Dead,
Deader, Deadest!
by
Kristin Battestella
These
fatal films and documentaries offer a wealth of gruesome, gore,
blood, and body counts to match their ghastly names.
The Black Death: The World's Most Devastating Plague
– Purdue Medieval Literature Professor Dorsey Armstrong hosts this
2016 twenty-four episode lecture series from The Great Courses
Signature Channel, beginning with early feudal nobles versus
peasants, religious society and church control, and urban growth in
the medieval warm period before a changed Europe in 1348 with plague
reducing the population from 150 million to 70 million. Onscreen
maps, notations, and timelines supplement the disturbing first hand
accounts, despairing eye witness testimonies, and Old English
translations of outbreak terrors – focusing on the human response
to pestilence while dispelling misnomers on The Black Death's name
and symptoms. Some victims writhed in long suffering agony while
others died within a day, drowning in their own blood thanks to
bubonic, septicemic, and pneumonic bacterium. Ebola virus comparisons
are specific and gruesome alongside scientific theories on bacillus
causes, tuberculosis similarities, Blue Sickness inconsistencies, and
Anthrax possibilities. Prior Justinian outbreaks, Asian beginnings in
Kaffa, and Italian trade route migration spread plague while fleas,
rats, and gerbils transmission, weather patterns, and even
extraterrestrial origins are debated. Entire villages were ravaged
with hemorrhagic fever contributing to the scourge's spread on poor,
crowded, malnourished people fearing the judgment of god, wearing
creepy masks, and carrying fragrant herbs to curb the smell of mass
shallow graves and dog-mauled bodies. Despite illiteracy, wills and
documentation accumulate – although journals have blank spaces and
abrupt ends because the writers died. Vacancies increase while
religious orders decrease since those ministering to the sick die,
yet crime declines as thieves won't even enter a wealthy but plagued
home. Avignon pilgrimages bring devastation and Walking
Dead
comparisons as Florence's valuable textiles are burned. Prostitutes
are often cast out – not for transmission worries, but to purge sin
from a city. Orphans and widows become dependent on the patriarchal
society, and artistic guild become charitable necessities. Flagellant
movements fill the religious gap while England's unexposed island
population leaves London with no place left to put the dead. When
only the 103 heads of households are marked dead in the census, one
can conservatively deduce the number of dead was probably quadruple
that 103. In a town of 1,000, what if the average household number
was seven? Ghost ships arrive in Norway, and grim reaper folklore
expresses Scandinavian fears amid whispers of children being buried
alive to appease angry gods. Primitive remedies and blood letting
rise, as do tales of monks and nuns going out in style with
debauchery and hedonism or gasp, dancing in town wide festivals. An
entire episode is dedicated to antisemitism and Jewish persecutions,
a depressing and violent response on top of the plague, and the
callous church using the pestilence as an opportunity to remind
people it was their sinful fault may have helped spur later
reformations. Of course, lack of clergy meant the church accepted
anyone for ordination, leaving priests who didn't know what they were
doing when the faithful public needed help most. Outside of nobles
losing their privileged status, most classes were ironically better
off post-plague with memento mori artwork and danse macabre murals
flourishing amid literary masterpieces and dramatic analysis
inspiring the early renaissance and the likes of Chaucer. Economic
booms re-establish trade as the aristocracy marries into the merchant
class and peasants revolt for more power, changing the world for
centuries to come. While lengthy for the classroom itself, these half
hours are jammed packed with information, documentation, and
statistics keeping viewers curious to learn more. This is a fine
accompaniment or a la carte for independent study – an academic
approach rather than the in your face, sensationalized documentary
formats permeating television today. The Great Courses Channel is
worth the streaming add-on for a variety of informative videos, and
this macabre selection is perfect for fans of horror history.
Daughter of Death – Anthony
Franciosa (Tenebre) and
Sybil Danning (Howling II)
star alongside the titular Isabelle Mejias (Scanners
II) in this 1983
international production also known as Julie
Darling. Certainly the
print is flat with a slightly distorted ratio, rough outdoor scenery,
poor highway scenes, and dark action that's tough to see.
