Triangle

Cara Gabrielle A. de Jesus

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The movie Triangle begins with a fairly interesting premise- a scene of a mother comforting her child. To a first time viewer like myself, it would be easy to automatically assume that there’s a monster or terrible creature responsible for the child’s fears but none of that actually ever came. Having no prior knowledge about what the film was about, it hooked me in pretty fast, making me curious about what was to happen next. It’s probably one of the best types of movies to watch without any previous information on what it is actually about.

The film’s cinematography was so good because it really brought about the impending feeling of doom. It made me keep guessing what was going to happen next because watching the first few scenes would never have made me guess that any of the characters would wind up on a ship in the middle of nowhere. I liked how the scenes were all patterned in a very dream like fashion, sometimes hazy and out of focus, because it gave off a vibe that everything was a form of altered reality from the get go. Several scenes were done extremely well, paying such meticulous attention to detail, which was very important for such a complicated and complex film- namely the scenes where Jess realised she had a whole pile of necklaces that fell through a vent and the scene where Sally was surrounded by multiple corpses of herself.

Triangle is an excellent horror film in my opinion because it utilizes typical or traditional elements of a horror film that we usually see- ex. paranormal events, suspense, blood & gore, plot twists and even evokes inspiration from slasher genres, but it does it in a way that is totally fresh and new. I like how it didn’t even leave space for any explanation of what was actually happening to Jess and just went straight to presenting what was going on instead. There is also the existence of the traditional moral dilemma of good vs evil in the sense that Jess must decide whether or not she will kill everyone during every single cycle. While there was no specific, concrete monster, I liked how it brought another dimension of fear (in the form of time loops, abusive mother- son relationships and the difficulty of raising a child with autism) to the table, at the same time maintaing a totally continuous flow- meaning the viewers assume that the ending marks the beginning of a repeat of all the events that had transpired. Triangle was able to make the mundane horrific in the sense that inescapable routines can truly be a form of living hell.

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When I hear the word “horror”, a few things that come to mind are supernatural beings such as ghosts, cursed dolls, haunted houses etc. but after watching the movie Triangle, I had a different perspective about horror and what it really means. Triangle is a movie about a woman who experiences a cycle of tragic events in her life. After getting out of a bad situation, she gets into another, which leads to another and another. Thinking about it, it seems that there is nothing wrong with it since all people encounter difficult situations and problems are really part of life. But what is weird about Triangle is that the main character experiences the exact same events and the terrible situations she encounters repeat and happen all over again. At first, she does not understand why those things happen to her. There are parts where she tries to change the situation by changing how she reacts to it but at the end she realizes that she can do nothing about it. It seems that she cannot control the situation in any way and she can only look back and connect everything together. There is no solution and nothing can get her out of her misery. Now this is real horror.

Comparing it with other horror movies I watched, I can say that this is one of a kind since it shows happenings that are possible to happen in real life and things that are impossible to occur. This is one unique characteristic of the movie since it is both supernatural and realistic. Another unique charactersistic is that the conflict in the movie may be internal or external. It is possible that she is a disturbed person and everything is just inside her head, which means that she makes everything up. It is also possible that the cycle of tragic events is real (in the movie).

Overall, I like the movie because the story is new to me. Also, I acquired insights I can relate in real life. After watching the movie, I realized that life is both controllable and uncontrollable. It is controllable in a way that we can make our own choices and decisions but what makes it uncontrollable are the consequences of these actions.

Triangle

Triangle (2009) is one of those movies that are best watched without knowing anything about them beforehand. Because this was viewed in a horror film class, I was anticipating a piece that was rife with the conventions of horror, such as a monstrous villain, an ominous setting, or a systematic whittling-down of the cast — the usual suspects. At face value, however, the film did not seem to check these items off a list (thankfully); it felt more of a psychological thriller in genre than horror (in the usual sense of the word). It was milder and less gory than 99 percent of slasher films, the ship was not a haunting character by itself, and so on.

Later on, I found this personal understanding of horror to be problematic because, then, the genre is reduced to a formula that only needs to be modified or tweaked in some ways so that one gets a horror film. It fails to take into account that what may not be considered an explicit horror film in the present may set a precedent for a new sub-genre of horror in the future. A better and more appropriate approach in this kind of discussion is the emotion of horror: the point of the horror film is for the viewers to experience the emotion of horror. The moment that feeling kicks in, one has little time to think before acting; there is a “primal” aspect to horror, so to speak. And since horror is an emotion, it cannot be repressed, despite the effort one tries to put in not feeling horror.

As discussed in class, horror somewhat had its roots in weirdness, the archaic conception of which was intimately linked to the idea of fate. Taking this point of view, Triangle, intentionally or not, hearkens back to an age-old notion of horror being a “tale of destiny.” The actions of Jess, the film’s main character, were an exercise in futility: no matter how much she tries to turn things around, they always seem to end the same way. One would expect that Jess, having repeated this series of events a multitude of times already, would have thought of something to break the Sisyphean ordeal she finds herself in.

