Modern America Under Attack
The question presents itself: Why are movies like this so popular right now? Why did audiences prefer the dark, grisly elements of Seven (1995) to the more conventional entertainments it shouldered aside at the box office? Why is Copycat, with its reminders of Silence of the Lambs (1991), so effective? Evil has always been a source of fascination in the movies, and I suspect that as our fear grows, so does our curiosity: Movies like these are a safe way to vicariously meet our fears, and exorcise them." - Roger Ebert on Copycat (1995) As Monster hit our screens last Monday, critics jumped at the chance to draw tenuous comparisons with Badlands and In Cold Blood, those classic films about serial killers that director Patty Jenkins frequently name-drops. As the film appears at the height of a new spate of films about serial killers and mass-murderers, such a classic sprinkling of influences should set it apart. In actual fact, Monster has much more in common with Gus Van Sant's Elephant and Nick Broomfield's Aileen: Life and Death of A Serial Killer, and is as much a reflection of 21st Century America as either of those films. The serial killer has dominated both British and American screens of late, but with totally different approaches. In Britain, you can't seem to turn the TV on without coming across some new drama series about murder. Every new series seems to be about a mass of mounting bodies, a faceless killer and the police drawing closer and closer. Murder is certainly on the agenda at the moment, and it is often used as a symbol, reflecting danger lurking at the heart of the metropolis, or the otherwise 'safe' suburbia or countryside. Our houses or communities are not as safe as we thought and it's up to the police and investigators to expose the darkness that lies at the heart of Britain and eliminate the threat it poses. We've had our fair share of serial killers and violent murders that have dominated the media, but, unlike America , we never come close to any psychological exploration. The so-called "Camden Ripper", Harold Shipman, the Wests and Myra Hindley are just a few cases to note, and occasionally one will end up on a late-night documentary telling us everything we could have read in the papers. Mostly, however, these cases are forgotten about. Rather than deal with specific instances of evil, British television represents this evil implicitly in caricatures; those badly defined psychotic lunatics that lurk in the shadows. What is important is the threat they pose, not their fidelity to reality. And, importantly, we have those individuals there to restore the community to a safe place. British TV, then, is doing now exactly what the Americans did in late Seventies and throughout the Eighties, exploring the evil that threatens every stable family and community, as portrayed in films such as Halloween (1978) and A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984). The Americans, however, like to do it differently these days. They tackle evil face to face. Everyone knows Aileen Wuornos's face and everyone knows what she's done - and the film Monster is there to remind us. And there's no getting away from the fact that Elephant was inspired by Columbine High School massacre, along with the copycat killings that followed. It's no surprise, in such a climate of honesty, that two of the most popular documentaries in recent years have been about, or at least approached, the subject of mass-murderers and serial killers in America: namely, Aileen and Bowling For Columbine. Aileen Wuornos was by no means America's first female serial killer, as is frequently claimed, with Amy Gilligan, Terri Rachels and Jane Toppan all preceding her. Yet Wuornos is the one in the spotlight. So why is America now facing up to that most horrific and sadistic crime? The answer probably lies in Roger Ebert's quote above. The serial killer has always represented something rotten and evil at the heart of a stable community that threatens to disrupt everyday life. The serial killer preys on innocent victims; representing the fragile nature of everyday American life. After 9/11 the idea that America was under attack, and that anyone could be the next victim was an overriding fear. By bringing us face to face with such a human threat, these films are forcing America to face up to the climate of fear that has dominated the American media and revealing the instability of American society. Many horror films and all serial killer films tap into a wider climate of fear and instability, in one way or another. Only now, the films are intimately linked to true events. Other films based on true events, such as The Silence of the Lambs, Badlands or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre distanced themselves morally from the killers, while at the same time bringing us as close as possible to the subject. This generation of films, however, adopt a post-modern approach, in which the serial killers