Fortunately, vintage Spanish Gothic homes and nostalgic shag hair,
instant coffee, pay phones, talk of the roller rink, and malls add to
the family conflicts and slithering snakes let loose. Julie is
clearly a daddy's girl, but mom thinks boarding school will
straighten out her budding anti-social behavior – she scares a
school friend and insists she would rather go hunting with her dad
than date boys or even marry. While her affection seems innocent to
start, Julie is too young to be tucked in at night yet not old enough
to see doctor dad operate at the hospital. The delivery guy checks
out her mom and we see the Mrs. in a steamy bath, but the budding
Electra sociopathy fully emerges once an opportunistic attack makes
the choice between screaming mother and daughter with a rifle.
Frenetic classical music on the headphones matches the rough assault
before the edgy, synth score accents the chilling decision,
subsequent lies, and plays for daddy's sympathy. Julie cuts mom out
of all their pictures, too. Of course, Julie doesn't know the real
reason her parents were fighting, namely her soon to be stepmother
who brings along a little brother. Dad takes to the boy, replacing
Julie in both the young lady and favorite child departments when they
were supposed to have the house all to themselves. She hears the
moaning of course, peaking in on the saucy, slightly raw sex scenes –
escalating the creepy as Julie imagines herself in her stepmother's
place. Does she even realize the sexual aspects or that there are
different types of love for each of them? This is an interesting
mental study that correctly strays the fine line between the sinister
suspense and surprising horror. It isn't about gore a minute, but the
twisted dread as viewers wonder when the hide and seek games will
turn to terror. Our stepmom sees the competition and will protect her
new husband and young son amid chess parallels, ladder dangers, and
murderous matricide calculations.
A
Split Decision
Dead of Winter – Lovely
snow tipped trees, mountains, and chilly rivers begat hiking perils,
rock tumbles, ropes cut, snowy crashes, and hungry wolves in this
2014 Canadian geocaching terror. Of course, there are bus driving
montages, DUI histories, annoying music, getting gas in middle of
nowhere clichés, and ridiculously hammy dialogue like “Is your
cock ever soft?” “Only in your mommy!” WTF. One jerk films
everybody in a camcorder point of view even as they clearly all have
chips on their shoulders, but the sardonic documentation is forgotten
as we quickly meet the cliché, overly excited nerds, angry lesbians,
and the dude bros who want to watch amid nighttime scenery,
windshield wipers, and the increasingly icy road. Although people are
bundled up for this snowy treasure hunt, their faces are still
Hollywood exposed as the teams run to and fro in the woods following
creepy clues in a kind of humorous montage before no phone signals, a
bus that won't start, garroting logger cables, and explosions. If
they're stranded two hundred miles and at least four days walk from
anywhere, why doesn't anyone stay near the fiery bus for heat and
signal fires? Everyone continues following the increasingly bizarre
geocache reveals such as a gun with no bullets and a stop watch
promising screams in ninety seconds despite falling snow showers,
waterfalls, and damaged bridges. One dumb ass know it all thinks a
creaking old wood bridge with over a foot of snow on top the buckling
boards is safe so they all go for it because he says there's a quarry
shortcut and a convenient cabin nearby, too. Somebody has to take a
dump in the snow, it's obvious who's going to die next – cough one
lesbian and the black guy cough – and the hip acting hampers the
finger pointing group divisions. Thanks to the straightforward rather
than herky jerky filming, we can see the bloody hangings, torn limbs,
and splatter gore, but arrows and crossfire reveal the killer far too
soon when a movie about a treasure hunt shouldn't give up its reward
until the end. Head scratching cutaways, airplane rescue fake outs,
and whining about missing pizza further break audience immersion as
no one complains about blisters, cold, or frostbite on their
gloveless hands. No one is tired – least of all the driver who
drove all night and then drank all day who says he'll stay up on
watch while the others sleep. They didn't follow the river but are
later glad to have handy flashlights and booze to drink as they joke
about eating the tubby jerk first rather than addressing any real
cannibalism horror. Jealously, one person that is not so mysteriously
absent, a knife plus a pen and suddenly anybody can do an instant
tracheotomy – it takes an hour for someone to realize this was
planned revenge thanks to some prior competition because geocaching
is a mad competitive and dangerous sport! The riddles and underground
hideouts run out of steam with sagging contrivances and overlong,
predictable explanations. This is watchable with entertaining horror
moments, however the cliché points and outlandish but wait there's
more on and on will become too laughable for some. Our survivors may
have beaten the horror hunt, but everyone apparently forgets they're
still stranded in the wilderness before the fade to black. Oops.
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