Film Review: PAURA: LUCIO FULCI REMEMBERED VOLUME 1 (2008)

Directed by Mike Baronas Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered Volume 1 (2008) is an amazing collection of interviews from cast and crew that have worked with the director Lucio Fulci.  The interviews encompass a wide variety of people whom both had a great working relationship with the eccentric director as well as those who found it difficult.  If you’re a fan of Fulci’s films then you’ll learn a lot from watching this film.

For those of you not in the know, Fulci is one of the most influential Italian horror film directors in the same vein as Mario Bava, Dario Argento, Ruggero Deodato, Joe D’Amato, Jesus Franco, and Umberto Lenzi, to name but a few.  Horror fans will easily recognize some of Fulci’s most famous films like Zombie (1979), The Beyond (1981), House By the Cemetery (1981), City of the Living Dead (1980), and Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972), to name a few.  His films have helped redefine the zombie genre in the same way that George A. Romero’s films have.  His films may not be for everyone as they are sometimes had excessive gore and sometimes too cryptic but they were never boring and always entertaining.  He graced every genre from Edgar Allan Poe adaption The Black Cat (1981), the crime-action film Contraband (1980), literary classic - White Fang (1973), comedy – The Eroticist (1972), and western – The Four of the Apocalypse (1975), just to name a few. 

In this film, people from all these films and more are given the opportunity to express their thoughts about Fulci.  Fulci died in 1996 so this is a remarkable way in which people have been able to honor the late director and his legacy.  The film is not really designed to be enjoyed by the casual viewer or someone not associated with Fulci’s films; it will be better appreciated by fans of Fulci who have seen his films (or at least know of them).

Book Review: GHOULS, GIMMICKS, AND GOLD: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953-1968 by Kevin Heffernan

Horror is one of the most vital genres in film as it has influenced and changed the way audiences look at themselves, culture, and the history of film itself.  In Kevin Hefferman’s book Ghouls, Gimmicks, and Gold: Horror Films and the American Movie Business, 1953-1968, Hefferman examines the business of horror from ’53 (the beginning of the 3-D cycle of films) to ’68 (the release of George A. Romero’s nihilistic Night of the Living Dead and the birth of adult horror). 

Hefferman breaks up his book in chapters specific to an era of film that not only changed the business of the genre but also made a cultural impact on audiences.  In the opening chapter “Horror in Three Dimensions” he delves into how the success of House of Wax and Creature from the Black Lagoon (among others) altered the business during the first 3-D boom.  In the chapter “The Color of Blood” the success of Hammer Films is examined which added luscious color and sex to the gothic horror film adding new life to a genre that was slowly in a downward spiral.  Hefferman also goes into AIP’s Poe adaptations with Vincent Price (“A Sissified Bela Lugosi”), the impact of grind house and art films (“Grind House or Art House?”), the impact of television on the industry and business (“Television Syndication and the Birth of the ‘Orphans’”), and several others culminating with the release of Night of the Living Dead and how it changed the industry (“Family Monsters and the Urban Matinees”).

Heffernan’s book is not one that recycles reviews and critics of any of the films discussed but rather goes into detail on how these films impacted the industry and signaled a shift and change in the way not only audiences but filmmakers saw the industry and genre.  The ‘50s and ‘60s saw such a diverse array of films being released that the reasons for the many shifts has always fascinated and confounded the industry and Heffernan does a great job of breaking it down here (at least in terms of the American movie business). 

The people that will get the most from this book are those who want to know why and how the horror film endured through so many changes in the ‘50s and ‘60s but even the casual horror fan will enjoy Hefferman’s non-academic style which makes everything more accessible to the casual reader (it could have been real easy for a book such as this to become too academic).

Novel Review: RESIDENT EVIL: GENESIS by Keith R.A. DeCandido

I don’t really care for reading novel adaptations of screenplays and films because 9 times out of 10 they will be a carbon copy of the original film with very little extra thrown in.  It is my opinion that these types of books are meant for those who have not seen the film first (for all others who have seen the film then reading the book is all but useless).  Very few novelizations of films/screenplays have been anything other than a carbon copy of the film but this is not entirely true of Keith R.A. DeCandido’s adaptation of the first Resident Evil film.  His novel Resident Evil: Genesis takes a lot of detours from the film.   

The novelization does indeed follow the film (so if you’ve seen the film you already know what’s going to happen and I don’t have to relay those events down here) but it is the first third of the novel that differs tremendously from the film.  DeCandido takes all the minor characters introduced at the beginning of the film (who all die in the original outbreak before Alice and company descend back into the Hive) and gives them an entire chapter with which to give the reader insight on how they got into The Hive and why.  This goes a long way in not only introducing us to these “minor” characters but more importantly they give us an insight on the inner workings of Umbrella Corporation and how it goes about recruiting its employees.  These early chapters also explain how Alice got mixed up in the terrorists trying to bring the Umbrella Corp. down.  In these early chapters are a lot of character bits so that when the zombie mayhem does happen you don’t feel as those you are just waiting for nameless people to die (which is how the film sometimes comes off).

The book does go into the predictable territory expected of these types of books once events jump into and parallel those of the film but there are several times where DeCandido takes the time to give the reader background on the relationships between the Umbrella soldiers (most notably Rain) and these moments are a welcomed diversion from the zombie mayhem.

The book is not without its flaws which is mostly the fact that it has to retread the events in the film but DeCandido adds enough of his own spark to make the book worthwhile for the fans of the franchise.  Another added bonus is that DeCandido also writes the novelization to the sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse so both books meld into one experience.