are not merely evil incarnate. The audience is forced to look at the characters with neither cynicism nor sympathy, but to realise that they are involved intimately in the process of interpretation, just as much as the directors are. Serial killers are no longer symbols of evil; they are human beings that demand the process of interpretation. Evil now exists with a human face. The Changing Faces of America 's Serial Killers Badlands (1973, Terrence Malick) Based on the real-life killing spree of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate in 1958. Starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as the simple, naïve couple killing people trying to catch them as they travel across America. The couple are always observed objectively and without passion. What happens just happens. This film became the seminal lovers-on-the-run film that has frequently been compared to Monster because of its subject matter. This film is colder, more painful to watch and has much more to say about the empty, violent landscape of America that breeds such characters. This film was about those characters trying to connect to the world, but instead wreaking havoc on it. Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer (1990, John McNaughton) Based on the life of mass murderer Henry Lee Lucas, the film follows Michael Rooker in the title role and roommate Tom Towles as they terrorise and murder various citizens of Chicago. The Silence of the Lambs (1991, Jonathan Demme) Anthony Hopkins is the serial killer Hannibal The Cannibal that Jodie Foster enlists for help in catching Buffalo Bill, a serial killer who likes to skin his victims. A seminal film that brings the audience face to face with Hannibal Lecter, the character of Thomas Harris's Red Dragon and subject of films Hannibal and Red Dragon . Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story (1992, Peter Levin) Long before Monster, Jean Smart was the prostitute killing her clients after one of them turned violent. The making of this film was one of the central issues dealt with in Nick Broomfield's documentary Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer, in which it was alleged that police signed over the rights for the film before catching Wuornos. Kalifornia (1993, Dominic Sena) David Duchovny and Michelle Forbes advertise for a couple to share their driving on a trip to California. Big mistake, as serial killer Brad Pitt and girlfriend Juliette Lewis answer the ad. Takes the conventions of killer-in-our-midst films and uses them to create a genuine sense of fear. We know from the beginning that Pitt is a killer and the couple are in mortal danger. Natural Born Killers (1994, Oliver Stone) Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson team up as Mickey and Mallory for a mass killing spree across America, with the cops in hot pursuit. A vicious satire on consumer society that strips away all the pretensions of serial killers as merely evil incarnate to present trendy, commercial products that we have created. The Doom Generation (1995, Gregg Araki) Lovers James Duval and Rose McGowan team up with Johnathon Schaech to go on the road-trip of their life, in which violence and murder occur every time they stop for a burger. Hilarious and underrated film that uses the conventions deployed in such films as Kalifornia, True Romance and Natural Born Killers to present a youth that is at once beyond redemption and without meaning. Seven (1995, David Fincher) Morgan Freeman is detective planning retirement who is paired with Brad Pitt to track down a serial killer who is working his way through the seven deadly sins. Summer Of Sam (1999, Spike Lee) Serial killer Son of Sam is terrorising New York as the relationships in one neighbourhood are stretched to breaking point. The film takes the real events of 1977 as its starting point, exploring the tensions and complex relationships within an Italian-American community. As with many serial killer films, the story serves as a pivot around which the film's characters are forced to examine their own unstable existence and other evils that lurk in their community. American Psycho (Mary Harron) Wind back to the consumerist 80s and Christian Bale is apparently having murderous thoughts, running around buildings naked with a chainsaw and killing tramps in an alley. A serial killer film of sorts that manages to transcend, and to some degree, parody the conventions of the serial killer film. In The Cut (2003, Jane Campion) Meg Ryan begins a passionate affair with detective Mark Ruffalo despite suspecting that he may be responsible for the recent spate of deaths in the neighbourhood. Campion's brilliant film uses the conventions of nineties serial-killer movies as a framework in which to explore psychoanalysis, feminine desire and male power. The usual themes of paranoia, trust and dangerous liaisons are all there, and there's always the sense that Ryan will end up the killer's next victim. Simon Bull |
