How did you go about putting Monsters In The Movies together?
They all said, Your five best, your ten best.
I hate those kinds of books.
The ten best, the 50 best I think theyre bullshit.
Because movies arent comparable in that way, you know?
I thought, I dont wanna write about horror films.
But then I was approached by someone named Loretta Dives.
She runs the Kobal Collection, which is the largest collection of motion picture stills in the world.
And she said, Do you want to do a picture book?
And I was like, what do I want to do a picture book for?
But thats why its calledMonsters In The Movies,because I love that subject.
And so it doesnt limit itself to horror at all its science fiction, fantasy, Bunuel, Fellini.
There are about 75 in there that have never been published before, so its great.
Well probably do another edition in a year or two.
Oh God, yes.
Theres an early shot in the book, of Frankensteins monster looking in through the window.
Its a beautiful photograph.
you might show that to aborigines and theyll recognise it.
And Karloffs performance is extraordinary.
Its a vulnerable character.
There are so many monsters that are, in fact, the victim.
One thing that it reminded me, was that monsters are often scariest when theyre humanoid shaped.
People can get their heads around that better.
Sometimes, when they get these really far-out monsters, they just dont work.
With CG you could do all kinds of crazy things.
Its happening more and more.
Well, he does some pretty out-there things, you know?
And he knows how to blend effects so well.
And thats how you should do it.
Do you think CG has a tendency to be overused, where monsters are concerned?
Well yeah its over-used, but its just a tool, like colour, sound, cinemascope.
Theyre just tools, and CG, if used correctly the CG inPans Labyrinthwas just fantastic.
Its a question of balance in how its used.
And I looked at them, and I said, Did you likeToy Story?
Oh, it was great.
Did you likeTerminator 2?
Did you likeJurassic Park?
So what are you talking about?
Overused is a good word.
I think that were sick of it at this stage.
But were not of CG, were just sick of the same shit.
Were tired of it.
On the topic of filmmakers, I enjoyed your interviews in the book.
Thats why I dont call them interviews, because I can challenge them.
I can say, Youre full of shit!
And theyre all very smart, interesting people.
Or Ray Harryhausen, who said his creatures were not monsters.
I liked David Cronenbergs insistence that the Seth Brundle character inThe Flywasnt a mad scientist.
He wouldnt accept that.
I was like, Well, youre wrong, David.
The whole thing with mad scientists and doctors is that theyre so conservative.
Its the classic, There are some things man wasnt supposed to mess with.
Dont fuck with God.
And David was going, What?
I dont believe it!
And I was saying, Tough!
Thats what you did!
Hes such a smart guy.
It struck me that, like you said, that its a conservative attitude…
Its a conservative genre.
Doctor Frankenstein, Doctor Moreau, Doctor Jekyll.
They all end badly.
Its like Galileo and the church.
These people are the church!
But as an artist, you should question things, shouldnt you?
Very few movies are pro-science.Things To Comeis pro-science.
I thought Joe Dante was a great in the book, too.
His line about monsters being metaphors.
Its like John Carpenter said about Dracula, hes in an aristocrat sucking the blood of peasants.
Its surprising, isnt it, that we havent seen a post-financial crisis Dracula movie yet.
So many of these zombie movies are about the collapse of social order.
Thats what theyre about, and thats whats happening.
Thats why theyre so prevalent now, and thats why well see more and more of them.
Brad Pitts doingWorld War Zright now, which is something like a $200 million zombie movie.
Its surprising how much money theyre willing to throw at it…
Its because theyre popular.
Last night, 700,000 people around the world were dancing toThriller, dressed as zombies.
Its how we deal with death.
What do you think the subtext is in the current generation of monster films?
Well, it depends on which one.
The Mormon vampires inTwilight thats about abstinence.
That is a strange one.
Its like were living in a more conservative time than we have for more than two decades.
Well, its more reactionary than ever, absolutely.
Why do you think that is?
I think were scared to death.
The more conservative people are, the more frightened they are, because they have the most to lose.
They see everything as a threat, and these movies depict that anxiety.
Look how many end-of-the-world movies there are right now zombie apocalypse fiction.
And also alien invasion movies.
Well thats because we scared, you know?
Literally aliens coming in.
You go to any restaurant in London right now, and everyones Polish.
Its like the Hispanics in the United States.
Thats like I say about monsters they only come from two places: the outside and the inside.
I think there may have been as many alien invasion movies recently as an equivalent year in the 50s.
I think there must have been more in the 50s, with the communist era.
I mean, how many alien invasion movies have there been recently?
TheresBattleshipnext year.Pacific Rim…
Ah,Pacific Rim.Is that aliens?
I know its giant robots.
Its giant robots and giant monsters.
I think the assumption is that its an alien invasion movie, but I may be wrong.
I told Guillermo to change the title, because it sounds like a Tahitian porno.Pacific Rim.
[Laughs] But youre right, youre absolutely right.
