The horror of WAR
November 7th 2006 21:56
We all know war is hell. So which war movies could be rightly justified as being genuine horror movies?
Two films which dealt with the Vietnam War were released in the late 70s; The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979). Both these films had a huge impact on audiences in respect to the visceral power they imparted. They were both character driven dramas that happened to have the war as a back drop. They also portrayed the war with unflinching realism (although the Russian roulette scenes in The Deer Hunter were criticized for being fabricated for dramatic effect).
The Deer Hunter is constructed in three distinct acts; the first act sets up the relationships between the men, and the women in their lives, and centres mostly around an extended wedding scene. The middle act has the men at war, and is centred mostly around a prisoner of war camp and the horrific inhumanities the men have to endure. The third act deals with the loss and grief the war has exacted on these men.
The Deer Hunter works brilliantly as a horror movie in that it pulls the audience into almost a false sense of security with the flamboyance and joy of the wedding (which takes up an hour of the film’s three hour running time). These men, flawed as they may be, are likable and real. We certainly don’t wish anything bad to happen to them. But of course that’s exactly what will happen. And suddenly without warning, the audience is thrust into the nightmare of war. It’s a superb and deeply resonating juxtaposition.
Apocalypse Now is about a journey, a journey into the heart of darkness. When it first screened as a work in progress at the Cannes film festival director Francis Ford Coppola purposefully left off any production credits or titles, so that the film would become more of an "experience" (a tour of duty even) rather than a conventional narrative. And what an experience the film is; as surreal and nightmarish as any horror film can be.
Apocalypse Now even in title suggests the end of the world. During the film’s climatic last quarter dialogue has dropped away and imagery and music takes over. The Doors’ nihilistic masterpiece The End echoes through the soundtrack, reaching a crescendo as Coppola juxtaposes two sequences of carnage – a ritualistic sacrifice and a military assassination. It packs the same visceral punch as The Deer Hunter and with both film’s innately somber tone, the war setting being more of an expressionistic canvas of blood and despair, and both film’s downbeat endings they become more than just war movies; they become modern horror films.
There aren’t too many other war movies that are as powerful and potent; except for Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) which depicts the graphic horror of war (WWII) more so than any other. In this respect the film works as a horror movie, but Spielberg bookends the film with nostalgia and puts the film in a precise historical context so that it doesn’t really operate with the same expressionism as a horror movie might.
* the images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now
Two films which dealt with the Vietnam War were released in the late 70s; The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979). Both these films had a huge impact on audiences in respect to the visceral power they imparted. They were both character driven dramas that happened to have the war as a back drop. They also portrayed the war with unflinching realism (although the Russian roulette scenes in The Deer Hunter were criticized for being fabricated for dramatic effect).
The Deer Hunter works brilliantly as a horror movie in that it pulls the audience into almost a false sense of security with the flamboyance and joy of the wedding (which takes up an hour of the film’s three hour running time). These men, flawed as they may be, are likable and real. We certainly don’t wish anything bad to happen to them. But of course that’s exactly what will happen. And suddenly without warning, the audience is thrust into the nightmare of war. It’s a superb and deeply resonating juxtaposition.
Apocalypse Now even in title suggests the end of the world. During the film’s climatic last quarter dialogue has dropped away and imagery and music takes over. The Doors’ nihilistic masterpiece The End echoes through the soundtrack, reaching a crescendo as Coppola juxtaposes two sequences of carnage – a ritualistic sacrifice and a military assassination. It packs the same visceral punch as The Deer Hunter and with both film’s innately somber tone, the war setting being more of an expressionistic canvas of blood and despair, and both film’s downbeat endings they become more than just war movies; they become modern horror films.
There aren’t too many other war movies that are as powerful and potent; except for Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) which depicts the graphic horror of war (WWII) more so than any other. In this respect the film works as a horror movie, but Spielberg bookends the film with nostalgia and puts the film in a precise historical context so that it doesn’t really operate with the same expressionism as a horror movie might.
* the images on this page were taken from the following wikipedia pages:
The Deer Hunter and Apocalypse Now
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
A few off eh top of my head that might fit in
Daltonm Trumbo's Johnny Got A Gun and George Roy Hill's Slaughterhouse 5 are two war film that show the psychological horrors of war in a nerve racking way.
For visual horrors of war The Killing Fields, The Big Red One and Platoon
For outright war horrror, I like the haunted bunker ditty by Michael Mann The Keep. David Twohy's haunted sub Below is also worth a look.
Comment by suitably*wounded
Eternal Days; Author: Illness, M.
And as JohnDoe stated, Platoon's penultimate scene with Willem Dafoe is lastingly haunting.
Of course, Apocalypse Now is my all time favorite of movies in general. So I'm pleased to state, that as always, you have excellent taste, oh dark knight.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Roman Polanski is one of my all time fave directors. The Pianist was masterful.
Thanks for the tips JD ....
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
The first one that spring to mind was the recent, Nic Cage in the Lord of War. I'm sure more will follow as (yet again) I am tossed back through the tubes of memorial-history....to wars gone buy...
Lilla...
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
The first one that springs to mind was the recent, Nic Cage in the Lord of War. I'm sure more will follow as (yet again) I am tossed back through the tubes of memorial-history....to wars gone buy...
Lilla...
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
The first one that springs to mind was the recent, Nic Cage in the Lord of War. I'm sure more will follow as (yet again) I am tossed back through the tubes of memorial-history....to wars gone by...
Lilla...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Just take some deep breaths ... It's okay, I got the message the first time ... lol
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Don't know what happened there... I had to shut down as a huge storm passed over tropical Q. ealier... otherwise perhaps it just is the PTSD, as you say...*Twitch, twitch*
The old war wound playing up again....
Sorry.
Lilla...
Comment by Adrian
Philosophy Blog
One beauty of the movie (I thought so anyway) was that it shows how incommunicable experiences are. The isolation of the veteran on their return.
There's a scene at the wedding party that nicely pre-empts this, where they ask a soldier what it's like, and he just goes "Fuck 'em".
Comment by Damo
Do I consider them horror films?
Perhaps a modern day horror, that deals with the dark nature of man, in the same way that Lord of the Flies is also a Horror story. The beast within is the true monster. But in a classic 'boo' and 'gotcha' horror sense I call these drama and suspense.
Comment by Always Eighteen
Always Eighteen
Comment by Luke
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
I haven't seen Lord of War, but I do like Nic Cage's work, so I'll check it out some time.
Adrian, Damo, A18, Luke, cheers lads!
I first saw The Deer Hunter when I was about 13 (on video before they all had ratings). It was a truly harrowing experience, especially as the structure of the film had such an adult sensibility.
Yes, Damo, not trad. horror movies, but modern horror movies nevertheless.
They don't make 'em like this anymore ...