It’s the standard formula for a good Monster movie: don’t show your Monster too much or it loses its effectiveness. Marks like me and a whole bunch of you may salivate at the ability to pore over every minute detail of a design, but we usually have to wait for some screencaps or an action figure to be able to do that. It’s a shame, but for the Monster to remain scary it has to remain ill-defined, seen only in brief glimpses when it jumps out to claim some victim. Any good, lingering look risks the sacrifice of the mystique. Personally, if every Monster flick was like OCTAMAN, where the creature remains on display for most of the movie, I’d be fine with it. But I don’t know of anyone who’d call OCTAMAN scary.
The recent ANTLERS is a perfect example of just what I’m talking about. You never get a good look at the Wendigo. You never get to appreciate the intricacy of the design of the beast. (Maybe the subconscious mind does. It supposedly picks up on things the conscious mind doesn’t have time to grasp.) But now, thanks to FANGORIA and some concept art and behind-the-scenes photos, we can better enjoy the design for the best depiction of a Wendigo I’ve ever seen on film. Yes, I like it better even than the design for the creature in Larry Fessenden’s movie. (Larry’s movie is the superior film, though.)
A Good…, Er, Better…Look at the Wendigo
