| |
 |
|
|
Movies Forum Index » International Movies Forum » REVIEW: SERPIENTE DE MAR (84)
Page 1 of 1
|
| Author |
Message |
| IAIN MCLACHLAN |
 Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2004 8:58 am |
|
|
|
Guest
|
SERPIENTE DE MAR
(Sp/Port 1984)
Alternate Titles: THE SEA SERPENT; HYDRA; HYDRA - THE SEA MONSTER; HYDRA:
THE SEA SERPENT.
Colour
RT: 92mins
Pro Co: Calepas International Inc
Dir: Gregory Greens (=Amando de Ossorio)
Pro: Jose Frade;
Wr: Gordon A. Osburn (=Amando de Ossorio);
Exec Pro: Joseph Salmer.
Phot: Raul P. Cuttler (=Raul Perez Cubero);
Film Ed: Anthony Red (=Jose Antonio Rojo);
Mus: Robin Davis (=Manuel Santisteban);
Art Dir: Joseph L. Galic.
SFX: Frank Cuttlet, Joseph Vargas, Thomas Urbant.
Cast: Timothy Bottoms, Taryn Power, Jared Martin, Ray Milland, Gerard
Tichy, Carole James, Jack Taylor, Leon Klimovsky, Miguel De Grandy, Paul
Benson, Charly Bravo, Victor Israel, Joe Canalis.
INTRODUCTION
Amando de Ossorio is considered one of the key figures in the Spanish horror
boom of the late 1960s and early-to-mid 1970s, mainly due to the wide
success of his four-strong "Blind Dead" sequence of movies beginning with La
Noche del Terror Ciego (71) and featuring the activities of marauding undead
Knights Templars. These and de Ossorio's other contributions to the genre
featured strong supernatural elements within their plots and so this 1984
foray into science fiction tends to stand out from the rest of his canon.
SYNOPSIS
1985. Above the Mediterranean Sea, a USAF bomber is carrying an experimental
type of nuclear weapon when the loading system develops a fault. The crew
are ordered by their superiors to dispose of the device and detonate it
before the Soviet military, who are patrolling the area, can retrieve it.
The resultant blast awakens a huge dormant sea serpent. Days later, the
crew of a fishing boat arrive back in their home port of Galicia having
nothing to show for their efforts. The captain tells the owner that the
usual fishing grounds they worked in were littered with dead fish, many of
them deformed or mutated in some way. The few fish they did manage to catch
gave off a mysterious glow in the dark and had to be thrown overboard. His
employer is concerned that the captain has consumed some of the fish, which
he thinks maybe contaminated by radioactivity, and sends him to hospital for
tests. He looks in vain for a replacement and has to settle for the
disgraced skipper Pedro Fontan, a man whose last vessel had sunk under his
command, reportedly while he was drunk. The owner warns him to be very
careful with his new vessel or he will face the law. The crew of the
fishing boat are immediately hostile toward their new captain, especially
the first mate whose brother was lost on Fontan's last ill-fated voyage.
The boat sets sail very early the next morning and heads for the fishing
grounds. On the first night of their journey the captain takes over the
helm from the increasingly hostile mate. Shortly after Fontan hears a
commotion outside in the ocean. Unable to see anything at first he is
horrified to see the wake of something huge heading towards the vessel. As
it reaches the boat the sea serpent rears out of the water and rams it,
causing it to be holed below the waterline. The crew have to abandon ship
by unloading lifeboats and lowering them into the sea. As the fishing boat
sinks one of the lifeboats is attacked by the creature and eaten. The other
crew members believe that they have been sucked down by the wash from the
fishing vessel. The next morning the skipper fails to convince the owner of
his story or the fact that he has not been drinking. He is brought before a
maritime board of investigation where his story is further ridiculed despite
Fontan's loud protestations. The board members retire to consider their
verdict. That night outside a casino in Portugal, two drunken women friends
are playing on a beach. One of them commandeers a pedallo and makes out to
sea. There the sea serpent suddenly appears out of the water and attacks
her before eating her. Her friend watches helplessly from the shore,
screaming hysterically. The next day the tribunal returns a guilty verdict
on Fontan's charge of negligence and incompetence, revoking his captain's
licence and recommending that he face civil legal action. After the
tribunal ends, the dishonoured skipper happens to catch a newspaper report
about a reported monster attack in Portugal, where the only witness has been
incarcerated in a mental hospital. Pedro decides to make his way to Lisbon.
