X-Files Adjacent: The Mole People

Many months ago, I began this series of pieces that I described as a Trifecta on a group of 50s horror and science fiction flicks that shared similarities with The X-Files, or might have influenced the people involved with the show, or older generations who influenced the producers--a sort of six degrees of separation, if you will. I have often argued that when it comes to story-telling, there are no accidents; other material can have a direct or indirect influence on an artist.

In the case of this analysis, it might seem like the most unlikely candidate, as far as influences, and yet The Mole People sticks out like a sore thumb and seemed like a real anomaly for the period. Released in 1956, at the height of the Atomic-age era of mutated giant insects and reptiles, The Mole People seems like a film that should have been produced and released a decade earlier. There’s a nostalgic and retro aspect to the film. It plays like a tribute to the 1920’s pulps of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A. Merritt, and Robert E Howard, and yet there’s a social injustice theme about instutionalized slavery sewn into the tale that left me suspecting there was more to the film.

The Mole People is essentially a ‘B’ movie released by Universal International at the zenith of the Bud Westmore era of Universal’s horror and science fiction franchise. Where the infamous title characters, the creatures themselves, are not the villains, but mutant slaves of the underground Sumerian race who have been oppressed by their masters. Thematically, the film shares similarities to A. Merritt’s The Moon Pool and countless other sources, which we’ll get into later.

The Story

The film was produced by William Alland, who initially made his name as an actor before producing, appearing as the unidentified reporter in Citizen Kane (1941), written by Laszlo Gorog, and was one of the early directing assignments at Universal Studios for Virgil W. Vogel. It starred John Agar, Hugh Beaumont, Cynthia Patrick, and Alan Napier. The film opens with an introduction by USC Professor, Dr. Frank C. Baxter, who speaks about man’s interest in what is inside the Earth. He cites Gilgamesh, the Greeks, Dante, and explains about the Hollow Earth theories of John Cleves Symmes’ and Cyrus Reed Teed’s in the 19th Century. Then he advises that the following film is "a fable, beyond fiction." This kind of introduction was a common device during this period of genre pictures; an expert or criminologist will offer a reassurance to the viewers. The device was even used in Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space.

We are introduced to Dr. Roger Bentley (John Agar), an archeologist who is working on an excavation is Asia. He is working closely with his partner Dr. Jed Bellamin (Hugh Beaumont), as well as Prof. Etienne Lafarge (Nestor Paiva), and Dr. Paul Stuart (Phil Chambers). They find a stone tablet embedded in rock, which they determine is 5,000 years old and the writing is Sumerian in origin, Just as Dr. Bentley reads a warning about removing the tablet, an earthquake sets their efforts back when the tablet falls, but the quake also dislodges an oil lamp brought to them by a native boy, with symbols and references identical to the tablet. They learn that the ancient Sumerians of the Sharu dynasty sought refuge from the great flood cited in the epic of Gilgamesh, at the top of the mountain overlooking their camp site, Kuitara. After climbing the mountain, they reach the surface ruins of a temple.

When another earthquake triggers the mountain side to crumble, they lose one of their team members, Dr. Stuart, and with a rope, follow the man into the split earth. They make their way to what turns out to be The Temple of Ishtar, without the slightest warning of what is to come.

After finding Dr. Stuart dead from the fall and reaching the bowels of the Earth, the group discover a chamber lit by some kind of phosphorescence--"chemicals in the rocks," as Dr. Bentley calls it. Before them is an underground lake and a city of large, stone buildings. There is a fallen stone head that is identical to a sculpture found in the plateau on the surface. The team realize this city must be the surviving descendants of the Sharu dynasty. They establish camp, and they are grabbed, with their heads covered in bags, by a group of mutant creatures: The Mole People.



Bentley, Bellamin, and LaFarge awake in another chamber, a cave that features some kind of manacles set into the wall. Bentley and Bellamin can’t recall anything, but LaFarge has some scars from the hands of something not human. Two albino men appear, both armed and sporting attire of an ancient culture. The team is marched back through another part of the large chamber and they are escorted into a ritual in progress. They appear to have entered some kind of temple structure with a symbol that adorns the complex--an arrow that is pointed at a sixty degree angle. The high priest, Elinu, conducts some kind of ritual, uttering that he holds the magic eye of Ishtar. The priest warns King Sharu that these outsiders are ‘evil ones’ who were captured by the 'beasts of the dark.'



After the team offers themselves as friends, a kind of inverse mythology is presented by the high priest. After warning that there is no world but theirs’ and the king adds, there is only heaven, where they lived a long time ago until they were expelled for their sins, the priest explains that this underground realm is the world and they are its people. Above is heaven where only the gods dwell.

After conferring with King Sharu, the high priest orders that these men be placed into the "Fire of Ishtar." Just as the guards move in to grab them, Bentley, Bellamin, and LaFarge fight to make their escape. A squad of guards give chase, and LaFarge is nearly killed by a guard. Bentley and Bellamin discover that the albino Sumerian guards and citizens are hypersensitive to light--even flashlights.



While examining one of the dead guards and wondering how these people have managed to survive, the body of the guard vanishes; something unseen has taken it. LaFarge panics and runs. After Bentley and Bellamin reach LaFarge, he argues that the three of them have to find a way out, and that heading back to the city isn’t an option. Bentley and Bellamin agree. The three of them move further through the tunnels, with the temperature rising. They follow a series of strange sounds with LaFarge staying behind. Then they split up. Bentley and Bellamin reach a chamber to find the creatures, the Mole people, doing slave labor for the Sumerian albinos. Alerted to the presence of the scientists, the guards prompt several of the Mole people to give chase. LaFarge, in another panic, splits up from the team and is killed by one of the mutant slaves and mauled.



Bentley argues that they should make their escape from the caverns by swimming the river, but Bellamin points out that it runs underground for miles. Bentley argues that there must be a way out, as there is a constant supply of fresh air. Then the high priest surfaces and asks the scientist not to use "the burning light." The priest is unaware that the flashlight’s battery is nearly gone.

