Post by naterdawg on Feb 21, 2017 1:38:52 GMT
The "horror hag" cycle has always intrigued me. Basically, most of the films that fall into that category are tragedies--not really horror films at all.
Check these out:
(1) In "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane," we learn that Jane (Bette Davis) has suffered guilt all her adult life for something she never really did.
(2) In "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," Charlotte (like Jane) lives under a cloud of guilt and suspicion. In the conclusion, it's revealed that she suffered all that time for nothing.
(3) In "The Nanny," Nanny is portrayed as an off-kilter antithesis of Mary Poppins. Not only does she polish tabletops and cook dinner, she drowns her charges. But when the backstory is revealed as to how Nanny became twisted, it's actually quite tragic...even the shocking conclusion has a sad coda attached.
(4) In "What's the Matter with Helen," poor guilt-ridden Helen (Shelley Winters) slowly goes insane because she'd (a) killed her abusive husband in a farming "accident" and (b) her son is also a murderer. She slowly drifts into psychosis and in the end, snaps completely...again, in a very tragic manner.
(5) Die! Die, My Darling!" Poor Mrs. Trefoile (Talullah Bankhead) is a religious fanatic living in seclusion with her three servants. She proceeds to torment and torture Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers), who she sees as her dead son's "betrothed." But there's one very sad, very telling scene involving Bankhead after her character has murdered the handyman. She stumbles to her room, falls into bed sobbing, then--in a fit of defiance to her moralistic standards--gets up and rushes to her closet. There, Mrs. Trefoile finds some liquor, gobbles it down, then proceeds to put on lipstick while looking in a hand mirror. It's too much--she breaks down completely, sobbing for Stephen (her son) not to "look at me!" Bankhead is effective and touching in this scene--so it's difficult to see Mrs. Trefoile as a monster.
(6) "Strait-Jacket." Lucy Harbin (Joan Crawford) is a small town floozy who hacks her husband to death, along with his trollup. She spends the next twenty years in an asylum for that fit of jealousy...and when Lucy's released and returned to her daughter's care, strange decapitations start taking place. Is it Lucy? Or someone else? The concluding unveiling isn't much of a shock, but again, Lucy is portrayed as a sympathetic, tragic character.
So why are these movies considered "horror films," when they're really just tragic melodramas?
Check these out:
(1) In "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane," we learn that Jane (Bette Davis) has suffered guilt all her adult life for something she never really did.
(2) In "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," Charlotte (like Jane) lives under a cloud of guilt and suspicion. In the conclusion, it's revealed that she suffered all that time for nothing.
(3) In "The Nanny," Nanny is portrayed as an off-kilter antithesis of Mary Poppins. Not only does she polish tabletops and cook dinner, she drowns her charges. But when the backstory is revealed as to how Nanny became twisted, it's actually quite tragic...even the shocking conclusion has a sad coda attached.
(4) In "What's the Matter with Helen," poor guilt-ridden Helen (Shelley Winters) slowly goes insane because she'd (a) killed her abusive husband in a farming "accident" and (b) her son is also a murderer. She slowly drifts into psychosis and in the end, snaps completely...again, in a very tragic manner.
(5) Die! Die, My Darling!" Poor Mrs. Trefoile (Talullah Bankhead) is a religious fanatic living in seclusion with her three servants. She proceeds to torment and torture Patricia Carroll (Stefanie Powers), who she sees as her dead son's "betrothed." But there's one very sad, very telling scene involving Bankhead after her character has murdered the handyman. She stumbles to her room, falls into bed sobbing, then--in a fit of defiance to her moralistic standards--gets up and rushes to her closet. There, Mrs. Trefoile finds some liquor, gobbles it down, then proceeds to put on lipstick while looking in a hand mirror. It's too much--she breaks down completely, sobbing for Stephen (her son) not to "look at me!" Bankhead is effective and touching in this scene--so it's difficult to see Mrs. Trefoile as a monster.
(6) "Strait-Jacket." Lucy Harbin (Joan Crawford) is a small town floozy who hacks her husband to death, along with his trollup. She spends the next twenty years in an asylum for that fit of jealousy...and when Lucy's released and returned to her daughter's care, strange decapitations start taking place. Is it Lucy? Or someone else? The concluding unveiling isn't much of a shock, but again, Lucy is portrayed as a sympathetic, tragic character.
So why are these movies considered "horror films," when they're really just tragic melodramas?