REVIEW
While there have been a number of striking Spanish contributions to science
fiction filmmaking, including Eugenio Martin's Panico el Transiberiano (72),
Jorge Grau's No Profaner el Sueno de los Muertos (74) and Narcisco
Ibanez-Serrador's Quien Puede Mata a un Nino? (75), examples of the "giant
monster" subgenre are rather thin on the ground, despite many examples
appearing in the country's literature, especially regional folk tales. The
few examples that exist have usually been contributed by Juan Piquer Simon,
notably works inspired by the writings of French fantastique author Jules
Verne such as Viaje al Centro de la Terra (76) and Misterio en la Isla de
lost Monstruos (81). The majority of those productions are period pieces
while, at first glance, Amando de Ossorio's Serpiente de Mar is a resolutely
modern affair, taking place as it does in the then near-future.
With no real Spanish, or indeed European, model to base his production on,
de Ossorio therefore looked to American and Japan for inspiration.
Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, particularly in the US, filmmakers
had been reworking material from 1950s genre films and adapting it for
contemporary audiences. The most obvious example of this was the "revenge
of nature" cycle typified by the likes of George McCowan's Frogs (72),
Jeannot Scwarz's Bug (75) and John "Bud" Cardos' Kingdom of the Spiders
(77), which had roots in the "creature features" from the "atomic decade"
like Gordon Douglas' Them! (54), Jack Arnold's Tarantula! (55) and Kenneth
G. Crane's Monster From Green Hell (5 .
The main difference between the two eras is that in the earlier one, the
threat to mankind was due to the colossal size of the animal, usually alone
although sometimes in small groups, whereas later on the peril for humanity
was usually provided by sheer force of numbers of normal-sized life-forms.
There were of course some titles from the 1970s which harked back directly
back to the oversized creations seen in the earlier decade including John
Frankenheimer's Prophesy (79), the films of 50s throwback Bert I. Gordon
(Food of the Gods 76) and William F. Claxton's bizarre Night of the Lepus
(72).
Of particular relevance to the film under review here, is the fact that many
of the plots of the 1950s creature features were driven by public anxieties
over the use of nuclear power, particularly that involved in nuclear
weaponry, combined with paranoia about the Cold War which was then at its
height. By the 1970s the Cold War had thawed considerably and concerns
about the threat of nuclear catastrophe had largely receded into the
background to be replaced by concerns about pollution and environmental
disaster. Even the Japanese Godzilla movies, which were created as a
reaction to the perceived perils of the nuclear age, became more interested
in displaced ecological issues as evidenced by Yoshimitsu Banno's Gojira Tai
Hedora (71).
By the time Serpiente de Mar was being made, and Godzilla being revived
after a ten year-long hiatus by filmmaker Koji Hashimoto, however, the
political landscape, particularly from a European perspective had changed
somewhat, with a new Cold War being waged between the US and USSR. With
much sabre rattling between the elderly presidents of these two nation's and
the employment of political and nuclear rhetoric not heard in some
twenty-five years, it therefore seems entirely appropriate that, since the
politicians in the real world were acting in a retrospective manner, a
contemporary genre film should reflect this.
For most viewers the most interesting aspect of this production will be
identifying which particular monster movies from a bygone age provided
material to be reworked and incorporated by Amando de Ossorio for his own
purposes.
Of course, the movie that really established the formula for the atomic
creature subgenre was Eugene Lourie's The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (53),
featuring a Ray Harryhausen-animated dinosaur. Its influence can be
detected not just in the overall concept of a life-form being awoken by the
shockwave from an atomic blast, but also in a sequence which refers directly
to Lourie's movie in which the sea serpent destroys a lighthouse, as well as
where the fishing boat skippered by Timothy Bottoms is rammed by it at sea.
Additionally, the way the creature's movements are predicted by tracking its
path of destruction and the course of the Gulf Stream shows the influence of
the earlier venture.
More importantly, unlike most of the Hollywod models, whose rampaging
monsters originated in the natural world, de Ossorio's creation, like
Godzilla before it has its roots in ancient mythology, as described by
maverick scientist Ray Milland. This is emphasised by the beast's
appearance that resembles traditional drawings based on mariners' tales
across the centuries.
Audiences may also recognise recreations of familiar scenes from pictures
like Eugene Lourie's Gorgo (61), with the monster attacking shipwreck
survivors in their lifeboat, the serpent scaling the metal girders of a
bridge as seen in Robert Gordon's It Came From Beneath the Sea (55) and the
inferno at the marina created by the monster's attack reminiscent of
material from both Arnold Laven's The Monster That Challenged the World (57)
and Lourie and Douglas Hickox's Behemoth - The Sea Monster (59).
