Director Spotlight Series: Alternative Horror
FACETS‘ Alternative Horror Essentials series features directors who have challenged out collective notions of what a horror film can be. The series has been running all of October to sold out crowds! To learn more about the films playing and get tickets, click here.
There is a certain safety in traditional horror films. When it comes to those formulas that we expect, as well as the tropes and conventions that we are comfortable with, horror is a genre that can comfort its audience while simultaneously terrifying them. When we think of horror, one may think of 80s and 90s slasher flicks or even the traditional Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff films, but what if there was an alternative to that? Needless to say, since you have seen the title of this article, and are hopefully taking part in FACETS’ Alternative Horror Essentials series, you know that some of the most interesting horror films are underrated gems of the genre.
What constitutes an “alternative” horror film? The way some of us think of alternatives is that they counter or react to mainstream horror. These films represent a change in the mold and conception of horror. We think of new innovations that may not have been appreciated at their time, but grew cult followings after the fact.
If you think this way about horror films, you will see that all of our screening choices are representations of the alternative spin on what would be considered conventional horror. These horror films are ones that fuse genres and have underlying messages to create something different than the standard cineplex fare.
In addition to what we’ve deemed ‘alt-horror,” there is a term that has been creeping up the film scene called “elevated horror.” Elevated horror does not have a clear cut definition, which is why it is so hard to describe. It has also garnered criticism from die-hard horror fans. It is simply the idea that there is a hierarchy of horror and that for some reason the artistry is “elevated” in one horror film over another. Although we aren’t necessarily looking at A24 films, these are what some may deem as “elevated horror.” In general, the term is seen as reductionist to more mainstream horror, but since it gained popularity in the modern conversation we felt it would be important to briefly mention it here as a conversation starter.
With that being said, we would like to give a more broad reach of exploration on the subject of alternative horror. Instead of giving you a watchlist of films, we would like to speak on some of the notable directors of this type of horror. Beginning with the directors who will be featured in our FACETS’ screenings this month, we will look at what these directors have done for the horror genre and give them a bit of a spotlight.
Even though some directors only produced a single horror film, we will see their work in context with other films they were creating at the time. These directors take a more artistic side to their horror films that usually blend horror with another genre.
So without further ado, here is the director spotlight!
Bill Gunn
“a visionary filmmaker left on the sidelines of the most ostensibly liberated period of American filmmaking.” — Richard Brody, Film Critic.
The first filmmaker we would like to feature for our director spotlight is Bill Gunn. Although it is not the first screening of our festival, Ganja & Hess is an extremely important independent film that explores sex, religion and the African American Identity. Spike Lee, who praises the film, sees Gunn as a major influence in his work and even references him in his own filmmaking. Lee remade Ganja and Hess as Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014). As an icon of black independent filmmaking, he was kept away from icon status but was the second African American filmmaker to direct a film for a major studio. Although the film, entitled Stop, is unreleased to this day, it still has a notable for the story behind it. The film Ganja and Hess is still a testament to the creativity and innovation of this filmmaker. The film is an experimental look at the vampire genre, which was selected at Cannes in 1973 and was recognized as one of the ten best American films of the decade. The film acquires a sort of cult classic status, and it is strange to see that Gunn is relatively a filmmaker who pioneered black independent filmmaking.
In terms of the filmmakers on this list, Bill Gunn is considered an under-appreciated filmmaker and underdog. In order to give him a proper spotlight, it is necessary to describe what is different about Gunn’s horror film Ganja and Hess. The film, which stars Duane Jones and Marlene Clark, is a 1973 film that takes blaxploitation elements and blends them with horror conventions. This is not your typical horror film. Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones), an anthropologist studying the Mythrians who were an African tribe that drank blood, gets stabbed with a Myrthian dagger and turns into a vampire. He becomes immortal with an insatiable desire for blood. The person who stabs him is George Meda (Bill Gunn) and his wife Ganja Meda (Marlene Clark) comes looking for her husband. Ganja and Hess start a love affair, which ends up with Ganja also becoming vampiric. If this doesn’t sound like a unique premise for a horror film, we are unsure what would constitute one!
Rent Ganja & Hess from FACETS.
Julia Ducournau
French film director Julia Ducournau is the second director to be featured on this list and the first to have a film screened for our alt-horror series. For the series, we chose the film Raw (2016), which can be described as a coming-of-age cannibal horror, as the opener of the night. In terms of accolades for her work in horror, most recently her film Titane (2021), which was just released last weekend, won the Palme D’ Or at Cannes. She is the second women director, next to Jane Campion, to win the prestigious award. It may be strange to see horror receive such a prestigious award, since it is a genre that often gets snubbed because of some critical association with horror as less artistic and “lowbrow.” Although horror has that connotation, Ducrournau is altogether different for what one might expect from a modern horror director. Now, for this spotlight, we would like to give a bit of information on Ducournau and then look at Raw to see what separates her horror from others.
To understand Ducournau’s career it is important to know that she has a fascination with flesh. Both her parents were doctors, so there was an early start to what she would explore in the genre of “body horror” as an adult. Ducournau uses this interest in flesh to include horror of the body, perhaps reminiscent of David Cronenberg, but altogether new with her focus on the lives of women. She is not a traditional horror director, and is a director that has feminist touch. With Raw she took this feminist angle and combines family drama and cannibal gore. It is said that people fainted during the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, which shows that her horror is more than just shock and awe and has something that is horrifying on a different level. In the film, Justine, a gifted student who goes to college to become a veterinarian, is a vegetarian who is forced to eat raw rabbit kidneys for a hazing ritual. Like Ganja and Hess, after one action the main character begins to thirst for more. Critic David Friend of the Canadian Press described Raw as “far more than a gory horror film. Director Julia Ducournau brings a sense of humanity to the story.” She is not in it just for the shocks, she brings humanity and life into her filmmaking style. Her newly released film, Titane (2021), begins with the main character, Alexia, a young girl, suffering from a skull injury that has her get a titanium plate fitted in her head. Like the gore in Raw, we see Ducournau moving toward more body horror with this film.
Rent Raw (2016) from FACETS.
Claire Denis
A filmmaker that is one of the hardest to pin down into one genre on this list, Claire Denis is known as much more than a horror director. She is not one to be put into one category and label, because she has created acclaimed films such as Beau Travail (1999) which is not even close to horror. Her oeuvre is built upon her upbringing in French colonial Africa and her directorial debut, Chocolat, and much of her other films observe the negative aspects of colonialism. Although this list is meant to primarily show horror directors, none of these, especially Denis, can be pinned down by such a label. Denis is a filmmaker who has done work with Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law), as well as Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire) and has a plethora of her own contributions to cinema that go beyond simple genre conventions. According to Charles Taylor, in his review for Beau Travail for Salon.com, Denis “has been able to reconcile the lyricism of French cinema with the impulse to capture the often harsh face of contemporary France.” This description can also be seen in the film Trouble Every Day, which is fairly “harsh” in its depiction of contemporary France.
Trouble Every Day is not a straight-forward horror film, it is the film that uses the erotic as well as horror in a visually arresting style. The premise for the film is that two American newlyweds Shane and June Brown (Vincent Gallo and Tricia Vessey) go to Paris for their honeymoon. The honeymoon is actually a trip for Shane to find Dr. Léo Sémeneau and his wife, Coré, who he obsesses over. Both Shane and Coré become sexual cannibals as a result of a tropical virus that Leo might have the cure to. What is so different about the film is that it includes graphic depictions of carnal lust as cannibalistic disease. There are incredibly graphic moments that left the audience at the 2001 Cannes film festival stunned and caused a bit of a ruckus as a result of the cannabilitistic imagery. As a director, Claire Denis is one that has a varied career and Trouble Every Day is just one startling picture out of many less overtly horrifying films.
Rent Trouble Every Day (2001) from FACETS.
Satoshi Kon
Satoshi Kon is well known for his anime films from the science fiction psychological thriller Paprika to the tradi-comedy Tokyo Godfathers. The anime films that Kon produced were ones that were vibrant, and ones that often blended fiction with reality. For example, in Paprika Kon created a world where his character’s dreams and reality begin to merge through the DC Mini, an object that transported others into dreams. One of the most famous scenes occurs in a parade of dreams that begin to unravel reality, which goes into our main characters’ waking life. In most of his works, the divide between reality and fantasy slowly begins to blur. As with a few other directors on this list, Kon is not primarily a horror writer and director. Kon is a filmmaker who got his break into the world of film through his animations, which need to be seen to be believed. His first film, Perfect Blue, is what one may consider a psychological horror thriller.
Perfect Blue is the film FACETS has chosen to screen alongside many alt-horror films. This anime film is one that really plays with the non-linear structure of storytelling to create a film that is altogether mismatched. We enter our main character, Mima Kirigoe, through the horrific initial plot of a stalker obsessing about her while maintaining a blog called, “Mima’s House” pretending to be her. Kirigoe’s decision to become an actress over her career as a pop idol is one that comes with dire consequences. As a film, this is not traditional horror and ways you believe a story must follow a logical pattern are disregarded as Kon deals with topics such as stalking and gaslighting. This film transcends what you would expect with it’s genre and animation and is what Darren Aronofsky ripped off for his film Black Swan (2010).
Rent Perfect Blue (1997) from FACETS.
Nicholas Roeg
A person who was in the film business long before he picked up a camera, Nicholas Roeg is another director in film that has a wide variety of film output. His films can be defined as ones that rearrange the typical linear story fashion, making it important to follow what is happening closely in order to decipher the narrative. His style of editing can be described as taking a few pieces that seem incoherent and then have them become clearer toward the end. His anxious atmosphere is another factor when it comes to his filmmaking, which can be seen in Don’t Look Now (1973), the one horror/thriller film we will be discussing from his output. A few of Roeg’s other films are Walkabout (1971), The Man Who Fell From Earth (1976), Performance (1970). Walkabout, to take a film from Roeg’s oeuvre as comparison, is not horror. It is one of the first films of the Australian New Wave Movement, while also being about the Aboriginal traditional walkabout that Aborigines must undertake. The film speaks on the Australian Aboriginal relationship by having a young Aborigine boy help save two white school children. The film is an interesting one and it is quite unlike Don’t Look Now.
Don’t Look Now is a special film. It is one that often gets ranked highly as a significant work in the British film canon. The story, adapted from a Daphne du Maurier story of the same name, revolves around a married couple who grieves the loss of their daughter. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie play the couple, who move to Venice in order to lose the memory of their daughter’s accidental death. They soon are haunted by a childlike apparition in a red cloak while Roeg uses the Venetian landscape to his benefit in the chase. The film’s main theme explores the death of the child through the parents’ relationship and their grief and is filled with recurring objects and different symbols that make it an exploration as much as a film experience. What makes this film different and innovative is its experimental editing style that makes this worthwhile alt-horror.
If any of that sounds up your alley, purchase tickets for the FACETS’ screening of Don’t Look Now (Screening 10/28).
Andrzej Żuławski
Andrzej Żuławski is a director that specialized in films that went against mainstream filmmaking and focused more on the European art-house market. His films are incredibly chaotic, they tend to focus less on narrative change and more on the visceral visual experience. He is a director that very much utilizes the cinematic image to its fullest extent. His horror oriented films are The Third Part of the Night (1971), The Devil (1972), and his most famous, Possession (1981). It wouldn’t be a Żuławski spotlight without at least putting a few thoughts on Possession. If you haven’t seen the film and are a horror fan we recommend taking the time to go in not expecting anything. Simply, it is a film that is about a divorce between a couple that mirrors the director’s own difficult divorce from Małgorzata Braunek. Starring Isabelle Addjani and Sam Neil, this is a film that should be watched with zero expectations. On a Silver Globe (1988), a science fiction film inspired by a book his great-uncle Jerzy Żuławski wrote, is one of his most ambitious. The film production stopped when it was deemed as an allegory for the Polish fight against totalitarianism.
