#dario calavera

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Is Teen Wolf Lovecraftian?

Is Teen Wolf Lovecraftian?

Yes, very much so.

Why?

To understand if Teen Wolf is a Lovecraftian horror we need to start by defining our terms and providing comparisons. Lovecraft stories directly made into movies as a whole are just bad, and most video games too. However, using Lovecraftian ideas and tropes creates a successful narrative in most cases.

Several things define the Lovecraftian horror experience.

Isolation both mentally and physically

Lack of character information which is replaced by character reaction.

Lack of information about the world in which the protagonist finds themselves with a penalty for discovering that information.

The revelation that that which was formerly known is now revealed to be unknown and the consequences thereof

Fear of the unknown, specifically the previously thought known

Body Horror, specifically bodily transformation, from which there is no reversal

The insignificance of the subject in regards to the whole

These look specifically vague and you can apply them around a lot, and people do, but you might also notice a lack of tentacles there.

So before we turn this on Teen Wolf let’s present an example that you can understand the points in question

John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)

A group of men in an Antarctic station inadvertantly let something other into their base.

Interestingly the least Lovecraftian thing in “The Thing” is the thing itself, and wasn’t that a fun sentence to write.

The Americans [as opposed to the late Norwegians] are already at breaking point, isolation - caused by the weather, their close proximity to each other, boredom and exhaustion have taken their toll, they are a brush fire just waiting for a spark, and that spark is the thing. It is not the spark because it’s hunting them down, because that seems almost incidental in it’s desire to just survive and hide despite it’s otherness, it’s the fact that any of them could BE the thing. I’m going to start calling it the alien - it sounds less like I’ve forgotten the word. This will probably cause problems when I move on to Alien (1979) in a minute.

Combined with that Carpenter uses long empty tracking shots (a technique he used in Halloween [1978] ) which creates a voyeuristic feeling which removes the safety of the base. The way that it works matches “The Strangers” (2008) which removes the feeling of being safe in your own home. The rich white affluent suburb with it’s white clapboard houses and wide green open spaces is invaded by “the shape” as he is called the in the credits, and those shots, in which nothing happen, makes the space unknown and terrifying for it. It removes the illusion of safety.

We know almost nothing about the men in the base, we become invested in them not because of what they are but who, they are charming, funny, tired, and very realistic but it becomes hard to remember their names because those things are ultimately irrelevant. Combined with the discovery of the space ship those men are irrelevant, what they undergo is irrelevant, no one is on the other end of the radio, they will not be saved and their deaths serve no purpose. They and their experience doesn’t matter.

In Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) does the same thing, a random ship encounters something vast and unknowable and is infected, the Xenomorph then picks off the crew for no other reason than to continue it’s own species, it doesn’t choose them for any other reason than they are there. The robot’s betrayal makes them even more meaningless, any ship that encountered alien life would do, it just happened to be that one.

The presence of the Xenomorph makes the ship unknown, it could be anywhere. At first they think it’s something small and don’t learn otherwise until face to face with it. They have to use technology they don’t quite understand and can’t really use to find it in their own safe space. A safe space surrounded on all sides by absence - space itself. All the things on the ship which previously gave them safety, the machines that allow them to exist on the ship, are now dark places for it to hide. 

In Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977) - the only film not to have aliens - Suzy goes to a place that is grotesquely beautiful and just happens to be in the next room to the girl who is investigating it, when that girl goes missing she looks for her and discovers the old witch and kills her to save her own life. 

Yet Suspiria, which might be the most Lovecraftian film of them all, has no exposition, most of the characters aren’t introduced, and the movie is mostly experiential, maggots rain from the ceiling, but we don’t know why, the witches are killing the girls in the academy but we don’t know why, instead we have a lurid oversaturated nightmare of a narrative where the dance academy swerves from mundane to brightly lit Roger Corman-esque interior design fantasy. It is a building that if Ludwig II took acid he might design using only primary colours, art nouveau doors, blood red walls and corridors that seem to ooze menace without doing anything, overlaid with Goblin’s infamous soundtrack. Combined with that the actors filmed the dialogue in their own language and English was dubbed over so the characters are not really communicating. 

