An American Werewolf in London

I have recently been told that American Werewolf in London is actually the sequel to American Werewolf, and the same person who told me this said I would have had better expectations going into the movie if I had seen the first one.

Overall, I felt the film was silly. It was never suspenseful or scary, it was just like a big joke. I liked it for this reason. If I had been watching it expecting to be scared or think the monster was cool, I think I would have been disappointed. It was a very basic werewolf, though I thought the transformation was well done/filmed, especially for not using CGI. The mask really made the werewolf in the movie above all things, especially because they use it for a lot of the violent scenes. Its striking eyes really stick with you.

I absolutely love his undead friend Jack. I honestly wish he was in the story more, or that Alex might have been able to spot him or smell his aroma, or maybe even see something that he might have moved. I liked his relationship with David better than Alex and David’s relationship, and it’s because I bought into their friendship at the beginning better than the forced love affair between Alex and David throughout the movie. If this had been played on more than Alex and David’s relationship, I think I might have felt a little more sympathy for David. Instead, I was just kind of rooting for him to die because Jack’s fate was more on the line. We know David is going to turn into a werewolf, we know how he can be killed, we know that maybe someone who loves him can stop him. Part of me was also more interested in knowing if Jack was a hallucination or an actual ghost/ghoul. My guess would be that he would have to be a ghost if he was real because there would be some sort of evidence of him and the other victims. One of my favorite parts is the movie theater, particularly the very casual “tea talk” the ghosts have about how David should kill himself.

My criticisms come to the movie from the expectations I had of seeing something that was supposed to be at least somewhat suspenseful or scary. I really think it missed it’s mark here. I felt the story was too predictable and upfront, giving away every hint with a big neon glowing sign. I don’t know if this would be because the acting or the directing felt stiff, or if the screenplay was just meh, but I could not get over already knowing what was going to happen next. I think the only part of the movie that surprised me was that when they killed him at the end, they did not show someone else limping off with some werewolf-caused wound to continue the cycle.

I think this story with the same cast should have been slowed down to a short tv series to show the progression of time. It was an aspect of the film that I struggled to keep track of.

I can’t say I’d sit down to watch it again, but it was at least fun to sit through once.

Alien and Jonesy

I love the "Alien" franchise, so I've seen this movie prior to reviewing it for the course. I fell in love with the monster design, later named a Xenomorph, and whenever I'm asked who wins, Alien or Predator, it is always Alien. Alien is best.

Since I’ve seen, and used to own, “Alien,” when I went to rent it, I decided to watch the director’s cut since I have not seen it before. Either version is excellently filmed, and while I’m not a film major or expert, I can tell the angles and shots are just right for the tension of the scene. I think this really is one of the better horror movies out there. It has the suspense, the fear of the unknown, body horror, and only a couple jump scares. It uses limited vision to force the audience to look where they don’t want to, and the great suspense comes when expectations of seeing the alien aren’t met. It creates distrust in the camera and unpredictability, which is the best way to put the audience in the ship with the crew. Even better, the first death after Kane pops out his baby, is Brett, and we don’t see any evidence of where Brett went or if he is dead. As the story progresses the deaths are 1 up’d. Dallas looks to be killed in the vents but it goes unseen, then we get to see Ash get destroyed, marking the first brutality other than the baby alien exploding through Kane’s chest. After that it’s both Parker and Lambert getting parts popped and cut on screen. All the while, Jonesy has been the one closest to the alien the entire movie.

I think the thing that I love most about the Xenomorph is the design. It just feels like it would be a superior being with an exterior exoskeleton, motion activated baby making face huggers also armed with a plated exoskeleton, the ability to adapt DNA, acidic blood (which I’ve been informed is the reason why their teeth are so nice and bright), and a mouth in their mouth. What else could a monster ask for? How about a long bony scorpion tail and spikes! I really just love everything about them. But now I’m cheating and talking about other aspects of the franchise.

The way the alien is introduced is another element of the film I enjoy. We see what happens before any of it goes down with the giant and it’s exploded rib cage. I cant remember my reaction or what I thought the first time I saw this movie, but I would be curious to see if people who knew nothing about “Alien” and how they’re created/how they work, would be able to guess how it was all going to go down. I think that it is such a famous work, even those who’ve not seen the movie already know something about the face huggers, or have at least seen the costumes that come out every Halloween. I also like how it starts off as something innocent inside an egg and turned into a creature that drops its sex organs down your throat and suffocates you while doing so. So in the first twenty minutes or so of the movie, the viewer thinks the monster is the little hand with a tail. But surprise! It just made a little Disney Princess inside of Kane, and the rest of the movie ensues.  

World War ZzZz and Night of the Living Dead

I'll start with the negative to end with the positive. I strongly dislike reading stories that lack a central character, and that is exactly what Max Brooks' has done in World War Z. I had extreme disinterest in it, and it felt like reading a dry textbook about something I didn't care about.

I began reading the book several weeks ago and tried to do chunks of it to push through. I found myself looking for excuses to not read or sitting down to read and falling asleep after one chapter. I tried playing quick games in between readings to give myself a brain break but the whole thing just drug on forever. While I could hold my attention through a single chapter/character, I couldn't link them all together.

That is, unfortunately, my overall opinion of the book. I had high expectations because my friends loved it and I’d heard that it was excellent, but in the end, it just isn’t something I’m interested in reading in a novel format.

