Victor Vernon - Final Project

Classical Movie Monsters During the 60's and 70's:

Afterlives and Rebirths

They exist at the edges of our cultural awareness. They hide deep within our history and superstitions. We've given them so many faces, in so many mediums, that they have become as real to us in some ways as anything we can see with our eyes and touch with our hands. They are the monsters. Since the earliest days of moving picture, monsters of all sorts have graced the screen, wrought from ancient folklore and fertile imaginations, (and often a combination of both,) alike. In movies around the world, in fact, there has grown a tradition of what we might call "Classic Movie Monsters," such as vampires, werewolves, mummies, Frankenstein's creatures, and zombies. However, these monsters became so "classic" that in time, they could no longer stand entirely on their own as horror inducing subjects. In this paper, I am going to focus on three of these classic monsters (Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies) during the 70's, exploring their roots, how and some of why they were transformed during this time, and the consequences these would have on later films.

As a final note before we begin our look into 70's movie monsters, one should note that this paper is not about horror. It is about the monsters. Horror is only a side effect. Probably the most famous supernatural monster in film, not to mention popular culture in general, is the vampire. According to most traditions, vampires are spirits or creatures who drain blood, youth, or vitality from innocent victims. Different vampire legends give different methods for killing them, including many of the things that are familiar to us, including sunlight, crosses, decapitation, and stakes. Also, they were, contrary to what we see in fiction today, usually considered to be sorcerers who used their powers to stay alive long after death by stealing life from others, not the more familiar victims of previous vampire bites. The viral aspect of vampires was mainly created by Bram Stoker with his book, "Dracula." (Rose, 381; Wright, 3-5)

Dracula has been and will likely continue to be seen as the model vampire. Written in 1897, Stoker's book told the now familiar story of an undead Transylvanian baron who moves to London to feed on a new, unprepared population of humans. He can control minds, and his bite can turn the people he feeds upon into vampires themselves. It is interesting to note that Stoker had a stage production in mind even as he wrote Dracula, and that it was the stage version that established the now iconic vampire cape, (which served mainly to help with the play's effects.) Dracula, though Stoker likely didn't know it at the time, was made for the big screen. (Stoker, 1897; 100 Years of Horror, Disc 1)

Though the silent German expressionist film "Nosferatu" was the first movie made based on Dracula, (though Count Dracula, in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid a lawsuit from the Stoker estate, was re-named Count Orlok,) it was Universal Studio's 1931 film that has had the greatest influence of movie vampires. "Dracula" starred handsome Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi, who had previously played the Count in stage productions. He added a subtle sex appeal, (not present in the original book or Nosferatu,) that has been with vampires ever since. This adaptation would spawn a slew of direct and indirect sequels, parodies, and re-interpretations, reaching into settings as outlandish as the wild west and deep space, and genres as unexpected as romantic comedy and blaxploitation. (100 Years of Horror, Disk 1; Skal, 1999)

"Blacula" was blaxploitation's contribution to the Dracula legacy. While we often see blaxploitation versions of mainstream films to be a convenient joke these days, 1972's Blacula had not only it's own story, but many unique elements. It told the story of Mamuwalde, an African Prince who consults with one Count Dracula, (in this film an influential member of European aristocracy,) in the hopes that the Count would help him convince the rest of Europe to end the slave trade. Long story short, the Prince is turned into a vampire, and finds himself, hundreds of years later, in a modern day city, pursued by a black detective. While searching for victims with whom to quench his thirst, meets the reincarnation of his dead wife Luva, now called Tina. In the end, Tina dies, (at the hands of a trigger happy white cop, we should note,) and Blacula, deprived once again of his love, commits suicide by climbing out of his lair and into the sun. (Crain, 1972)(Picture A)


While I am of the opinion that this film stands on it's own as a vampire movie, it nonetheless is
obviously a product of the blaxploitation movement. It's cast and crew were predominately black, with a few white supporting characters. The two main characters are both strong men; Mamuwalde unshakably calm and composed, opposed by Gordon Thomas, a masculine, quick thinking detective willing and able to do what needs to be done. Beneath their entire conflict, one can sense a more basic dominance struggle. Also, peppered throughout the film are moments of class and race conflict, as when Dr. Thomas, in trying to solve the bizarre murders of people in the "bad part of town" is confronted by apathy and hostility from his employees. In general,
the white characters in the film are shown as being morally and intellectually inferior, in a tried and true blaxploitation tradition. (Crain, 1972)(Picture A)

