30 Days of Nightmares #4: PONTYPOOL (2008)

 
The Story: A zombie movie without zombies, by way of the Mercury Theater on the Air (cryptic, I know...)

Expectations: What's in a name?  I didn't really know anything about PONTYPOOL except the title... and I avoided the film for a while because I didn't know what the hell it meant.  Sounds like a made up word, doesn't it?  Like some kind of gibberish that a five year old might spit out.  I also didn't know what to make of the poster art.  It seemed awfully heady for a low-budget horror movie.  Eventually my curiosity got the better of me.

Reaction: As it turns out, Pontypool is the name of a small town outside of Ontario, which novelist Tony Burgess appropriated as the setting of his novel Pontypool Changes Everything.  If you haven't read the book, I won't to spoil the story for you.  The fact that I knew almost nothing about this film made the viewing experience much better.  There's a scene about mid-way through the movie where the twist on the familiar siege story is explained.  At that point, viewers will either turn away or go along for the ride.  Because of the captivating performance of leading man Stephen McHattie -- one of only three main actors who expertly carry the entire film -- I went along for the ride.  I suspect that anyone with a strong belief in the power of words will be right there with me.

Just a few days ago, I read an introduction to a book about belief and understanding that culminated with the phrase "Sometimes reading is a kind of mutation."  That's not exactly what the film's about but it's as good a summary as I'm willing to give right now, along with a hearty recommendation for this smart, unpredictable little thriller -- proof that even the simplest story ideas can always be tweaked and turned into something new.  If you really like it, I'd also recommend the 2006 film THE SIGNAL, and a 1985 episode of The Twilight Zone called "Wordplay."

Most Nightmare-Worthy Moment: A musical quintet called Lawrence and the Arabians (curious yet?)

30 Days of Nightmares #3: MASTERS OF HORROR double feature

 
The Stories: John Landis's FAMILY revolves around a well-mannered serial killer with some unconventional ideas about divorce; Brad Anderson's SOUNDS LIKE focuses on a stressed out businessman with supernatural hearing.

Expectations: I love horror anthologies.  One of my earliest memories is watching Twilight Zone re-runs every afternoon on the local UHF station.  (It came on right after Star Trek and before The Addams Family.)  As I got older, I moved on to Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Crypt.  All of these shows had their own distinct tone, which bound together very different narratives.  It was sort of like buying a short story collection from the same author -- the shows, of course, had many different writers, but they were united by a common sensibility. 

By definition, that shouldn't really be the case with Mick Garris's 2005-2007 series Masters of Horror, because Garris essentially hired the storytellers and gave them complete creative control to make their own mini-movies.  While the tone of the episodes varies wildly, this series deserve high praise for prompting some of the best hours of horror television in recent memory.  For me, the high water mark is Stuart Gordon's THE BLACK CAT, featuring Jeffrey Combs in a role he was born to play (Edgar Allan Poe).   I also believe that MOH showcases Tobe Hooper at his best, in DANCE OF THE DEAD and THE DAMNED THING.

I could go on, but the fact is that different episodes appeal to different sensibilities.  Perhaps that's why I didn't watch the series as religiously during its second season... as a series, MOH lacked that consistent and familiar tone that keeps a fan coming back to their favorite show.  I preferred to watch the episodes later, on DVD, as if they were standalone movies, and so I overlook a few episodes along the way.  Last night, I decided it was time to rectify that mistake with a double feature of John Landis's second-season episode FAMILY and Brad Anderson's SOUNDS LIKE.   I was particularly excited about SOUNDS LIKE, because I know how good Anderson is at getting inside the heads of his characters.  I'm a huge fan of SESSION 9 (2001) and THE MACHINIST (2004).

Reaction: As a horror director, John Landis's reputation is based mainly on AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON, perhaps the best horror/comedy hybrid ever made.  (It's an extremely tough balance... the only other films that come close to perfection, in my opinion, are RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and SHAUN OF THE DEAD.)  Landis's first season episode, THE DEER WOMAN, was certainly entertaining, but it leaned a little too far toward comedy for my taste.  It's hard to feel scared when you're thinking, "That's just silly." 

FAMILY recalculated the comedy/horror balance, but not in the way I expected.  A scene in which mild-mannered George Wendt talks to the skeleton of his imaginary daughter is comically absurd... but Landis also shows us the world inside this character's mind.  The scene is much creepier when we see Wendt (a giant of a man) lying in a very small bed next to an innocent-looking little girl.  Each version of the scene gives us context for the other, making the skeleton scene haunting rather than silly, and making the little girl scene perverse rather than innocent.  If Landis wasn't a master of horror, he would have played this scene out in one way or the other.  Because he's a veteran filmmaker who understands how to manipulate an audience, he does both and that left me feeling genuinely unsettled. (This is precisely why it's usually a "safer" bet to watch an MOH episode than to rent an unknown indie horror film... These guys know their craft!)