What I did like about this book was the idea behind the approach. It was done better, I think, than King’s Cycle of the Werewolf, which I felt was similar in execution. I think Cycle’s transition from segments of a story to a main character just made the first half of the novella weak in comparison to the last half. World War Z is significantly longer and wider in scale. I like how it is showing interviews from all over the world to make the epidemic feel that much bigger. It reminds me of the extra content that comes with the Game of Thrones dvds with all of the major figures retelling the execution of the Mad King and the war. It shows how everyone experienced the same event in a different way.

Brooks also did an great job of changing the voice to fit the interviewee. I don’t think that all of them were completely distinct from one another, but there were several that stood out. When I look at the chapters as individual short stories, there are two that really stuck with me. “Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies Federation” and “Topeka, Kansas, USA.”

Bridgetown is the hired mercenary protecting the rich. What I liked most about this was I felt this was the mostly likely scenario to happen. I loved the character’s voice and the mannerisms expressed in what he says. I like how honest he is about what happened and how he reacted. His human connection shows through and he isn’t just a badass willing to kill frightened people even though he’s being commanded to. Just, overall, I like this guy best.

Topeka is the girl that is in an asylum. I like this one for the character’s mental state, what happens in her tale, and how she tells it. I think this chapter can hold its own more than any of the others. They’re all pretty well rounded, but this one just holds every element that a story needs. It creates the scenario, puts little bits that call back by the end with her mother nearly killing her. I just felt like I was in this character’s head more than any of the others I’d read. I honestly felt like my chubby grandma Bobbie was hugging me with her big soft wing arms. But she died a few years ago so then she’d probably be a zombie if she was really hugging me.

So here I work my second half of the post with something positive. I’ve never seen “Night of the Living Dead” and it was incredibly fun to watch. I watched the black and white version (in HD!) because I figured the original would look better than the colorized. At this point in the world, I don’t think this could be scary for anyone with how desensitized we are. It certainly wasn’t for me, but I thought it was amazingly funny and wonderfully put together considering its age. Even though I’ve not seen this until now, I was aware of the fame of the beginning without even knowing where it came from. “They’re coming to get you, Barbara!” I knew when it was said that I’d heard it before. I think I even said it with Johnny the first time he said it.

I had a feeling that this movie was going to be one of those “firsts” movies. When I was discussing it with my coworker, who was a film major, he confirmed it by telling me how Duane Jones as Ben was the first, or one of the first(?), movies to ever cast someone that wasn’t white as the hero. I’m also thinking Romero is the foundation of zombies.

I loved Ben and I was rooting for him throughout the film, so when he died, although I kinda saw it coming, I was pretty disappointed. His character was steadfast, resourceful, and headstrong, and inevitably lead to all of their deaths (at least I think he did.) Obviously he shot Cooper which led to his death, but he also put his torch down beside the truck which I immediately yelled at him for in my bedroom movie theater. I also thought Tom was stupid for flailing the hose with gas everywhere then thinking it was a good idea to aim it at the truck.

I feel the characters that really made the story were Ben and Cooper. The women felt overly flat, which was disappointing, and Tom was too quick to change his mind on everything making him feel cheap. Ben and Cooper are nearly the same with their critical difference being their choice of place to camp out. This obviously creates the majority of the tension in the film aside from the encroaching horde of “living dead.” I felt like I could get on board with both Ben and Cooper, so I think Tom is who I feel most closely related to. I suppose, all in all, each character was pretty flat, but they all served a purpose in creating constant tension leading to the death of everyone. I guess if they were all willing to change, or learn from their mistakes, they would have survived.

The Yattering n' Jack

If all of Barker's writing is like The Yattering and Rawhead I think he might be one of my new favorite writers. I don't know exactly how to pinpoint what it is that I like best about his writing from what I have read so far, but my best guess is it is because the story is always moving forward. I think The Yattering and Jack is an excellent example of the 7-point story arch pattern, except if the Yattering is presented as the protagonist, he never actually finds a way to defeat Jack. There are also more than just three attempts to break Jack, but I would say the main three points can be lumped into his wife’s suicide plus all of the little annoyances in the beginning, the three cat deaths, and then the attack on the daughters at Christmas leading inevitably to the Yattering becoming a servant of Jack. When breaking it down, it becomes a little clearer on how the Yattering was succeeding at breaking Jack, but because of Jack’s awareness of the Yattering, he can defeat his own emotional reactions. It keeps the suspense going because they are both winning and losing the battles at the same time. All the crazy things going on in the beginning have some sort of detrimental outcome which, in reality, is a win for the Yattering. However, Jack’s main goal being to survive and not be taken by the Yattering means every time he doesn’t fall into corruption he has won. I think this back and forth within the scene, and the sympathy the reader can feel for the Yattering, keep the story moving forward at all times.

Like Rawhead, I had a copy of the graphic novel, so the way the story and art was presented felt like a U shaped roller-coaster track where the cars have seats facing forward and backward, and it goes in favor of one then back to the other, over and over up until the end. The denouement even holds this with the Yattering reminding Jack that he’ll be rejected by Heaven for having dealings with him.

I can’t speak for the short story example of the story, but the graphic novel version does an excellent job at presenting two potential villains to the story right from the beginning. Jack is presented in a hanging photo with a wicked looking grin, and the Yattering is also grinning in the same manner. So really, the only thing making the Yattering the antagonist or the monster is the fact that he is what he is. As the story progresses, Jack is shown as just a kind, easy-going, older man with family values. Toward the end, in the Yattering’s final attempt, Jack’s expressions change to be similar to what they were presented as in the hanging photo at the beginning. I know, before having read any of it, I thought the artist was making out Jack to be a creeper of some sort, just by the way his face was presented in comparison to all the other pictures.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story and I am glad to have read it, as well as viewed it, in its graphic novel format. I’m looking forward to reading more work by Barker.