Guillermo Del Toro

To avoid the obvious data stream you can find on imdb or Wikipedia. I want to attempt to try and better understand the man himself,
Director Guillermo Del Toro has long been regarded as a contemporary Master of Horror and has been influential in the genre of Sci-fi and fantasy. This is mainly because he excels richly at providing an eerie palette for mood and atmosphere to his varied film creations and his connection with monsters. He has stated in numerous interviews that he feels most at home when he is surrounded by his monsters. So let’s begin there, Del Toro was born in Guadalajara, Mexico,  

Growing up as a child he found the monsters in pulp cinema magazines liberating and has called them the “immense minority”; one that was not evil as they are perceived to be, but outcasts from society, where he found pathos to them that he could empathize.

Angel of Death - Hellboy (2008)

Del Toro has been quoted as referring to them as the patron saints of misfits; outcasts from paradise. He goes on to define two poles of art, one that celebrates’ mankind as god’s greatest creation and the other as abandoned children or monsters. Monsters represent an image of humanity itself, the imperfection of the human condition; they are shown to us as a twisted reflection like a funhouse mirror, and within that reflection there are aspects of one’s self you don’t normally see. “The creation of a monster is to shock and provide horror, but in the process they define and complete us. And it has been this way for all of human history, because in one form or another monsters have constantly been with us”. A key example of that train of thought, is  Del Toro has a life size replica of the 1931’s Frankenstein with the young girl Maria. Near the end of the movie the monster meets a child by a pond.” They throw daises into the water, but when they ran out of flowers, the monster tosses her in. He realizes his mistake, but it’s too late Maria has drowned”.  As in Del Toro’s own films the fables and fairy tales he admires; Frankenstein does not protect its young or innocent characters from violence, tragedy or death.

Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, was a creature created purposely by man, in his pursuit of knowledge, to which distinguishes him from every other creature associated in the horror genre. As he represents man’s pursuit for immortality through science; the creature’s only sin was being brought into a world that doesn’t except him.

Del Toro’s films’ often reflects his own emotional memories of his childhood. Like being bullied by classmates, or being subjected to his grandmother’s repressive interpretation of Catholicism – she exorcised him twice by putting metal bottle caps in his shoes as a form of penance. It was also around the age of seven or eight, when he saw his first ever dead body.  It was on the side of the road, and rather than witnessing the macabre, he saw the fragile state of the human condition, and  its connection to nature, being almost symbiotic and beautifully connected.

 Guillermo Del Toro is an ever evolving artistic human being, His early career films were Spanish speaking films of Cronos, Devil’s Backbone, and Pan’s Labyrinth, the latter won him 3 Oscars, for Cinematography, Art Direction and Make-up. And it was Pan’s Labyrinth that catapulted him to the populist Hollywood production with Blade II,  Hellboy films, Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, and most recently the 13 Oscar nominated film The Shape of Water (see next blog). If you look at Tim Burton’s humble beginnings he was an animator with Disney. To this day, Burton completes a fully comprehensive storyboard to all his film projects, Del Toro also follows suit. In Guillermo’s own words, it provides “a coding of the film before starting a project. Storyboarding serves as a running dialogue with himself and amongst his department heads, to show ideas behind a monster or a piece of wardrobe”. 

In 2017 Del Toro ran an exhibit called At Home with monster that debuted in Los Angeles in 2016  and toured in Minnesota and Toronto in 2017. It showcased his Bleak House, a Victorian Era reference to his home of personal collections. In it we learn over the span of his film making career Del Toro has collected an array of art, that includes film props and sculptures, artifacts, specimens, paintings,  drawings, literatures in novels, poems, magazines, and comics.  These are physical representative things he has systematically cultivated to inspire him.  When he begins to research or prepare a new project he tries to absorb as much as he can, from the art of the time, to its religion, history and literature of the time, and so forth. His bleak house is composed of several libraries, and each room differs in its theme. He has a Victorian Era room called the Dickens Room, filled thousands of novels of that era, with paintings and sculptures

Of that period, there you’ll find all the works of Charles Dickens; it is also the room in which Guillermo Del Toro wrote his 9^th film, Crimson Peak, his first fully realized period piece, a film that was set in a Victorian era.  Though he crafts his films with intent to not fully render what we see as CGI, he feels the need that there is an actual actor playing that ghost or each character, so we can see the imperfection and details in movement and interaction, as well as some mistakes, in his words “you can never capture those subtle nuances in a controlled world”.  

