Cowboys & Mutants

When you think of Westerns you might think of films like High Noon, Once Upon A Time in the West, The Dollars Trilogy or perhaps Unforgiven. I’m sure most people would never consider a remake like The Hills Have Eyes to be a Western and for good reason… it’s not. However, upon closer look at the color and the cinematography of when Doug enters the test village, I couldn’t help but get feelings to when I watched High Noon for the first time. It’s strange how many Western tributes there are in this film but at the same time it feels right.

All the scenes that take place in that test village strike an eerie chord with the American Dream; a broken down dream corrupted by the government and/or the criminals that had taken over. Many of these ideas have been put forth into Westerns. The coloring is saturated with yellows and browns that only enhance the sweltering heat of the desert, as our lone hero walks down the middle of the town. I mentioned High Noon and this is exactly what this scene resembles; when Doug first enters the town he realizes that nobody is there must like Gary Cooper’s character walking down the road stunned to find nobody is at his side. In The Hills Have Eyes, the only companion that Doug has is his dog Beauty.

Tombstone established that Wyatt Earp would be the Lone Rider (or Pale Rider) in which Death followed behind him that The Cowboys were warned about. After the murder of his youngest brother, the injury of his older brother and the attempted assassination of himself he pursued The Cowboys in a relentless and violent manner. I can’t help but think that this bears striking resemblance to Doug and his bloody justified revenge. The clan of mutants raped his sister-in-law, burned his father-in-law, murdered his mother-in-law, killed his wife and stole his baby. You can argue that Doug literally became the Lone/Pale Rider that Death followed as he not only recovered his baby but he brutally murdered almost every mutant he saw. I think it’s also interesting that Doug wore a white “pale” shirt.

In probably one of the best confrontations in a modern horror movie, Doug, after getting beaten nearly to death, thrown, kicked, punched and dragged, grabs a screwdriver and holds it up to Pluto who is wielding an axe. There is silence. The shot shows a weak and scared hero holding a peashooter pistol to the ugly homicidal criminal who is aiming a shotgun directly into his face. They both stand their ground and look at each other for a minute while the mutant outlaw laughs at our hero’s ill-fated attempt at defending himself. It’s a standoff and the odds are not in favor for the good. Our hero begs for the outlaw not to kill him and the outlaw merely laughs at his pain and insignificance, but our hero is smart and uses this as a distraction to drive the screwdriver into his foot rendering him defenseless. Like the American hero that is the Cowboy or local sheriff, our hero grabs an American flag and drives it into the throat of the outlaw. Seeing as how he was responsible for the death of his soon-to-be family, he takes the very weapon he used to hurt him (the axe) and thrusts it directly into his skull, killing him.

Thus ends one of the grittiest and bloodiest Westerns of recent time.

Even though that scene wasn’t the end or the final confrontation, it still bears the most resemblance to any Western standoff. Going off tangent, it’s not just the cinematography, coloring or the way things are played out that remind me of a Western but also the costuming. Lizard resembles a Mexican bandito, wearing a brown vest, torn cotton pants and a spike-strip that looks like a full metal jacket. Goggle, though he is mostly in shadow or silhouette, wears a bowler hat. Papa Jupiter, aside from not having the typical cowboy hat, already looks like a bandit. He dresses in all black and has a long down-filled coat. The only person who doesn’t resemble an outlaw is Pluto because he seems to be dressed in a black suit minus the tie. He may, however, be more akin to the elegant outlaw rather than the rugged dirty outlaw.

There is still so much to talk about comparing Hills Have Eyes with Westerns and I’m sure the original has even more similarities but since I haven’t seen it in a long time, I can’t contrast the two films. I haven’t even talked about the relationship between the mutants the gas station attendant. I never really noticed the similarities till I began watching a string of Westerns recently. Although, now I wonder how the movie would play out if somebody like John Wayne, Cline Eastwood or Tom Mix were in Doug’s shoes… as if the film wasn’t already surreal and messed up.

Review - Vampires (1998)

From Blogger Pictures

Last night I got done watching one of my favorite vampire movies: “John Carpenter’s Vampires.” I have always liked this movie ever since I was younger. I’d always pop it in the VHS player and just become enthralled in the action and the horror of it all. But, there was something that I have always like about this movie more then just the makeup, effects and scares… something that I could not put my hand on until now. It’s the way that this movie was photographed.

It’s a beautifully shot movie in the style of the typical westerns. Though the movie doesn’t typically follow the general structure of classic Hollywood westerns it’s very easy to see that Carpenter was heavily inspired by Sergio Leone flicks. Take for example the beginning sequence when James Wood’s character Jack Crow is staring right at the screen with his sunglasses on. This is a reference to the extreme close-ups that Leone pioneered in his western movies; extreme close-ups showing all the sweat and wrinkles and facial features of the face.

From Blogger Pictures

 Another scene that is very reminiscent of the western genre is when Jan Valek arises from the ground along with all of his minions and then they walk slowly towards the camera while dirt is blowing against their bodies. This reminded me of the scene in “Once Upon A Time in the West” when Frank emerges from the bushes and kills that kid.

One thing that most early westerns pioneered is the use of the establishing shot, where the movie takes place and this movie has so many wonderfully photographed shots of the landscape, barns, windmills and abandoned old towns. Even the beginning title of “Vampires” is homage to your traditional John Ford western flicks.

From Blogger Pictures

So, in perspective it can be debated that this movie is in fact a western horror movie and I think that Carpenter really delivered. John did a great job with an acoustic score but what would have been awesome would be if Ennio Morricone did the score. Imagine that electric guitar and high pitched strings… give me goosebumps. 

Review - Near Dark (1987)

On this post I would like to focus my topic on one of my favorite vampire movies. When I first saw it I did not know what to think but after watching it a few more times, I finally learned to love it. The movie is of course “Near Dark” and there are a number of things that I enjoyed about this movie. It veers away from your conventional vampire movie and it is a ghoulish blend of western films, road films and the vampire mythology.

Lets look at the technical aspect of this film. The tone of the films seems to only linger around contrasts of dark blue and orange, which could stand for the cold dark night vs. the hot sun of the day. Here is an example of how lighting heavily influences this movie. Whether this is lighting or not, there is a scene where Paxton’s character gets shredded with bullets and light beams are shining through the holes in his body. That was amazing.

There are numerous tributes to Western flicks: the setting, which is a small farming town; some of the costuming that the character wear; the standoff both in the bar and with the truck. It feels as though ‘Mad Max’ also heavily influenced it and since the whole movie is very dark and gloomy… you could almost think of this movie as a film noir movie. 

The score was brilliantly composed by Tangerine Dream and it retains that 80s techno sound, but at the same time it also sounds ‘epic’ in the sense of strong bass guitars, a synthesized choir, rapid beating drums and sound effects.

This movie will always be a key favorite of mine just for the technical aspect alone. As for the vampires, are they real vampires or are they just a group of mentally and physically ill people? But that is a question that will later be answered.