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Hitler and Stalin

There is a certain chilling truth behind what is admittedly one of the more seemingly harmless horror outings of our time. Pinhead, the iconic centerpiece behind the Hellraiser series, says in Hellraiser: Hellseeker “Welcome to the worst nightmare of all. Reality!” Of course, it may seem no more than a cute catchphrase intended to sell T-shirts, but it is an inevitable fact of our lives that our art tends to mimic our history and our past realities. So it is that greek tragedies use the Gods as moral beacons, but the events are such that they are applicable to life in Greece. Talk of warring tribes, the democracy of Athens, these are all the realities which feature in stories such as The Odyssey, The Illiad, Nichomachean Ethics, and many other Greek tales. We see these images recur even in our modern context, whereby films like 300 borrow as much from the concept of the parliament of athens, the democratic traditions of the Greeks, and the warring tribes as they do from modern heroism translated into the past. Our modern horror too, it must be said, has its roots in our more recent past, and in evolution from such things.

Taking a look at our recent history, there are really only two genuine sets of ‘evil’ which can be said to have dominated both the geopolitical scene and been able to generate both headlines and literature like none other. Fascism as it was seen from 1923-1945, and Communism, which again was prevalent through many different eras but was at the forefront of both the ‘Red Scare’ in the United States, and the existence of the Iron Curtain in Europe. These two iconic periods of time are clearly the most defining moments in our modern history. What is often forgotten is the influence this had on cinema, and ultimately on the choice of stories which were presented to us. It is my contention that, although the actual and specific plots of horror films have always been varied, and are occasionally based on real facts or on mere fictions of the mind, the actual thematic subjectmatter is one which stems from this extremist divide in our global politics.

To get a feel for what it is I am trying to say, it might be best to start with an example. George A. Romero, vaulted Godfather of the Zombie epoch in horror, and innovator of what is now one of the most enduring styles of horror, created a vision of a positively Communist horror. For what are Zombies? Aside from the obvious answer of flesh-eaters, they are essentially a whole collection of humans who all are considered equal (in death) and they all seem to be equally minimalistic. Their appearance in the horror industry takes for granted that they are all of equal worth to eachother. They live, in essence, in the perfection of a communist ideal, where all their needs (for flesh) are met equally and where each individual Zombie seems to be of no more or less worth than any other. The very first inclination we have of this matter is when we see the manner in which Romero elects to dispose of them. There is rarely any real sentimentality involved. All there truly is is the dispatching of one of a number of nameless zombies, in a big mass. Why does this sound familiar, one might ask? Perhaps it resonates with the way that communism was tackled in the US, or rather by the US.

For those too young to know, or who have little interest in History, communism became quite the prevalent form of Government, especially after World War II, in many countries. There was, especially in the capitalist west, a distinct fear that Soviet ideals were being spread from one country to the next, and that such a spread would in effect create a constant conversion to communism. This Domino Theory (knock one down, the rest will follow) was a very real and very serious threat. When North Korea declared itself communist, a few years after China had done so (in 1947) there was a battle to try and preserve the Democratic way of life. Communism of course spread from there to South East Asian, as well as creating smaller Communist states thoughout the world. The Domino Theory seemed to be under way. And it was threatening the US way of life.

Instantly, the quick-witted horror fans will see just how applicable this is to Romero’s work. Something foreign, infecting the ‘normal’ and turning it into an abomination against humanity, which then in turn spreads the abomination more and more. The American Dream being turned into a nightmare. Yes, all the pieces of a communist drama are in place. Had Stalin been alive, he’d have deserved a Cameo on Day of the Dead. Perhaps as Bub’s cousin Vlad. But I digress. The best symptom for me off this view of Zombie horror as communism comes in two forms.

The first one comes from ‘Land of the Dead’. There is a fairly brutal scene in which a young military man is going along to raid a local shop. The search for fags and booze is under way, when from behind the counter a shopkeeper, long dead, creeps up and takes a massive bite out of the mans arm. What is his fear? His fear is not that of the pain it has caused, the way we might anticipate when we come to look at Nazi-inspired horror. Rather the fear is that of being turned into an undead. Something which joins the mass of the living dead with no name, no feature, just a conception of evil which surrounds it. Better to destroy oneself than become communist. Visions of Vietnam, anyone? The second comes from the Romero and Lassie inspired ‘Fido’.

For those who have not seen this gem of a flick, it really is worth it. Mind, I think it’s worth it for Billy Connolly alone. Having said that, there is a fundamental concept here that illustrates to perfection what zombies are, and how they are communist. The entire society in ‘Fido’ is based upon Zombie labour. In a land of the middle-class, the zombie has become the working class mass, forced into the menial jobs, a nameless face in the crowd of ashen grey disappointment in life after death. This working class is being oppressed by the capitalist coropration Zomcon, a controlling entity which sees finacial gain and corporate control as its goal. The zombies, meanwhile, are shackled. Quite literally. It is as if Rousseau’s claim that man is born free and yet is everywhere in chains meant nothing to ZomCon! We have here the quintessential metanym for communism in Horror. The working class, shackled and oppressed, are seen as one big bland mass that the idealistic capitalist society loathes yet abuses, and which can only and occasionally revolt, when the shackles are broken. The people who are not Zombies in ‘Fido’ wish to avoid becoming one to such an extent that they practically initiate wars (and did, indeed, if you listen to the back story) which again is very much your capitalist vs communist debate.