There have been an awful lot of alien invasion movies.
Its because were scared.
You mentioned earlier aboutWorld War Zcosting so much money.
Why do you think Hollywoods sinking so much money into genre pictures?
I think there are many reasons.
I mean, there are economic reasons.
But one, theres piracy, and two, theres technology, and three, marketing.
So,Cowboys & Aliens.These high concept movies.
Another alien invasion movie.
But they tend to be stupid.
Many people point toStar WarsandJawsas the beginning of the end, because those were B-pictures made with A-budgets.
Aliens just a cold dark house movie in outer space.
Its a remake ofIt!
The Terror From Beyond Space, it really is.
The movie that I thought was brilliant wasAliens, the sequel.
He knew he wasnt going to compete with the original, so he made a big action movie.
Which is so great.
Thats a wonderful movie.
I still think one of the best sci-fi movies isTerminator 2.
Terminators fine, butTerminator 2is so imaginative, and it was the first time we saw that CG morphing.
It was like, Woah!
when he came up from the linoleum floor.
That was so great.
But youre not keen onAlien?
I thinkAliens good, I just dont think its special.
Its very beautifully made, and I love Harry Dean Stanton.
Its difficult for younger audiences to appreciate how shocking it was at the time, perhaps.
Well, thats true ofPsychofor instance.
That film was so shocking at the time.
Its still a powerful picture, but now its lost… whenever anythings radical like that… People were horrified by it.
I remember being so terrified by it when I was younger that I couldnt watch it all.
It was only when I was about 14 that I saw it properly.
[Mixture of surprise and bemusement] Who showed it to you?
It was on TV.
I just stayed late and watched it.
But as you say, the passage of time often erodes the shock value of films.
Most films arent as shocking or even as funny as they are when you first see them.
Have you seenIsland Of Lost Souls?
Criterion have just restored it.
I just showed it to BFI.
And that movie, I think, is really creepy.
Do you think its inevitable that monster movies eventually go down a B-movie path?
It happened with the Universal monsters, and it happened withJawsandAlientoo.
Sure, thats true of everything.
The James Bond movies became comedies with Roger Moore.
Now theyre serious again.
Its hard to keep going back to the same well.
What do you think about the current appetite for remakes in Hollywood?
I have no problem with the concept of remakes.
People forget thatThe Thing,or David CronenbergsThe Flyare remakes, and those are both brilliant.
And the original movies are good, too, so Im not opposed to them.
People forget thatThe Wizard Of Ozwas a remake.
But theyre usually not as good.
The difficulty lies in bringing something new to it, I suppose.
How many times have they done Hamlet?
If somethings got a good story, it can be done countless times, and countless ways.
There are some movies that are so special that even the concept of them is offensive.
Is there anything youd like to remake?
The book itself is so horrific.
And very current, because of genetic research and all that.
What are your views on 3D movies, which seems to be a little on the wane now?
3D again, is just a tool.
The real reason theyre doing 3D now is so they can charge you more money.
I mean, its blatant.
The question is, what does it bring to these movies?
The answer is usually nothing.
Did you seeDespicable Me?
That was really clever use of 3D.
But most movies are still just sticking stuff in the camera.
But Ive got nothing against it, as a technology I think its fine.
Im curious to see how Scorsese does it inHugo.
Its quite complicated, but we just read it.
Do you think 3D breaks that link between the viewer and the screen, sometimes?
Its fatiguing for one thing, because of those glasses.
But you rarely see it in the optimum surroundings.
Its like Dolby its often fucked up, because the sound isnt always right.
And Im spoiled I grew up in Los Angeles, where all the films are well presented.
William Friedkin famously said, Only the projectionist has final cut.
So youve gotMonsters In The Movies,and youve got another edition on the way, possibly.
Is there anything else youd be interested in writing about?
I was actually asked to write another book, this one on comedy film.
But the problem is, these monster pictures are interesting in themselves.
Its difficult to describe that stuff.
But this book was a real labour of love for me, and I enjoyed writing it.
It took something like three months to write this book.
I was worried that no one would read it, but would just look at the pictures!
Would you consider writing about your years as a stuntman, and your way into making films?
Its hard to think of myself as the subject of an autobiography.
I just read Nile Rodgers autobiography, and I enjoyed it very much.
And he just wrote an autobiography, and I was like, Really?
Simon Pegg just wrote an autobiography.
Its crazy hes so young!
So what about filmmaking?
Im doing a little monster movie in Paris next year.
Can you tell me anything about that?
I dont want to.
So whats happening withThe Rivals?
The RivalsI was supposed to make, and then the money just fell apart.
I was really disappointed, because I liked that script very much.
And it had such wonderful actors, you know?
I dont know whats happening, candidly.
So the monster movie, will that come out next year, or are you just shooting next year?
I dont know if itll come out in 2012, but Ill be making it in 2012!
John Landis, thank you very much
