Denouement Renouement

Tag: bela lugosi

  • Hooptober 13: Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957)

    Film #3 — 2/2 Bela Lugosi Films; 3/9 Decades

    By C. Ramsay

    “God help us in the future.”

    Widely, though unfairly, considered to be the worst movie ever made, Ed Wood’s indie sci-fi horror project was pieced together in full sincerity around a multitude of obstacles, resulting in an unintentionally campy feature-length work which has since gained the reputation of being one of the ultimate cult classic titles. Opening with a talking head of The Amazing Criswell—a popular but wildly inaccurate American psychic active in the mid-20th century—who also provides ongoing melodramatic narration throughout the film, Plan 9 indicates its atmosphere from the moment it begins, regardless of this atmosphere being inadvertent.

    Financed with the help of a Baptist organization under the conditions that the cast and crew be baptized if not already, that the title be changed from Grave Robbers from Outer Space, and that the organization maintain some degree of creative veto power over other elements found to be blasphemous, Wood’s team completed the film on a measly budget. With an amusingly outlandish score, flat line delivery from many of the actors, and the use of existing military stock footage for some of the more elaborate shots, which stick out compared to the quality of the rest of the film, the low production value is obvious but not without charm. Production faced difficulties that included an overall lack of time, the plot still being written as filming was taking place, and attempting to center pre-existing, unrelated silent footage that Wood had shot of Bela Lugosi before the latter’s death into the story to be able to market Plan 9 as Lugosi’s final film. This footage was limited and its use had to be stretched, as did the military stock footage, which led to multiple shots being used more than once. The film is a little slow-paced for its runtime and may have unfolded a bit more smoothly if duplicate shots were removed or some of the walking shots weren’t left to run for quite as long, though in the case of Lugosi’s footage this would have resulted in a much lesser part or even simply the inability to use it. Possibly due to the rushed writing, characters sometimes narrate every internal thought they have as if doing so is a regular form of conversation, adding a sort of stream-of-consciousness flow to the movie that contributes to keeping it lighthearted. On the whole, the film is stitched together and choppy to an extent that can’t go unacknowledged, yet the earnestness that went into finalizing the project and getting it to work as cohesively as it does is what stands out the most.

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  • Hooptober 13: White Zombie (1932)

    Film #2 — 1/2 Bela Lugosi Films; 2/9 Decades

    Also filed under: A-One

    By C. Ramsay

    With film quality that constantly flickers through a rainbow of colours and has elements seeping in and back out of the depth of shadows, White Zombie, widely considered to be the first zombie movie, is dreamlike in how its horror washes over you. Eerie sound effects at poignant but unexpected moments, dirge-style music flowing through the background, and beautiful gothic sets blend as the film runs, yet each has a knack for standing out after the fact, seeming at times like the only remaining pieces of a fading reverie.

    Central to the story is Vodou, a syncretic religion that was initially developed among the African diaspora in Haiti from which the original concept of the zombie began. Typically, a living person would create a zombie from a corpse using Vodou practices, and the corpse would then be physically enslaved without self-determination to the re-animator. Zombie folklore in Haiti was often used by white slave traders and plantation owners to try to prevent enslaved people from committing suicide, which was sometimes seen as the only means to escape enslavement, by threatening perpetual servility even in death. Bela Lugosi’s character of ‘Murder’ Legendre, a white man living in Haiti, adopts Vodou practices to zombify different types of people for different reasons. A few choice white men, considered to be Legendre’s enemies on the island, are zombified for the purposes of providing physical protection and to eliminate any social, economic, and juridical consequences that they may have previously had the means to enact against him. Madeline, a white woman visiting Haiti with her fiancé, Neil, ahead of their wedding is zombified to be romantically and sexually exploited by Charles Beaumont, a plantation owner who becomes obsessed with her and seeks Legendre’s help in making her his. Beaumont in turn is made into another white zombie by Legendre for the overt reasons of keeping Madeline for himself and tying up the erratic loose ends that a criminal partner can bring, though there’s a hint of homoeroticism behind the decision as well.

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