Although mostly unknown to American audiences, his first two films are both horror films that could even be considered alt-horror in some sense of the category. Both of these films star Małgorzata Braunek and Leszek Teleszyński. Since these films are not often talked about, we at FACETS would like to give a brief synopsis on them. The Third Part of the Night (1971) is an interesting take on Nazi-occupied Poland, a young man Michael (Leszek Teleszyński) witnesses German soldiers kill his family and he then goes and join the Polish Resistance. A film that should have a resurgence, A Third Part of the Night is Polish horror at its finest. His next film The Devil was banned by Polish authorities and is a film that is altogether strange. It’s approach to horror begins with the Prussian invasion of Poland in the 1790s. The film is a hodgepodge of murder, sex, and lies. A stranger in black (Wojciech Pszoniak) helps Jacub (Leszek Teleszyński), a conspirator to the king, escape prison and it is a wild ride from then on.
If these two debut avant garde films sound like they would fit your tastes go ahead and look into Żuławski!
Rent On a Silver Globe (1988), The Devil (1972), and Possession (1981) at FACETS.
Shin’ya Tsukamoto
Director Shin’ya Tsukamoto is an artist with a considerable cult following. Largely related to his body horror cyberpunk film Tetsuo: the Ironman (1989), his fans primarily look to this film as his most acclaimed work. The style of the film is considerably low-budget, but also deals with a metal fetishist who tries to turn himself into an “iron man.” There are scenes that are considerably graphic within this film, which follow the style of body horror and the violation of the human body. The scenes often take a gruesome turn, although shot in full black and white, they still include stomach turning metal piercing flesh. In addition to that, Tsukamoto uses costuming and special effects to turn a typical salary man into a full on iron man. The large scale of the film, despite its low budget, is admirable. The film has two sequels, Tetsuo II: Body Hammer and Tetsuo: The Bullet Man. Both of these films deal with similar themes to the first, and have salarymen turn into machines that include cyberpunk aesthetics and painful body horror.
Why this would be considered alt-horror is that Shin’ya Tsukamoto is known as a horror director who plays with genre, and has a cult following. You wouldn’t see these horror films in major theaters unless they are more artistic or niche venues. In general, his Tetsuo series is what he is known for, but he has made more films under the horror genre such as Hiruko the Goblin (1991), which was less body horror and more traditional. Other films he has directed include A Snake of June (2002), Vital (2004), Kotoko (2011) and Killing (2018). These films do not resemble his horror work, and they are more traditional drama films rather than horror. The versatility of Tsukamoto can be seen through his many drama films as well as his earlier horror films.
Rent Tetsuo: the Iron Man (1989) from FACETS.
Michael Haneke
For our final director, we have chosen one that is much more renowned than some of the others. Palme d’Or winner Michael Haneke is known for films that range in genre and are not simply horror films. We say horror very softly when referring to Haneke, for us we immediately think of his thriller film Funny Games (1999), and his Glaciation trilogy, which starts with his debut The Seventh Continent (1989), then Benny’s Video (1992), and finally 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. Haneke is a filmmaker that likes to show the alienation of people in modern society. These films all cover these topics, with some having more of a horror atmosphere than others. In terms of world wide recognition, his film The Piano Teacher (2001), which is not horror, should be mentioned to really give an adequate look at Haneke’s oeuvre.
The Piano Teacher is a film that tells the story of a sort of love affair between teacher and student, but it goes into much darker territory. It can be said that Haneke loves to make the audience uncomfortable and make us wince even if it is not what we would call a horror film. Since it is what we would call a horror film, Benny’s Video will be the one we examine for Michael Haneke, although it isn’t his most notable film. In Benny’s Video there is a plot line that follows Benny and a pig slaughtering device that he uses to kill. The plot of the film is quite different to traditional horror, and it should be watched with caution. Haneke does not play games, he is a director that can really take a situation and make it hard to watch. Just watch Funny Games to really understand what Haneke creates.
Rent Michael Haneke films from FACETS.
Christian Mietus is an Editorial Assistant Intern at FACETS. He is a Senior working towards a B.A in EnglishGeneral Writing (Creative and Professional) at Lewis University with minors in Film Studies and Russian Language and Culture. In 2019, his poetry was published in both the WINDOWS fine arts magazine and in the City Brink literary magazine. In May 2019, his collaborative project, “Assimilation through Sound” was chosen for the Stephany Schlachter Award at Lewis University. Christian is a film lover, some of his favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky, Andrzej Wajda, and Krzysztof Kieslowski.