Suspiria is as close to reading Lovecraft (without the racism) as it is possible to get. And it does also feature body horror when Sarah is resurrected by the witches to act as a weapon, despite her slit throat and the pins in her eyes. It is a nightmare on film.

It is also not a film you watch. It’s a film you experience. [The remake is good but very different and not so Lovecraftian, although most of the characters are played by Tilda Swinton, it’s really squinting are you Tilda Swinton too?]

So having given defintions and examples of what it is - does Teen Wolf fit.

Isolation both mentally and physically

It is impossible for the characters in the know to leave the town, and even if they do then they must return.

We see Scott try to leave twice, once in Motel California and again in Ghosted. Both times they enter a phantasmagoric town which is certainly not the outside world. Other characters are taken by the Wild Hunt. Derek Hale manages to leave, but only after “evolution”.

His trips to Mexico are also phantasmagoric in that it is hard to say that they are not dreams, the Calavera stronghold for example uses a lot of dream logic and wonky camera angles giving the idea that it’s not real. La Iglesia does this as well.

Within the town there are those who know and those who do not. Those who know flock together but have to keep their secret from those who don’t. So Scott doesn’t tell his mother until season 2, Stiles doesn’t tell his Father until 3b, Lydia is still trying to tell her mother in s5.

Characters unaware of the knowledge that others know are completely isolated, without anyone to go to, which usually ends in violence, often against themselves - the Chimera.

With as much as the main characters know it is clear that they know very little about the town, as shown by the family of wendigo who were part of the community.

2. Lack of character information which is replaced by character reaction.

We know almost nothing about any of the characters. We know how they react and how they interact, and how they change, but their histories are completely absent. This is as true of the main characters as it is the victims who only appear in one episode.

3. Lack of information about the world in which the protagonist finds themselves with a penalty for discovering that information.

People know nothing, research can present viable answers which are later proven wrong, characters guess in good faith and are wrong, characters lie, but ultimately they know very little about the world in which they’ve found themselves and those who do know often withhold or manipulate that information.

An easy example is Damnatio Memoriae in which Scott discovers what he believes to be the identity of the original Beast, a serial killer in France, who has nothing to do with the Beast at all. It’s a coincidence that the term has been applied. The knowledge is irrelevant and Scott is left with no more information about the Beast than he did at the start, then the person who does tell him, in Maid of Gevaudan, is Gerard and has every reason to lie, and that’s assuming his guess was correct.

The more characters know in Teen Wolf the more likely they are to end up in Eichen House, and Dr Fenris, in 6b, with the information he has, becomes a mass murderer.

4. The revelation that that which was formerly known is now revealed to be unknown and the consequences thereof

The town is a supernatural hotspot and the revelation of that is the entire plot. I think we can agree that that one certainly applies. Combined with that the use of “safe spaces” as battlegrounds, such as the school, the school bus, the sheriff’s station.

5. Fear of the unknown, specifically the previously thought known

Dr Fenris killed the monsters in his care, the Sheriff nearly has a nervous breakdown with the appearance of the chimera, the possession of Stiles and Scott’s reaction thereafter. These all very much apply, even Stiles fear when Scott attacks him in the locker room in pilot. The more people know the more scared they become.

Traditionally in horror the less people know the more they have to be scared of, but in Lovecraftian horror they know enough to fear it, but not much more, often the creature, by its very existence can induce fear (like the Anuk-Ite) because it is so outside the realms of what the human mind can comprehend.

