Two Great and Two Serviceable Recent Horrors
by
Kristin Battestella
Today's
horror can be so hit or miss, amirite? Here are two independent and
superior scares making the case against two mainstream but
under-cooked horror standards.
Great
Twists
The Blackcoat's Daughter –
Haunting
melodies, terrible news, and subtitles like “silence” and “eerie
ambiance” open this chiller from director Oz Perkins (I
am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House) along
with suggestive lion and lamb lyrics, crosses on the wall, priestly
substitutes, and father figure innuendo. Rather than emo angst, the
bad girl pregnancy scares and awkward acting out are handled
maturely, with a Picnic
at Hanging Rock
weirdness. Dark filming against bleak windows or open doors make us
unsure what side we are on, capturing the dreary mundane as two girls
are stuck at school during winter break. The intertwining build of
events may be slow to some, but each act follows one girl in
distorted, compelling vignettes. Common bathroom echoes and creaking
doors add to the spooky orange boiler room and what we think we saw
contortions while change for the pay phone, maps, bus stops, and red
tail lights create helplessness and traveling dangers. And you know,
parents saying a teen can't have one has to be the best excuse yet
for a lack of cell phones. Who stole the laptop? Do you trust the
stranger offering a ride? Is being happy an ulterior motive or will
the god believing good Samaritan find its the devil that answers
instead? These young ladies are filmed not for titillation as in
slasher T-n-A horror but with a sense of innocence and fragility.
Rather than in your face mayhem, suspect conversations, sinister
changes, and non-linear story telling give the audience intriguing
pieces of creepy doubt. Is a crazy student after the headmaster's
attention or is that really a reflection of horns and a shadowy devil
in the frame? The surreal atmosphere makes viewers peer deeper at the
screen, wondering if the devil, possessions, or unreliable
impressions are playing tricks on us. Editing splices match the
bloody stabbings, with nonchalant mentions of forensics having to
find which head matches which body. Static, distorted voices, and
vibrating sound invoke more unease amid an isolating, hoodwinked
power of suggestion. The audience sees the reaction on a police
officer's face rather than the terrible shocks he witnesses – doing
the worst horrors imagined with a subtle reveal instead of pulling
the rug out from under the viewer and calling it a twist. Although
spoon fed audiences may want answers immediately instead of open to
interpretation confusion and arty pretentiousness – Perkins may
need an outside eye on his writing and directing to clarify this
pizzazz for the masses – once you wrap your head around it, this is
a straightforward story taking its time with a unique mood and
special characters for full gruesome effect.
Tale of Tales – Salma Hayek (Frida), Vincent Cassel
(Black Swan), Toby Jones (Infamous), and John C. Reilly
(Chicago) star in this international, R rated dark fantasy
bringing three Italian parables to life with medieval castles,
vintage plazas, and divine forests. Colorful period costumes add to
the carnival atmosphere amid jugglers, fire eaters, and traveling
wagons entertaining at court. There is, however, a sinister to the
bemusement with youth and beauty versus old age, life and death
bargains, nudity, and sexual undertones. Parallel fates, duality, and
mirror imagery accent the charlatan fortune teller promising a sea
monster's heart cooked by a virgin and eaten by the queen will ensure
pregnancy. Good suspense, underwater effects, gory slashes, choice
red, disturbing violence, and bloody carcasses escalate the action
without making the fantasy a ridiculously overblown spectacle. Ogres,
funeral processions, albino twins, and creepy old ladies share in
mystical connections, enchanted springs, separations, and
temptations. Precious offspring are mere extensions of their parents'
rule, but man that is one freaky giant pet flea! We don't notice the
two hours plus length thanks to unexpected circumstances, ironic
riddles, and brutish suitors. This is a beautiful looking movie with
a little bit of everything remaining entertaining even in its darkest
moments with caves, terrible bats, and deceptive appearances.
Changing one's skin may not change what's inside, but some people
will help or hinder fate for their own selfishness and there are
consequences for trying to change what's meant to be. This is sad at
times and not scary for many – most may not like the collected
meanwhile in the realm style either. However, Hollywood would
Princess Bride frame these
Basile tales with narrator bookends toning down the brutal and not
shy with a Disney gentrification. This is period accurate and
elaborate for adults but no less a fantasy with darkness and charm
bringing the well paced, quality stories full circle. The lessons are
learned without being as exploitative or nasty as Game of Thrones,
and I wish there more
mature baroque fantasies like this instead of the same old cutesy.