As a vampire film, Blacula has a few elements in it that were not often used in American vampire movies up to that point. First, though one might not immediately recognize it as such, Blacula's introduction is almost certainly a prequel to the events of Bram Stoker's book, since Dracula is alive in the film's beginning, and the African slave trade had mostly closed by the late Victorian era portrayed in the novel. Second, it had two gay men as pivotal characters, and although they were, by modern standards, terrible stereotypes, they still had an affectionate, dignified relationship. As for makeup, it appears Mamuwalde is one of the first American vampire movie characters to undergo a facial mutation when in "vampire mode." (This was common in England's Hammer Films productions of Dracula, however.) It also featured the police fighting effectively against vampires, with the implication that the film's hero might have been able to beat Blacula if given the chance. He did not get the chance, however because, as I said before, in an act of love and self control, Mamuwalde killed himself. In both the genres of vampire movies and blaxploitation, where sexuality is the name of the game and love is rarely relevant, Mamuwalde's sacrifice is both unique and touching. (Crain, 1972; 100 Years of Horror, Disk 1)

The immediate legacy of Blacula is obvious: A slew of blaxploitation films ripping off classic and popular horror films. Then it was films like "Blackenstein" and "Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde," but even today we have films like "Zombies in the Hood." Other, more subtle aspects of the legacy of Blacula include the increasing use of drastic makeup to identify a vampire, (as seen on the relatively long running show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and an increased focus on the vampire as a thinking, feeling being. Interestingly, though, by the time of Blacula's release, the idea of a remorseful hunter of men was already pretty well established in the genre of werewolf films.

Werewolves are another legend that stretches back millennia. One of the first recorded werewolf stories was that of Lycaon, a character from Greek myth who was transformed into a wolf as punishment for cannibalism. Different animal transformations, however, stretch back ages, and appear in cultures around the world. In European tradition, however, wolves are the dominant creature in transformation legends, likely due to their prevalence. Later legends would have people turn into werewolves due to a family curse, making bargains with demons, donning a special wolf skin, or, like Lycaon, as a consequence of cannibalism. The idea that lycanthropy could be spread via a bite from a werewolf was an invention of Hollywood. (Baring-Gould, Ch. 2, 4, and 5)

In 1935, Universal Pictures released a film called "Werewolf of London," which set up the basic motif, still in work today, of a man being bitten by a werewolf and inheriting the curse. It was also the first film to portray a werewolf as a man/wolf hybrid, legend usually having a man simply turning into a wolf, sometimes of unusual size. (The hybrid werewolf look was and remains the preferred approach to lycanthropes, as makeup is usually cheaper than animal
trainers, and animals with human features are, almost invariably, scarier than normal animals.) Six years later, the more famous and popular, (though seen by many critics as inferior,) "Wolf Man," starring Lon Chaney Jr., was released. It would add, amongst other things, the idea of silver being the only thing to kill a werewolf to the mythos. As more and more werewolf films were made in later years, it was Werewolf of London and Wolf Man that proved to be the most influential movies for future werewolf films. (Walker, 1935; Waggner, 1941)

In 1973, writer/director Milton Ginsberg and producer Nina Schulman made "Werewolf of Washington," a horror/comedy satire of American politics during the seventies. It tells the story of Jack Whittier, a reporter who finds himself trying to adjust to his new job as the Presidential Press Secretary while, at night, he becomes a violent werewolf. The film alternates between awkward political comedy and Jack's various rampages, culminating in a hand to paw fight between the President and a werewolf. (Ginsberg,1973)(Picture B)