SOUNDS LIKE has a more original premise, but there was something about it that didn't quite work for me.  The main character (a middle-aged, mild-mannered man who's just waiting to come unglued) presumably has had a supernatural hearing ability all his life.  When his child dies suddenly, that ability is amplified and refocused on things that rattle his nerves.  My problem is that this affliction seems to come and go at random, based on the storyteller's whims.  I couldn't help thinking that something much more affecting could have been done with the sound design in this episode.  For example, think of how effective the drones are in PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (2006), to stimulate an underlying feeling of dread.  During certain lengthy sequences, that sound builds a tremendous amount of tension over time.  Now imagine a higher pitched sound being used in the same way, as the events of a story drive the main character mad, one microdecibel at a time.  Some people live with an affliction like that.  It's called tinnitus, and to me it's scarier than anything in this episode.(Afterthought: In the midst of Carmageddon II, the L.A. Times reports on another potentially maddening scenario.)

Most Nightmare-Worthy Moment: Hearing the soft, squishy sound of rapid eye movement...

30 Days of Nightmares #2: END OF THE LINE (2007)

 
The Story: Strangers on a train encounter a group of end-of-the-world nuts determined to violently "save" the pagans from the impending apocalypse.

Expectations: I'm a sucker for horror movies set in subways.  Unfortunately there aren't many.  DEATH LINE (1973) comes to mind, and the opening of JACOB'S LADDER (1992).  And of course C.H.U.D. (1987).  In fact, when I read about this movie on Netflix, I thought it sounded like C.H.U.D. meets THE RAPTURE (1991).  And with that simple thought, I was sold.  I also sort of liked the idea that this film was written, produced, edited and directed by the same person (a Canadian named Maruice Deveraux).  Usually when one person exerts such strong creative control over a film, it means that he's got a real passion for his subject.  Either that or an extremely low budget...

Reaction: The film got my attention right away.  In the first five minutes, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but the picture had nice retro/filmic look (not unlike Ti West's THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL) and it seemed clear that the editor at least knew how to pull off a jump scare.  It was all down hill after that.  (Maybe I should credit the sound designer for the effectiveness of the jump scares, rather than the editor.)  For me, the best moments in the film were at the very beginning and the very end, when the filmmaker assaults us with some genuinely surreal, monstrous imagery -- though some of it seems to be taken right out of JACOB'S LADDER.  The rest of the movie revolves around ho-hum characters with no behavioral logic and cliched religious freaks doing what cliched religious freaks do in movies like this.

The one moment that nearly reeled me in was a scene in which a solitary 12-year-old cult member confronts the survivors, knife in hand.  He is clearly terrified, and yet he believes that it is his duty to attack them, to do "God's will."  When one of the survivors violently repels the kid with a tire iron, the film briefly veers into morally ambiguous territory.   Our main hero yells, "He's only a kid!"  I found myself thinking "But kids can be suicide bombers too," and then started wondering how I would have responded in this same situation, under the same pressure.  Unfortunately there are very few moments in the film that prompt this kind of thoughtfulness.  I wanted to like this movie, I really did, but Netflix is 0 for 2 on my 30 days experiment.

Most Nightmare-Worthy Moment: A scene in which the religious freaks carve a baby out of the dead mother's womb.  Sounds horrifying, right?  But the characters are so poorly drawn and their motivations so thin (if the cultists are trying to "save" people by killing them, wouldn't killing the mother be sufficient to kill the baby?) that it just made me disgusted with the filmmaker.  One of the most terrifyingly effective horror films I've ever seen, the French film INSIDE (2007), was about a pregnant mother being stalked by someone who wanted to physically take her unborn baby.  Watching that film, I empathized more with the victim, which made for a genuinely terrifying experience.  In END OF THE LINE, the filmmaker manages to turn the same atrocity into a cheap, lazy shock tactic.   I can handle bad taste, but what really gets my ire up is bad storytelling.

30 Days of Nightmares #1: ALTERED (2006)

The Story: Four friends in a cabin in the woods, bound by a common experience with alien abduction, instigate a small-scale war with visitors from another planet. 

Expectations: I had high hopes for this one because of its pedigree.  The film was directed by Eduardo Sanchez, one of the creators of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999).  I know that some horror fans hate BLAIR WITCH, but it worked for me.  The film was distributed by Rogue Pictures, who'd had a decent track record with SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004), SEED OF CHUCKY (2004), CRY WOLF (2005), and THE RETURN (2006).  The story sounded to me like a variation on Stephen King's Dreamcatcher, but hopefully scarier and without all the flatulence.