Triangle therefore showcases a fatalistic kind of horror. Jess’s efforts to reverse the effects of the past (this can be read as showing regret for physically abusing her autistic child) lacked the necessary pressure to change things; they were all for naught and led to the same inevitable end. The film draws parallels to the predestined fate of every human being: everyone dies. We prolong our life by, for instance, switching to a healthier diet, exercising, and what have you, but the best that these can do is to prolong. And the scary part is, we do not know when this fate will come. That is enough to evoke a sense of fear: as soon as we kick the bucket, there is no time to go all MacGyver and come up with a last-minute solution to delay death. This is our final experience of horror.

The film fills in a more reasoned comprehension of horror as a genre: it is reminiscent of when horror was closely tied to “weirdness,” now fate, and can be seen as subtly nodding towards the ultimate reality that is death.

Triangle

The movie Triangle has changed my perception of the horror film genre. No longer will I limit the genre to merely monsters and possessions. These typical stereotypes I associate with horror movies have clouded me from the reality that what truly defines a horror movie is simply that which terrorizes and haunts the audience. And Trianglehas done so in such a unique manner that it forces me to reclassify all the similar movies I have watched in the past. A suspenseful film that constantly toys with your mind is considerably horrifying indeed.

The mind-blowing suspense and thrilling pace at which this movie threw me in to kept me on my toes the whole. I was constantly trying to figure out what was happening and what could happen next. The whole movie was filled with surprises from the storyline down to certain elements in the movie. Such is the case with main character, Jess played by Melissa George. Although it is a cliché for the main character to once again be a female, the characteristics and personality she embodied were completely new to me. It may have been the first time I have seen a female lead play both the protagonist and antagonist in the story. Jess is hands down one of the most dynamic characters I have ever seen. The circular narrative of the plot is also one I am always interested much like a more recent movie, though it isn’t horror in any way, Edge of Tomorrow. Unlike Triangle though, Edge of Tomorrow repeats the narrative but each time a different outcome may be occur depending on what actions are taken. Triangle however is unending and inescapable. Every version or stage of Jess is lived out in one cycle and just when I think she is about to break the cycle I learn that she has gone through the exact same thing in the past. Every decision she tries to make produces a predetermined outcome waiting to happen. For me, that already is one of the scariest parts if the movie, the inescapable reality she is in, so much so that it has forced me to ponder on my own existential reality.

The movie has had some plot holes regarding some small details. Or maybe I just haven’t understood quite enough yet. Nonetheless, details such as the bodies in the theater that don’t pile up but then objects such as the necklaces and notes do in the lower deck of the ship. Or the bodies of Sally somehow find itself in the upper deck all the time but Victor’s can’t be found in the dinning hall. Small details like that still make me wonder if have truly understood the movie.

Another way the movie has changed my perception of horror films is that I have gained a deeper appreciation for small-budget films. I know that it is petty to believe that small budget films are unbearable to watch. I guess I just have been spoiled by all the big studio productions that come out in theaters and not on gems such as this movie. Come to think of it, where small budget films lack in effects and cinematography it makes up in great story telling and unforgettable characters.

All in all the movie was surprisingly entertaining and great in its own little ways. The only regret I have is that I wish I had seen this movie a lot sooner.

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I consider the movie “Triangle” as a different kind of horror films or at least a horror film that I am not used to. Instead of being scared during the movie, I felt confused and disturbed with the different plot twists that it had. I was confused with the fact that Jess finds herself caught in a seemingly never ending cycle of deaths of her loved ones and can’t seem to have a solution out of it. I was mainly confused during the part when Jess and his son crashed while Jess was driving. Jess immediately reappeared after and there was a taxi driver ready to pick her up. For me, I was confused on who or what connection the taxi driver had to the whole plot. Furthermore, it was only the taxi driver who noticed Jess after the accident while having two more dead bodies of Jess lying around. The film did a poor job to depict the symbolic significance of the taxi driver in the whole process and I think there is a lack of emotions associated with the driver. I felt in this part that the director stretched a little too much on the plot where he went beyond the limits of acceptability and comprehension of the audience. Moreover, I was disturbed during the whole movie because of the fact that she was killing her friends. I was most disturbed when she even killed her own self during the process of finding a solution. At the end after all that she has been through, she suddenly goes through a phase where she forgets everything that has happened and goes through the cycle all over again.

However, I also liked the aspect of the film where it gets a hook on the audience. Even though how perplexed and disturbed I was, I couldn’t help but still watch the movie because of my curiosity what would happen at the end. It is also became interesting during the parts where I wanted to figure out who the masked killer was. Furthermore, I got curious on why Jess was the only one who was able to see the rotten fruits and why she had the same time as the ship had. All throughout the movie, my mind was in constant use whereas I would think of ways to explain the scenarios or even try to figure out what solution Jess could do in order to solve the unending cycle. One of the thoughts I had initially was that it would revolve around the concept of the Bermuda Triangle whereas they would be trapped in the sea. Another expectation of mine was that the ship might be haunted with ghosts and the movie would be about how they would discover the story of the ship.

The main thing lacking in this movie is the clear explanation of the connection of Jess with the phenomenon that is happening. There is a lack of a background story for the audience to grasp clearly the essence of the never-ending cycle. Furthermore, the movie did not show clearly what connection did the story of Aeolus had with the life of Jess.