A few elements of this film are characteristic of the 70's, and some where unique to werewolf films. The darker scenes, whether for mood or as a result of bad lighting, are common in 70's films, as are the high, low, skewed, and close camera angles. The not-so-subtle political commentary that permeated the movie is also quite common for the 70's. Also, modern seventies psychological and sociological theories were thrown into satirical perspective whenever "modern" people tried to understand Jack's old world predicament. Something that was increasingly common in this period, and relatively new to the Werewolf movie genre, was it's mix of violence and humor. Werewolf movies with a strong element of comedy were nothing new at that point, as Lon Chaney Jr. himself had starred alongside Bela Lugosi, Bud Abbot, Lou Costello, and Vincent Price in "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein," a zany comedy filled with big names. The difference was, it was filled with very little if any real violence. In Werewolf of Washington, while there is almost no gore, the violence, both shown and directly implied, makes it clear that the victim will die in pain and fear. This mixture of horror, violence, and humor would be used to great effect almost a decade later in "American Werewolf in London," another Werewolf of London inspired film that is considered by many to be one of the best Werewolf movies ever made. Quite a legacy for a creature pulled together from a disorganized jumble of local legends. (Ginsberg, 1973; 100 Years of Horror, Disk 2.)

Unlike both vampires and werewolves, zombies were not pulled from old, conflicting folk tales, but from the practices of Voodoo, a West African based religion. According to tradition, a zombie is a newly dead body, poisoned with Manchineel, Datura, Atrophine, Belladonna Deadly Nightshade, and/or three drops of mucus from the nose of a corpse hung upside down, then resurrected and controlled by a powerful Houngan, or priest. The zombie would, under the spell of the houngan, be a slow but relentless worker, who's posture and mannerisms would lead modern skeptics to conclude that zombies were in fact usually just mentally handicapped people. On an interesting side note, in every story of zombies, they could be cured by ingesting or inhaling ordinary salt, after which they would either fall completely dead, stay alive long enough to crawl back into a grave, or go on half-living for an ordinary life span, under their own will. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, the salt cure has not come up in any Hollywood zombie movie. (Cavendish, 3095)

One of the first, if not the first, zombie movie was 1932's "White Zombie," with Bela Lugosi. Here Lugosi starred as the insidious "Murder" Legendre, a voodoo master who, besides having an army of enslaved corpses working for him, also zombifies the film's already corpse- pale heroine, (the "white zombie" of the title.) The film sticks pretty close to the established ideas of voodoo, though, as I noted earlier, the salt cure played no part in the hero's victory, that instead being achieved by "Murder's" murder at the hands of someone he had earlier betrayed. It's worth pointing out that, in this film, the voodoo master is a white man controlling, for the most part, black zombies, which could have served as a possible commentary on slavery. However, it seems more likely that the movie makers just realized that the idea of a sadistic black man magically enslaving a delicate white woman would not be well received by audiences at that time. In any case, it is interesting that the next truly memorable American zombie film would have such a reversal of racial roles. That film is "Night of the Living Dead." (Halperin, 1932).

"Night of the Living Dead," made by George A. Romero in 1968, was a uniquely successful film. An independent production, it took a few years for it to become well known an appreciated, but it eventually attained cult status. It spawned 3 sequels, all higher budget than the original. Also, it has inspired not only a slew of rip offs and parodies, but the entire modern concept of what we call a zombie. (Martin, 2004)

The film starts with a woman, Barbra, running from a strange man who had just killed her brother. She takes refuge in a house and, after seeing a half- eaten corpse at the top of the stairs, proceeds to have a complete mental breakdown. Shortly after, the film's hero, Ben, also taking refuge in the house, boards it up and tries to plan out a course of action. Meanwhile, a small army of what we gradually find out are the living dead, or zombies, are massing outside the house. The rest of the film follows Barbra and Ben, as well as five other occupants of the house, as they try to stay alive until help comes. (Not to give too much away, but they fail miserably.) (Romero,1968)(Picture C)


Now, before I go into any further analysis of the film, I want to talk about the zombies themselves, and where they come from. The first thing to note is that Romero's creations are not zombies in the traditional sense. Instead of being controlled, they are completely uncontrollable, driven entirely by a need to feed. Unlike traditional zombies, who are made one at a time, Romero's zombies are populated with all the recently dead people, as well as anyone a zombie bites. In this way, they are viral, in much the same way as Dracula and vampires in general. This brings us to "I Am Legend." (Romero, 1968) "I Am Legend" is a novel by Richard Matheson, about a man surviving in a world populated entirely by animalistic vampires, victims of some plague that made them rise from their graves. The book has been adapted to film on at least four occasions: 1964's "Last Man on Earth," 1971's "Omega Man," the soon to be released, (and finally properly titled,) "I Am Legend," and "Night of the Living Dead." That's right; We would call Matheson's vampires zombie-like, but in fact it is Romero's zombies which are vampire-like! (Matheson, 1954)

