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Selected Stephen Bissette
bibliography: |
Swamp Thing, Taboo,
Tyrant, 1963 |
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comment: |
"THE LATE GREAT CREATURE
by Brock |
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Brower (1971, Atheneum)
was Simon Moro, notorious horror movie star of the 1930s and
40s who could (in the words of the men's magazine reporter who
relates the novel's first third) "indicate corruption with
just the back of his neck" onscreen. Brower's invented filmography
for Moro is utterly convincing and compelling: hints of the actor
in silent German films; his rise to fame as a mad pedophile in
Fritz Lang's ZEPPELIN (1930); his American debut as THE MOTH,
a tatty low-budget horror co-starring Fay Wray; his butchered
masterpiece GHOULGANTUA (1937), a reworking of FRANKENSTEIN;
his subsequent decline playing Nazis in ersatz World War 2 propoganda
and a poverty-row GILA MAN series; a mysterious, incomplete feature
Moro starred in and directed in post-War Germany set in the concentration
camps; on to the centerpiece of the novel, a Cormanesque remake
of THE RAVEN for the drive-in circuit.
The echoes of actor Peter Lorre's career are intentional
(Lorre, too, was launched by a real Fritz Lang classic, M (1930),
his career arced through increasingly dire American exploitation
films, and Lorre directed and starred in a post-War German feature,
THE LONELY ONE, which was relegated to obscurity and nearly deep-sixed
his career). Brower also crafts sly sendups of filmmaker Roger
Corman and a particularly vicious parody of Vincent Price. But
Moro is much more than a curio or has-been horror star. Moro's
agenda is to shock jaded contemporary audiences at any cost through
whatever vehicle presents itself -- including the climactic grindhouse
premiere of THE RAVEN -- not for the sake of exploitation, but
as an obsessive moral philosophy. He wants to rip open the eyes
of the American public, reflect the savagery and corruption of
their era by embodying its most horrifying extremities, and thereby
hangs the tale. Moro seizes on any opportunity to publicly subvert
the idiocy surrounding him and fulfill his destiny: a prop skeleton,
a grip's finger severed in a backstage accident (yup, that's
what's in the raven's mouth in the sketch here), a late-night
TV talk show, and the tacky accoutrements of a neighborhood theater
lobby take on perverse life as Moro ravages the American psyche
with whatever meager means or showcases present themselves.
Moro is one of the great unsung creations
of modern literature. THE LATE GREAT CREATURE holds a prominent
place in my library for being one of the few works of fiction
to acknowledge and explore the powerful shift in Western conciousness
that was manifesting itself in the mid-1960s close of the Gothic
tradition and birth of a volatile, dangerous new breed of horror
cinema. THE LATE GREAT CREATURE dissected this scary new imaginative
landscape with perceptive urgency, and in turn stands as a landmark
in the genre's transformation, along with Peter Bogdanovich's
feature TARGETS (1967) and the two great landmarks of the modern
horror film, George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
and Michael Reeves' THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL (aka THE CONQUEROR
WORM, 1969).
In reading the book upon its initial hardcover
publication (alerted by a positive review in LIFE magazine),
I began to understand what was really happening in the films
that were such an anchor for me during my teenage years, and
appreciate their sharp, new teeth. I also ached to see films
like GHOULGANTUA, knowing full well they never existed, but tantalized
beyond reason by Brower's vivid descriptions and imagery. Author
Brower also ushered in a Borgesian subgenre of horror literature
which peppered with other imaginary films, filmmakers, and subversive
agendas, including FLICKER, Ramsey Campbell's ANCIENT IMAGES,
Tim Lucas' THROAT SPROCKETS, etc., and for that we owe him, too.
Here's to Brock Brower and his Simon Moro -- The
Late, Great Creature, indeed!" |
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character: |
Simon Moro appears
in The Late, Great |
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Creature by Brock
Brower |
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