Stuart Gordon – NOT DONE!
The first thing I did to research this article was enter “best horror directors” into the Google machine just to see where Stuart stood in the minds of my peers. Apparently he doesn`t exist. Of the five-or-so lists I pulled up, Mr. Gordon didn’t have a place on any of them. Commence mission – I need to find out what he needs to do to be mentioned among modern day horror marvels such as Carpenter, Craven, and Romero. And I need to do it while finishing this bottle of rum.
The guy already has his masterpiece. RE-ANIMATOR is as much a staple of 80s horror as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and basically put Empire Pictures on the map. It’s follow-up (FROM BEYOND) was no huge let-down either, a little darker, a little smarter, and a lot more fucked up. It was a classic one-two punch that sent the horror community into a frenzy. His third film, DOLLS, didn’t quite measure up but entertained nonetheless. It wasn’t until ROBOT JOX that Gordon seemed to fall from grace. Empire Pictures went bankrupt during the film’s production and Gordon clashed with screenwriter, Joe Halderman, as to the theme of the film. It was time to get his horror back on.
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM was a return to form for the director while CASTLE FREAK failed to give him the push he needed to advance in the genre. Six years, a little TV, and two comedies later, Gordon struck back with DAGON and has filled his horror void every two years since then with the criminally underrated KING OF ANTS, the sadly underrated EDMOND, and the slightly underrated STUCK. That’s a lot of underrated shit right there. I guess I’m beginning to see why he gets no respect. When you’re done reading this article this paragraph will be sorely underrated.
I can’t help but wonder if Gordon’s raging hard-on for H.P. Lovecraft hurt or helped his early career. He made some great films but seemed to polarize horror audiences. Lovecraft faithful found his inclusion of gratuitous nudity and over-the-top gore too much to be considered faithful. Some loved his sick and twisted vision. Adaptation or not, he’s made a style all his own and it seems the love-hate relationship with it has solidified stunning mediocrity.
It is impressive that he’s stuck with the genre. His biggest hit by far was his writing gig on HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS. I’m sure a lot of different avenues opened up that would have taken him far from a decapitated head being forced into a woman’s crotch by it’s reanimated corpse. Still, he might have been able to sneak that scene into the sequel.
Maybe it’s the booze talking but Stuart Gordon’s last three horror films have been a blast to sit through. His first horror film rivals the best the genre has to offer. Why can’t we start mentioning his name when we speak of the best? And he looks like a bad-ass. Can we at least admit that?