Short Night of Glass Dolls

Edgar Allan Poe’s story The Premature Burial begins “There are certain themes of which the interest is all-absorbing but which are too entirely horrible for the purpose of legitimate fiction.   These the mere romanticist must eschew, if he do not wish to offend, or to disgust.”

The Italian giallo genre of thriller/horror films, (of which Aldo Lado’s film Short Night of Glass Dolls is an example) dealt with those horrible themes – with murder and death and mystery with stylish camerawork and unusual musical soundtracks.  Often giallo films include a lengthy murder sequence with operatic style.  It’s not a genre that is hugely popular in America, but it does have its devotees. Though Short Night of Glass Dolls (La Corta notte delle bambole di vetro) 1971 is listed as a giallo it is unusual in its lack of some of those elements that define the genre.  It doesn’t have the copious bloodletting or the erotic elements common to giallo, but it is still a strong mystery of a movie.

Tapheophobia (from the Greek taphos – “grave”) is the fear of being buried alive.

The film begins with the discovery of the body of an American journalist, Gregory Moore, lying – apparently dead – in a park in Prague.  The doctors can find no pulse, there appears to be no respiration, but his body temperature remains steady and there is no postmortem rigidity. 

Moore is, somehow, still alive and thinking, though unable to move or to communicate with those around him.  He can do nothing to convince them that he is still alive.  All he can do is remember.  “…it’s the only way I can tell I’m alive.”

And so in stuttering series of flashbacks, he recalls the events that led up to his death – his apparent death.  He remembers his girlfriend (played by Barbara Bach – Bond girl and wife of Ringo Starr) and her mysterious disappearance.  He remembers his investigation and the clues that led him to his mysterious end.

And the more that he remembers the stranger the story become causing the viewer to wonder if what he remembers is real, or if he’s gone mad because of his condition.  And the more he remembers the more we wonder if he will be able to wake up from this deathly nightmare – from this deathly paralysis.  The tension mounts inexorably as the doctors prepare his body for an autopsy – a procedure which will leave him as dead as he appears to be.

The director’s use of butterflies as a metaphor for youth and vitality is well played throughout the film - and it should be noted that the original title for the film was "Short Night of the Butterflies" but this had to be abandoned at the last minute (even though it makes more sense than Short Night of the Glass Dolls…)

 This is why it is said:

   “Wake up, sleeper,

   rise from the dead,

   and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5: 14

The film’s score was composed by Ennio Morricone.  It’s interesting but not nearly as inspired as his music for The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

  

Hunting in the Burned Out Heart of Modern Society

It's October, time for monster movies.  This is number three for the month.

In arrogance man knows nothing of what exists. There exists on this earth such as we dare not imagine; life as certain as our death, life that will prey on us as surely as we prey on this earth.

A big part of why I picked this movie was because of Tom Waits' role in it.  But, sadly, Tom’s scene was cut from the DVD (and Netflix) version of the film.  Sigh…

There was still plenty in the film to enjoy.  Like Edward James Olmos (recent star of Battlestar Galactica ) – actually too much of Olmos, maybe – Gregory Hines and, hey look, it’s Reginald VelJohnson not playing a cop for once – all  in a movie based on a novel by that UFO freak, Whitley Strieber.

It is, on its surface, a werewolf movie.  But again, it is not a werewolf movie.  There’s much more going on. As police detective Dewey Wilson investigates a set of particularly violent murders, he slowly realizes that the victims were killed by some kind of animal.  He suspects wolves, but his investigation leads him to Native American beliefs in the Wolfen… not wolves. 

The film is located within the decaying heart of New York City.  Urban decay is both the setting and the theme of the story.  The wolfen live in a burned out church – a symbol of the spiritual center of a community that is abandoned and empty, now invaded by dark and threatening forces.  No one cares about the hundreds of people who go missing every year, not when they’re winos and drug addicts living homeless in the city’s shadows. But when the dead are prominent and powerful socialites, that’s when the police are called.

The movie is about power and wealth and poverty and struggle. 

Wolfen is notable for its use of an in-camera effect to suggest the POV of the creatures – similar to that later used in the Predator movies. There are some breathtaking scenes filmed atop the Brooklyn Bridge.  But the scenes filmed in the Brox make the movie. Instead of werewolves on a foggy English moor, the wolfen live amongst the heaps of rubble. They roam the squalid and devastated areas.  They hunt in the burned out heart of modern society.

Tom Waits may have been cut from the movie, but here's the song he would have been singing ...

Decrepit House

Drawn in Photoshop with a wacom tablet.