Serviceable
Scares
Lights Out – This 2016
feature adaptation of the popular 2013 short is still a little short
itself at eighty minutes and keeps restarting with a working dad on
skype, mom talking to herself, a little brother not sleeping, and a
bad attitude big sister with a sensitive rocker boyfriend.
Fortunately, employees locking up for the night lead to crackling
electricity and shadows that blink closer with each flick of the
light switch. What would you do if you turned out the lights and saw
a silhouette that isn't there when the lights are on? We know
something is in the dark, but not what, and the old school light
means safety rule works amid the almost GIF-like now you see it now
you don't. Ominous tracking shots, red spotlights, neon signs
flashing, and black lights create enough mood without unnecessary
transition pans, bones cracking, and scratching sounds. A young boy
with spooky afoot and a mother who may or may not be crazy are more
interesting than time wasting millennial emo, and Maria Bello (A
History of Violence) as
the unstable wife dealing with shadows real or imagined a la The Babadook should have been
the lead here. Naming the shadow, having her talk, and the constantly
changing backstory gets laughable at times – as do slides across
the floor and zooms on the ceiling. The research montage is a
convenient home office snoop for a cassette tape from the doctor and
a few photographs with retro jumpy footage snips patchworking the
light sensitivity, skin disorder, institution experiment gone wrong,
and psychic ghost happenings. There's inconsistent UV light and
physicality excuses, too, but if you aren't going to give the
audience a concrete explanation – i.e. saving it for the inevitable
sequel – then there shouldn't be any attempted information at all.
Is this multiple personalities, a basement relative, or a childhood
lez be friends BFF that won't let go even in death? Why not call in
the institution doctor or present your evidence to the sniffing child
services instead of just yelling at your mother? There's a kid so
afraid he's sleeping in the bathtub with the flashlight shining on
his face, something's tugging on mom's sweater from behind the door,
and quality under the bed threats rekindle timeless fears. There's no
need to add convoluted characters or ever leave the unique Tudor
house standoff, yet one can tell where the trite dialogue and thin
story were stretched to appeal to the mainstream teen horror public –
complete with an L.A. setting, rich white blonde people, and a made
stupid black cop and his Hispanic female partner. The short film
didn't have to explain its narrative the way a feature does, and this
isn't the worst recent horror film, but the good ending is a little
too quick, playing it safe, serviceable, and ticking the standard
contemporary horror boxes rather than really zinging. One should
either stick with the original short or take this as a separate late
night chiller for full bump in the night enjoyment.
The Boy – Eccentric British parents hire a babysitter for
their son – who just happens to be a doll – in this 2016
bizzarity. There's padding opening credits driving the young American
woman in a foreign country to the kid horrors, because of course, and
there's a no wif-fi, no neighbors phone call to her sister about a
nasty ex, too. Fake boo moments, dream shocks, and phantom phone
calls are unnecessary, as is the psychic grocery delivery man who
reads gum and guesses wrong. I kid you not. The introduction to the
little doll – err son is laughable as well, but our nanny must play
along with the well paying delusion and make sure he sits up straight
during their poetry lessons. Creepy portraits, strange noises,
prayers, thunderstorms, and taxidermy create an eerie atmosphere for
this warped hook while a great Canadian castle stands in for the
cluttered English estate. Old toys, phonographs, candles, windows
painted shut, and traps to keep rats out of the walls add to the
freaky doll moments, but our babysitter waits until the doll uncovers
itself and the stereo-typically locked attic doors open by themselves
before following the house rules. She also never bothers to explore
or investigate, but there's an obligatory local who knows the dead
little girl past and eight year old died in a fire back story –
tossing in cliché details along with lost pregnancies, love
triangles, and taking a shower trite. If you're going to go into the
ominous attic in nothing but a towel or have a doll listening to the
sex in the next room, then don't be a soft PG-13 but embrace that
winking R. The eponymous frights should be stronger, and although we
smartly don't see any silly doll moving effects, the traditional
filming style doesn't do justice to the oddity. Rather than embracing
the bizarre bonding afoot, the standard horror formulaic wastes too
much time – this unusual premise could really shine if the flip
flopping world rules didn't detract from the aloof charm. A WTF siege
veers the finale into something more preposterous, calling it a twist
while holding back as late night horror lite for people who haven't
already seen any similar scary movies.
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