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Creature Feature

Creature Feature
  • Posted at 2:53pm
  • 28 September 2007
  • by AndrewCollins-RT

A new coffee-table book, The Hammer Story (published 26 October by Titan), reminds us that, although Christopher Lee's Dracula remains emblematic of the studio, their first hit was 1955's The Quatermass Xperiment (adapted from the BBC series), in which an astronaut mutates into a giant cactus. Horror trends come and go, but our love for the monster movie never seems to wane.

Monster movies have always carried a subtext. Fear of scientific meddling informed 1950s classics such as The Fly and Tarantula, whose giant spider was the result of experiments into growth nutrients to help feed an overpopulated world. King Kong, the hairy daddy of all creature features, can be said to have introduced the now-recurring theme of nature biting man on the backside.

The Host proves this sub-genre is alive and well. The biggest-ever box-office hit in its native South Korea, it has a ravenous, seemingly unstoppable giant amphibian creature emerging from Seoul's Han River after chemicals are poured down the drain. A descendent of 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon, it replaces the man-in-a-rubber-suit with CGI wizardry. These days, the low rent charm is in the attitude, not the effects.

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