Zagreb 29/2002 Hrvatski filmski - HFS

Abstracts
GENRE
Kristijan Mili}
New Horror Film
UDC: 791.43-344
Croatian Film Encyclopaedia lists horror movies as one of
the three genres characterized by the presence of fantasy or
fantastic elements (the other two are film fairytale and science-fiction
film). However, this definition refers only to
the classical horror films, that is to say, those made before
1960. That year was the turning point for horror films for
that year Alfred Hitchcock shot Psycho, film in which horror
was placed in reality.
After Psycho horror films developed in two basic directions:
fantastic and realistic. A smaller number of films were made
in the supernatural tradition, dealing with imaginary creatures
(vampires, mummies and other monsters) and these could
conditionally be called classical since their important feature
remained the fantastic quality. In the films of the new
direction dominated real, human monsters (mostly torturers
and murderers), while the action took place in the realistic
setting.
Seven very violent movies made a significant impact on the
film production of the second half of the 20th century and
influenced the evolution of the genre and film in general.
Those were: Psycho (1960), Night of the Living Dead
(1968), Last House on the Left (1972), The Texas Chain Saw
Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday 13 (1980) and
Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986). Psycho was a masterfully
directed film, a flawless work of the old master Alfred
Hitchcock, according to many the best director of all times.
Night of the Living Dead, Last House on the Left, The
Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Henry, Portrait of a Serial
Killer were the works of more or less talented debutants George
A. Romero, Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, and John
McNaughton. Dilettante Sean Cuningham made Friday 13,
while Halloween was the third film of the skillful craftsman
John Carpenter. The author of the text concludes that, although
different in quality and made by more or less talented
directors, with various degrees of professional knowledge,
those seven works comprised the basic line of development
of the genre, to which other films came as an extensi-
on. Their courage and singularity won them a higher place,
above other, often much more famous, horror films.
Tomislav ^egir
Post-western
UDC: 791.43-3(73)”199”
The author of the essay points out that it is necessary to distinguish
the Western genre from the Post-Western. Post-Western
may be described as any action film or drama in which
action takes place in the setting similar to that of the classical
Western, but the time period it covers extends from before
and immediately after World War II to the present. Furthermore,
its visual identity has to rely, at least partly, on the
iconography of the mother genre, while the subtext must reflect
some basic tenants of the American myth of the Western
Frontier. However, the author points out that the essay
is not an attempt to establish a new genre since there are
not many films that could be put in this category. The author
of the text is primarily dealing with films that he labeled
as Post-Westerns, such as John Sayles’ Lone Star (1996),
Stephen Frears’ Hi-Lo Country (1999) and Billy Bob Thorton’s
All the Pretty Horses (2001). He also analyses the evolution
of this extension of the Western genre through the
late Western of the ’60s — rodeo films — as was Sam Peckinpahs
Junior Bonner (1972), films of the ’80s that also belonged
to the genre of road movies, such as Wim Wender’s
Paris, Texas, or action thrillers, such as was Walter Hill’s Extreme
Prejudice. All these films are, although in different
ways, dealing with the myth of the West.
Analyzing contemporary Post-Western the author examines
the differences between the Western and the Post-Western.
Starting with the creators of the above-mentioned films and
their attitude towards the Western tradition, the author points
out their tendency to overlap different genres, for
example Western and melodrama, etc. This could be explained
by the fact that once the West was tamed the action
hero of the Post-Western remained with his hands tied. The
author also examines situations typical of the Western genre
and its archetypal protagonists relying on the layered superstructure
of the Post-Western and in view of the changes
in patterns that occurred within the Post-Western framework.
Most obvious changes seem to have happened in the
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H R V A T S K I F I L M S K I L J E T O P I S 29/2002.