Wes Anderson’s two favourite horror movies: “A tremendous energy”
Wes Anderson and horror movies are two things about as far away from each other as possible. The idea of the pastel-loving director making a scary movie is almost laughable. Bill Murray brutally murdering Owen Wilson in a brightly coloured room, directly in the middle of the frame while quirky music plays in the background? Doesn’t quite scan, does it?
The idea is so ridiculous that Saturday Night Live even did a parody of it in 2013. It was called ‘The Midnight Coterie of Sinister Intruders’ and starred frequent Andersonite Edward Norton. Still, like all directors, the auteur is a connoisseur of film, no matter the genre, so it’s not surprising that he has an opinion on the world of slashers and monsters.
In conversation with Rotten Tomatoes, the proprietor of The Grand Budapest Hotel named Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange as one of his favourites. “It’s a movie that’s very particularly designed and, you know, conjures up this world that you’ve never seen quite this way in a movie before,” he said. “But at the same time there’s a great sort of spontaneity to it, and a tremendous energy. And both of those are very well adapted, good books.”
Again, a movie where a gang of violent criminals smash and terrorise their way through a dystopian hellscape doesn’t seem like it would appeal to the guy who made Fantastic Mr Fox. That’s the thing about Anderson’s work, though; it’s far more diverse than many people give it credit for. The influence of Kubrick’s ultra-violence masterpiece is plain to see. The elaborate sets, the deep lore, the particular interests of the main character, the use of classical music, it’s all there. The tone and the objectives might be different, but the basic framework is startlingly similar.
Though it definitely contains horror elements, that’s not the genre that immediately springs to mind when you think about A Clockwork Orange. However, there can be no denying that another of Anderson’s picks sits firmly within the macabre. “One movie that I often find myself going back to is Rosemary’s Baby,” he continued. “This has always been a big influence on me, or a source of ideas; and it’s always been one of my favourites. Mia Farrow gives a great, big performance in it, and I’ve read the script and it’s a terrific script. So that’s one I’d say.”
Roman Polanski’s classic tale of a pregnant woman who falls into the hands of a devil-worshipping cult caused a major stir when it was released in 1968. Its open discussion of Satanism and the way in which the titular Rosemary, a vulnerable young woman, was presented flew in the face of conservative opinion at the time and broke down barriers for future horror productions. Like A Clockwork Orange, it is now an indisputable cinematic institution, even if public opinion towards Polanski has, rightfully, soured.
The fact that both Polanski and Kubrick are such controversial names (albeit for very different reasons) makes it even stranger that Anderson – a nice guy by all accounts – idolises their work. They are all innovators, though, visionaries who do things entirely on their own terms. They have all cultivated a strong following but also amassed an army of haters. Whether you like them or not, however, their respective marks on the world of cinema are indelible.
