It’s alive. It’s alive! The Natural History Museum is taking a
look at the science and history that inspired some of film’s most
iconic, hideous creatures. “Natural History of Horror” showcases
scientific breakthroughs, like early experiments in animal
electricity, (mis)understanding the spread of diseases, the discovery
of the first living coelacanth and the excavation of King Tut’s
tomb, to explore how they influenced old-school monster movies,
including Frankenstein , Dracula , Creature From the Black Lagoon and
The Mummy . Back in the 1930s, Universal Studios donated around 50
props to museum’s still-growing moving images collection. You’ll
find some of these, like actor Boris Karloff’s wrappings from The
Mummy and a pair of shackles from Frankenstein, alongside their
real-life inspirations: millennia-old mummified Egyptian figurines and
preserved frog specimens, to name a couple. At the center of the small
gallery, clips from the four highlighted films play out. Sure, they
all seem stylistically silly by today’s standards—look no further
than the featureless face of a wood-and-cloth bat that’s pinned
right next to an actual vampire bat specimen. But the monster designs,
like the silicone reconstruction of the Creature from the Black Lagoon
suit, are timeless and tap into our imaginations’ ability to take a
stranger-than-fiction truth and stretch it into something fantastical
(see: vampires, missing link sea monsters and walking, talking
mummies). Unlike most of the museum’s exhibitions, which take years
to plan, this single-room show was pulled together in a matter of
months. But the interactive elements on display are both informative
and tons of fun; you can take a crack at some foley work with creaking
clanks and clonking coconuts to supply sound effects for a scene from
Dracula , and with the throw of a switch, you can reanimate an
appendage and pretend you’re bringing life to Frankenstein’s
monster. We can only imagine what an even bigger show could pull
off—and the museum says visitors’ responses to this exhibition
will inform future ones. Make sure to look out for special screenings
and discussions tied to the exhibition, including Dracula (Oct 11),
Creature from the Black Lagoon (Feb 14), Frankenstein (Mar 26) and The
Mummy (Apr 10).
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02/04/2020 Last update