Many horror fans would agree that the principal aim of the
horror genre is to horrify, to ‘dramatise horrific events other than the
commonplace, realistic or historical’ (Sipos, 2010, p. 6). This is no
doubt achieved through the use of the monstrous – a generic component that
lacks a definitive identity and instead takes many guises. An alien invasion? the local Ed Gein wannabe? A zombie apocalypse? This is but to name a few... However this feature is not interested in what the monstrous is, but more of an exploration into how it is constructed. It is essential, therefore, to choose a particular type or example. For this feature, I have decided to focus on the monstrous body, otherwise known as Body Horror. This sub genre generally
achieves the monstrous through the ‘mutilation, destruction or disintegration
of the human body’ (Hayward, 2006, p. 210) and the use of HFX to achieve this, will be explored. Yet before embarking on such a refined focus, it is important to establish a little context.
Aesthetically speaking, the construction of the monstrous is generally achieved through the use of horror effects (HFX) - a process by which specific artists are hired throughout the films' production to orchestrate scenes of a gory or horrific nature, using makeup, machinery or any other weird and wonderful materials at their disposal. As an industry, its traditions stem from Le Théatre du Grand-Guignol - a theatre situated in France throughout the late 1800s that specialised in naturalistic horror shows. Each night, four or five short plays were performed, containing a variety of gruesome acts such as eye gouging, acid throwing and amputation. Akin to the fake blood that showered spectator's clothes, this form of entertainment fast made its mark on the film industry.
This was of course aided by a significant change to cinema. Throughout the early 1900s film was, on the one hand, dominated by the Lumiére Brothers, whose productions depicted everyday life. Contrasting this was Georges Méliés - a filmmaker who instead used the cinematic medium to transform and manipulate reality. In doing so, he arguably founded special effects trickery. Through the use of super impositions, double or more exposure, fade in, fade out and painted scenery backgrounds, he generated a new filmic style - one that would eventually transcend beyond the realms of editing, and into makeup effects.
In the 1920s, cinematographic manipulation indeed extended toward the alteration of the human form. Films such as Nosferatu (1922) began this, namely through the implementation of makeup to accentual facial features. Count Orlok's claw-like hands, false teeth, pallid skin tone, pointed ears and sunken were a canonical first step into the realms of HFX and Monsterdom.
Lon Chaney was arguably the first actor practitioner to continue this exploration into the manipulation of the human face and hands. In doing so, he paved the way for further developments in HFX as a practice and as an occupation. His signature work in films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and London after Midnight (1927) showcased greater attempts at facial distortion. Jack Pierce then continued this trend, as the head of Universal Studio's makeup department. Using similar techniques to Chaney (and the usual primitive materials of cotton, collodion and greasepaint), Pierce upped the ante on facial transformation once again. His work in Frankenstein (1931), created the infamous, protruding and blocky forehead of Frankenstein's monster, which even now remains an iconic face of horror. I think it is fair to say that overall, the early 1900s were pivotal in pioneering HFX, marking out the realms for future monsterdom.
Throughout the 1940s, the Universal monster sub genre continued. In films such as The Wolf Man (1941), Pierce further revolutionised HFX by using foam latex. The use of this material gradually increased in conjunction with generic changes, namely horror's foray into Science Fiction territory. Primarily taking place throughout the 1950s, this form of hybridity happened as a response to America's tumultuous socio-cultural climate, enveloped in Cold War Paranoia. The monsters of this decade represented a nation's nuclear fears. Films such as The Thing from Another World (1951) and Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) thus embodied a narrative trend of monstrous invasions, either from outer space or as a result of scientific experimentation. The HFX consequently extended beyond the face toward the human body through the use of latex suits. However, it would soon become apparent throughout the 1960s and 1970s that not all forms of the monstrous had to be supernatural creatures. In fact, the source could instead stem from somewhere very close to home.
The 60s and 70s were pivotal decades for the horror genre and HFX twofold. First, the depiction of horror shifted to the internal, namely with Psycho (1960), which placed the monstrous threat within a more realistic and recognisable setting; ourselves.