Though he understands and appreciates the incredible ease of digital technology and how it plays in today’s film making to which he does embrace.

Cronos  (1993)

Hellboy's arsenal

  Artist he admired was Jack Kirby, though his medium was comic books Del Toro felt he never held back, he was one of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century; “Kirby was completely contained within his work”. He was also heavily influenced by Hitchcock and Fellini; Fellini did films in black and White and in color using a vibrant palette or neorealist tones so to have the point of having the color tell the story.  In Del Toro’s first film Cronos he patterned the movie after the colors of the alchemist process of black, red white and gold, and used elements of fire and water. “The great goal of the alchemist is to make vile matter into transcendent matter – the purist matter, that’s basically what I do with everything I love: comic books or Vinyl toys. I try to sublimate them”.   In regards to color specifically, Del Toro has stated he uses it carefully. To him Red comes with a radioactive warning, there isn’t a movie where he uses it casually, he gives it specific meaning.  In Pacific Rim blue is the color of memories, red is the color of life. In Hellboy, red was only with characters or objects associated with the Hellboy’s character, and in Crimson Peak red became the color of the past, and of sin & secrets.

Horror Film Review #12

Mom and Dad

Written and Directed by Brian Taylor,  one-half  of the directing Team of Neveldine and Taylor. The guys who brought you both the Crank films, Gamer, and both Ghost Rider movies that starred Nicolas Cage. Taylor originally had a singular idea; of "What if your parents really wanted to kill you", and within 2-3 years flushed out a fully conceived story, Mom and Dad finally made it's film debut at the 2017's Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness Screening, as the film was characterized as a black comedy/horror film. 

The actual theatrical released version is very subdued all the real violence that lends to gore are  implied and is never seen on camera. However, it was given an R-rating  for disturbing horror violence, language throughout, some sexual content/nudity and teen drug use. 

The Premise: Parents one day across the country are given the uncontrollable desire and instinct to savagely kill their own children, and hold a completely innocuous relationship with everyone  else they come in contact with.  It seems the flickering of a television signal that displays snow or dead air on the screen triggers this sudden behavior.  In Hitchcockian terms its a McGuffin or red herring , or in JJ Abrams terms a mystery box, that gives this film its plot device, but the writer/director does not really care on what the source or mystery is  really all about.  It is up to the viewer to devise our own conclusion, as hints and suggestions are peppered throughout the story from news outlets, Expert Tv panels and Dr. Oz, giving us possible ideas and reasons.  Nicolas Cage & Selma Blair play the title roles, Cage seems tailored for his character as Brent the father who skirts the line of manic to loving to gonzo insane at a drop of a hat. Brian Taylor adds to the intrigue by showing us levels of the infection, from a mother's desire to kill her new born infant, to visiting grandparents wanting to kill their own children, but love  their Grandchildren, and signs within the animal kingdom from birds and squirrels killing their offspring.

Similar films to which Mom and Dad follow in the footsteps are Hitchcock's the Birds, Stephen King's Maximum Overdrive, and M. Night's The Happening.  Arguably a little bit more polished than the latter examples; Mom and Dad ends slightly open ended, and given the movie's description, which implies that the kids need to survive 24 hours. There is no exposition or reason for the suggested timeframe nor does it seem to hold itself to any definitive rules.  Each primary character displays flaws or traits that deem them worthy of a scolding, while secondary characters like the boyfriend  are treated as appetizer to the main course of  insanity.  The film is palatable but not memorable, while trying to give a unique character study to dissociative motivations.