Reaction: I'm a little bummed that I started my 30 days experiment with this one.  It's fairly well plotted, but the execution feels very by-the-numbers.  It's basically a claustrophobic siege movie, focused as much on the interaction between the characters as on the alien threat.  Unfortunately, the bickering between the four friends quickly becomes tiresome, making this seem like a very lightweight version of THE THING (1982).  Compounding the problem is the fact that the alien itself isn't very scary.  The visuals are okay (thankfully, not entirely digital) but there's very little mystery about the nature of the beast and/or its intentions.

This got me wondering why there are so few great horror movies about alien abduction.  Done right (see COMMUNION and FIRE IN THE SKY), they're as terrifying as any great ghost story... but I think most filmmakers get caught up in UFO cliches and overlook the fact that the only way to create a believable threat is to create believable human characters who can respond to it.  Without that, the movie is just going through the motions.  If you want to watch a good recent alien movie, SPLINTER (2008) and ATTACK THE BLOCK (2011) are more fun, DISTRICT 9 (2009) is more intelligent, and THE FOURTH KIND (2009) is much scarier. 

Most Nightmare-Worthy Moment: One of the characters plays tug-of-war with the alien... using his own intestines.  Guess who wins? 

30 Days of Nightmares

 
I am officially declaring it "open season" for Halloween.  You see, Halloween is not just a 24-hour holiday for me.  It encompasses the entire month of October, during which I eagerly celebrate all things scary.  In the past few years, I have made several horror-themed holiday pilgrimmages.  In 2006, I took in filming locations for the original HALLOWEEN movie.  In 2007, I visited the late great Forrest Ackerman, patron saint of monster movies.  In 2008, I managed to weasel my way into the "House on Haunted Hill."   Last year, I compiled a list of my favorite horror-themed locations in and around L.A., for movie geek neighbors who want to plan a festive day trip.

Following the DVD release of my horror documentary in the fall of 2010, I focused on the movies themselves.  I created a comprehensive list of nearly 100 of my favorite horror flicks that weren't featured in Nightmares in Red, White and Blue.  That series of blog posts culminated with a year-by-year look at my favorite "millennial horror" movies... a topic that I want to tackle again this year, in a slightly different way.

Every Halloween, I binge on horror movies.  Usually I watch the familiar classics, which fill me with a sense of nostalgia, while adding a few recommended cult favorites that I've missed over the years.  This year, I'm going to concentrate entirely on NEW horror.  And here's why: When people ask me why horror movies aren't as good as they used to be (and I hear this question a lot), I tend to respond that great horror movies are still being made, just not as frequently acknowledged.  Everyone complains that it's all sequels and remakes and reboots...  but, frankly, that's nothing new.  It has always been the case with Hollywood's genre movies, going back to the 1920s.  I'm just as guilty as everyone else of habitually gravitating toward the familiar and thus overlooking the hidden gems, so I think I'll make this Halloween season more about exploring in the dark. 

Here's the experiment: I've used Netflix to create a viewing list of 30 horror films made between 2006 and 2011.  A few of them I've seen, but most of them I have not.  The site's ratings and recommendation system predicts that I will like all of these films enough to rate them at least three stars out of five.  If that's true, I might have a shot at getting through all 30 titles before Halloween.  If not, I  might alienate my patient wife to the point that she learns to hate Halloween.  Time will tell.

Let the games begin.

DESERT 2.0: Sedona

 

My wife and I rounded out our trip to the desert with two days and nights in Sedona, Arizona.  My wife was thrilled because as soon as we got on highway 89A south of Flagstaff, the weather and the scenery changed completely -- from high desert to, in her mind, “summer in central Maine.”  I was enthusiastic because Sedona boasted the richest movie-making history of any destination on our trip…. but I quickly learned that, if you want the movie history, you really have to know what you’re looking for.  

For like-minded movie tourists, let me just say that the best place to start is NOT at the “Movie History Museum” in Uptown Sedona.  This “museum” is really just a shameless front for a timeshare company.  (This type of scam is not uncommon in Sedona… You’ll also get sucked into timeshare pitches if you visit any of the “Tourist Information” booths.  Steer toward the Chamber of Commerce instead.)  There is a real movie history museum in progress, based on a very impressive book called Arizona’s Little Hollywood by Joe McNeil. Seriously, if you’re interested in Sedona’s history on film -- or movie history in general -- you really need to own this book.   Over the past few years, I’ve read a lot of books and blogs by location hunters.  This is easily one of the most impressive -- well-written, well-organized, thoroughly researched and filled with beautiful photos.  The book collects several years worth of Sedona Monthly articles that recount the town’s history with Hollywood, one film at a time, beginning with the Zane Grey adaptation CALL OF THE CANYON in 1923 and concluding with HARRY & TONTO in 1973.