They have proven to the priest that they possess the 'divine fire of Ishtar' and the king has decided they are holy messengers. They are invited to a royal feast. The priest notes the absence of LaFarge, and Bentley replies he was called back to heaven by Ishtar. They play up the ruse of being messengers for Ishtar, and are introduced to female slaves with plates of food, fish, and mushrooms. Three of the women are albinos. The fourth woman isn’t, and has the same pigmentation as Bentley and Bellamin. But her service is clumsy and the king punishes her until Bentley stops him, brandishing the flashlight to keep them in line. King Sharu takes note of Bentley’s interest and gives the girl, Adel, to him.



While Bentley argues that the gods do not favor the trading of human beings, the priest regards Adel as a 'marked one.' Bentley learns that there are other non-albinos in the kingdom, and the priest explains that the albinos number "twice-and-a-half times sixty." This is their sacred number and that this is the highest number their food supply can sustain. When that number is exceeded, they are killed and sacrificed to the fire of Ishtar. A guard informs the high priest and the king that one of the beasts of the dark (The Mole People) have desecrated their dead--one of the guards that the beast had the flesh stripped off of--but creatures have been caught and the king orders them killed.



After the feast, Bentley and Bellamin, in a private moment, both agree they need to find the passage back to the surface, but doubts that the albinos or the beast themselves will help. The blond servant, Adad, enters and offers them refreshment. When alone, Adad lulls Bentley to sleep with music. After learning that Adad is now Bentley’s servant, he tries to explain to her the meaning of freedom, and convinces her there is a world beyond what she has been told. The high priest from a distance, overhears their conversation. Later, Bentley learns about this culture--the type of clothes they make, the type of weapons they forge, etc...

Elinu, the high priest, warns his followers that these men, Bentley and Bellamin, are not to be trusted, arguing that they are human, and not divine as the king believes. Later, while Bentley and Bellamin are searching the tunnels, unaware that they are being followed, a guard has been ordered to grab their flashlight--"the burning light." The pair learn more about how the beasts are treated--how the Mole People are starved by the guards and ordered to continue the practice, when one of the beasts--out of starvation--attempts to eat one of the harvested mushrooms. It is savagely beaten with sixty lashes, but Bentley and Bellamin intervene. The captain of the guard gives the beast a chance, but is killed after being dragged down a hole.

Back in the city, Bentley teaches Adad more about his world, and why what she has been told is wrong. During a romantic interlude, Bentley rationalizes to Adad that she is human, after admitting to not being a god. He invites her to come to his world, the surface.

Once the King learns of the death of the captain, he appeals to Bentley and Bellamin to use their fire cylinder to keep the beasts in line, but the pair refuses and walks away. The high priest uses this opportunity to convince the king that the newcomers are not to be trusted, but to no avail. Bentley and Bellamin use their flashlight to stop some guards from torturing some beasts, just as the battery in their flashlight gives out, thereby losing their one bit of leverage. Still, Bentley hopes that the creatures can reason, and will remember their kindness.

The king believes that Ishtar is punishing them for some kind of sin, but the high priest argues that the outsiders are the sinners, and that Bentley and Bellamin encourage rebellion with the beasts, who in turn cannot produce enough food to feed everyone. The king then decides that a sacrifice is required to his god. Later, the same ritual is conducted that Bentley and Bellamin encountered. Three albino woman (one assumes of lower status), after a ritual dance, are lured through the door of a narrow chamber. When the sunlight shines from above the surface, all three are burnt beyond recognition from "the fire of Ishtar."



The new captain of the guard makes a discovery, which he reveals to the high priest. It is the hidden body of LaFarge, which proves that Bentley and Bellamin aren’t gods from the heavens. While caught off-guard, Bentley and Bellamin relax with Adad, when the high priest enters their chambers with the guards. While they are subdued, Adad manages to escape through a tunnel.

Adad makes her way to a slave encampment for the beasts, and is dragged into one of the holes of the beasts. Back at the temple, the high priest orders the intruders to be placed in the chamber, falsely believing they will be harmed by the "fire of Ishtar," but before anything can happen, a horde of Mole people rise up from the earth. The high priest assures King Sharu there is nothing to fear, as Mole people descend into the temple, but he realizes too late that the flashlight is of no use. The beasts kill the king and the high priest.



As the carnage continues, Adad appears. She tries to open the chamber door where Bentley and Bellamin are trapped, but she ends up needing the aid of the beasts, who pry it open. But the bright light drives the Mole people back into the caves, after the Sumerian populace has been killed. Realizing that the bright light is sun from the surface, they climb the ragged walls of the chamber towards the surface. They eventually reach the top to find themselves back at the ruins of the ancient temple of the plateau.

Soon after they reach the plateau, several earthquakes collapse and seal the chasm to the sacrificial chamber, and Adad is killed from a falling statue. Bentley and Bellamin are left without any proof of the adventure they experienced.

Themes

The Mole People isn’t a great film. The acting is fairly wooden and nowhere on par with the aforementioned Curse of The Demon. In fact, it’s more on par with War of the Satellites. Furthermore, the film has other deep flaws; the production and sets seem to have been cannibalized from other productions. For instance, the Mole People costumes seem to be hand-me-downs from the Metaluna Mutant costumes from 1955’s This Island Earth, Universal’s tent pole Sci-Fi production from that year. The Mole People suffered from false advertising, as it wasn’t a horror tale, but more of an adventure fantasy, as well as an admittedly awful title. A better title might have been "The Sumerians" or "The Unearthed." Nevertheless, it touched on a number of themes that struck my curiosity. The film touches on, in a select fashion, the mysteries behind Sumeria, a culture that was believed to have vanished. Let’s address some of the ideas thrown around.

Let’s address Professor Baxter’s explanations about Hollow Earth Theory, which was popular in the late 18th Century. The hypothesis proposed that the planet earth was entirely hollow or otherwise contained a substantial interior space. The concept of subterranean lands inside the Earth is popular in folklore, mythology, legends, and various religions including elements of Christianity, Judaism, Greek, the Nordic svartalfheim, and with Tibetan Buddhism (Shamballa). Edmond Halley proposed the idea in 1692 that the Earth was composed of several hollow shells, two inner concentric shells (to explain the rotations of Mercury, Venus, and Mars,) and that each shell had it’s own atmosphere and magnetic pole, which he used to explain the Aurora Borealis. Leonhard Euler proposed a similar theory, but minus the shells, and proposed an inner sun with openings at the Poles. Around 1818 John Cleves Symmes Jr. and eventually Cyrus Reed Teed's in 1869, furthered their own variations of the theory, Teed became the founder of Koreshanity. William Reed wrote Phantom of the Poles in 1906, and he supported the idea of a hollow earth, but without interior shells, or an inner sun.