Horror Film Review #11

IT

Undeniably one of author Stephen King’s better big screen adaptation. IT; next to the academy nominated film Get Out has ushered in a respectful appreciation to the horror/thriller genre for a more mainstream general audience. Gaining much critical praise as well as raking in millions of dollars at the box office.  IT:Chapter one is a call back to the original 1981 novel and aspects to the 1990 two part TV mini-series. Improving on the written ending of the novel where Bill the leader of the losers club faces off against pennywise by performing the Ritual of Chud and entering the Macroverse.

Alan Moore's Watchman

Writer Alan Moore had a similar insane climax with an alien invasion conspiracy becoming the set-up for the end of Watchman’s graphic novel. The plot
device of two pieces of silver dollar chunks was not used in this movie, but the theme of children banding together as a team to defeat an evil, is universal in each and every incarnation.

The Dark Tower

 The connections with IT, and other of King’s film properties has shown up, in The Dark Tower  movie for example, The film had a nod to Pennywise in a very brief scene of a desolated and ravaged playground; and with multiple of parallels with characters of both the losers club and the older teen bullies existing in Stand by Me. In the novel IT, Pennywise is first introduced to Georgie by calling himself Mr. Bob Gray.  Mr. Gray was the name of alien antagonist in the movie Dreamcatcher. Conversely in the Dreamcatcher novel our main characters come across a spray painted sign saying Pennywise, as Dreamcatcher takes places in the town of Derry, Maine, and Bill and his friends are nearing 27/30 year reunion mark to re-face Pennywise for their final confrontation; in that timeline. To see how more crossover and inter-woven stories exist watch the series Castle Rock, the Stephen King new landmark series. Bill Skarsgard plays a Shawshank prisoner.

With the implementing of today’s special effects into the make up and action sequences; Bill Skarsgard’s Pennywise gives this version more menace than the iconic Tim Curry creation.  Those who panned or criticized the television re-imagination of IT from the novel, did not give a bad review of Curry’s portrayal, Skarsgard was smart, to go a different path, giving this clown certain facial tics and mannerisms that set him apart from Curry’s portrayal.  In the first 15 minutes of this movie a vicious dramatic tone was set and the atmosphere and drama did not relent.

The Premise: Several kids band together to face an ancient evil that has plague Derry, Maine. Every 27 years  begins the killing of many children underneath a mystical shroud covering over all the unassuming adults from seeing the truth. Pennywise the clown can invade a child's thoughts, and manifest their own worst fears against them as he picks off a child/teen one at a time. The last stand transpires in a place called the Barrens, where these seven kids must face their fears and stop IT before he kills again.

The cast of children who play the losers club are phenomenal, Sophia Lillis who plays Beverly Marsh is only 15 years old, but is surprisingly sophisticated for the layered levels of maturity she displays; she does bare a striking resemblance to actress Amy Adams, and that has not gone unnoticed as she plays a younger version of the actress in this summer’s  HBO series Sharp Objects.  The movie also closely resembles the Netflix series Stranger Things and their amazing cast;  No surprise that Finn Wolfhard from Stranger Things aka  Mike Wheeler, plays Richie in this movie a Pubescent  13 year old with a lewd vocabulary.

Note: No reflection of the Eyes

Within 9 days of the movie's release, confirmation of Chapter Two became official and its set to hit theatres in September 2019. Our film began in 1989/90 and concludes present day. Giving an adult take a with very modern coat of paint and interpretation of the story. No word of casting besides the return of Bill Skarsgard  and Jackson Robert Scott as little Georgie. Pennywise’s first shown victim.  If the TV movie is an indication of what to expect, the fallout of the chapter two will be just as good and fulfilling as the first.