Sometime after 1973, apparently, the new agers flooded into Sedona and now it’s much easier to learn about magic crystals and vortices than the western films that put the town on the map.  We took two separate Jeep tours with the Bradshaw company, run by the descendants of photographer Bob Bradshaw (Hollywood’s point man in Sedona), and even our tour guides didn’t seem to know much about the movies.  On a drive up Schnebly Hill, one tour guide pointed out a waterfall rock and claimed that “Kate Capshaw took a shower there in a 1980s movie called THE QUICK AND THE DEAD.”  (If you’re at all familiar with THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, I don’t have to explain what’s wrong with this theory.)  Hell, even the historical markers have got some of the details wrong.  Another Bradshaw tour dead-ends at the Van Deren Cabin out near Boynton Canyon.  Next to the cabin, there is a plaque claiming that it was featured in the films RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (1925) and BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948).   It was indeed Robert Preston’s home in BLOOD ON THE MOON, but Joe McNeil claims in his book that the cabin does not appear in RIDERS.

near Boynton Canyon

Van Deren Cabin

   

The only thing that’s missing in McNeil’s book is a good map of the town, identifying the filming locations.  It’s not difficult to find a free map of Sedona, but we found that few of them are drawn to scale and many of them seem to contradict each other about the names of the iconic rock formations that appeared in so many movies.  If I could draw worth a damn, I’d create a map for the like-minded tourist… but I can’t, so you’ll have to settle for a narrative.

If you enter Sedona from the north, like we did, your first stop should be Slide Rock State Park.  Richard Widmark fans will recognize the natural water slide section that gave the park its name.  It was featured in an early scene in THE LAST WAGON (1956), where the Quaker kids sneak away in the middle of the night to go skinny-dipping.  In my opinion, THE LAST WAGON makes better use of the Sedona landscape than almost any other film.  (It’s also a pretty good western -- so good that it was essentially remade in 2000 as PITCH BLACK with Vin Diesel.)  McNeil notes that 80% of the film was shot on Sedona landscapes shortly before the town was commercially developed.  For that reason, the author calls THE LAST WAGON “the beginning of the end of Sedona’s Golden Age as a Hollywood location.”  Just down the road from Slide Rock is Indian Gardens, where the golden age began with the memorable John Wayne western ANGEL & THE BADMAN (1947).  After that, Sedona practically became synonymous with gritty post-war (noir) westerns.

Following 89A South, we arrived in Uptown Sedona -- a tourist trap set against breathtaking vistas.  On this main drag, you can see the tavern building featured in ANGEL & THE BADMAN and THE LAST WAGON, practically next door to Bob Bradshaw’s old photography studio.  (It’s still a photography studio, but you’ll have to go across the street to A Day in the West if you want to learn anything about Bradshaw.)  Opposite the tavern and the studio is the first famous rock formation, known as Camel Head Rock.  It was at the base of this rock that filmmakers established an Indian camp for the seminal 1950 western BROKEN ARROW, starring Jimmy Stewart.   (There’s a “Broken Arrow Trail” nearby, but I have no idea if it leads to the camp.)  Right next to Camel Head is “Snoopy Rock.”  There’s a persistent rumor in Sedona that Charles Schultz based several of his Peanuts characters on the local rock formations.  I don’t buy it, but one of our tour guides did point out a pretty good natural facsimile of Lucy in silhouette.

the old Oak Creek Tavern

looking at Camel Head Rock (and Snoopy on the right)

Snoopy

 At the Chamber of Commerce, the town splits off in two directions.  If you continue straight on 89A, you’ll be in the Sedona West suburb.  If you turn left / south on highway 179, you’ll be following Oak Creek toward the Village of Oak Creek.  Hollywood’s main base of operations, the Sedona Lodge, once sat on highway 179, where the King’s Ransom Inn is today.  Just above that site is Schnebly Hill at Merry Go Round Rock -- the best overlook in town, featured in dozens of movies (VIRGINIA CITY with Errol Flynn, BILLY THE KID with Robert Taylor, LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN with Gene Tierney, GUNFIGHTERS and ALBUQUERQUE with Randolph Scott, STATIONS WEST with Dick Powell, etc).  Schnebly Hill is a pretty steep and rustic road, not suitable for 2-wheel drive.  If you don’t believe me, rent the John Wayne movie TALL IN THE SADDLE (1944).  An early scene revolves around a runaway stagecoach on that wild stretch of road.  If you still don’t believe me, talk to my tour guide, who pointed out an abandoned car at the bottom of a long rock slide -- a semi-permanent reminder of a fateful night when two drunken tourists decided to tackle the hill alone.   

halfway up Schnebly Hill

Merry Go Round Rock (note the thin layer of limestone)

Schnebly Vista

Further south on 179 are Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock, both featured prominently in many westerns.

Courthouse Butte

Bell Rock

Angel & the Badman, with Courthouse Butte and Bell Rock in the background (photo by Bob Bradshaw)

The other side of town, Sedona West, reminds me a bit of Iverson Ranch in the San Fernando Valley -- the way the houses are built right into old movie locations.  Even the street names (Last Wagon Drive, Stations West Drive, Flaming Arrow Way, etc.) reflect the movie history.  Joe McNeil says that this subdivision was once the site of the western town set, until it was razed in 1957 (after the making of JOHNNY GUITAR and 3:10 TO YUMA)… so don’t listen if the local tour guide tells you that the western town was located on the site of the current high school.  We went for an early morning hike to one of the most famous formations in the neighborhood, Coffeepot Rock (see in ANGEL & THE BADMAN, STATIONS WEST, DRUM BEAT, 3:10 TO YUMA, THE LAST WAGON…).  From there, we got a good view of nearby Chimney Rock and Thunder Mountain.

Coffeepot Rock

Chimney Rock

We continued further west and turned left at the high school, onto Upper Red Rock Loop Road.  There are several turnoffs here with breathtaking views of Cathedral Rock, perhaps the most recognizable rock formation in the Sedona area.  Further down the road, we visited RedRock State Park on the shady banks of Oak Creek.  This is one of the most beautiful (and eco-friendly) neighborhood parks I’ve ever been to in my life, and it boasts a view of Cathedral Rock that anyone who grew up on westerns will remember from BROKEN ARROW, BLOOD ON THE MOON and THE LAST WAGON.  The view is well worth the trip, regardless of its film history context… but I still wish that a town with such an incredibly rich film history (a town made famous, and consequently developed, because of this film history) would embrace its legacy as “little Hollywood” a little more enthusiastically.  

Cathedral Rock

Oak Creek

DESERT 2.0: The Trail of the Anasazi

After three days in the Santa Fe area, we headed west through the desert.  We stopped briefly in Albuquerque, where we took a ride on the Albuquerque TrolleyTour.  I feel like it would be wrong to summarize the highlights.  If you’re in Albuqueruque, you really should take the tour yourself.  The owners / tour guides, Jesse and Michael, have an extensive knowledge of their home city and they can give you the best overview.  And if you’re a movie geek like me, they know all about Albuquerque’s roles in Hollywood films, from LONELY ARE THE BRAVE (1962) to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007).  They also offer a weekly 3-hour tour of filming locations for the AMC series BREAKING BAD… but you’ll need to reserve tickets for that one way in advance.  (We cheated and tracked down some of the locations on our own.)

The motel where James Brolin gets shot in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN

Stalking Walt (BREAKING BAD)

Next we headed west, veering off of I-40 to hit El MorroNational Monument.  I admit that all I knew about this stop was what I’d seen in an old movie.  FOUR FACES WEST (1948), starring Joel McCrea and his wife Frances Dee, is a serious-minded pioneer western from beloved producer Harry “Pop” Sherman.  Sherman made his name on the Hopalong Cassidy serial, then became determined to produce something more substantial.  

In the late 1940s, he made three noteworthy westerns with McCrea.  BUFFALO BILL is an entertaining but rather bloated and old-fashioned biopic.  RAMROD, directed by a one-eyed madman named Andre de Toth (best known for the Vincent Price vehicle HOUSE OF WAX), is an aesthetically interesting film noir marred by rather flat performances from McCrea and Veronica Lake.  FOUR FACES WEST is perhaps the most successful, though it is a very unconventional western.  Writer Teddi Sherman, the producer’s daughter, has noted that it’s the only western where not a single gunshot is fired.  The story, based on the novel Paso por Aqui, is about the common desire of American pioneers for a new beginning.  El Morro stands as the central symbol of the theme -- an imposing sandstone bluff in the middle of the desert, where travelers have ritualistically carved their names in the rock for hundreds of years.  The earliest Anglo-American inscription dates back to 1605. 

As with most historical monuments in this part of the country, the story actually goes back much further than what is commonly known.  When we hiked up to the rim of El Morro, we were surprised to see that the bluff is actually a mesa that’s hollowed out in the middle.  There is only one convenient way in and out, which made El Morro a convenient fortified compound for ancient Native Americans, who built their homes in the rock.  Most people know these former inhabitants as Anasazi -- a Navajo word meaning “Ancient Enemy.”  The docent at El Morro quietly informed me that the local Puebloans, the Zuni, don’t like the word Anasazi because it has negative connotations.  They prefer the term “ancient Puebloans,” which makes sense because most up-to-date archaeologist identify the "Anasazi" as the ancestors of the various modern-day Pueblo tribes, rather than as a lost tribe that vanished in the late 12^th / early 13^th century.  

The supposed “mystery” of the Anasazi still haunts the greater Four Corners area, where the remains of former dwellings tell their story…. or, at least, part of their story.  Over the years, archaeologists and writers have offered many different theories about why the ancients may have abandoned their homes.  David Roberts attempts to sum up the theories in his 1997 book In Search of the Old Ones.  One  early explanation: The ancients were driven away by invading forces… possibly the Navajo, Ute or Paiute Indians.  This theory has been debunked by modern research.  Another, more likely possibility: An extended natural drought drove them away from their homeland.  A third explanation: The ancients undertook a mass migration as part of a spiritual quest, perhaps related to the origins of the kachina religion. 

Whatever the case, most of the ancient cave dwellings remained empty for hundreds of years, waiting to be discovered.   The ruins atop El Morro were partially unearthed in the 1950s, but most of the estimated 875 rooms remained buried beneath sand and soil.  At first, this surprised me… I assumed that archeologists would be fighting with each other over the chance to explore these ancient ruins and learn what they could from them.  Later in the trip, I realized that many people quietly regard the ancient Puebloan ruins as off-limits.  For some, it's a show of respect.  For some, it's a result of fear.  (Within a religious context, these explanations might not be so different...)

We stopped for lunch at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, Hollywood’s home away from home when filming was popular in this area (for details, see Tinsley Yarbrough’s book Those Great Western Movie Locations), before heading to Canyon de Chelly in the vast and beautiful Navajo Nation.  

According to author Robert L. Casey, “Navajo reservation lands are as large as the states of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire combined; twice the size of Israel; and as large as the state of West Virginia.”  This sounds overwhelming but, having been there, it's not hard to believe.  Driving through the Navajo Nation really does feel like traveling through another country.  At a place like Canyon de Chelly, with its massive centuries-old ruins, it almost feels like being on a different planet -- one that inspires constant awe.

The Navajo have inhabited Canyon de Chelly, as well as the neighboring Canyon del Muerto, since the early 1700s.   In his book Blood and Thunder (a study of Kit Carson), Hampton Sides argues that the Navajo people as “the most ‘American’ of the American Indians” because of their nomadic quality and their adaptability.  “They were immigrants, improvisationists, mongrels,” he says, noting that they co-existed for years with the native Hopi until they were driven out by Kit Carson and the United States Army in 1864.  The Navajo returned to the canyon four years later and have been there ever since, living in the low land in the summer and on the higher land in the winter.

Mummy Cave Overlook (Canyon del Muerto)

White House Overlook (Canyon de Chelly)

Canyon del Muerto

Having been in the canyon for more than three centuries, the Navajo naturally have their own ideas about what happened to the previous inhabitants.  In his book Sacred Land, Sacred View: Navajo Perceptions of the Four Corners, Robert McPherson expresses the popular theory that “the Anasazi culture shriveled and died because the people transgressed the laws of the holy beings and of nature as they sought ease through power which they had abused.”  He goes on to say that “their example and the visible remains left behind serve as a reminder of death and destruction in the midst of life; of a holy way gone bad.”  The Navajo certainly believe in reverence as a way of life.  One shouldn't disturb what is sacred… and that includes the spirits of the dead.   Accordingly, as our Canyon de Chelly guide made clear, many of the Anasazi ruins on Navajo land have not been formally excavated (though some, unfortunately, have been privately plundered over the years by treasure-seekers and irreverent vandals).

Mae Thompson, a lifelong resident of Canyon de Chelly, offers a more personal perspective in David Grant Noble’s book Houses Beneath the Rock: “It is said that when the Anaasazi lived there, a big tornado came and destroyed them.  This tornado came into the canyon from Chinle.  It was a big whirling wind with fire.  It went up each canyon and burned all the people.  One can see these burnt areas today.  They are those black bands and streaks on the cliff walls.  They became this way from the fire and smoke.”  She also explains why the ancient ones were fated to die: “They began to do and learn things beyond the knowledge that was set for them.  It’s like what is happening today […] They obtained knowledge beyond what was set for them.”

Massacre Cave Overlook (Canyon del Muerto)

White House Ruins (Canyon de Chelly)

White House Ruins

unexcavated ruins

Surrounded on all sides by the towering walls of the canyon, and permeated by the overwhelming silence, it’s hard not to become spellbound by the ancient mysteries, and the prophecies that come with them.  Robert McPherson suggests that the only thing keeping tourists safe is disbelief.  “If you are not scared of it, you can walk in here,” he says, but “when you are frightened of it, you will start seeing it.  This is real to people who believe in it.  If inside you believe there is nothing to fear, then you can go into these places and not be haunted by it.”  I’m tempted to describe this philosophy as a campfire story, but somehow -- having been in Canyon de Chelly -- McPherson's words seem more vital to me, and I’m inclined to follow the Navajo way of silent reverence.

