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Cult Horror Films: From Attack of the 50 Foot Woman to Zombies of Mora Tau
This guide to "B" films includes "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman", "The Killer Shrews" and "Invasion of the Blood Farmers", which have developed followings not because of their quality but because they are very strange.
227 pages, Paperback
First published December 2, 1993
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April 8, 2021
Citadel produced a huge range of similarly formatted film books. Some were devoted to the filmographies of actors or directors, some covering the significant films of each decade and some were overviews of film genres ranging from horror or romance films to gay, Jewish or black films. Their volume on cult horror films is hardly a definitive guide to the genre - an eccentric selection of eighty three films are discussed by author Welch Everman. It’s a very enjoyable sampler which may introduce even the most hardcore fan to at least one film which has escaped their notice, and will be an appetiser for those less familiar with the genre. As is typical with Citadel books, it is illustrated with a well-chosen selection of stills in black & white.
Do all of these films actually have cult followings? It seems to be an article of faith that all horror films do. I can personally attest that some of them can be objects of obsessive fascination - Blacula, Blood Feast, The Brood, Freaks, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Vampire Lovers… But I find it hard to imagine that anyone loves The Bride, Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks or Land of the Minotaur with the same kind of passion. Yet this is the mystery of fandom. I wasn’t overly impressed with the two Paul Naschy films included in the book, but I know he has his obsessive fans, and the two covered are almost certainly his most popular.
What gives this book its particular flavour is Welch’s interest in analysing the political subtext of the movies. Don’t worry this isn’t one of those tiresome film studies books which gets bogged down in this stuff. Most of his write-up on each film is an engagingly written account of its plot. Only in his closing summary will he give us a pithy interpretation of what its really saying.
In his introduction he says that “…virtually all horror films are basically conservative.” This makes sense, because fear is a reaction to change of some kind. But he also acknowledges that they can incorporate anti-conservative themes, such as a distrust of authority figures.
Welch can get a little silly sometimes. For instance, he says : “The very existence of a film such as The Toolbox Murders shows how deeply our culture fears and hates women, particularly women who are not ‘owned’ by men and who, therefore, do not ‘know their place’.” Now some kind of culture wide survey might come to that conclusion, but it seems more than a little ridiculous to use one relatively obscure exploitation movie as conclusive proof of such a grim assessment of our culture as a whole. It’s interesting how nobody ever looks at a movie like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was extremely popular, and says : “This movie shows just how deeply our culture cares about the quality of life of elderly people.”
It is often pointed out that there is a puritanism to slasher movies in that the sexually active characters get killed off and the “pure” woman is the one who survives. But the killer is the villain, so is it not just as reasonable to say that the message of the picture is that the puritanical anti-sex side to our culture or our psyche is sick, evil and sadistic and needs to be defeated before sex can be healthily enjoyed?
I think the mystery that horror stories tend to be thematically conservative but are often created by people of more politically liberal tendencies is because the imagination seeks contraries. Artists ask the terrible “what ifs?” that lie beneath the “certainties” on which they would live their lives. And we have no choice about what our fears are. One thing which is great about horror stories - either written or filmed - is that they can make such anxieties explicit, and so explore the irrational underpinnings of our behaviour. The colonialist will claim to be dedicated to bringing reason and civilisation to the indigenous population, but the colonialist horror writer will let the cat out of the bag that beneath that veneer of rationality lies a fear of voodoo.
Political belief systems are something in which we place our faith and horror stories are about the breakdown of faith in the face of something which inspires fear. As long as the danger is real within the context of the story, it dictates what will be a desirable outcome. Patriarchal political structures and the imagined fiendish feminine may both have their origin in the same anxiety within the masculine psyche, but a story which is an expression of the latter doesn’t allow for a political choice between whether the monster who is causing death and/or suffering to the innocent should be supported or opposed. You can’t just say : “Let the lesbian vampire kill the children and drink their blood. We mustn’t be heterosexist.”
A great deal of the fun of reading movie review books is disagreeing with the author, whether over the quality of the movies or what they may say about us for liking watching them. The author of this book claims to love all of these movies, even the one’s he hates. Obsessive genre fans will know what he means. Good or bad? Offensive or inoffensive? Irrelevant questions. All that matters is interesting or boring.
