The Rise and Fall of the Horror Film

David Soren

Baltimore, MD: Midnight Marquee Press, 1977; Pages: 103

This short book by a professor of Classics and Classical Archaeology is an attempt to analyze the horror film genre in an art historical light. That is, to trace the influences of various art movements (Symbolism, German Expressionism, Dadaism, and Surrealism, among others) on the development of the horror film. With such an approach, there's little surprise when Soren relegates the vast majority of horror films to the dunghill of art.

If one buys for the moment this approach as a valid way to look at horror films in general, Soren's book is a little gem. It starts by tracing the fantasies of Melies to the magic of Houdin's Theatre des Soirees-Fantastiques in Paris. In a fascinating narrative the author tells of how Melies' efforts to bring magic to screen resulted in him discovering many classical techniques of cinema (e.g. stop-motion photography). Soren then shifts from the wonderful decadence of the fantastique to the German expressionism with an extensive discussion of ``The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,'' which was perhaps one of the most disturbing films of the time (like any Expressionist distortion of reality). Soren emphasizes the development of stimmung (atmosphere) as an essential element of these films. Decors were developed with painstaking attention to art, with dream sequences and nightmares taking place amid grotesque physical expressions of inner turmoil. Soren also places ``Metropolis'' in the context of Germany's darkest period (early 1920s) and Lang's development as an artist (very interesting). Murnau's work is also briefly touched upon (Faust). Soren then goes through early American horror movies (e.g. The Mummy), on to Cocteau's dreams, and to Carl Theodor Dreyer's work. He then briefly goes over the weaker 40s, the nuclear 50s, and the demise of the horror film in the 1960s and 1970s.

The author's view is summarized on p.83: ``the fantasy films of today are composed primarily of three ingredients: sex, sadism, and gratuitous violence... the horror films of today perfectly mirror the fears of contemporary society.'' This, of course, is nothing but a mere assertion at best. In one fell swoop, Soren miscategorizes horror films (as fantasy), identifies arbitrary elements (sex, sadism, and gratuitous violence), and then proceeds to disparage them as supposedly reflecting society's unhealthy preoccupation with sex and violence.

I do not know that contemporary society is any different from any society that has existed before. Certainly, violence has been an integral part of people's daily lives for most of history. It is only recently (last 50 years?) that most people in the civilized parts of the world can actually worry other things. Violence has always been fascinating, starting with the Roman gladiators, going through the bloody Shakespeare plays (can anyone say ``Titus''?) and to today's ``gratuitous violence'' a-la Tarantino. But it is all a part of an ancient tradition, and the melodrama of the early cinema cannot negate it, despite its obvious escapist intentions. Thus, it appears that the early cinema that Soren admires so much is really an attempt to circumscribe, ignore, or wish out of existence some of the most natural human interests.

Ditto for sex.

In the end, Soren is short-changing horror films, although in a different way than other truly awful books on the subject, like Carol J. Clover's ``Men, Women, and Chain Saws.'' If one is looking for a nostalgic view of the grand old days of film, Soren's book is a good start. It also quite penetrating in his treatment of cinema as art. It's just that most of the films he discusses under the horror rubric really are fantasies.

February 18, 2001. BLS

@BOOK{soren-77:horror,
    TITLE     = {The Rise and Fall of the Horror Film},
    AUTHOR    = {David Soren},
    YEAR      = {1977},
    PUBLISHER = {Midnight Marquee Press},
    ADDRESS   = {Baltimore MD},
    ISBN      = {1-887664-00-9},
    NOTE      = {Pp. 103}
}