September 12, 2017
It’s Alive! at the PEM

It’s Alive!
Classic Horror and Sci-Fi Posters
From the Kirk Hammett Collection

Peabody Essex Mueseum, Salem, MA
Through November 26, 2017

Can the horrible be beautiful?

Certainly, for Kirk Hammett, the horrible has an allure. Hammett, lead guitarist for Metallica, has a horror and sci-fi memorabilia and merchandising collection numbering in the thousands. Some 125-plus items are on view at the PEM.

Scary movies with monsters and aliens have found willing viewers for going on 100 years. And while offshoots, like the toy robots exhibited here, have a simple, intrinsic appeal, it is 20th-century movie posters that comprise the bulk of the show and the highlights.

These posters, in many cases, really are beautiful.

In a museum context they obviously act not as promotional material for the movies but as works of art—and they do not disappoint. Hammett himself, in remarks at a press event at the PEM, emphasized the romantic aspects seen in the poster for The Mummy (1932), for example, and the illustrative, narrative emphasis used to give a prospective viewer an idea of what they might see in the film. (Let no one doubt Hammett knows his stuff.)

The typically anonymous artists who created these striking horror poster designs had trained in the art of lithography, using expert technique to elicit a strong emotional response from theater patrons. Compared to typical printing of the same period (first half of the 20th Century) in sheet music, comic books and strips, or magazines, these movie posters burst with color and detail. They rival even current printed media, through larger dimensions, strong design, and extraordinary color, creating a visual heft not found in the “cooler” design sense (and cheaper production methods) of today.

They also contrast with modern art of their era—reflected by posters for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), a work of German Experssionism, and Metropolis (1927), influenced by the rise in mechanization and automation, which stand apart here.

Beyond the posters are examples of original magazine artwork by Basil Gogos and Frank Frazetta, familiar to anyone who grew up with the 1960’s and 70’s output of Warren Publications, especially Famous Monsters of Filmland. (Though there are a few other original artworks, each related to a specific poster in the exhibit.) This is a reminder of the renewed interest in 1920-50’s horror and sci-fi when old films were repackaged and sold to television, creating new fans (like Kirk Hammett).

These amazing posters are perhaps more likely to get a favorable response from today’s audience than the films they advertise. The images still work today.

This you can now see for yourself. But, if a North Shore resident, make your visit before October. This will be one of the hottest tickets in town during Halloween.

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September 6, 2014
Mobile & Stabile

My review of the excellent new Alexander Calder show at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA: http://t.co/DOOdcsGwBM

November 23, 2011
Hairy Moon Rising

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A clumsy title, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, is matched by an inelegant scenario. In this film we bounce from lab to lab, and from lab to cage and back; fine actors like Brian Cox have nearly nothing to do; John Lithgow, as scientist James Franco’s Alzheimer patient dad, never gets the chance to make the impression Lithgow surely could.

Yet it’s an okay time killer, fast, about 90 minutes, without major missteps or outright stupidity. The predictable bits (Draco Malfoy abuses our ape hero, Caesar, and gets what’s coming to him before the end) are satisfying in their B-movie-ness. There are some nice touches as well, like naming an orangutan Maurice (one of several tips to the 1968 original.)

It is Caesar that makes the movie better than expected. As embodied by Andy Serkis in what has become his specialty - emoting for benefit of motion capture cameras, to be finished by a veneer of CGI - Caesar makes a convincing journey from bright young chimp to moody “teen” primate to combative ape. Caesar/Serkis’s scenes - helping Lithgow remember which end of a fork is which, and using his smarts to survive among hostile apes even as he plots their escape from captivity - are the best in the movie. (Of course, his character’s arc is the arc of the film.)

I’m not a fan of CGI, to put it mildly. It’s a tool that is too often abused. But in combination with Serkis in an appropriate role, the tool does its job. I’m surprised at myself for saying this, but Andy Serkis should be nominated for best actor at the Oscars, hairy CGI ass and all.

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November 11, 2011
Lucking In

I’ll be following my online fellows and reading James Wolcott’s Lucking Out very soon. The Amazon fairy conspired with the USPS mail carrier to wing a copy my way. Even now it waits on the shelf, wondering when the hell I’m gonna get cracking. But I’ve got one other book in progress and must finish that first. I’m a one-book-at-a-time guy. Though recently, I found myself reading several titles which, for me, means not reading several titles. Hence the necessity of polishing those off in turn like the victims in Ten Little Indians - with just the one left.

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