Mark of the Devil

The 1970 German film Mark of the Devil  (Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält)  is not an especially great film.  There’s nothing in the writing, acting, directing, or editing to make this one stand out as a great film – or even a good film. The editing was jumpy, the acting stiff and the sound was irritating, but it wasn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen.

Perhaps most damning is the fact that this film is more remembered for its outlandish promotional material than for the film itself.  Advertisements for the film declared it to be "Positively the most horrifying film ever made" and "Rated V for Violence", and barf bags were given out at theaters for those movie-goers with nervous stomachs. 

You can hear a radio spot for the film here.

But despite the lack of outstanding qualities, the movie still seemed relevant and timely.

Set in Austria during the early 18th century, the movie follows a Witchfinder (Herbert Lom) and the young man he trains (Udo Kier), both traveling the courtyside terrorizing people suspected of practicing witchcraft and devil worship.  Those who are accused of worshiping the devil or of being witches are tortured until they confess to their crimes.

Whether they were guilty or not was immaterial.

I accuse you of having trampled on the cross, of having ridden to the Sabbath, of throwing the Holy Cross of our Savior into manure so that the skies grew dark, and the rain fell upon the earth! 

But replace witchcraft with terrorism and witchfinders with CIA or FBI agents and this film is still pertinent. We like to think that we are more civilized, less barbaric, less cruel, less bloodthirsty than those who hunted down suspected witches and burned them at the stake during the dark and unenlightened medieval years.

But are we?  If American citizens can be assassinated without due-process, without indictment, and without trial by jury…

 If we have leaders who believe torture to be a morally acceptable practice…

Is there a moral difference between the rack and thumbscrews and water-boarding?  

Ugh! Ugh! Here I Smell the Blood of a Christian Man!

To begin my month of monster movies I’m starting (early) with the 2010 film Troll Hunter (Trolljegeren) from Norway.

This movie comes as a bit of a surprise.  We’ve seen vampires to death. And Zombies. And Werewolves.  We’ve seen countless variations on Frankenstein’s monster.  We’ve watched giant lizards destroy Tokyo over and over and over again.

But Trolls?   Trolls?  When have we ever seen a monster movie about trolls?

This is a sly little film, clever and funny.  And probably more than I recognize.   I recognized some of the references, nods to Norwegian culture such as the music of Edward Grieg – In the Hall of the Mountain King- and the painter Theodor Kittelsen. I recognized references to some Norwegian fairy tales, including the Three Billy Goats Gruff.  But I’m sure that there’s just as much that I missed, not being Norwegian.

But the movie works well even if you aren’t familiar with these things.  My kids watched it with me and they loved it. 

The film is ostensibly the found footage of a team of college filmmakers who set out to make a documentary about bear poachers, and discover something more mysterious.  Hans, the alleged poacher, in reality is a government employee of the TSS (Troll Security Service).  There is danger and fear in his work as he tracks and kills rogue trolls who have escaped from their designated lands.

Some reviewers of Trollhunter have complained that the movie is too long (one saying by as much as 20 % too long) with long driving scenes filmed through the windows of cars and land rovers – but the scenery is beautiful. Norway’s rugged landscapes and overcast and foggy skies set a solemn backdrop for the dry humor of the film. 

The trolls are mostly heard and not seen.  Their bellows and howls off camera are effectively disturbing. And when the monsters are seen they are wonderful. The movie was made with a comparatively low budget, but you wouldn’t know that from the quality of the special effects. Like the trolls of myth and legend they are large and ugly and foul smelling.  They are as dumb as the stone they eat.  They come out of their caves only at night, as their bodies are unable to process the vitamin D in sunlight.  It builds up in their bodies and causes them to calcify (turn to stone) or to explode.

And they hate Christians.

They are physically incensed by the smell of Christian sweat and blood.  At one point the troll hunter lures a troll out by playing a schmaltzy Norwegian version of What a Friend we Have in Jesus” through a loudspeaker.

"Ugh! Ugh! Here I smell the blood of a Christian man!" - Excerpt from ‘Soria Moria Castle’ -a Norwegian fairy tale

It seems that Troll hatred for Christians is ancient and deeply rooted but only vaguely understood.  Some suggest that troll hatred for Christians stems from that fact that before Christianity came to the fjords of Scandinavia the trolls were themselves worshiped by the Nordic pagans. As the people turned their devotion to Christ and away from the trolls, the beasts were forced to retreat to the rugged and lonely mountains where they nursed their resentment.

Whatever the reason for their aversion to Christians, they appear in the film, to be unfazed by Atheists and Muslims.  Go figure.

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing.

2 Corinthians 2:15

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