6. Body Horror, specifically bodily transformation, from which there is no reversal

Werewolves. It is worth mentioning here however that there are anomalies in the transformations, almost all of the werewolves speak of pain during transformation, and Derek uses pain to help control it by overwhelming them with pain, but Scott does not. Just as the protagonist in “The Dunwich Horror” finds himself turned into a fishman there is an inevitability to the transformations in certain cases. Derek is on a path to his inevitable evolution. Scott’s natural evolution is subverted, this might be because he never transforms after his black eyed beast form in season 4. His fear of his transformation holds him back from his inevitable end form, yet there is no way he can be human again, no matter how much he wants it.

7. The insignificance of the subject in regards to the whole

Scott is not important because of who he is. He’s important because he happened to be the person in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is incidental to most of the story despite him being the focus character, the world doesn’t care about Scott McCall, it is interested in the True Alpha, but that could as easily be Chuck Norris. Scott isn’t even the true alpha by virtue but for reasons we do not know, Deucalion had no interest in it, Peter thought it was hilarious, Morell manipulated it to save her own life and Deaton worshipped it. Others use it as a target. When Scott says, “I’m a true alpha you don’t know what I’m capable of” it defines the character. Kincaid tells him he’s not as strong as a normal alpha. There are questions around his biting of Liam. Scott is not the Chosen One, he’s the one that was there and that’s ignoring his questionable behaviour and the very strong argument that he is a villain, and that his narrative was one of fallen messiah and not the hero’s journey.

Frodo was not the Chosen One, he was the guy who had the ring, and many of his successes are because of his party of companions, but Frodo’s quest, which he fails, is of world ending importance.

In Scott’s case, he again succeeds mostly because of his companions, though, unlike Frodo, he is unaware of this, he is not throwing the ring into Mount Doom to defeat Sauron, returning the ring to the jeweller because it needs resized, and might pick up some milk as well while he’s in the area.

So in conclusion is Teen Wolf Lovecraftian = yes

Does it fit the criteria laid out by works accepted to be Lovecraftian = yes

Does it follow the conventions of similar Lovecraftian works = yes

Is it the Lovecraftian conventions spread over such a large scope that cause so much dissatisfaction in the audience = yes

Almost every point in the list is something I’ve seen people complain about, we don’t know about this, we know nothing about that, that makes no sense, I think this episode would make more sense on hallucinogens etc

It is a well written Lovecraftian nightmare, it uses variant realities and isolation, suspicion and distrust well = but it tells us nothing, resolves very little and has a main character who could deliberately be replaced with a well meaning bag of sand.

But at least there were no tentacles.

#teen wolf meta #teen wolf and lovecraft #anti scott mccall

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¿Historias cortas para no dormir y así no tener pesadillas?

Las tentaciones de San Jerónimo-Con las manos en la masa… ¡Pillín!-Baldomero Romero Ressendi-España-1946-Expresionismo-Religión-Andalucía-Óleo-Escrito por: Dario Pérez Vidal

Según reza la tradición la obra culpable de la excomunión de Ressendi. Leyendas negras aparte, Las tentaciones de San Jerónimo del maestro sevillano se presenta como una obra bastante más provocativa que sus homónimas iconográficas, por ejemplo las «tentaciones» de autores tales como Juan de Valdés Leal o Francisco de Zurbarán (ambos del s. XVII), grandes inspiraciones para Ressendi.

Si bien fuera cierto el conflicto que el lienzo pudo generar, no podemos negar que no faltaron motivos para escandalizar a la Santa Sede, desde luego. San Jerónimo desnudo se levanta con la mirada perdida temeroso de Dios. La mujer que yace bajo sus piernas se representa con las uñas pintadas, el pelo alborotado y los pechos desnudos. En el fondo demonios y engendros materializan el pecado y se regocijan de lo sucedido. En primer plano, una calavera dispuesta en la esquina inferior (también hay otra medio dibujada que se pierde en el fondo), vuelta del revés observa la escena, una clara referencia a la vanita vanitatis.

