Ask any stuntman, and she will tell you: the possibility of selling by punching is just as important, and perhaps more, than to launch in a credible manner. Ask any editor or sound designer, and they will corroborate this, then some. If you have already watched the raw daily newspapers from an action film, you will notice how many combat sequences become a weightlessness when stolen from their rhythm and the satisfactory sound of their bodies. All this to say that action in the cinema depends incredibly on the sale of the total effect of violence, even more than cascades and exploits of force and dexterity. As everything is in the timing, it is not surprising that so many major action directors come or be followers of comedy – from Buster Keaton to Jackie Chan.
However, there are so many major action filmmakers who also come from the world of horror. Of course, there is a certain overlap of comedy, certainly in terms of work on the perfect timing of a sequence of fear or killing. However, there is also a quality that the people of horror have on a pure comedy or people of pure action, that is to say that their killed tend to have much more impact and brutality than most. Horror directors know that it is not only a cry here and a slice that makes violence that persists in the mind. It is as much psychological as visceral, which means that they must initiate the imagination of the public while providing bloody products.
As proof of this, look no further than the new version of this “Novocaine” weekend, an action film that is unleashed in several other genres, notably Rom-Com, Film Noir and Yes, Comedy. While “Novocaine” could not be described with precision as a horror film, his action sequences nevertheless have a lot before. It is partly because of the premise – the hero of the film, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), suffers from a condition that prevents him from feeling pain, which means that he can take bigger blows than most ordinary people. However, it is also because the directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen come from a horror background themselves, and although “Novocaine” is their first action film, they have already obtained a large part of the training they need to do the action of horror.
The surprising story of horror DNA in action cinema
Although Horror Comedy is a gender hybrid that most people are aware that have a long and varied story, it seems that the hybrid horror action is less discussed. This does not mean that it is less widespread; Far from it, like films like “Predator”, “Blade”, “Overlord”, “The Gorge” of this year, and almost the whole release of screen jewels in the 2000s and 2010 (which includes franchises “Resident Evil” and “Underworld”) can be reached.
In most of these films, the accent is put on action only on horror – with the exception of a handful of scenes, no one expects these films to frighten the public as much as to make them vibrate. However, the horror elements add an additional charge to the action, increasing the issues by including threats such as vampires, zombies and other beasties instead of simple human beings. Even when a film is more fantastic -action or a science fiction action than horror – like the films “The Lord of the Rings”, or “Upgrading” or “65” – you can bet that a director follower with horror is behind. In these examples only, you have people like Peter Jackson (“Braindead / Dead Alive”), Leigh Whannell (“The Invisible Man”) and Scott Beck & Bryan Woods (“Heretic”), all veterans of the genre.
In addition to infusing and mixing action films with tropes and horror techniques, sometimes all that a horror director must do is give sets of their action film and kills a little additional punch in order to create a more important impact. Fans of the films “Spider-Man” by Sam Raimi continuously indicate the scene of “Spider-Man 2”, after which Doctor Otto Octavius (Alfred Molina) is transformed into Doc Ock and his newly intelligent robotic tentacles attack the staff of a hospital room in the real “Evil Dead” style. John Carpenter gave “Escape from New York” a strange meaning of reality thanks to his mastery of timing and tone. James Wan took the lessons he learned about “Saw” and “Dead Silence” to pronounce “the death sentence” the brutality he needed, then followed “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” with “Furious 7”, also allowing the madness of a last film of this last film.
Perhaps one of the best examples of a horror director bringing an additional sauce to his action films is Renny Harlin, who began his career with horror films “Prison” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master”. As such, its later action efforts, namely “Die Hard 2”, “Cliffhanger” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight”, all killings that would not be in a place in a Slasher film, but lend the action film just the right piece of spice.
How novocaine uses horror violence without destroying the tone of the film
At the beginning of “Novocaine”, when Nathan describes his condition in Sherry (Amber Midthunder), a colleague he is in love, she exclaims with enthusiasm that it makes him a kind of superhero – an observation that Nathan denies. It turns out that they are both correct: although Nathan’s ability helps him gain the courage to hunt after Sherry on his kidnapping and fighting bad guys, that does not mean that he is invincible. It is not because he does not feel the pain that his injuries do not affect him in other ways. It is thanks to this mixture of increased genre and anchored reality that Berk and Olsen can get away with really knotty gags in the film and keep a feeling of danger, while not leaving the violence of the film becoming too realistic to be overwhelming.
Thus, “novocaine” presents a ton of moments that emphasize pain and bodily injury, only for Nathan to react to all of this. Nathan experiences everything, beading and shot fried in oil, and Berk & Olsen play the public as a violin by presenting the contrast between what happens to Nathan physically without letting him prevent him emotionally. Finally, Nathan even learns to use this disconnection to his advantage, first by slamming his broken glass fists to create phalanges of makeshift brass, then by hardening the torture that would break most normal people but barely phase it. As he used one of his bones protruding to prevent an enemy, he is almost supernatural in his creative brutality.
It is imperative, however, that Nathan remains more a man than a superhero or a monster, then Berk & Olsen intelligently underline the comedy of emotional disconnection than the terror of damage. It makes a little “novocaine” a horror film of the ambitious body, which is a rare thing indeed. At each turn, it is clear that Berk & Olsen use their knowledge of horror (which stems from their previous films like “Villains” and “another significant”) to improve action, which is something that each action director should aspire to do, whatever their experience. Directing a great action is like being in a successful music group: you can’t just play success, you also have to sell them.