Map of the interior world, from the Goddess of Atvatabar (1892)

During the Nazi era of the 30s and 40s, The Thune society reported at great length about Tibetan myths of openings in the Earth. Yet conventional science argues that due to gravity, the theory would be improbable once you consider that massive objects tend to clump together gravitationally, creating non-hollow spherical objects that we know to be stars and planets. Visual evidence to support this can be found with the deepest hole drilled to date, the SG-3 borehole, which is 12.3 km (7.6 mi) deep, and part of the Soviet Kola Superdeep Borehole project. Nevertheless, considering the volcanic caverns that are known, the idea of life existing below the Earth, however improbable, can’t be fully ruled out when you consider that Marine Biologists have discovered species in the deep oceans in areas where the pressure was thought to be too great for anything to survive.

One of the first plot elements that struck me was the premise that the Sumerians sole food sources were fish, goats, and mushrooms, which, in some cases are known hallucinogens that have been used in rituals to invoke spirits, and while it might have been a convenient plot device of Lazlo Gorgo’s to explain how they survived, it seemed a telling choice to include mushrooms, when you consider how they have been used in ritual magic.

Then there is “The Fire of Ishtar,” represented as an arrowhead symbol that is used to depict the shaft of light. But, there’s another way at looking at the symbol. Could it represent a triangle space craft? Could these Sumerian albinos be the descendants of an alien race? When you consider their hypersensitivity to sunlight, could they have come from a planet where life adapted to a distant sun?

Who was Ishtar? In Sumerian mythology / theology, Ishtar was one of the seven gods who decreed the fates. Ishtar / Inanna was a goddess of love and war, and like the Greek god of the Underworld, Hades, who allowed his beloved Persephone to return to the surface in order to create spring, Inanna was the creator of seasons. Ishtar, as a goddess of sex, was a force that would bring mates together. One of Ishtar’s lovers was the grain-god, Tammuz, who died young, and some have implied that Ishtar had a hand in Tammuz’s death. Nevertheless, Ishtar was inconsolable and was determined to fetch Tammuz back from the Underworld. In the process of Ishtar’s efforts, she was imprisoned by her sister, Queen Ereshkigal, and her father, Sin the Moon god, sent an envoy with powerful magic to successfully free Ishtar, and return Tammuz back to the living. The decent of Ishtar was celebrated annually in Babylonian lands. So, elements of the film, The Mole People, such as the ritual sacrifice for the sake of a food supply, shares similarities to the far superior The Wicker Man (1973), written by Anthony Shaffer.

Furthermore the plot of the film reminded me of the Sumerian legend of the Anunnaki:

Who were the Anunnaki? There have been differing interpretations. The conventional thinking about the Anunnaki is that they represent the seven “nether Spheres” and guardians of the “Seven gates” through which the “Sun of God” passes into the netherworld of darkness. They were thought to be the “Tutelary spirits of the Earth.” One other theory was the following: According to Zecharia Sitchin, the Anunnaki were extra-terrestrials who came to Earth in antiquity and created or tampered with the genetic make-up of primitive man. The Anunnaki were related to the Nephilim from the Bible. These beings were from an alleged 12th planet of our solar system called Nibiru. Zecharia has proposed that the Sumerian capital of Ur was destroyed in 2000 BCE by an evil wind, the fallout from nuclear weapons, and recorded in the Lament for Ur. But here’s where it gets interesting, as cited below:

According to Sitchin, the "gods” of the Anunnaki were the rank and file workers of the colonial expedition to earth from the 12th planet, also known later, through the Babylonians, as Marduk. The Nephilim "gods” were the commanders of the operation. The Anunnaki performed the menial labor, mining ores and building bases, while the Nephilim issued the orders, setting these tasks into motion. It was only due to an uprising by the Anunnaki against the Nephilim in protest of these conditions that the Anunnaki 'workers’ revolted against their overseers. Because of this, the Nephilim and Anunnaki came together in a project to blend the DNA of Homo erectus with that of their own, thus giving rise to the Homo sapiens.

What is interesting to note is the narrative similarities between the final act of The Mole People and the alleged conflict between the Anunnaki and the Nephilim. Of course Sitchin’s work was not made popular until the mid seventies, so could screenwriter Laszlo Gorog have gleaned inspiration from other elements of the Sumerian Anunnaki mythos? Bear in mind that Leonard Wolley’s discovery of the Cemetery of Ur in 1927, opened up a lot of information about Sumer, that Gorgo probably had access to.



Regarding Elinu, the high priest, the meme of a religious leader creating a narrative to mask the reality, has remained popular subject in film and television. This plot element reminded me of a Star Trek episode from 1968, "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky," which dealt with the Enterprise intercepting an artificial asteroid, on course with a planet it would collide with. When the crew disembark into the interior of Yonada, where there is a breathable atmosphere, they find in fact that it is a ship, designed to appear as a planet. Its inhabitants are unaware of this. Their religious leader, Natira consults an oracle, which is a computer under the guise of a deity. This race is the last of the Fabrini, a civilization that was wiped out 10,000 years ago. Those citizens who discover that Yonada isn’t a planet are punished by death. The oracle has promised its people they will reach a new destination that is lush and green, for which the computer has created a narrative construct.



The theme of secret subterranean civilizations has remained so potent, even H.G. Welles mired the idea within plot elements for The Time Machine, with the Morlock beasts who controlled the peaceful Eloi, all the way through to the ending of Clive Barker’s tale, The Midnight Meat Train. The subject has carried over in real world speculation within certain circles of ufology. Then there is "The Shaver Mystery," a series of stories published by Amazing Stories, starting in 1947, by an author named Richard Sharpe Shaver.



In 1943, Shaver began to send letters to the magazine claiming to have discovered an ancient language called "Mantong." When the editor, Ray Palmer, inquired, Shaver sent a manifesto titled, "A Warning to Future Man" that told the story of an ancient civilization that had been forced underground by the damaging rays of the sun, where they built vast underground cities. Due to growing radiation, they fled Earth for another planet, but would return. Yet some of the members of this race remained, called "Teros," who were benevolent beings, and other malevolent beings who degenerated, called "Deros," that would cause havoc on Earth and humans. These "Deros" had savage, robotic-like behavior. They would abduct humans for food or sport, and would use ancient technology on them, including a ray that could project thoughts into humans. The "Deros" would travel to other planets, as well. Shaver claimed that he had communicated with the "Deros" through a welding gun (somehow due to the attunements of its coil field) and then had been abducted by them and had been their prisoner in their subterranean cities. It should be noted Shaver was hospitalized for psychiatric problems in 1934, and the stories could have been a byproduct of mental illness. Nevertheless, Ray Palmer capitalized on the tales, even admitting to Harlan Ellison, when pressed, that the tales were "publicity grabbers" by the early fifties.

Ray Palmer even had connections to another name within ufologist circles, Fred Crisman, known for his role in the Murray Island incident. Crisman claimed to have encountered "Deros" during World War II.

In terms of how The Mole People shares similarities with The X-Files, the comparisons are tenuous. The most common similarity being the theme of scientists discovering something astonishing, only to end up with no proof for the outside world, a common issue with Mulder and Scully. Some peripheral similarities could be made with such X-Files episodes as "Teso Dos Bichos" or the volcanic subterranean caverns from "Firewalker," or the on-going themes of Ancient Astronaut theories explored on the series.

What is interesting to note is just how prevalent the subject of subterranean civilizations and Hollow Earth theories occur within myths and fiction. Does all of this have to do with man’s fascination with caves and caverns, or does it speak to a kind of collective DNA sense memory about our earliest Earthly histories?

It’s something to ponder.

This is the last of the ‘Adjacent’ series, but the intent has been to illustrate how nothing really works in a creative vacuum, and to demonstrate the cycle with past work having a direct / indirect influence on contemporary fiction, even when the connections seem remote. These exercises can be applied to countless other films. I welcome you to make your own connections.

Special thank you to XScribe for editorial work.

Curse of the Demon: A de-facto X-File?

Stories about Witchcraft and the power of suggestion are nothing new. Such tales have existed for centuries. The entire principle of Voodoo is built around the power of suggestion, and while The X-Files did explore such memes ("Fresh Bones," "Die Hand Die Verletzt," and "Sanguinarium" for example), this tradition as a narrative device can be traced as far back as the ’50s, and before then.



Curse of the Demon was a British production filmed in 1957 and released the following year, directed by Jacques Tourneur, scripted by Charles Bennett, and based on Montague R. James’ short tale, "Casting the Runes." The film also went under the title Night of the Demon. It starred Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, and Niall MacGinnis as Dr. Karswell. The film even featured the Production Design work of Ken Adam (pre James Bond). Director Tourneur had gained a great reputation in the ’40s with the iconic Cat People and I Walked With A Zombie, and this film was nearly on par with his earlier work.

The Story

The film opens with Dr. Harrington racing to the country estate of Dr. Julian Karswell, a self proclaimed Alchemist who heads a cult. Dr. Harrington pleadingly promises to call off an investigation of the cult, if Karswell will call off what he has started. Once Karswell learns that a parchment that had been given to Dr. Harrington has disintegrated, Karswell ushers the man out with false assurances. Afterwards, Dr. Harrington arrives at his own country home and parks his car. A demon materializes in the woods and approaches the doctor. In a panic, he flees to his car and drives into a power line, which falls on his vehicle. The man becomes entangled in the electrical cables, but not before the demon attacks and kills him.



Dr. John Holden, a scientist and skeptic of the occult, arrives in England, and by happenstance, the daughter of Dr. Harrington, Joanna is on the same flight. Dr. Holden learns of the death of Dr. Harrington, and that the only link between his death and Karswell’s cult is an accused murderer, Rand Hobart, a man who has fallen into a catatonic state after witnessing something unexplained. Dr. Holden rejects the speculation of his colleagues that supernatural forces might be at work.

After taking the lead on Harrington’s notes, Dr. Holden visits the British Museum’s library on Witchcraft. One book in particular that Dr. Harrington requested has gone missing, and the doctor is approached by Julian Karswell, who offers to show him his own copy at his mansion. Karswell slips something into Dr. Holden’s notes, then gives him a business card with a message that vanishes, but not before implying Dr. Holden’s demise within two weeks. A strange dizzy spell besets Holden as Karswell is seen walking away.

Later at the funeral for Dr. Harrington, the doctor again meets Joanna Harrington who provides him with her father’s diary. The book reveals Harrington’s increasing fear of Karswell’s occult power. Dr. Holden remains skeptical, but he visits Karswell’s mansion along with Joanna.

Dr. Holden is playing Dana Scully’s role, the classic objective, rational scientist, which was typical of the ’50s. It goes without saying that the genius of Chris Carter was to reverse these traits. Karswell and Dr. Holden have an interesting exchange, in essence mocking their beliefs, and yet it raises the key thrust of the story.

Karswell: You don’t believe in witchcraft?
Holden: Do you?
Karswell: Do I believe in witchcraft? What kind of witchcraft? The legendary witch that rides on the imaginary broom? The hex that tortures the thoughts of the victim? The pin stuck in the image that wastes away the mind and the body of the victim?
Holden: Also imaginary.
Karswell: But where does imagination end and reality begin? What is this twilight? This half world of the mind that you profess to know so much about? How can we differentiate between the powers of darkness and the powers of the mind?

The film quickly turns into a battle of wills between these two men. The dialogue could have been easily transitioned into many X-File episodes. Based on several reasons that support the following impression, it should become fairly evident that Karswell is modeled after none other than Aleister Crowley. As Holden continues his exchange, Karswell predicts he will die within three days.

Back at his hotel, Holden with his colleagues discuss Karswell, and further plans to study Rand Hobart. While studying Harrington’s diary, which mentions a parchment passed to him by Karswell, Dr. Holden finds a similar parchment with Runic symbols that Karswell secretly passed to him at the library. A gust of wind comes through the window blowing the parchment from his fingers. It’s nearly swept into the fireplace before he manages to rescue, and pocket it.



Holden becomes uneasy after a visit from Hobart’s family, who disown him as not a "true believer," but just as Holden is leaving, the parchment flies out of his hand again, and Hobert’s family becomes fearful, believing the doctor is marked. After a visit to Stonehenge, Holden compares the parchment’s runes to ones inscribed at the stone circle. After some persuasion, Joanna takes Holden to Karswell’s mother who has arranged a séance. The medium begins to channel Harrington, much to Holden’s skepticism, and informs Dr. Holden that Karswell has the key to the problem from his book; he dismissively leaves, but later that night Dr. Holden breaks into Karswell’s mansion to examine the book. In an elaborate mind game, Karswell catches him and permits the doctor to leave through the woods for Holden to be chased by a part of the demon apparition, a living ball of smoke with an incessant chirping sound, only for it to vanish. Joanna persuades Holden to go to the police, but much to the doctor’s embarrassment, they don’t believe him. The doctor fears that he is falling for Karswell’s mind games.



Mrs. Karswell phones Joanna, and implores her that she must tell Holden that Rand Hobart knows the secret of the parchment, which Karswell has managed to overhear. While Holden prepares an experiment to break Hobart from his stupor, Karswell kidnaps Joanna to prevent her reaching Holden with this knowledge, as well as giving Karswell some leverage. While under hypnosis, Hobart reveals that he was ‘chosen’ to die by having a cursed parchment passed to him, but avoided death by passing it to another person. When Holden shows Hobart the parchment he received from Karswell, he goes insane and falls from a window to his death.

Informed that Karswell is leaving London by train, Holden, convinced now that he must return the parchment to Karswell to lift his mark and save himself, races to catch it. He finds Joanna with Karswell, who has been placed in some hypnotic state to make her manageable. Karswell goes to great lengths to avoid direct contact with Dr. Holden to guard against the parchment being passed back to him, and Karswell grows fearful. When the train stops at the next station, Karswell tries to leave, after Dr. Holden has managed to slip the parchment into Karswell’s coat. Just as Karswell realizes this, the parchment flies from his hands and he chases it down the railroad tracks. Just before Karswell can reach it, the parchment burns away into ashes.



While an oncoming train approaches, the demon appears on the adjacent track. Karswell frantically tries to escape but the demon catches up with him, seizes him and tears his body in two. The station crew believe that Karswell’s mangled body was struck by the train. Pondering what they did or did not see, Joanna observes, “Maybe it’s better not to know,” a line that could have been uttered by Mulder or Scully, and then is repeated by Dr. Holden, his beliefs now shaken by the encounter.



Curse of the Demon manages to be fairly intelligent for a "B" genre picture. It’s greatest weakness is in fact that the demon, an obvious puppet, is shown, and the film’s power is diminished by this aspect. Director Jacques Tourneur and writer Charles Bennett intended the depiction of the demon not to be literal, but psychological. Fourteen minutes were cut from the British and American prints of the film, requiring that some of the gaps be filled in with narrative. Fortunately, those minutes were restored in home video editions.



Literary Origin

The Montague R. James tale, “Casting the Runes” had a few notable differences from the Charles Bennett script. The central protagonist’s name was not John Holden, but Edward Dunning, and the demise of Karswell, though far more mundane, was more realistic. The story’s structure uses tactics similar to Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” a series of journal entries that build into a lengthy narrative. The demise of Dr. Harrington might have planted the seed for Tourneur’s intent, the power of suggestion, as evidenced by this conversational narrative:

"...What’s equally to the point, I knew the most incisive of the lot. So did you: you must remember John Harrington; he was at John's in our time."

"Oh, very well indeed, though I don't think I saw or heard anything of him between the time I went down and the day I read the account of the inquest on him."

"Inquest?” said one of the ladies. "What has happened to him?"

"Why, what happened was that he fell out of a tree and broke his neck. But the puzzle was, what could have induced him to get up there. It was a mysterious business, I must say. Here was this man--not an athletic fellow, was he? and with no eccentric twist about him that was ever noticed--walking home along a country road late in the evening--no tramps about--well known and liked in the place--and he suddenly begins to run like mad, loses his hat and stick, and finally shins up a tree--quite a difficult tree--growing in the hedgerow: a dead branch gives way, and he comes down with it and breaks his neck, and there he's found next morning with the most dreadful face of fear on him that could be imagined. It was pretty evident, of course, that he had been chased by something, and people talked of savage dogs, and beasts escaped out of menageries; but there was nothing to be made of that."

The other notable difference is the introduction of Henry Harrington, John’s brother, who plays a role in finding out the truth of his brother’s death. The introduction of Karswell is conversational, and supports some suspicions that the character was modeled after Crowley, but Mr. James’ impression of Crowley might have been built around the impressions created by the British press:

"Oh no, my dear: only a neighbour of ours in the country who bought Lufford Abbey a few years ago. His real name is Karswell."

"Is he a friend of yours?" asked Mr. Secretary, with a private wink to his wife. The question let loose a torrent of declamation. There was really nothing to be said for Mr. Karswell. Nobody knew what he did with himself: his servants were a horrible set of people; he had invented a new religion for himself, and practised no one could tell what appalling rites; he was very easily offended, and never forgave anybody: he had a dreadful face (so the lady insisted, her husband somewhat demurring); he never did a kind action, and whatever influence he did exert was mischievous.

The story, "Casting The Runes" was first published in More Ghost Stories (1911), but the tale might have been written circa between 1904-1911. H.P. Lovecraft was a great admirer of Montague R. James and cited him in his essay, "Supernatural Horror In Literature" Aleister Crowley had already begun to gain notoriety from the period between 1906 through 1909, during the period of the foundation of A.*.A.*. and so it is plausible that M.R. James might have already been aware of Crowley.

The Aleister Crowley connection

One of the puzzling plot elements of Curse of the Demon was the Stonehenge sequence. There’s no evidence of rune symbols to be found at the site, but a lot of focus has been placed on the mathematics of Stonehenge. The ancient order of the druids--or druid order--was founded in 1781, and they were known for their annual summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge. There seems to be a longstanding relationship between Druidry and Masonry. The Druid order studied Freemasonry. Three members of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, a project not dissimilar to the Druid Order, founded the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an organization that would introduce Crowley to the Occult.

There is no evidence that Tourneur and Bennett had much extensive knowledge of Aleister Crowley, Freemasons, or Druid rituals; these connections might have been happenstance, but there’s a general rule with writing: everything should be there for a reason. Crowley was a known provocateur of Christian and Catholic orthodoxy, and shared the sentiments of Friedrich Nietzsche-- that all Men are Gods, which probably explains the antagonistic characterizations of Crowley by the press.



Tourneur’s theme of the psychological power of suggestion implied a belief that Carl Jung and Aleister Crowley both shared–that consciousness was multidimensional. Or to offer another perspective as Crowley defined his definition of Magick: “The science and art of causing change in conformity with will.” A practice that one could argue is illustrated by Karswell’s actions, but it’s also a double-edged sword; perhaps Karswell’s personal convictions in such Magick drove him to delusional self destruction. Perhaps he was killed by the oncoming train, or perhaps something else. Karswell and Crowley share a similar belief in the theatrical power of occult rituals. Crowley once remarked:

"There is no more potent means than the art of calling forth true gods to visible appearance."

Should we accept occult rituals at face value, or are they a means to an end?

In this sense, Karswell’s entire actions in Curse of the Demon, could be seen as an artisitc performance to invoke gods, either psychologically, or metaphorically. Karswell goes through great pains with Holden to set up the climate for paranormal events. In fairness, it should be pointed out, in spite of his infamy within the Christian and catholic power elite, Crowley was not invoking gods for the destruction of others, but for enlightenment.

In the first chapter of his tomb, "Magick," Crowley defined the principle of rituals as "the object of all magical ritual" as "the uniting of Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel." Crowley was personally convinced that human perfection required liberating the self from restriction and entering a state of child like energy, and that such perfected energy was at its essence ecstatic and artistic.

Crowley's history is rich and complex enough that it should be personally explored by the reader, it is simply too difficult to distill his work with generalizations.

To digress, when one ponders the séance sequence of Curse of the Demon, one is left with ambiguity. Was the séance a ruse? Or was Dr. Harrington legitimately communicating to Joanne? It reminded me of Mulder and Scully’s exchange at the end of “The Truth” from season nine:

Mulder: I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us. That they speak to us as part of something greater than us–greater than any alien force. And if you and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we listen to what’s speaking, it can give us the power to save ourselves.
Scully: Then we believe the same thing.

Ultimately, perhaps evocation is self empowerment.

You can find M.R. James short story, "Casting the Runes", here.

Special thanks to Xscribe for editorial input.

Next: The Mole People (1958)

The Bava influence continued...

"Movies are a magician’s forge; they allow you to build a story with your hands. Who knows... at least, that's what it means to me. What attracts me in movies is to be presented with a problem and be able to solve it. Nothing else; just to create an illusion, and effect, with almost nothing. That's the best thing about it." – Mario Bava

As I mentioned in my previous entry regarding Nicholas Meyer’s comment about "art thriving on limitations," that the production teams of The X-Files and Millennium share traits that are similar to the work and approach of Mario Bava. This great director thrived with working on low budget pictures. To a degree this was a conscious choice on his part, as he seemed to feel that by working on low budget pictures, he was allowed a freedom to craft his films to his vision without the interference of larger studios. While many might question why he never made his way to the United States to direct features for Hollywood, one reason was his preference to exclusively work in Italy, as well as this desire to have the creative freedom that low budget productions afforded him. This also drove him to be highly inventive. One classic example of his preference to work within limitations can be found in a story about the production budget of Danger: Diabolik. Dino De Laurentis had budgeted the film for three million dollars, and in an unprecedented outcome, Bava completed the film for around four-hundred thousand dollars, leaving enough to spare to direct a sequel! One of the reasons why I have a fondness for the early seasons of The X-Files was that due to limited budgets, they too were often forced to be inventive. The need to be inventive is a dying trait in a business that is offering younger directors every bell and whistle before it is truly earned.

When Bob Goodwin was interviewed in 2009, he did offer up that the visual look for The X-Files was inspired by Italian painter Caravaggio (1571-1610), which is interesting when you consider Bava’s initial interest in being a painter. One could speculate that the 1013 Productions team and Bava shared similar inspirations. When I interviewed cinematographer John S. Bartley in 2008, I questioned from a list of cinematographers who influenced him, and I asked about Mario Bava, and he did not cite Bava as a personal influence for the show. As of this writing, I have not interviewed Jon Coffin, Ron Stannett, Joel Ransom, or Bill Roe, and so I cannot cite any concrete evidence of Mario Brava’s visual work as an influence on The X-Files. This also holds true in regards to Millennium. I have not been in contact with Robert McLachlan, and hold no concrete evidence of a Bava influence on that series.

Possible Visual Influences

While The X-Files application of lighting for a shot tended to be more subtle, certain patterns reflecting the techniques of the Maestro Bava become hard to ignore. As cited below:





Black Sabbath – The Wurdulak / The X-Files – Firewalker






Bay of Blood (Twitch of the Death Nerve) / The X-Files – Conduit

Mario Bava, as well as the production teams for The X-Files and Millennium used locations as a key element of establishing a sense of place, atmosphere, and mood. In fact, horror films depend greatly on location to establish, psychologically, this sense of dread, or entering into another reality. Locations can also establish a sense of decay, Bay of Blood (1971), or something amiss, "Conduit."






The X-Files – The Post-Modern Prometheus / The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Chris Carter’s use of black and white in "Post-Modern Prometheus," as well as his framing may have been inspired by Frankenstein (1931), but they also share a striking similarity to Bava’s approach to compositional framing in The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1962). Could it have been an unconscious choice or influence?