Encontramos los grandes rasgos del autor, a saber: una composición meditada y equilibrada que hereda las pautas del tema iconográfico «estándar», dibujo firme, expresionismo estilístico de corte realista y cromatismo oscuro.

En definitiva, todo apunta a que la tentación se ha consumado de la manera más explícita y carnal posible y es que Ressendi no tenía pelos en la lengua. Hizo de su obra un escaparate crítico realmente incisivo y pese su gran fondo de armario en lo que se refiere a temas religiosos, esta obra en particular no deja indiferente a cualquiera, al fin y al cabo, un Santo-canónico-y-apostólico mostrado como un pecador siempre ha dado y dará morbo, y la crítica en este sentido a la Iglesia pues también.

#Las tentaciones de San Jerónimo-Con las manos en la masa… ¡Pillín!-Baldomero Romero Ressendi-España-1946-Expresionismo-Religión-Andalucía-Ól #¿Historias cortas para no dormir?

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MÓRBIDO FEST PRESENTA LA PROGRAMACIÓN OFICIAL DE SU DÉCIMA EDICIÓN

Mórbido Fest rendirá homenaje a Roger Corman, productor y director de cine de culto con más de 400 películas.

El Festival tiene una Selección Oficial conformada por 52 largometrajes, y 108 cortometrajes. Entre ellas 2 premieres mundiales y 14 estrenos latinoamericanos.

Mórbido también hará un reconocimiento a la actriz norteamericana Barbará Crampton.

Los directores Paco Plaza de España, Xavier Gens de Francia presentarán sus más recientes películas.

En Mórbido Fest estarán presentes más de 30 invitados internacionales.

Mórbido Fest y Cinépolis Distribución fortalacen su alianza anunciando un premio de distribución en conjunto.

Ciudad de México a 10 de octubre de 2017. Mórbido Fest, miembro de la Federación Europea de Festivales de Cine Fantástico (Melies.org), que agrupa a los 22 festivales de género más importantes del mundo, celebrará 10 años del 26 de octubre al 5 de noviembre y por segundo año consecutivo se realizará en la Ciudad de México.

Para esta décima edición, el Festival cuenta con una Selección Oficial conformada por 52 largometrajes provenientes de 15 países y 108 cortometrajes de 17 países, entre los cuales tendrá 2 premieres mundiales y 14 estrenos latinoamericanos.

Mórbido Fest se realizará en las siguientes sedes: Biblioteca Vasconcelos, Casa del Lago, Centro Cultural Elena Garro, Centro de Cultura Digital, Cinépolis Diana y Cinépolis Universidad, Cinemanía Loreto y en la estación Zapata del Metro de la CDMX.

HOMENAJES INTERNACIONALES

Para Mórbido Fest es un honor anunciar la presencia en la Ciudad de México de uno de los productores más importantes del cine contemporáneo y un auténtico realizador de culto,  Roger Corman, quien estará en la décima edición del festival para recibir un merecido homenaje por su amplia trayectoria cinematográfica que comprende más de 50 películas como director y más de 400 títulos como productor.

Corman es el productor vivo más importante de Hollywood, fue quien dio su primera oportunidad a muchas figuras como Jack Nicholson, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Joe Dante, James Cameron y Ron Howard, por mencionar algunos.

Como parte del homenaje a Roger Corman, se proyectarán The Masque of the Red Death (1964),  The House of Usher (1960), The Pit & the Pendulum (1961) y The Haunted Palace (1963); cintas en las que Corman dirigió al mítico actor, Vincent Price.

Mórbido Fest también reconocerá la trayectoria de la actriz Barbara Crampton, quien ha forjado su carrera en el cine de terror. Como parte de su homenaje se realizará una función especial del clásico From Beyondpresentada por la actriz. Además, estará en la presentación de su más reciente película, Replace, del alemán Norbert Keil.