Hollywood has rarely tread on this sacred ground, but the natives seem proud of their place in film history.  Some early scenes (mostly process shots) in the Joel McCrea western COLORADO TERRITORY (1949) feature the White House Ruins, while parts of the Gregory Peck western MACKENNA’S GOLD (1969) were shot at Spider Rock.  I understand that some scenes in the vigilante flick BILLY JACK (1971) were also shot in Chinle, but as it’s been years since I’ve seen that one, I can't point to any specific locations.  More recently, the final scene of the Jodie Foster space odyssey CONTACT (1997) was shot at sunset on the south rim of the canyon… which brings me to our next stop.

We headed further west, into storm clouds, to see the great Arizona Meteor Crater.  This location also has a movie history.  It was Jeff Bridges’ destination in John Carpenter’s STARMAN (1983)…  but of course no movie could possibly do justice to the scale of this site.  There’s a pretty impressive museum next to the crater that offers plenty of historical context.  The short version: The meteor crash-landed about 50,000 years ago, traveling at a rate of 26,000 miles per hour, with an explosive force grater than 20 million tons of TNT.  The meteor mostly vaporized on impact, leaving an initial crater that was 700 feet deep and 4,000 feet across.  Natural forces have reduced it to its present state: 550 deep, or roughly the height of a 60-story building.  

We left in stunned silence.

DESERT 2.0: Bonanza Creek and beyond

One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Santa Fe was because it has been the main hub of western movie making for the past few decades.  In close proximity to the city, there are four significant historical ranches that have routinely opened their gates to Hollywood: Bonanza Creek Ranch, Cerro Pelon Ranch (formerly Cook Ranch), Eaves Movie Ranch and El Rancho de las Golondrinas.  

Bonanza Creek was the first to draw filmmakers, for the 1955 film THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, the final collaboration between director Anthony Mann and actor Jimmy Stewart.  I’m a huge fan of the 1950s revenge westerns and this one is as gritty as they come, so I love it.  Hollywood returned to Bonanza Creek a few years later, this time for COWBOY, a Delmer Daves / Jack Lemmon western (that’s right, I said “Jack Lemmon western”… He plays a tenderfoot, opposite Glenn Ford’s rugged trail boss).  I like this one too, though Daves made better.

A decade later, production of THE CHEYENNE SOCIAL CLUB (1970), starring Jimmy Stewart and Henry Fonda, extended beyond the boundaries of Bonanza Creek onto the nearby Eaves Movie Ranch.  A decade after that, Cook Ranch became the primary setting for SILVERADO (1985).  Soon after, portions of YOUNG GUNS (1988) were shot down the road, in The Sierra Village at El Rancho de la Golondrinas.  Coming full circle, Bonanza Creek recently hosted COWBOYS & ALIENS as well as the new Ed Harris western SWEETWATER. 

Bonanza owner Imogene Hughes and her side manager Chuck (two of the friendliest people you could ever hope to meet) were happy to show off the ranch to us, and to share some of its movie history.  When we arrived at the first set -- a western town that sprawls in four directions -- what struck me was how move-in-ready it was. Bonanza’s western town is not a façade, but a fully-functioning set with electricity and running water!  It’s not set-dressed, of course, because filmmakers are like homebuyers… When they’re shopping for a new “home,” they want to imagine how their own furnishings will look in the place.

In short, I'm not the least bit surprised that Bonanza Creek has remained popular with western filmmakers… even at times when westerns is not especially popular with audiences.  Soon after John Wayne was symbolically murdered here in THE COWBOYS (1972), the genre went into commercial decline.  The statistics say it all: In 1972, western films represented 12% of Hollywood’s output.  In 1973, only four westerns were released.  In 1974, only two.  In the early 1980s, the stragglers came here: the juvenile LEGEND OF THE LONE RANGER (1981), the low-budget space western TIME RIDER (1983), and the drag queen farce LUST IN THE DUST (1985).   SILVERADO, YOUNG GUNS and LONESOME DOVE, portions of which were filmed here, signaled new hope for the genre, leading to a major renaissance in the early 1990s. 