Danger: Diabolik / The X-Files – Fight The Future

The use of back lighting, which is a common technique and does help to create depth, still does depend on the cinematographer having a psychological understanding of how best to create tension. Again, one could see a possible influence between this sequence from Diabolik (1968) and Fight The Future.







Hercules in The Haunted World / Millennium – The Time is Now

While this sequence from "The Time Is Now" might evoke the flavor of Dario Argento’s approach, Bava would utilize colors to create a psychological mood or a descent. For example, the descent into Hades from Hercules in the Haunted World (1961).






Rabid Dogs (Kidnapped) / The X-Files – Drive

Rabid Dogs (1974) has a visual directness, a dry and gritty feel; such an episode as "Drive" shares a similar sensibility.






Lisa and The Devil / Millennium – Force Manjure
Bava was known for using bold, innovative camera angles. Aside from the beautiful composition of this shot of Telly Savalas in Lisa and the Devil (1973), one could see the same sensibility of low angle camera blocking in this Millennium episode with Brad Dourif. As a matter of fact, this shot would not be out of place in the film, Bay of Blood.








Hercules In the Haunted World / Planet of the Vampires / The X-Files – Fight The Future

The use of artificial color schemes in many of Bava’s films, through the use of colored gels in the lighting rig, the heavy use of green to create an otherworldly atmosphere, as demonstrated in Hercules in the Haunted World (1961) and Planet of the Vampires (1965), could be seen in the ending sequence of Fight The Future.






The X-Files – The Post Modern Prometheus / The Girl Who Knew Too Much

Often, it was not only in the lighting that helped to create a mood or flavor, but the compositional choices; the floral patterns in the window light from The Girl Who Knew Too Much added additional textures. This sequence from The X-Files’ "Post-Modern Prometheus" would not be too out of place in Bava’s film from 1962.






Black Sabbath (The Drop of Water) / The X-Files – Dod Kalm







Two stills: The Whip and the Body (1963) / Millennium – The Fourth Horseman

The use of colors to evoke a sense of isolation, especially blue, could be seen in the Drop of Water sequence from Bava’s masterpiece Black Sabbath (1963), the pulsating neon light through the window adding tension. Or the light from the decaying ship in The X-Files’ "Dod Kalm", or the isolation of Daliah Lavi, or the ghostly hand of Christopher Lee from The Whip and The Body (1963), as well as the quarantine segment from Millennium’s "The Fourth Horsemen."

While all of the above examples cannot cite proof of an influence, one could be left to speculate that a second or third generation influence impacted the choices of many of the cinematographers who worked on The X-Files or Millennium.

I would strongly recommend to not just rely on viewing clips of Bava’s work on YouTube, but to invest in many of the titles now available on DVD. Bava’s films have to be fully experienced. Anchor Bay has re-released a number of titles, including two box sets that feature the bulk if his important films. Volume 1 includes, Black Sunday, Black Sabbath, The Girl Who Knew Too Much, Knives of the Avenger, and Kill, Baby...Kill. Volume 2 includes, Four Times That Night, Five Dolls for An August Moon, Roy Colt & Winchester Jack, Bay of Blood, Baron Blood, both versions of Lisa and the Devil, and both versions of Rabid Dogs. Anchor Bay has also re-issued Erik The Conqueror. The quality of all of these packages is excellent. Fantoma has released an excellent DVD print of Hercules In The Haunted World. Paramount Video has re-issued an excellent copy of Danger: Diabolik. VCI Entertainment has issued excellent prints of The Whip and The Body, and Blood and Black Lace, packed with extras. MGM / Midnight Movies has a basic print of Planet of the Vampires still available. Blue Underground has re-issued Shock. Image Entertainment did have a sizable catalogue of Bava films available, before they were discontinued, and some of the titles can still be found.

Special thanks to Xscribe for her assistance. X-Files and Millennium still images courtesy of Chrisnu, Most stills from Bava films were primarily taken from this site, as well various sources.

The 'M' Word

Script review of unpublished Darin Morgan script for The Night Stalker – "The ‘M’ Word"



The seminal early 70s series, The Night Stalker, which had a profound impact on Chris Carter during his development of The X-Files, was a show that involved Carl Kolchak’s pursuits into the unknown, usually this involved a Monster of the week, To anyone who is unaware, Frank Spotnitz developed a new retooling of the series for ABC in 2005, that lasted only a half season unfortunately. The obligatory Monster was a major component of both versions of this series, and so it was inevitable that someone would tackle this conceit head on. That person would be none other than Darin Morgan.

One of the greatest misfortunes within the cancellation of Frank Spotnitz's take on the classic series that originally starred Darin McGavin, The Night Stalker, was the missed opportunity of seeing another Morgan script get produced. That script, "The 'M' Word", examines elements behind the mythology of the Monster. One of the more insightful comments that Robert Shearman offered in his interview was the following:

"I think that Darin Morgan is a brilliant iconoclast. I think that what Darin Morgan liked doing was sort of destroying stuff. He does it very, very well in Millennium actually. There's that great episode, Jose Chung's Doomsday Defense, but that's wonderful because actually, what it really does, it looks at Millennium: The series, and it holds up to the light and Darin Morgan points out everything that he thinks is wrong with it."

With this script, Darin took the same approach with The Night Stalker, held it up to the light and pointed out it's absurdities, as well as the absurdities in life. Yet, Morgan was not just riffing, out of disrespect, on the genres he satires, he has pointed out in past interviews that he is not intending to write satire, but like Mark Twain, he points out the ironies and tragedies found in many people’s lives.

The script begins with a full moon, a pair of stoned kids, on a mountain trail, are talking about Werewolves, when upon hearing a scream, they find a Park Ranger being attacked by something that can’t be described. After the creature escapes, the kids and the ranger discover a body that’s half devoured. Reed inquires to the ranger about what happened, who explains he was warning the victim about wandering the trails at night, before they are both attacked. Reed assumes it was a mountain Lion, but the pair of stoner kids insists that wasn’t the case. Enter in Carl Kolchak, who takes them at face value that something other than a mountain lion was responsible.

