Joss Whedon Vs. The Horror Tradition by Kristopher Karl Woofter;Lorna Jowett;

Author:Kristopher Karl Woofter;Lorna Jowett;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Joss Whedon, horror, feminism, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cabin in the Woods, Dollhouse, Firefly, film
ISBN: 9781786725417
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK

9

Monstrous Puppet Masters:

Negotiating Violence and Horror

in The Whedon Tele-verse

Stacey Abbott

While Joss Whedon’s work is indelibly associated with the horror genre through his television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB/UPN 1997–2003) and Angel (WB 1999–2004), Cabin in the Woods (2012), arguably, remains to date the only horror film within Whedon’s body of work as writer, director, or producer.1 Co-written by Whedon and Buffy/Angel writer Drew Goddard, the film was directed by Goddard, with Whedon directing second-unit material and operating on set as Producer. This was a highly collaborative process. In “We Are Not Who We Are,” the behind the scenes special feature on the Cabin in the Woods DVD/Bluray, both creators display their passion for the horror genre, with Goddard in particular presented as an enthusiastic director, not only paying tribute to the history of the genre that has influenced him, but immersing himself in its aesthetic excesses. Throughout the feature, both Goddard and Whedon comment on Goddard’s commitment to getting the genre right by, for instance, lighting the cellar scene very carefully “to get it really dark … get really rich blacks”; ensuring, where possible, that special effects were achieved practically through special make-up, prosthetics, and animatronics; and dousing the sets in gallons of blood and guts.2 Goddard’s zeal for the excesses of the genre are reiterated by other members of the crew interviewed on set, such as Special Make Up Effects artist David Leroy Anderson, standing in front of a lobby in which the walls and floors are streaming with blood, who describes Goddard’s approach to shooting a zombie attack:

What you are witnessing here is our first zombie attack. Drew, our fearless leader out there, is directing the four stunt zombies who are actively tearing a guy apart … feeding on this body over here. Drew has very enthusiastically explained what he wants so they are fighting over intestines, tearing the bits to pieces. As you can see there is just a little bit of blood … As long as you bring the zombies and provide Drew with what he wants, which is nasty horrible looking zombies doing bad things, you can’t go wrong.3

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