THE DOCTOR HAS ANIMATED THE SYLLABUS. IT IS NOW ALIVE.


FILM 29: MONSTER MOVIES FILM DEPARTMENT SUMMER SESSION I 2008
SYLLABUS BROOKLYN COLLEGE JOHN BEATTY


COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Read at least TWO of the books marked with an asterisk as well as the two articles on the web site.

*Clarens, Carlos 1967 An Illustrated History of the Horror Film Capricorn Books NY

*Jensen, Paul M. 1996 The Men Who Made the Monsters Twayne Publishers, NY

*Jones, E. Michael 2000 Monsters from the Id Spence Publishing Co. Dallas, TX

Kirkwood, Bernhardt J. 1965 Monsters Galore Gold Metal Books

Manchel, Frank 1970 Terrors of the Screen Prentice Hall, NY

*Maxford, Howard 1996 Hammer, house of horror Overlook Press, Woodstock, NY

Rovin, Jeff 1989 The Encyclopedia of Monsters Fact of File NY

*Skal, David J. 1993 (revised 2001) The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror Farber and Farber Inc., NY

On the web site there are two articles to read:

Naishan Dene Creativity with Monsters” (which can be found in hard copy in Plains Anthropolgist Vol. 44, No. 167, pp. 73-75

"Sound Symbolism and Japanese Monsters" (which can be fond in Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 1993

Among the questions you should keep in mind during the course are:

(a) Just what constitutes a monster?
(b) If a movie has a monster in it, does it make it a monster film?
(c) What do monsters represent in films?
(d) Are monster movies a genre, or a subdivision of a genre? Can different genres share subdivisions?
(e) Can monsters occur in comedies?
(f) How are monsters shown?

Remember that monsters are very much a "special effects" or "make-up" phenomenon in films, and hence they are very visual. It is impossible to stress strongly enough the VISUAL aspects of monster films and you should constantly be thinking about this during the course.

GRADES

Grades are based on a term paper and a final.
The topic for the paper will be discussed in class

DEPARTMENT RULE:

Anyone missing more that TWO classes automatically fails the class.


TENTATIVE FILM LIST


MONSTER MOVIES

1. Lost World and Creation footage
2. Frankenstein (1910) and Frankenstein (1931)
3. The Mummy
4. King Kong
5. Horror of Dracula
6. Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
7. Them!
8. Creature from the Black Lagoon
9. The Thing
10. Godzilla
11. American Werewolf in London or The Howling
12 Blacula
13. Alien
14. Cloverfield

Below are some films from different monster categories.

DINOSAUR/DRAGONS

Unknown Island
1,000,000 BC
1,000,000 Years BC
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
20,000,000 Miles To Earth
It Came from Beneath the Sea
Godzilla (and what followed)*
Gorgo*8
Mothra*
Gamera*
Tagora*
Ghidra*
Rodan*

GIANT ANIMALS

Them
King Kong
Mighty Joe Young
Konga
Tarantula

ALIENS

Alien (and what followed)
The Thing
The Blob
I Married a Monster from Outer Space
Hideous Sun Demon

FORMERLY HUMAN OR VAGUELY HUMAN

The Mummy
The Mummy’s Ghost
The Muumy’s Hand
The Mummy’s Tomb
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
Bubba Hotep
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
Tales of he Mummy
Dracula (and what followed)
Cat People
I Walked with a Zombie
White Zombie
The Wolf Man
The Werewolf

EVOLVED OR SORT OF EVOLVED

The Maze
The Creature from the Black Lagoon
Altered States
Wolfen

CREATED MONSTERS

Frankenstein
Bride of Frankenstein
Bride of the Atom
The Golem
The Host**

ANCIENT MONSTERS

The Gorgon
Clash of the Titans
Jason and the Argomauts
7th Voyage of Sinbad
Golden Voyage of Sinbad

*Japanese
** Korean

NOTE: The 1930'S and 1940'S were the years in which Universal Studios made most of its famous monster films (as well as horror films). Many of those films were recreated by Hammer Studios in England more than a decade later starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. These two studios, Universal and Hammer, are famous for their monster films and you should be familiar with both the studios and their monster movies. Hammer Studios became known as "The house that dripped blood".

IF YOU SURVIVE THE CLASS THE FINAL WILL BE HELD FROM 8:00 AM TO 10:00 AM ON JULY 9TH 2008. BE THERE!!!!!