Romero, previously a maker of television commercials for local companies, made Night of the Living Dead on a very low budget, with a very small crew, over the course of a year. This saw him in the writer's desk, in the director's chair, behind the camera, and in the editing room. This auteur system allowed Romero a good deal of control over the direction and mood of the film, and his budget forced him to make the most of the people and other resources he had available. Most Hollywood movies try to match their character's to fit what the audience wants, or to use them to make a statement. However, in Night of the Living Dead, Romero claims his motivation for casting Duane Jones,a black man, as the authoritative hero Ben was simply because Jones was the only person available to him who could act well enough to play the role. Nonetheless, Romero's focus on race and class relations is obvious in all four "Of the Dead" films. (Frumke, 1985; Martin 2004)

Night of the Living Dead has an impressive legacy. Besides three sequels, (Dawn of, Day of, and Land of the Living Dead,) a whole sub- genre of films has popped up using the Romero- Style Zombie. This genre is extremely popular today, with films like "28 Days Later" and "Shaun of the Dead," as well as the "Resident Evil" series. (It should be noted that one scene from Resident Evil: Apocalypse, is almost a direct rip off/tribute of the Romero sequel "Day of the Dead.") (Mulcahy, 2007) It becomes obvious that, during the late sixties and through the 70's, the old movie monsters underwent some changes that carried lasting effects. For vampires, the 70's was a time to consider the human sides of these old, inhuman creatures. For werewolves, the 70's meant a time of freedom, letting these beasts who seem to represent the animal in human nature be shown with the graphic violence we consider almost necessary to the genre today. As for zombies, the 70's were a re-birth, eventually allowing the bastard son of Haitian religion and Richard Matheson to become one of the most popular movie monsters in Hollywood. In the end, what can be said of the 70's, in ways that extend beyond monsters, beyond horror, and even beyond film, is that it was a time when people tried new things. And thank goodness (or badness) for that.


Works Cited

100 Years of Horror. Writ. and dir. Ted Newsom. Prod. Dante Pugliese. DVD. Passport International Entertainment, 1996.

Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Book of Werewolves. 1965.

Blacula. Dir. William Crain, Writ. Raymond Koenig, Joan Torres. DVD. American International Pictures 1972.

Cavendish, Richard (Editor.) Man, Myth, and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the
Supernatural. New York: Marshall Cavendish Co, 1970.

Document of the Dead. Dir, Writ, Roy Frumkes. DVD. Independent Film, 1985.

Dracula. Dir, Tod Browning. Writ, Garrett Ford. DVD. Universal, 1931.

Jones, Stephen. Essential Monster Movie Guide. New York: Billboard Books, 2000.

Matheson, Richard. I Am Legend. London: Orion Books, 1954.

Night of the Living Dead. Dir, Writ, George A. Romero. DVD. Legends Films, 1968.

Resident Evil: Extinction. Dir, Russell Mulcahy. Writ, Paul Anderson. Resident Evil
Productions, 2007.

Rose, Carol. Giants, Monsters, and Dragons. California: ABC-CLIO Publishing, 2000.

Stoker, Bram. Dracula. UK: Archibald Constable and Company, 1897

The Dead Will Walk. Dir, Writ. Perry Martin. DVD. Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2004.

The Road to Dracula. Dir, Writ, David Skal. DVD. Independent Film, 1999.

The Werewolf of Washington. Dir, writ, Milton Moses Ginsberg. VHS. Milco Productions, 1973.

Werewolf of London. Dir, Stewart Walker. Writ, John Colton. DVD. Universal Pictures, 1935.

White Zombie. Dir, Victor Halperin. Writ, George Weston. DVD. United Artists, 1932.

Wolf Man. Dir, George Waggner. Writ, Curt Siodmak. VHS. Universal, 1941.

Wright, Dudley. Book of Vampires. New York: Dorset Press, 1987.