Later movies which have a bearing on Serpiente de Mar include Steven
Spielberg's Jaws (75), especially in Manuel Santisteban's highly repetitive
music score which closely mimics John Williams' landmark work, and its
direct sequel, Jeannot Szwarc's Jaws 2 (7 where a Coast Guard helicopter
is plucked from the air by the serpent.
The design of the titular creature, with its long neck and extended body,
means that it performs differently from its peers of the 1950s in a number
of respects. The most obvious is that although it can venture onto dry
land, with devastating effect, it movement there is somewhat restricted
meaning that its activities are confined mainly to the Mediterranean coastal
regions rather than the urban locales favoured by this type of film. Also
something of a departure is the serpent actually seen eating people, rather
than then causing widespread physical destruction (and resultant human
deaths) as is usually considered the norm.
If the practice of monster movie making in Spain is a recent phenomena, then
the facilities and other resources for undertaking such projects are even
more so. The few filmmakers working on this type of production usually
employ talent from outside the country, such as the UK and especially Italy
to supervise the more elaborate effects work. Although it is difficult to
tell from the pseudonyms adopted by most of the crew-members, the makers of
Serpiente de Mar seem to have employed largely local talent to work on the
creature and model work. Since Amando de Ossorio also did some of the
effects on his "Blind Dead" sequence of movies, it is probable that he also
carried out some of the technical chores on this production. The results of
their efforts are, to say the least, variable.
The creature itself is apparently divided into three different models for
relevant shots: a full length body for long shots of the creature attacking
miniatures and generally moving through the ocean, a small puppet-like head
for when it rears up out of the water and a full-size mechanical mock-up of
the head when it has to interact with performers.
These best of these is the full-length body model that, thanks to inventive
use of shadow and spot lighting, actually looks fairly impressive as it
makes its way through the water and succeeds in conveying the scale of the
creature. Far less impressive is the mechanical head mainly because the
design is so bizarre looking, with its ping-pong eyes and spastic jaw
movements, that it reduces most audiences to laughter. Even worse is the
miniature head that closely resembles a sock puppet and appears ridiculous
in almost every respect, resembling nothing less than the bastard offspring
of the monsters from Fred F. Sears' The Giant Claw (57) and Sidney Pink's
Reptilicus (61). De Ossorio's decision to speed up the film to make the
creature appear more aggressive proves to be a bad idea.
Even more unwise was the decision to show the creature so early on, indeed
over the credits, some seven minutes into the film and to repeat close-ups
of the puppet head throughout the remainder of it, as if revelling in its
sheer tattiness. It is surprising that a director of Ossorio's repute did
not follow the example of other filmmakers working in the arena of
low-budget genre production faced with a lack of resources or credible star
monster, and restricted the serpent's full appearance until the end of the
picture. Even Steven Spielberg adopted this approach on his mega-budgeted
but troubled venture Jaws when the mechanical model for the killer shark
kept failing and the makers were required to work round it, eventually
creating a superior piece of work.
The rest of the special effects on Serpiente de Mar prove to be a mixed bag
indeed. Amongst the least impressive work are the model boats that the
serpent trashes along with a feeble looking toy steam train. Some of the
other miniatures are reasonably well constructed, notably the railway bridge
and the lighthouse. The best effects sequences usually involve pyrotechnic
work such as the marina and bridge being destroyed along with a decent
collapsing lighthouse.
Some sources suggest that this production may, at one stage, have been
devised by producer Jose Frade (Descanse en Piezas 87) as a US co-production
to be located in Florida. Although this idea was aborted and the project
relocated to Spain and Portugal, Frade was still obviously aiming at the
international market, especially North American home video, and thus
retained his original Hollywood cast, apparently eating away at his now much
more meagre budget.
It's difficult to gauge the quality of the performances in this work for a
number of reasons. One of these is that although the film seems to have
been almost entirely shot in English, all dialogue (including that of the
English-speaking actors) has been ineptly re-recorded or "looped" as is the
norm in European productions. This shortcoming is reinforced by dialogue
showing that screenwriter de Ossorio had absolutely no ear for the English
language. At best scenes involving exposition between the characters sound
awkward, while the script often veers into inane cliché and
near-incoherence, especially when the actors are called upon to deliver
nonsensical technical and scientific explanations.
A criticism often levelled at the director is that while he excels at
creating fantastic, macabre or suspense set pieces in his genre works, his
movies are frequently marred by his detachment or disinterest in the more
mundane or conventional material outside of them. This becomes very
apparent in Serpiente de Mar.