Crampton inició su carrera bajo la dirección de Brian de Palma (Body Double) pero se hizo popular entre los amantes del cine de terror por sus actuaciones en películas de culto como Re-animator (1985), From Beyond (1986) y Space Truckers (1996). A partir de su aparición en You're Next (2001), la actriz fue recuperada por una nueva generación de cineastas del género como Rob Zombie y Adam Wingardt.

INVITADOS ESPECIALES EN MÓRBIDO

Mórbido Fest celebrará su décima edición en compañía de algunos de los directores de cine de género que están marcando pauta a nivel internacional. En esta edición contaremos con la presencia del director español Paco Plaza, que este año nos presentó La posesión de Verónica y es reconocido por ser el creador de la saga REC, junto con Jaume Balagueró.

Nos visitará el director francés Xavier Gens, quien ganó popularidad con Frontiers (2007) y ahora nos trae en premier latinoamericana su más reciente filme, Cold Skin, basado en el best seller español del mismo nombre.

Entre los invitados a la celebración del décimo aniversario de Mórbido Fest, también estará el cineasta suizo Alexandre O. Philippe, presentando su documental 78/52 acerca de la icónica escena de la regadera en Psicosis, donde cuenta con testimoniales de Guillermo del Toro, Elijah Wood, Danny Elfman y otros.

Gracias al Foro Cultural de Austria estará en Mórbido Fest, el director Valentín Hitz, con Hidden Reserves en premier latinoamericana. Y el turco Can Evenrol, que presenta Housewife en premier latinoamericana, gracias a la embajada de Turquía.

También nos acompañan en esta edición, el director estadounidense Ted Goeghegan, quien nos trae la premier latinoamericana Mohawk. Graham Skipper, con la premier latinoamericana de Sequence Break; y los españoles Caye Casas y Albert Pintó con Matar a Dios, gracias al Programa de la sociedad estatal Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) para la internacionalización de la Cultura Española (PICE).

VAGUARDIA LATINOAMERICANA EN EL CINE DE TERROR

Como parte de la Selección Latinoamericana destacamos la película argentina Los olvidados (What the waters left behind), de Luciano y Nicolás Onetti, éste último estará presente en el festival. También de Argentina se presentará Aterrados, de Démian Rugna, director que estará en Mórbido presentando esta premier mundial.

En una sección especial para películas que rebasan todos los límites, “El que se lleva se aguanta”, Mórbido presenta en premier mundial Trauma, del chileno Lucio A. Rojas, un título que relata la violencia extrema que sufren cuatro jóvenes al llegar a un pueblo donde son atacadas brutalmente por dos hombres. El director y todo el elenco de la película estarán presentes.

Representando a Perú se verá AJ Zombies, que será presentada por su director Daniel Martín Rodríguez. Además, se confirman las cintas latinoamericanas Culto al terror (Gustavo Mendoza, Argentina) El Silbón, Orígenes (Gisberg Bermúdez, Venezuela) y Noche (Inti Carrizo-Ortíz, Chile).

LA MIRADA FEMENINA EN EL CINE DE GÉNERO

Para Mórbido Fest es importante destacar la presencia de una nueva ola de directoras de cine de género, entre ellas la realizadora México-canadiense Gigi Saúl Guerrero, quien presenta La Quinceñera, producción de Stage 13 para Warner Bros. en forma de una serie de 7 capítulos de 10 minutos de duración cada uno, que podrá ser vista en una versión especial y exclusiva para este encuentro fílmico.

Además, presentamos Clementina, de la directora argentina Jimena Monteoliva, quien vendrá al festival junto a su compatriota Laura Sánchez, que nos trae su película Relicto: Un relato mesopotámico.

En lo que será un evento muy especial, como cinta de Clausura tendremos la premier de Vuelven, de la mexicana Issa López, que Mórbido presentó en work in progress el año pasado y que podrá ser vista en salas a partir del próximo 3 de noviembre.

SECCION MÓRBIDO GLOBAL: El miedo no conoce fronteras.