Do all of these films actually have cult followings? It seems to be an article of faith that all horror films do. I can personally attest that some of them can be objects of obsessive fascination - Blacula, Blood Feast, The Brood, Freaks, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Vampire Lovers… But I find it hard to imagine that anyone loves The Bride, Frankenstein’s Castle of Freaks or Land of the Minotaur with the same kind of passion. Yet this is the mystery of fandom. I wasn’t overly impressed with the two Paul Naschy films included in the book, but I know he has his obsessive fans, and the two covered are almost certainly his most popular.
What gives this book its particular flavour is Welch’s interest in analysing the political subtext of the movies. Don’t worry this isn’t one of those tiresome film studies books which gets bogged down in this stuff. Most of his write-up on each film is an engagingly written account of its plot. Only in his closing summary will he give us a pithy interpretation of what its really saying.
In his introduction he says that “…virtually all horror films are basically conservative.” This makes sense, because fear is a reaction to change of some kind. But he also acknowledges that they can incorporate anti-conservative themes, such as a distrust of authority figures.
Welch can get a little silly sometimes. For instance, he says : “The very existence of a film such as The Toolbox Murders shows how deeply our culture fears and hates women, particularly women who are not ‘owned’ by men and who, therefore, do not ‘know their place’.” Now some kind of culture wide survey might come to that conclusion, but it seems more than a little ridiculous to use one relatively obscure exploitation movie as conclusive proof of such a grim assessment of our culture as a whole. It’s interesting how nobody ever looks at a movie like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which was extremely popular, and says : “This movie shows just how deeply our culture cares about the quality of life of elderly people.”
It is often pointed out that there is a puritanism to slasher movies in that the sexually active characters get killed off and the “pure” woman is the one who survives. But the killer is the villain, so is it not just as reasonable to say that the message of the picture is that the puritanical anti-sex side to our culture or our psyche is sick, evil and sadistic and needs to be defeated before sex can be healthily enjoyed?
I think the mystery that horror stories tend to be thematically conservative but are often created by people of more politically liberal tendencies is because the imagination seeks contraries. Artists ask the terrible “what ifs?” that lie beneath the “certainties” on which they would live their lives. And we have no choice about what our fears are. One thing which is great about horror stories - either written or filmed - is that they can make such anxieties explicit, and so explore the irrational underpinnings of our behaviour. The colonialist will claim to be dedicated to bringing reason and civilisation to the indigenous population, but the colonialist horror writer will let the cat out of the bag that beneath that veneer of rationality lies a fear of voodoo.
Political belief systems are something in which we place our faith and horror stories are about the breakdown of faith in the face of something which inspires fear. As long as the danger is real within the context of the story, it dictates what will be a desirable outcome. Patriarchal political structures and the imagined fiendish feminine may both have their origin in the same anxiety within the masculine psyche, but a story which is an expression of the latter doesn’t allow for a political choice between whether the monster who is causing death and/or suffering to the innocent should be supported or opposed. You can’t just say : “Let the lesbian vampire kill the children and drink their blood. We mustn’t be heterosexist.”
A great deal of the fun of reading movie review books is disagreeing with the author, whether over the quality of the movies or what they may say about us for liking watching them. The author of this book claims to love all of these movies, even the one’s he hates. Obsessive genre fans will know what he means. Good or bad? Offensive or inoffensive? Irrelevant questions. All that matters is interesting or boring.
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July 30, 2008Coolest. Book. Ever.
May 21, 2023
The author tries to give a definition of a cult horror film. Then we movie into the early and mid 70s and see all kind of black and white photos of more or less known or obscure horror movies. You'll learn about the content, read about the stars but overall it's a bit dated. There are many movies featured most of them you might never have heard of (Alice Sweet Alice, Blacula, Attack of the 50 ft Woman, Audrey Rose, Gorgo, The Manitou, Squirm, Them and many more). An interesting read but nothing what kicks you out of your shoes. If you like 70s horror definitely worth a look. Recommended!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews