Horrorfest 2017: The War of the Worlds

The days are getting longer, the leaves are falling and the rain has come to stay. You know what that means. Time for Horrorfest again! This year I'll be focusing on favorite horror films of famous or up-and-coming directors. 31 horror movies in 31 days! As usual I'll focus on movies I've never seen before, but every now and then one might slip in that I've technically seen but barely remember.

In fact, that's the case with this month's first selection – 1953's THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. This is a favorite of both Wes Craven and Steven Spielberg, two Horrorfest alums with spectacular filmographies. Spielberg even remade the film decades later.

The famous Martian invasion story will forever be linked with Halloween thanks to Orson Welles' infamous Halloween-eve radio broadcast of the story. I checked the record out of the library as a kid, and it scared the hell out of me.

This Hollywood version scared the hell out of me also. In fact, when I watched it as a kid, I don't remember if I was able to watch the rest of the movie after we get our first startling glimpse of a real, live Martian. So, now I'm checking it out again.

The film follows the broad strokes of the H.G. Wells novel and Orson Welles radio show – a strange object falls from the sky and alien machines emerge from it, blasting everything in sight. This version has been updated to take place contemporaneously with its 1950s release and stars Gene Barry as a scientist and Ann Robinson as the local pastor's daughter who he falls in love with.

WAR OF THE WORLDS' greatest successes are the bold uses of color and the great special effects. It's important to note that while the special effects likely look quaint by today's standards, other similar films being produced around this time had vastly inferior effects and the subject matter of Martians invading Earth was usually relegated to B-movies, not big budget extravaganzas. Even the Martians themselves are not just "men in rubber suits" – they're humanoid forms, but with spindly arms and legs and a weird, three-section eye. Their effective design, and the minimal use of it, and the surprising first entrance of the monsters, was what scared me so much as a kid. The suspense leading up to it helps, as well.

As the movie concluded I was surprised how far ahead of its time it was in many ways. These days there are mainstream TV shows where every single episode is about the apocalypse and the break down of society. In 1953 these kinds of images were fewer and farther between, unless you count the real life footage and memories of the all-too-recent World Wars. But in the realm of fiction, it's impressive to see such an early example of complete chaos – this is not a rousing story about how mankind comes together to defeat invaders, but rather how mankind crumbles and devours itself as invaders approach, and only an outside influence can save us. It's bleak for mainstream entertainment of the time, even with the religious overtones.