Touring the ranch today, you can see remainders / reminders of more recent films: Steven Spielberg’s INTO THE WEST (2005), THE ASTRONAUT FARMER (2006) with Billy Bob Thornton, Ed Harris’s APPALOOSA (2008), and the remake of 3:10 TO YUMA (2007) -- the last of which filmed here at the same time as three other movies.  Ms. Hughes is clearly proud of the Bonanza Creek legacy and genuinely enthusiastic about its future as a filming location.  So I guess it’s time for me to start writing that western screenplay…

The Jeremy Irons ranch house from APPALOOSA

This house was featured in LONESOME DOVE, THE ASTRONAUT FARMER and SWEETWATER

THE ASTRONAUT FARMER barn

Inside the barn

Christian Bale's house in 3:10 TO YUMA

This is where Christian Bale's family had dinner with outlaw Russell Crowe

After our tour of the ranch, we rolled down the street to the sleepy town of Los Cerillos.  It was a Sunday morning and the only sign of life in this ghost town (population 229) was a couple of loud drunks sitting out in front of the bar.  It was the perfect setting for horror movie… which, of course, is why I wanted to check it out.  Over the door of the local hardware store is a wooden plaque commemorating the town’s involvement in the making of YOUNG GUNS.  Less celebrated -- but more interesting to me -- is the town’s connection to JOHN CARPENTER’S VAMPIRES (1997).  The finale of that film was shot on these dusty streets.

 

In the book John Carpenter: Prince of Darkness, the filmmaker told interviewer Gilles Boulenger: “The main street we were working on ran north / south.  There was buildings on the east, and the prison set was on the west.  This meant that sunlight only hit the street for about three to four hours a day - the old movie backlots were usually built along an east / west axis so the streets would be in constant sunlight.  So it was another shooting nightmare.”  Nightmare or no, Carpenter made the most out of his shooting location, featuring the autumnal light of Santa Fe to his advantage.  That blood-red sunset appears many times in VAMPIRES (augmented by color filters), and it is always effectively haunting.

Allegedly, part of VAMPIRES was also filmed at the nearby Rancho de las Golondrinas (“Ranch of the Swallows”)… but I’m not sure which scenes.  My best guess is that some of the mission interiors may have been shot at the Penitente Meeting House on Cavalry Hill.  There IS, in fact, a black cross on the hill behind this building.  I assume this is a coincidence, having nothing to do with Carpenter’s storyline, but it certainly makes me wonder how much the filmmaker know about the Penitentes.  If someone wants to help me get a definitive answer about the filming location, El Rancho de la Golondrinas offers movie-themed tours on Saturdays.  Regardless of its connection to Carpenter's work, the ranch is certainly worth.  Unlike other ranches in the area, this one has a rich, well-preserved history that dates back to the 18^th century.  (For details, you can download a comprehensive historical narrative from the ranch’s official website.)

Sierra Village (used in YOUNG GUNS)

The morada on Cavalry Hill

Carpenter liked New Mexico enough to return a few years later to make GHOSTS OF MARS (2001) just north of Albuquerque, in the Zia Pueblo.  Carpenter told the Santa Fean Magazine, “Because the movie supposedly takes place on colonized Mars in the future, we needed a town and we filmed on a gypsum mine atop a mountain.  Being a gypsum mine, it was endless acres of all white, so we used biodegradable food dye to dye it red and we built our town there.  Not only were the Pueblo Indians kind enough to let us do that, but they gave us an opening ceremony calling upon their deities to protect and get us through the shooting.  And it worked!” 

Mind you, that doesn’t mean there weren’t a few problems along the way.   The biggest obstacle was the weather. Carpenter says, simply and bluntly, “[W]e shot GHOSTS OF MARS during a monsoon!”  (You can more read about the trials and tribulations of the production here, in an article by cameraman Bill Stephens.)  I can’t help thinking that this production must have taken a major psychological toll on the director, since he has rarely talked about it… and since didn’t get behind the camera again until the first season of MASTERS OF HORROR in 2005.   A lot of people (including the director himself) thought GHOSTS OF MARS would be his swan song.  While I’m thrilled that it isn't, I happen to think it’s an apt culmination of the themes that have defined his career.

Like ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA and VAMPIRES, it is a hidden western.  Gilles Boulinger hinted at this in his 2001 interview with Carpenter when he asked if there was any kind of intentional connection between the storyline and the shooting location (“Indian soil,” with “a colonized nation still fighting for their freedom and culture”).  Carpenter sensibly avoided the political land mine of talking about “cowboys and Indians" within a historical context.  This is a sensitive subject for a genre filmmaker to discuss, because the popular western myths often glom onto only the most sensational and provocative elements of history, without making any attempt at telling a fair and balanced history -- and Carpenter is of course a mythmaker, not a historian or a politician.  Still, I can’t help thinking that many aspects of GHOSTS OF MARS (and VAMPIRES, as well) seem to be deeply rooted in the history and culture of this particular region of New Mexico.  Would Carpenter be more reflective about this aspect of these films today?   

I admit I didn’t visit the Zia Pueblo, or try to gain access to their gypsum mine. I found plenty of photos online (check out this page on the New Mexico Film Office website), along with a rumor it that the ghost train from Carpenter’s film is still there... I don't know if that's really true, but that's the note I'm going to end on.  You know what they say: Print the legend.