Nearly
eighty years after its inception, the Hollywood horror film continues
to exert a mesmeric influence on our culture. From the Gothic horror of
Dracula and Frankenstein and King Kong to the psychic terror of the Cat
People and the atomic terror of the Thing, and, finally to the cosmic
horror of HAL the Computer, monster movies have sprung from prolific typewriters
to crawl, jump, and fly across Hollywood soundstages and take residence
in our consciousness.
Hollywood
Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic is the first book to trace the evolution
of this genre in narrative form, using the voices of the directors, writers,
special-effects artists, and actors who have collaborated on these singular
works of art. The text includes 160 of the most important horror, fantasy,
and science fiction films of the Hollywood studio era. The book does not
seek to critique or analyze these films, but rather to do what has not
been done before, to combine stories of their creation with a visual survey
of their evolution.
This
is the first book to organize the chronology of the American horror film
into four periods. The Gothic treats the films whose horror springs from
the folklore of Central Europe. The Psychic treats the films whose terror
floats on ghostly curtains or bubbles up from the subconscious. The Atomic
treats the films whose horrors were spawned by out-of-control science.
The Cosmic treats the films that import fear from the farthest reaches
of outer space.
This
is the first book to showcase 260 images of horror in an art folio format.
Some of these images are familiar, but they have rarely been reproduced
with such clarity and detail; they have never been presented in the context
of fine art photography. Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic
creates a catalogue of the American horror film, a textual and visual
journey from the Gothic to the cosmic.
HOLLYWOOD HORROR: From Gothic to Cosmic
by Mark A. Vieira
Published by Harry N. Abrams
October 31, 2003
ISBN 0810945355
Price $45.00
BEHIND THE SCENES
UNDEAD
AUTHOR FINISHES MIRACLE BOOK
Does
an author have to experience horror to write about it?
Horror
is the most enduring of all film genres, yet there has never been a definitive
pictorial history of the American horror film. In March 2000, Mark A.
Vieira set out to write a book that would capture all the mystery, power,
and magic of this genre. In November 2003, when Hollywood Horror:
From Gothic to Cosmic was published by Harry N. Abrams, Vieira accomplished
his goal. He also learned more about horror than he ever anticipated,
but not by researching it—by living it.
A
typical baby boomer, Vieira had been fascinated by the horror film since
he was a twelve-year-old eagerly awaiting the next issue of Famous
Monsters of Filmland. After the success of his first two Abrams books,
Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits (1997) and Sin in Soft Focus
(1999), he conceived of a book that would satisfy both horror fans and
art lovers. Hollywood Horror: From Gothic to Cosmic would be
the first narrative history of the American horror film.
On
Monday March 27, 2000, he was flying back from New York, having gotten
most of the photos he needed. He spent the entire flight reading 1920s
articles about horror star Lon Chaney, director Tod Browning, and the
amputation images in their films. The next day, Vieira was walking to
his car following a visit to a West Los Angeles veterinarian. As he was
putting his checkbook into the trunk, a speeding car made an illegal U-turn
and smashed Vieira into his own car.
A
Good Samaritan named Ted Atkins stanched the flow of blood after Vieira
had lost six units, but as he lay on the street, his heart stopped. When
Atkins saw Vieira’s eyes glaze over, he recognized death. At that
moment, the paramedics arrived. They restarted his heart and took him
to the UCLA Medical Center emergency room. Within an hour, the newly “undead”
author was asked to sign his own amputation release. He lost his left
leg, as well as the skin and numerous muscles of his right leg.
A
few days later, he was lying in a hospital bed with a laptop computer
on top of the bed sheets. In a haze of pain, disorientation, and morphine
he had somehow reconciled himself to the senselessness of an auto vs.
pedestrian accident in broad daylight on a safe street in West Los Angeles—and
he was back at work on his book. Friends confided to one another that
it would be a miracle if he ever walked again, let alone wrote a book.
Vieira called his editor, Elisa Urbanelli, and assured her of his resolve.
As
Vieira fought to regain some semblance of a normal life, he experienced
many of the aspects of horror that he saw in the films he was researching.
He learned the horror of looking at the disfigurement of his body—not
only the loss of his left leg but also a permanently bent and mangled
right leg. He learned the horror of pain—morning, noon, and night.
He learned the horror of being helpless in an institution. He learned
the indiscriminate power of drugs. And doctors. And nurses. And caregivers.
He learned the horror of being looked at as if he were a freak. He saw
himself somewhere between Lon Chaney, crawling on the floor to his wheelchair,
and Joan Crawford, spinning around in desperate anguish in her wheelchair.
Most horrifying of all, he saw his own sanity wax and wane, and felt that
he could do nothing about it. He saw himself buried under wet cotton,
unable to breathe or call for help.
He
returned to work in his photographic darkroom less than two months after
the accident, not because he was ready to work or could walk. He had just
learned that he would not receive financial compensation for the permanent
loss of his mobility.. He was confined to a wheelchair and dependent on
the potent painkiller OxyContin. But he had to pay his rent and his bills,
so back to work he went.
Between
sessions of darkroom work and physical therapy, Vieira was able to complete
five chapters and select photographs. Vieira submitted all the photos
in November 2000, then found himself unable to concentrate. “I guess
I shouldn’t expect more than one miracle in a year,” he quipped
as he learned to walk with a prosthesis. By November 2001, two more false
starts had gotten him only as far as Chapter Ten. He left the manuscript
there and spent the next year fighting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
It was during that time that Dr. Yogi Matharu, his physical therapist
at USC, transcribed for him the words of Abraham Lincoln: “If I
had eight hours to chop down a tree, I would spend six hours sharpening
my axe.”
On Halloween 2002, Vieira asked his editor what to do about the book;
he was still feeling poorly. She and Abrams editor-in-chief Eric Himmel
suggested that he rethink the original concept and try to complete the
book as a pictorial history with expanded captions. Once he started writing,
he was unable to contain his fervor—or his word count. The text
became even more expansive than he had originally planned and his lifelong
love of the horror genre breathed life into forty-five years of facts.
Five months later, he had a manuscript rich in detail and impressive in
scope. The project that had almost died on a bloody street in West Los
Angeles was finally finished. “This is my miracle book,” says
Vieira. “It has to be a success. I came back from the dead to finish
it!”
PORTRAITS BY THE AUTHOR
Ron
Chaney
Sara
Karloff
Bela Lugosi