As in the previous example, the sources of inspiration are classic: Fiedler is a character that is regularly found in horror films since the publication in 1896 of The Island of Dr. Moreau (Doctor Moreau’s Island) by Herbert G. Wells. The desolate region, devoid of any imprint of civilization, recalls Conan Doyle’s novel The Lost World, 1912. However, what could resemble a barely disguised tribute to the great classics of the horror film owes its existence once again only to the political context of the time. In putlocker you can find the best choices.
What the Stories
Bettley is American; the action at the start of the film takes place in the United States and several scenes show him filled with material benefits (he owns a house with a swimming pool). Interviewed by a television channel, he admits to being bored in a mercantile world, and where nothing he has achieved has done society any good. The political message, although very discreet, is nevertheless very present: thus, once again, the horrifying presences manage to circumvent the ideological prohibitions linked to the genre in order to cross the multiple instances of control of the Soviet film industry.
- To end this exhibition, we should return to the genesis of a film mentioned above, the Variant of the Zombie. It is, as we now understand, the typical example of an anti-American propaganda film from the years 1983-1985. It also appears as a manifestation of the mutation that a propaganda machine in search of efficiency is trying to operate. Commercial profit and political message must succeed in getting along, and the Variant of the zombie is betting on it. This is a Mosfilm production, which benefits from a certain budget and support, unlike the examples mentioned above.
In addition, the archives tell us that before the film was released, the director is undoubtedly trying to make up for the artistic mediocrity of his work by asking the higher authorities for permission to make the title more impactful by replacing the term “Lesnikov” with “zombie”. In the context of the counter-propaganda campaign, it is hardly surprising that the Goskino finally agrees, calling the film a “political thriller with science fiction elements”, and justifying its existence by the fact that it is “a call for the preservation of peace and reason on Earth on behalf of generations to come.
Even if the victims of the experiences of the neo-Nazis are not undead in the true sense of the term, but simply people under the influence of drugs (like the guinea pigs of Professor Abst in the example mentioned above), a certain ambivalence remains for the spectator, accustomed by the press to associate the word “zombie” with the western horror film. This last example shows that the compromise sought by ideological and commercial logic ends up making horrific presences inevitable.
The Santa Julia Tiger
Directed by Fernando Gamboa, this film released in 2002 tells the story of José de Jesús Negrete, who became a soldier and then a bandit. After having noticed the situation in which Mexico finds itself at the beginning of the XXth century, it becomes the defender of the poor and the oppressed, making itself known thanks to a newspaper like “the tiger of Santa Julia”, which steals from the rich to give to the poor.