HoopTober 8: Mosquito Takes Mandragon

Movie 28
Six decades: 1st of 2 films from the 30's

When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, she really did create one of the ultimate ur-texts of the horror form. I think horror is one of the human species' most fundamental forms of storytelling. And as storytelling is fundamental to how we as a species have always organised ourselves into a collaborative social entity then, yes, I am claiming that horror plays a vital social function for us. And I think it has done so basically for as long as we have existed (don't try and tell me that scary stories haven't been a staple item in any given community's storytelling repertoire since we've been sitting around cave fires wearing furs).

The specific function of a horror film is something akin to the cognitive function of a nightmare. It's basically crisis scenario planning. Nightmares provide a physically safe way for us to experience life threatening scenarios (or threatening to those we love) and model our responses. The fact that our response to danger in nightmares tends to be so useless is itself probably useful (even when it's stuff as fundamental as "when something is coming to kill you, run fast, don't just stand there frozen like you did in your nightmare").

And I think scary stories and by extension, horror films, play largely the same role for those of us who watch them. Yes, I know it's entertainment first and foremost, but why exactly do those of us who love horror films enjoy them so much? Could it be that we find these journeys into our fears somehow liberating and comforting? We all like to point out the foibles of idiotic character decisions. Is that just another way we model our response to danger? We like to say how there's no way we would have dropped that knife and hidden in the closet while the killer was stunned - we would have finished the fucker off immediately. That's us modelling a what-if scenario.

I promise I'll get to Mad Love soon!

The point I am laboriously getting around to is that, really good horror stories are ones that tap into rich seams of fear - and they feel especially important when they bring to light the more latent fears - either fears of the individual or fears of society. Mary Shelley's story swirled personal fears of death and what comes after (if anything), ancestral fears of how the jealous dead might come back and attack the living, and societal fears that our own intelligence and innovation might bring about our own destruction. She wasn't the first to reflect on the fear of progress - she references the Prometheus myth, and versions of this probably echo back way beyond ancient Greece - but the blend with personal horror was a heady one. And storytellers have been mining that vein ever since.

Which brings us to Mad Love (phew! got there eventually). What I like about the twist on the Frankenstein template is it how it introduces a dose of body-horror to go with everything else. What if we were still alive but rather than having to contend with the vengeful living dead at a distance, the dead have been literally grafted onto our bodies? And it also introduces some of the themes of possession horror - minus the biblical / hellish overtones but still exploring the horror of having a malevolent entity take control of your body.

Although Karl Freund's direction is a little less masterful than his clear influence Fritz Lang (many of whose films Freund oversaw the shooting of), sometimes feeling a little more threadbare - perhaps a more exploitation aesthetic than the rich illusionism Lang was capable of - he deploys a great cast such that they lift the material considerably. None more than Peter Lorre who shows again that there is no given swathe of scenery that he couldn't consume voraciously. I mean that as a compliment - he's a wonder in Mad Love. The slow development from creepy, furtive, closet weirdo (the scenes where he suddenly drops the philanthropic exterior and just forgets about that deathly ill child he's supposed to be caring for are just hilarious) up into the diabolical frenzy of his masquerade as the dead murderer Rollo is just masterful. And there is very capable support from Frances Drake and Colin Clive (with his wonderful Mid-Atlantic accent).

Maybe it's something in the pre-code air of gleeful nihilism, but this film works as a black comedy maybe even more than it does as a horror film - certainly in this day and age when the horror is not quite so visceral but the barbs and satire are just as sharp. Mad Love is a slice of demented fun from the pre-code days - the best era for horror in classic Hollywood.