The point I am trying to make is that these films are inspired by Communism! They have old Uncle Joe (Joseph Dzhugasvili, or Joe Steel to you and I) stamped on them. These are one type of horror.

There is, however, another time of horror which we do not associate with the nameless masses whom we loath and fear becoming. And in this instance I am talking about the horror inspired by National Socialism which followed the Weimar Republic. Unlike the systematic terror of Communism, Nazism was characterized by a far more direct brutality and purposeful evil. Indeed, to study Nazi Germany is essentially to buy into the Manichean conception of good and evil. For it seems that rather than Nazism being devoid of good, it is actually driven by what modern society seems to characterize as evil. You have at the forefront a very charismatic leader who stands for evil ideals, and who executes them upon not just anyone, but upon the innocents, as innocent as can be found. It is almost scapegoatism being visited upon the blameless. There is also, inherent in this regime, the notion of total brutality combined with cold calculative creation of pain.

It seems to me somewhat frutiless to just start enumerating all the horror films who predicate themselves on something or someone being evil and torturing and killing the innocent. The list, surely, would be far too long. I will however cite a coupel notable examples of Nazistic Horror. My personal favourites are Hellraiser and House of a Thousand Corpses/The Devils Rejects.

You’ll find at the core of all of these films is the charismatic center-piece. In the case of the Hellraiser series, Pinhead, and in the case of the House of a Thousand Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, it would have to be Captain Spaulding and the Firefly family. What do these characters have in common, besides generating great quotes and T-shirt slogans? They all have an evil about them that is far from purposeless. The Hellraiser mythology is virtually predicated on the idea that Pinhead leads his Cenobytes and gives rational force to their actions. He shapes and guides their policy even when they are not acting on a direct order from him. This very concept is the exact concept you see with Charismatic Leadership in Fascist dictatorships. We can hardly miss the point that despite the inspiration for the actual characters in all these films, there is an inevitable and in many ways predictable understanding of the historic role of the charismatic leader. In Rob Zombie’s films, you have an equally intense and verbose Otis Driftwood, who is able to conjure up an extreme amount of zealous bloodthirst among his family with his words. It is partly because we have such skilled orators in both these films that I have chosen them. One could easily argue that Freddy Krueger fulfills a similar function, but not nearly as eloquently. I choose obvious parallels that you may extend them as you best see fit.

Of equal value to the claim that Nazism is in influence is the usual host of side-attractions, side-kicks, and even in some cases whole cadres of bizarre characters. There is no shortage of strange ‘people’ surrounding the very seemingly competent Pinhead. And as we as in Hellraiser II, these characters sometimes yearn for more power than they perhaps are equipped to handle. But that is a different point altogether. The basic fact of the matter is that in most good horror, there is some kind of side-force which bolsters the main credible power. But that is not a neccessity, as was the case in Fascist Italy. One can barely name another fascist Italian, yet that regime matches the Nazi one quite well.

The most interesting point about the theme I am discussing is the focus on torture and pain inflicted, and usually for an ‘ideological’ purpose. To state the case plainly, Nazi Germany exterminated and experimented on many people which they deemed to be inferior. There were many documented cases of elaborate torture, scientific experimentation in the most inhumane ways, and ultimately the dispatch of those ideologically undesirable. The crimes of Nazi Germany are surely not difficult to enumerate and most people are familiar with them.

So how does this tie back into horror, you ask? Simple, says I. When you have a killer in the center of attention who dispatches of the defenseless and innocent in a non-random way, you have followed the historical example of Nazism. Pinhead kills those who open the box, that is his creed, in a sense his rule. He sets parameters and follows them to a most brutal and savage end. The torture aspect is the more obvious but also more superficial aspect of this theory. It is far more interesting to look a the ‘ideology’ present. For Pinhead, it is clearly a matter of principle to get rid of those who open the box. Just as Freddy Krueger on principle eliminates kids in Springwood and Jason dispatched of teens at Chrystal Lake. There is more than just the standard ‘Zombie’ style hunger, there is a strong and established ideology, in many cases of hatred, which drives the notion of torture and death. Again, the examples are too many to mention, but needless to say, many of our classics have taken a cue from the Fuhrer.

I guess what this leaves you with is to consider your favourite horror films. Are they Communist, or are the Nazi? For some reason (must be the 6′ frame, blond hair, and blue eyes) my collection seems to have a lot more time for the Nazi spectrum than the Communist one. What about yours?

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