The visual flourishes in the camerawork and editing that are a feature of
Amando de Ossorio's best work, not just in the horror genre but also his
forays into westerns, are here largely absent. What remains is an almost
TV-style approach to his direction, featuring banal compositions and camera
angles, with little in the way of genuine style or imagination.
Added to this is the film's leaden pacing, making its 92 minute running time
something of a challenge. Much of the running time is made up of lengthy
expositional scenes, notably an interminable maritime tribunal, and heavy
padding such as Taryn Power (Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger 77) and Timothy
Bottoms (Invaders From Mars 86) trying to escape from the psychiatric
hospital where she is being held, and a pointless subplot involving Jack
Taylor (Pieces 83) as a criminal whose contraband has been destroyed by the
monster. The romance between Power and Bottoms is embarrassingly botched as
is the hostile relationship between the skipper and his former first mate
Jared Martin (I Guerrieri dell'Anno 2072 84). Since a key plot point of the
enterprise is the heroes trying to convince the rest of the world of the
existence of the serpent, it seems ironic that at the end of the film that
the creature merely swims away with the only other witnesses to its
existence all now dead, although none of the characters seem too unhappy
about this.
Some viewers may find de Ossorio's introduction of broad humour into the
proceedings somewhat irritating, examples of this including Bottoms trying
to convince Power that both he and she are sane and that he has come to help
her escape, and a lonely lighthouse keeper Joe Canalis (Latidos de Panico
83) whose isolation has resulted in him developing a split personality,
whereby he plays cards against himself as two separate people.
Surprisingly, given his background, the director appears to have no empathy
with the material or the conventions of the monster movie. None of the
monster attacks generate any real tension or suspense, although these
sequences would have been fatally compromised anyway by the unfortunate
appearance of the serpent or the standard of the effects. Ossorio's
apparent lack of involvement is such that he appears not to have been
actively involved in their creation but merely observing them. The movie
does not even compensate for this through the more exploitative aspects of
Spanish genre filmmaking, since there is no nudity or gore present, meaning
that there is very little on offer for the least discerning viewer.
The film does have a few positive features. The most prominent of these is
the presence of Hollywood veteran Ray Milland as the oceanologist who helps
the hero and heroine locate and confront the monster. In a concession to
more environmentally aware times, Milland does not want to destroy the
creature as his predecessors in such movies would have done, but rather
merely wants to drive it away from population centres (apart from Libya).
The star's long career had ranged from the Oscar-winning success of Billy
Wilder's intense essay on alcoholism The Lost Weekend (45), to self-directed
works like A Man Apart (55) and Panic in the Year Zero (62) before ending up
as a regular in TV movies and minor exploitation productions from around
around the globe during the 1970s and 1980s, including such titles as Wes
Bishop and Lee Frost's The Thing with Two Heads (72), Jack Arnold's The
Swiss Conspiracy (75) and Jurgen Goslar's Die Sklavenjager (7.
In many of his later efforts Milland was the sole redeeming quality and this
is the case with Serpiente de Mar. Here he actually seems to be the only
one enjoying himself to any degree, even making the terrible dialogue sound
a lot better than it has any right to, and easily dominating every scene he
is in.
Aside from some TV appearances this was his last performance in a movie.
On the technical side, de Ossorio's film benefits from nicely photographed
(by Raul Perez Cubero,I Cacciatore di Squali 79), and unfamiliar, Portuguese
and Spanish locations especially the harbours and shorefronts with their
brilliantly coloured fishing boats. It is also Cubero who contributes one
of the few interesting sequences to the production. This occurs in a museum
full of the immense skeletons of long-dead dinosaurs and is where Power and
Bottoms try to convince Milland of the existence of the sea serpent. The
low-angled, mobile camerawork adds to the displaced and alien quality of the
environment that the sequence takes place in. It is unfortunate that this
level of creativity is absent from the rest of the work.
Trivia buffs may be interested to know that Argentinean-born director Leon
Klimovsky, best known for genre product like La Noche de Walpurgis (71), La
Orgia Nocturna de Los Vampiros (73) and Ultimo Deseo (76), appears here in a
cameo role as a hospital doctor, one of several acting roles he took on in
preference to direction in the 1980s.
Following the completion of Serpiente de Mar, Amando de Ossorio retired from
filmmaking to return to his first loves of painting and sculpture, although
he was involved in a number of ongoing projects, including a remake of this
movie with a different monster and less prominent actors, up until his death
in 2001.
©Iain McLachlan 2004
Chroma-Noize cult science fiction and horror movie reviews;
www.geocities.com/bigfatpav2000 |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| |
|
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
The time now is Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:09 am
|
|