STANLEY
US, 1972, 108 minutes, Colour.
Chris Robinson, Alex Rocco.
Directed by William Grefe.
Stanley came out at the same time as a number of animal horror thrillers, preceding Jaws as well as the smaller-budget films like Food of the Gods and Empire of the Ants.
This time a young Seminole Indian played by Chris Robinson has a rattlesnake, called Stanley – and he induces the snake to avenge himself on all those who have wronged him. That is the basic plot – that is the style and it is a film for devotees of this kind of animal horror.
1. A good example of the animal horror genre? Appeal, interest, themes? Enjoyment of this kind of horror film?
2. The personal touch with the title focusing on Stanlay? The emphasis on Hazel? Their relationship with Tim? The madness and sanity of this personal focus on a snake?
3. How authentic were the atmospheres of Florida, colour, locations? How credible the characters, their background, social issues? Behaviour? Credible authenticity combined with American style grand horror?
4. Audience interest in and sympathy with Tim? The importance of the Vietnamese background, the effect of the war, the critique of American involvement and the effects of war? The effects of war brought back to America and destructive on society? Timls relationship to society, the Indian minority background and racist themes? His ecological concern? against cruelty to animals for commercial purposes? Tim as embodying these social themes? How interesting a character, as a person, his mental state? Good and bad aspects of his character? His enemies, his vindictiveness, his overbalance and cruelty, his final destruction? The thematic significance of such a character being destroyed?
5. Audience response to snakes and their visual presentation, the symbolism of snakes, their deadliness? The effect of the personalizing of Stanley and Hazel, family, offspring? Liking them? Sharing Stanley's vindictiveness and killing the villain, Hazel as victim? Stanley as an extension and symbol of audience violence and justice?
6. The portrayal of Tim at work, collecting the venom, his being bitten and saving himself? The positive value of his collecting serum? The contrast with Thomkins and his commercial greed?
7. The importance of Gloria and Sidney, strippers and exploiters? Friendliness, change of attitude and ugliness of Gloria’s new act of biting the snake's head? The inevitability of destruction of Gloria and Sidney? The visual portrayal of this, the audience justifying it?
8. Crail and Bob an extensions of Thomkins, villainy, Stanley's leading them to the quicksand and the execution? The character of Psycho and the explicitly mad vindictive killer? The fight with Tim? Stanley's intelligence and destruction of Psycho? Audience approval or not?
9. The build-up to filling Thomkin’s pool with snakes and his execution?
10. The relationship between Thomkins and his daughter, the attraction for Tim? Her rebelliousness against her father and going with Tim? The symbolism of Tim as an Adam in the primitive surroundings, wanting an Eve? The irony of the snake? The reversal and the destruction of Adam by the snake and the rescuing of Eve? The snake protecting Eve against Adam? The accident of the fire and the Eve and the Serpent having to leave the garden?
11. The thriller aspects combined with the credibility of the animal horror? Snakes and audience response, the success of the imagery?
