Q & A with Bryan Senn, author of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE OUTRAGEOUS: 1980S HORROR CINEMA
You’ve authored or co-authored books on the 1930s (Golden Horrors), the 1940s (Forties Frights, soon to be released) and the 1960s (Sixties Shockers). Why the 1980s?
Well, I hadn’t covered that decade yet [laughs]. The Eighties was truly a touchstone decade for the horror genre, with droves of films breaking taboos, presenting groundbreaking practical effects, and taking storytelling in wild new directions. The 1980s gave birth to the immensely popular slasher subgenre, the cult of the horror director, the effects artist as rock star, and such outrageous sights as a man cutting off his own hand with a chainsaw and then attaching said saw to his bloody stump; a detached fetus-sucking witch head flying through the night with internal organs dangling from its gory neck; and a reanimated disembodied head giving head! Besides all the batshit-craziness, modern horror moviemakers—like Neil (Descent) Marshall, Leigh (The Invisible Man) Whannell, and Alec (Werewolves) Gillis—still reference and take inspiration from the ‘80s time and again, making its relevance something well worth exploring even four decades later.
Another reason I chose to do a book on the ‘80s is that I lived it. I graduated high school in 1980, so I was in the sticky-floored, gum-coated trenches watching the good, the bad and the outrageous as they arrived on theater and drive-in screens, viewing with wide eyes and slack jaw everything from Demons and Re-Animator to A Chinese Ghost Story and Killer Klowns from Outer Space. So with this book I can bring a more direct—and personal—frame of reference to bear while still aiming for an objective critical perspective.
In your other decade-focused books you provide essays on every single horror film from that decade. Why don’t you cover the ‘80s in the same comprehensive manner?
Well, with over seventeen hundred genre films released from 1980 to 1989, I quickly realized that an all-inclusive approach to Eighties horror was impossible. Such an undertaking would require three-to-four million words, a ten-volume set, and a lifetime to research and write. That left a pick-and-choose approach. So I whittled the list down to a representative sample. Me being me (a completist), however, I do include a hefty, 142-page appendix that not only lists all 1700-plus features by year but provides a brief description/assessment of every ‘80s genre movie.
So you narrowed it down to 88 movies for your essays. Why 88 rather than, say, 75 or 100?
Well, it was the Eighties, you know [laughs], so 88 just seemed a natural. But I really just wanted to give the films I chose the deep-dive coverage they deserved—which meant essays of two-to-three thousand words each. But even with that, the book turned out to be a big one, at over 800 pages and some 270,000 words (most novels are a third that size). So I hope readers will feel they’ve gotten their money’s worth.
With so many to choose from, how on earth did you pick those 88 movies?
It wasn’t easy [laughs], as there are so many great ‘80s horrors. I wanted to offer a representative sampling of the best and most outrageous, and so provide an incisive overview as to how the genre evolved over that innovative and entertaining decade. Accordingly, I include not only the expected heavy hitters like A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist and The Thing, but lesser known but still creditable efforts like Alligator, The Changeling and Dead & Buried, as well as unique obscurities like The Children, The Strangeness and Tales from the Third Dimension that comprise the most engaging the ‘80s had to offer.
Your title claims you cover “The Good, the Bad and the Outrageous.” Why would you include “the Bad?”
As I indicate in the book, my feeling is that the only truly “bad” movie is a boring one. Here I use the term “Bad” (cue the air quotes) to denote those that maybe don’t have the best objective qualities—production values, acting, and so forth—but bring to the table some unique sensibilities that make it not only stand out from the cinematic crowd but make it highly entertaining. This would include films like Boardinghouse, Forbidden World, and Microwave Massacre.
Do you focus mainly on American films, or do you go global?
It’s a big world out there, with a number of different nations boasting thriving film industries. I love to travel, to explore, and to learn about other cultures, so it’s only natural that I do the same with cinema. I include movies from a variety of far-flung lands—from England to Egypt, from Holland to Hong Kong, from Italy to Indonesia—right alongside the myriad American productions.
So are these essays mostly synopsis, critique, history, or anecdotes?
All of the above, though with focus on the latter three. I keep my synopses brief (about a paragraph) and don’t give away the plot’s surprises—I hate that—so that readers who haven’t seen the film can fully enjoy the element of discovery. I realize that most everyone interested in the book will be familiar with the likes of An American Werewolf in London, Friday the 13th and The Fly, but perhaps not Attack of the Beast Creatures, Lady Terminator, or even Motel Hell. But the bulk of each essay covers the film’s production, historical context and personnel, usually with direct quotes from same. And, of course, it’ll offer an in-depth critique of the movie’s thematics and artistic merits, not to mention its WTF quotient. I tried hard to focus on the ‘fun factor’ since, let’s face it, 1980s horror is simply loaded with fun.
Fun is great, but do you also tackle the weightier issues and themes of the decade?
Oh yes. I’m a big proponent of the notion that cinema reflects the values and anxieties of its time, with horror often focusing on the latter. The 1980s has been labeled the “Greed Is Good” decade, and I explore this concept and how “Reaganomics” was reflected in the horror genre (the poster child being John Carpenter’s They Live). Also, the decade’s backwards-looking “Family Values” movement and its dichotomous nature—conservatism vs. excess—was a great influencer on cinema in general and the horror genre in particular.
What else that’s specific to the 1980s do you focus on?
Well, the ‘80s saw the advent of home video, which affected the industry as a whole, and greatly expanded and changed the trajectory of the horror genre. Likewise, the ‘80s saw the changing of the guard regarding its horror icons, when Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Mummy and the Wolfman gave way to the likes of Michael, Jason, Freddy and Pinhead. Also, horror had historically fixated on its primary actors (Karloff, Lugosi, Cushing, Lee, etc.), whereas by the ‘80s the genre’s stars were now the directors (Romero, Carpenter, Cronenberg, Fulci, etc.). This proved a more comprehensive focus that fascinatingly played right into the auteur theory of filmmaking.
You mentioned the “fun factor”—what about ‘80s horror makes it so enjoyable?
Many things. You’ll have to read the book to discover all of them [laughs]. But the decade saw a number of mainstream comedy hits like Airplane!, Caddyshack and Porky’s strike box-office gold. Horror makers took notice and successfully grafted comedy (sometimes blacker-than-pitch) onto their horror scenarios in movies like Gremlins, Night of the Creeps, Return of the Living Dead and Toxic Avenger—all exceedingly fun films. Additionally, a lot of features—particularly American independents and foreign horrors—went for sheer outrageousness, bolstered by innovations in special effects. Indeed, it’s all about “the Good, the Bad and the Outrageous”!