This begins one of the brilliant themes in the first couple of acts in the script, differing points of view about what was perceived, everyone describes the creature differently, again this Rashomon theme has played out before with The X-Files, “Bad Blood”, for example. Reed and Kolchak have an incredulous exchange before the stoners arrive at a description that what they saw was reptilian. While Reed is questioning the grieving mother, an older man observes Reed and Kolchak, while, muttering "Why?"

Already the script seems to be making a reference towards a phrase from Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space’ – "This is not happening!" Even the Sherriff is annoyed with Kolchak until they stumble on a lair in a secluded area that is piled with half eaten human remains. At the Beacon, Kolchak asks illustrator Whitley to sketch a description of the creature. Reed manages the assistance of a Beacon staffer with a contact for an animal expert, while Kolchak uses the same staffer to identify the creature sketch as something resembling a horny toad. The staffer further explains that these reptiles shoot blood out of their eye sockets as a form of defense. Then, Kolchak is dismissed by his editor, Vincenzo, about the monster story.

After the Monster has terrorized a hooker named Babycat, whom has escaped, Kolchak interviews her, Babycat adds that the Monster was wearing underwear. After another encounter with Vincenzo, Reed reveals evidence that personal effects were found with another victim, and that the monster is quite human after-all. Kolchak follows McManus to the result of another attack, here is where there is another example of Darin’s brilliant abilities as a writer in destroying the very structure of a show he is writing. During Kolchak’s monologue, there’s a montage of Kolchak and McManus walking through alley way’s, they stop at a hot dog stand, and the monologue stops as they eat, then continues when they walk, thus poking fun at the monologue technique of the series. McManus and Kolchak debate over if they can call this creature a monster, or if that work was already taken in Frankenstein, another post modern reexamining of pop culture. McManus suggests "Lizardo", which again harkens back to the circus freak / Barnum theme of "Humbug", or could be a nod to Chris Carter’s own “Mutato” from "The Post-Modern Prometheus" episode.

McManus and Kolchak find another body, and while taking pictures, give chase to the "Lizardo" suspect, they lose the creature, but it reaches McManus and sprays him with blood, after McManus collects himself they continue the chase to find a man in a port-a-potty, the same man who was mumbling "Why?", and he reveals himself to be Guy Mann. Back at the Beacon, they can’t identify anything in the roll of pictures they have taken, but the sequence deftly illustrates an aspect of what happens with people who read into anything concerning with photo evidence of the paranormal, seeing something that isn't there. Kolchak suggests to McManus to not wash the blood off of his soiled shirt, so that it can be analised for evidence. After an exchange of catch-up with Reed, they re-visit the Ranger with further questions, as well as to identify the character known as Guy Mann, at this point, normally this should be the red-herring to the reader of something amiss regarding the Ranger. Kolchak manages to "borrow" the Ranger's bloody shirt from the first attack.

After another police report, they visit the manager of a seedy hotel, with facial cuts and a destroyed room from the suspect they have been pursuing. The man is clearly upset about something, and there’s an exchange that has Darin’s typical ironic humor.

KOLCHAK:
There was mention of a “Monster”?

MANAGER:
He had the nerve to call me that, right before he
conks me on the head with a chair. I only asked
him to pay his bill. That makes me a monster?

KOLCHAK:
Of course not.

MANAGER:
Obviously. Now, please – go away, or I’ll kill you.

Kolchak heads to his car, but after finding a hotel room open, investigates, finds a pill bottle on a night table prescribed to “Guy Mann” from a Dr. Rumanovich. It’s hard to say if this is a word play on Rumination, but this character does just that, as he explains to Kolchak, one of countless Dragon slaying mythologies, and points out to Kolchak that it is easier to believe in monsters, then to believe monsters are within us, in a later scene. Kolchak finds a crawlspace in the hotel that leads him back to the manager’s office, Kolchak manipulates the manager into telling his story, of finding this lizard like creature residing in one of his rooms, who sees the thing transform into Guy Mann.

Reed finds “Lizardo”, Guy at a Monster Donut, which Kolchak races to, only to find Guy has escaped again, after trashing the shop. She also reveals that the police have just arrested the murderer. Kolchak finds Guy Mann at a cemetery, studying a sculpture of Saint George slaying the Dragon. Guy asks Kolchak “Why?” in a touching scene.

KOLCHAK:
Why?

GUY:
Because I don’t understand, We go through all
of the drudgery and heartbreak in life…just to
end up here?

KOLCHAK:
It doesn’t seem to make much sense, does it?

GUY:
It doesn’t make any sense, nothing will ever make
sense to me again.

Guy reveals he learned a few days earlier that everyone dies. This is where the story takes a brilliant 90 degree turn, and twists the monster mythology, as well as a reverse of the Werewolf origin. After a failed attempt by Guy to try and have Kolchak kill him, in the fabled manner of Saint George, Guy explains that his natural state is as a giant horned lizard, but he was attacked by a human, and bitten several days earlier, he was attacked by the Park Ranger, who has been responsible for the, what could only be described as psychotic cannibal attacks, terrible murders. That these transformations are not only physical but mental as well, Guy becomes self-aware and Guy has been appalled at the state of being human.

The character is baffled by clothing, or having a job, which he manages to secure a job through B.S., or feelings of lust, or infatuation, in this case the hooker, Babycat, who in actuality is a Transvestite, as well as Guy explaining his version on the assault of the hotel manager.

Daily, mundane things we take for granted, Guy looks at with horror.

Guy even wants to take revenge on the person who did this to him, which he realizes isn’t healthy, and which is why he went to Dr. Rumanovich, but the doctor offered no solutions. When Guy does find the Park ranger, it is to his horror that he sees another attack. Noting that the attack by a human was far more savage than anything he’s witnessed by his fellow animal companions.

The Script offers several clever twists, and while I won’t elaborate on the final, it manages to have us reexamine our assumptions. While I can’t say “The ‘M’ Word” is completely on par with Darin’s other X-Files and Millennium opus’s, it does have countless moments of brilliance. You can download a PDF file of the script from the interactive material on The Night Stalker: Complete Series DVD.

To close, from the reoccurring gag line: "Did it have one eye, or three?"