Mórbido Fest se ha destacado por tener dentro de su Selección Oficial las películas más recientes del género que marcan pauta a nivel internacional.

En esta ocasión, en el festival se presentarán las secuelas de importantes franquicias del cine de terror como lo son Jigsaw (Spierig Brothers) de El Juego del Miedo y Jeepers Creepers 3, secuela de El Demonio. También se podrá ver la nueva entrega de Puppet Master, que es Puppet Master: Axis Termination de Charles Band.

Destacamos las cintas Laissez Bronzer les Cadavres (H. Cattet y B. Forzani-Bélgica), filmada en 16 milímetros y parte de la programación de los festivales de cine de Toronto y Locarno; Hounds of Love (Ben Young - Australia), presentada en Tribeca y ganadora del premio a mejor actriz en el Festival de Venecia.

Desde Taiwan llega Mon Mon Mon Monsters de Giddens Ko, una película que retrata la crueldad del bullying en los niños, y de Bulgaria estará Nightworld de Patricio Valladares, que cuenta con la actuación de Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger).

También forman parte de la Selección Oficial las producciones internacionales The Black Gloves (Lawrie Brewster - RU), The Endless (Benson & Moorehead – EUA), The Heretics (Chad Archibald - Canadá), The Lodgers (Brian O’Malley – EUA) y Trench 11 (Leo Scherman- Canadá).

MEXICANOS EN MÓRBIDO

La presencia de realizadores mexicanos en el Festival siempre es nutrida, ya que uno de los objetivos de Mórbido es impulsar el cine de género en nuestro país. En su décima edición, Mórbido Fest contará con la premier nacional de México Bárbaro II, antología del horror que reúne a ocho directores mexicanos: Diego Cohen, Fernando Urdapilleta, Christian Cueva y Ricardo Farías, Lex Ortega, Michelle Garza, Abraham Sánchez, Sergio Tello y Carlos Meléndez.

Se presentará la ópera prima de Hugo Felix Mercado, Cygnus, una película de ciencia ficción de alto calibre. Además, se proyectarán La región salvaje de Amat Escalante y como función de Clausura Vuelven de Issa López.

40 ANIVERSARIO DE SUSPIRIA DE DARIO ARGENTO Y MÁS DE MÓRBIDO

Mórbido Fest presentará la versión 4K de Suspiria, de Dario Argento, para conmemorar sus cuatro décadas y rendir un homenaje al cine del director y escritor italiano. Vale la pena destacar que el filme es considerado todo un clásico contemporáneo en el cine de género.

Una vez más se contará con la ya tradicional sección Media Noche Brutal, para aquellos que gustan del cine más extremo. Aquí se podrán ver 4 cintas bajo el propio riesgo de los asistentes: Dead Shack de Peter Ricq, I am a Hero de Shinsuke Sato, Kuso de Steve Ellison y Trauma.

La sección para Óperas Primas, “Nueva Sangre”, cuenta con 5 películas que muestran la iniciación de directores que buscan no pasar desapercibidos. Se mostrarán 68 Kill de Trent Haaga, Dhogs de Andrés Goteira, Matar a Dios, Hagazussa de Lukas Feigelfeld y The Evil Within de Andrew Rork Getty.

NUEVOS PREMIOS EN EL FESTIVAL  

Para celebrar sus 10 años, Mórbido instituye 3 nuevos premios.

LA CALAVERA DE PLATA a la película más sobresaliente dentro del Festival.

El Doctorado Horroris Causa que este año será para el productor Roger Corman.

El Premio Mórbido- Cinépolis Distribución.

Este año Mórbido Fest y Cinépolis Distribución se unen para apoyar el cine iberoamericano otorgando un premio de distribución que consiste en el estreno en salas de la película que resulte ganadora. Todas las películas de la Selección Oficial del festival califican para el premio.

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#terror #morvido #horror #cine #cine de terror #morbidofest #cinepolis