time, going on twenty years now†, and I was really excited when House of 1,000 Corpses was coming out, abandoning any misgivings about his directorial abilities, because even the promos he directed for his songs are on the shoddy side. So, yeah, fan of Rob Zombie music.
House of 1,000 Corpses turned out to be an incoherent clusterfuck of a mess. It's like it has been written by someone who doesn't know what a story is and has the tedious hyperactive style of bad music promos. Bad film! Swat it with a fucking slipper. It was disappointing and quite saddening, that trashy, wild and incoherent style that worked so well in his music didn't stand up to a change of medium. Should have seen it coming, but I was naive and really wanted to enjoy his film work as much as I liked his music.
I pretended this hadn't happened. I pretended I was coming into The Devil's Rejects without ever having seen House of 1,000 Corpses, aaaaaand it was still shit. I will admit it was better written, there was actually the semblance of a narrative. It was a shit narrative with the desperate need for you to empathise with a bunch of reprehensible psychopaths. It's almost impossible to empathise with characters who have no redeeming features whatsoever. Yet there goes Mister Cummings trying to make us care for characters so horrible and twisted there's nothing tangible to hold onto. They're just a bunch of gurning sick fucks who kill a bunch of faceless people and deserve to die. Actually they probably didn't deserve to have what little cinematic life was given to them.
What's probably most dull about The Devil's Rejects is Rob Zombie's slavish copying of a particular brand of seventies films. He doesn't even try to bring anything new to the business, just making a nasty seventies exploitation film a couple of decades too late. It's witless and artless and a kind of wank material for people who want to see senseless, pointless killing and boobs. It would be fine if that was all he was trying to do, but there are too many things inserted that make it seem like he's trying for something loftier and when he doesn't get anywhere near them it's difficult to decide whether to scud him on the head for being so inept or pat his weirdly-hatted bonce in commiseration for making an attempt.
And while we're on the subject of mindlessly copying the work of other directors, having seen The Lords of Salem, it seems he'd watched a bit of Stanley Kubrick, only instead of taking the lessons of story-telling and character he took away STATIC SHOTS and DRAGGING SCENES. So many static shots for no reason. You're not learning anything, it's not moving the plot along and it's not creating tension. What's the fucking point, man?
I mean, again, better than either The Devil's Rejects or House of 1,000 Corpses, but still a million miles away from being a good film. He shows a wee bit of restraint when it comes to the violence, but his need to have waaaaaay too much nudity is yawn-inducing. Actually, I'll correct that: too much female nudity. I'm a red-blooded heterosexual male, I enjoy looking at the female form, but when it's just women parading around nude, for no real purpose, it gets creepy. It does get to the point where a full-frontal naked guy would be something of a relief; it would make it feel less like some leering pervert's sitting next to you massaging himself. Urk.
I dunno if there's something inherently wrong with modern horror, or if this kind of rot has always been there, but Rob Zombie's films are kind of indicative of something a bit skewed about the genre. The need to parade unpleasant violence and nudity in place of story and character makes me feel a lot of horror film makers miss the point of the genre. Like most genres it's about showing us fundamental truths about humanity, yeah that sounds fucking pretentious, but it doesn't make it any less true, but a lot of directors seem to think it's an excuse to show off boobs and wave a dripping pancreas in our faces while screaming, "Ha ha ha ha! Isn't this fucking awesome!"
Rob Zombie probably isn't beyond redemption as a film maker. There were a few points in The Devil's Rejects, actually some of the best scenes, where he showed a keen sense of comic timing. Perhaps ditching horror and making a foray into comedy might work out better.
* Okay, not everything. Some things. In case you hadn't noticed I'm not the most open-minded person. I'm not the most closed-minded, either. Receptive to some things more than others. Like A REAL HUMAN BEING! Gasp.
** And don't forget that little smattering of misogyny, that shit gets everywhere and leaves a funky smell.
† I even got to see White Zombie the one time they toured in the UK. Throwing that out there for no particular reason.
Will
No comments:
Post a Comment