Monsterland
TV Documentary
Production
Avanti Media für ZDF/Arte
2008
Directed by
Jörg Buttgereit
Format
SD PAL 16:9
Length
80 Min.
Tech specs
Sony IMX
Frankenstein, the Werewolf, King Kong, Godzilla — all these terrifying creatures seem eerily familiar to us. That’s because we project onto monsters the desires and impulses we forbid ourselves to express or even acknowledge. What do these monsters mean and personify for us? Do we perhaps even need these beasts for our own mental well-being?
In Monsterland, Jörg Buttgereit travels across the globe to meet the creators of monsters and, together with them, explore the fear, fascination, and love that surround these beings.
In Los Angeles, Buttgereit talks with Hollywood’s legendary makeup artist Rick Baker, who embodied the giant gorilla in the 1976 King Kong remake, and with Joe Dante, the expert on monsters and director of the blockbuster Gremlins. In one of Los Angeles’ grand movie palaces, he meets American horror director John Carpenter, whose films reveal evil lurking in the hidden—and even within people themselves. His remake The Thing became one of the most disturbing monster movies ever made. In Halloween, he created with the mute, masked killer Michael Myers the prototype of the human-shaped monster. Carpenter is an intellectual who questions both himself and the genre.
In New York, Buttgereit visits the eccentric painter Joe Coleman in his studio packed with relics of monsters and murderers. Coleman immortalizes serial killers, freaks, and mutations in paintings reminiscent of Hieronymus Bosch. For months at a time, he delves into the psyche of human monsters like Ed Gein—the real-life inspiration behind the mythic killers of Psycho, Silence of the Lambs, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
The monstrous feminine creations from the American blockbusters Alien and Species come from Swiss artist H. R. Giger. Known for his dark airbrush paintings and designs, Giger profoundly influenced the look of cinematic monsters since the 1980s with his female nightmare creatures.
Whether aliens or zombies, serial killers or prehistoric beasts — the American special effects master Gregory Nicotero has brought them all to the screen. In the digital age, Nicotero remains one of the last craftsmen of handmade, practical monsters rather than computer-generated ones. He has worked for all the major directors of the genre (Carpenter, Romero, Tarantino) and may well be considered a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein.
Unlike Hollywood’s illusionary cinema, Japanese monster films have preserved their artificial aesthetic to this day. In Tokyo, Buttgereit meets actor Kenpachiro Satsuma, who has portrayed the giant lizard Godzilla and other kaijū (Japanese giant monsters) since the 1970s in countless films. Trapped in a claustrophobic latex suit, he rampaged through miniature cities, giving Godzilla a human dimension. Teruyoshi Nakano, who has directed monster scenes for Toho Studios since the early 1970s, represents the traditional Japanese suitmation style and reflects on the intentional artificiality of Asian monster cinema.
Filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto also grew up with Godzilla films, but his wild “splatter-punk” works such as Tetsuo: The Iron Man and Tokyo Fist, stand as the modern counterpoint to Satsuma and Nakano. His body-horror films have been featured at international festivals such as Cannes and represent contemporary Japan. His monsters are not gigantic like Godzilla & co., but fragile mutations and cyborgs crawling out from beneath Tokyo’s towers of concrete and steel.
As an expert on Japanese monster culture, Buttgereit introduces American fan Paul Gavins, who regularly presents his self-made monster costumes at conventions. He lives the dream many fans only fantasize about: stepping into monster suits and becoming a celebrated Mon-Star.
Arte press text