"the advent of Psycho in 1960 is generally regarded as a turning point, as the beginning of something new: as the film which located horror firmly and influentially within the modern psyche, the modern world, modern relationships and the modern (dysfunctional) family" (Neale, 1999, p. 88)
Furthermore the genre began to mimic realistic horrors that were shaping the nation's socio-cultural climate at the time. Examples include Night of the Living Dead (1968) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), which brought to fruition the nihilistic and sombre mood of a nation, replicating humanity's fears and losses concerning socio-cultural struggles such as oppression, civil unrest and the Vietnam War.
This thematic change in horror thus brought about visual developments in HFX, most prevalently through the work of makeup artist Tom Savini. Before embarking on a career in the HFX industry, he served as a GI in the Vietnam War. In conjunction with the relaxation of film censorship in 1968, artists such as Savini thus replicated the horrors experienced in Vietnam into their effects work. Noticeable examples include Dawn of the Dead (1978) in which zombies were eviscerated in a graphic and explosive manner, mimicking the real destruction witnessed whilst on military duty. Savini consequently became known as 'The King of Splatter' and through his HFX 'heads were severed, scalped, axed, exploded and pierced. Machete's hacked off limbs, fangs tore through chunks of human flesh, and blood bags sprayed gallons of grue' (Timpone, 1996, p. 63). Thus throughout this period, HFX was defined by the dislocation and fragmentation of the human body, possessing a particularly gory aesthetic due to anatomical detail and films' shift to colour photographic film. Although what must be noted is that none of this would even be possible, without the practical and industrial developments of the HFX industry.
Arguably as a result of The Exorcist (1973), intellectual respectability was granted toward the horror genre and HFX as a whole. This is not to say that public interest toward both had not existed up until this point. Indeed, prior to The Exorcist, HFX artist Dick Smith had published Famous Monsters' Do-It-Yourself Monster Make-up Handbook in the late 1960s as a 'how to' guide for burgeoning artists. However it was the success and simultaneous controversy of The Exorcist that consequently garnered interest toward its production from a distinctively larger audience. After viewing the film Mark Kermode recalls...
"frustrated by the inability of anyone... to tell me what I needed to know in the kind of depth and detail that I needed to know it... I turned to a new breed of horror and fantasy magazines" (1997, p. 128)
These magazines, or fanzines, were publications such as Fangoria, Cinefantastique and Cinefex (to name a few). They were a crucial development for the HFX industry, as not only did they cater toward fan interest but also provided tips and tricks on creating the latest effect. The fanzines emphasised passion, specialism and professionalism, all at a time in which cheap HFX materials were becoming increasingly accessible. Therefore, a boom occurred in the HFX industry, resulting in an era of prolific experimentation. This most noticeably tied in with fantastic distortions of the human body - fulfilling the lurid desire to witness transfiguration and conceiving the official birth of the body horror sub genre.
Arguably indicated by the success of Alien (1979), body horror came to popular and critical acclaim throughout the 1980s. Horror films continuously employed experimental HFX to depict bodily degradation from numerous trauma and biological phenomena. The most notable films of this era include Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986) in addition to many other David Cronenberg productions, Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), Society (1989) and John Carpenter's The Thing (1982).
The work demonstrated throughout these body horror films reigned in an era of fame and respectability for HFX. Innovative techniques, experimental attitudes and technological developments such as sophisticated animatronics, consequently granted horror films with an overall re-newed focus - "too blunt to bother with psychology - traditionally the voice of articulation behind horror - [the] prime importance [became] the textual effect" (Brophy, 1986, p. 5). In other words, horror films became more concerned with showing rather than telling.
So, between the late 1800s and 1980s, the HFX industry had developed in conjunction with the artists' need to display the monstrous threat in a post-Vietnam era, boasting cheap and easily accessible materials. The release of fanzines confirmed HFX as a legitimate practice, emphasising the status and importance of it within the American horror film industry. All of this enabled vast manipulation of the human body and accordingly set a generic trend throughout the 1980s, the birth of body horror and a primary concern over HFX. Whether disintegration, fragmentation of assimilation, the effect used to construct the monstrous body had become the focal spectacle and point of interest.
To explore this further, part two of this feature will focus on John Carpenter's The Thing. I will write a few Wise Words... on how Rob Bottin's HFX within this film constructs the monstrous body both practically and symbolically, also determining whether such a construction consequently extends beyond the image itself. Until then...
Stay tuned!
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