Jungle Films (genre)

Strange monsters invade the Jungle!

Summary

"Whatever may be said against the plausibility of the story of East of Borneo (1931 film), the film now at the Mayfair, there is no denying that it has its full quota, in fact a plethora, of jungle thrills. And while the players were probably never in any danger, the effect is there, for the scenes of tigers, pumas, pythons, crocodiles and monkeys have been spliced neatly into those depicting the human beings. Fearing that there might not be enough excitement in these sequences, which are supposed to be in the far reaches of Borneo, the producers offer a volcano, which spouts lava and flames for the final stretch."
- NY Times, 1931

Details

• Settings: Delta Green, Pulp Cthulhu, Old Solar System Venus
• Campaigns:
• TVTropes: (link)

"Lovecraftian" Analysis

Lovecraft appears to have set very few stories in jungles, but a jungle setting does make an appearance in at least one collaboration tale ("In the Walls of Eryx"), and appear in the background of a couple others ("The Shadow Out of Time" apparently places the city of the Great Race in a prehistoric jungle, and a significant part of "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and his Family" refers to second-hand accounts of characters' explorations and discoveries in Darkest Africa....)

Jungle films have frequently delved into Gothic Horror territory, with the dense jungles concealing hideous and mind-shattering secrets, and Hungry Jungles full of man-eating diseases, insects, plants, animals, and cannibal tribes providing the backdrop for stories involving fevered madness and monstrous interpretations on the relationships between man, nature, gods, and himself, with the hellish temperatures providing a ready metaphor for everything from a humanity-consuming rage and revenge, to bizarre insanity, to the very fiery mouth of Hell itself. At their most Gothic, Jungle films will include - in addition to themes of monstrous secrets and human corruption and madness - some often bizarre monsters (including the typical man-eating plants and giant spiders), "witchcraft" in the form of Hollywood Voodoo (complete with voodoo zombies), blurred lines between man and animal and hunter and hunted (in the form of ape-men, cannibal savages, bloodthirsty dictators and cult leaders, etc.), confusion between the savagery of nature and religion, the heavenly beauty of the jungle when seen from a distance vs. the hellish reality once man descends into the bowels of its hidden horror, etc.

The Call of Cthulhu Classic Era of the 1910s-1930s seems to have at least been the setting for a great number of these jungle adventures, and in fact appears to have been when a number of the earliest examples were made. Generic jungle adventure themes of seeking lost cities or elephants' graveyards (for exploitation of gold, ivory, diamonds, etc.), "Great White Hunters" on deadly safaris in unexplored jungles, military adventurism involving espionage and other interference from foreign governments in remote colonies, and even an entire sub-genre of action-adventure-documentaries following adventurers seeking nearly legendary wild animals for capture for zoos were common in this era, and might suggest plot hooks for Lovecraftian stories.

Weird World War scenarios in general might be set in the jungles of colonial Africa (WWI), the Pacific (WWII), or in the Amazon rain forests (where Nazi defectors were supposed to have fled following the war, and where significant "gunboat diplomacy" involving "Banana Republics" would have taken place), or in the forests of Korea and Vietnam. Even the nearly-tropical forests, swamps, and bayous of Florida, Louisana, and elsewhere in the Gulf of Mexico might also suggest some relatively exotic possibilities for stories set during the American Civil War or Colonial period.

The jungles of colonies in India, Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, China, and elsewhere provide fertile ground for Gaslight adventures in the British Empire.

Delta Green scenarios (especially those set in the 1960s and 1970s) seem like a natural fit for the jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

The Pulp Cthulhu setting can suggest many possibilities for two-fisted adventure in the style of the Indiana Jones films.

From a more traditional science fiction angle, "Old Solar System" alternate-history space exploration (perhaps using Cthulhu Icarus as an inspiration) may find explorers exploring or surviving a hellish Venusian jungle, as seen in "In the Walls of Eryx (fiction)".

Associated Mythos Elements

• setting: Delta Green
• setting: Pulp Cthulhu
• setting: Old Solar System Venus (Cthulhu Icarus)
• setting: Pellucidar, Hollow Earth
• setting: Lost Continent (Mu, Lemuria, Atlantis, etc.)
• setting: Prehistoric Earth
• race/cult: Tcho-Tchos (typically with unfortunate implications)
• cult: ("Hollywood Voodoo") Voodoo/Juju cults (typically with unfortunate implications)
• race: Triffids
• race: Man-Eating Plants
• race: Giant Spiders
• race: Frazetta Man
• race: Zombies
• location: generic lost city
• location: generic jungle