Martyrs

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Martyrs was a great last film to watch for Horror Film class because not only did it contain so many elements of horror, but it also had so much depth and meaning on a philosophical level as well. The film began with what seemed to be a psychotic/disturbed child due to her childhood experience of torture. She didn’t speak or interact with anyone else except for one other little girl with a helping/nurturing nature who soon became her best friend, Anna. In the bedroom scene where Lucie and Anna were about to sleep, another element of horror seemed to be at play, which was one of a supernatural or ghostly haunting. Something seemed to be haunting Lucie and causing her fear. The next part of the film, which was set fifteen years later, soon turned into a gore-y slasher and revenge thriller film. An older Lucie shot a whole family dead, getting revenge on who she claims were the couple that tortured her as a child. Here, we also see how the “victim as the monster” element comes in. Lucie is simultaneously the victim (of her tortured past, of the monster haunting her, of her disturbed mind) but is also the monster who murders a whole family in the blink of an eye, which makes it clear that Lucie is still not quite mentally stable. The supernatural being that was haunting her as a child now returns, and the audience is given a clearer glimpse of how it looks – it turns out to be a fully naked, twisted, and tortured girl. My first guess was that it was another victim that the torturers kept in their house, but we soon discover that she was another victim that Lucie was not able to save and is now her guilt appearing to her in a delusional form of a monster. This monster is yet another example of the victim as the monster. It also shows how the monster does not necessarily have to be real and manifest itself physically, but it can come from within and reside in a person’s mind. There also seems to be a hint of homosexuality between the relationship of Lucie and Anna in the scene where Anna tried to kiss Lucie. This was proof of Anna’s unconditional love for and loyalty to Lucie that she was willing to do anything for her, even though she had her own doubts of the justification of what Lucie did.

From victim as the monster, the theme now moves to the hero becoming the victim. The audience has started growing a liking towards Anna’s character when she becomes the next victim of the organization responsible for torturing children and young girls, including Lucie. It is also important to note how Anna’s helpful nature seemed to lead her into trouble. She helped Lucie, and was dragged into cleaning up the murder of the family. When she saw that the mother was still alive, she tried to help her as well but this led to Lucie’s burst of outrage and eventual death/suicide. After she discovered the other tortured girl hidden in the basement and tried to help her, the organization arrives and makes her their next victim. So from Anna being the hero who tries to help everyone, she becomes the next victim of torture. However, although the goal of the torturing was to attain a martyr who could stand even the most brutal pain, it could be said that Anna was already a martyr in her own way with how she selflessly sacrificed and risked herself to help others. When the purpose of the torturing was explained by the old lady, it became more acceptable to know that they did not just torture the victims for fun. The humanity of the torturers was also seen in the scene where Anna held the hand of the woman who fed her, and the woman responded with sympathy. It showed that they did not enjoy it, but that they truly believed in the cause and in the outcome they wished to attain. Their goal was to create martyrs through relentless torture, and once they have reached the stage of transcendence, they would attain knowledge about the afterlife, which would in turn direct their own lives with meaning and purpose. More than the blood and gore, the more unbearable scenes were those of Anna and the other victims being beaten and tortured. Although they were not as bloody as when Lucie shot the whole family dead, the torture scenes were so raw and uncut that it was inevitable for the audience to also feel the pain that Anna was going through. We became witnesses of the progression of how Anna dealt with pain.

It is also interesting how most of the relevant characters in the film were female. I’m not sure if it would be safe to say that there is an underlying theme of feminism in this, because the different characters represented the different sides of women (Anna, Lucie, the mother, the victims, Mademoiselle). Yes it showed their strength, but also their craziness, heartlessness, and weakness. But the most interesting part of the film was definitely the ending. It left everyone questioning what Anna revealed to her that led Mademoiselle to kill herself. Did she kill herself because she couldn’t wait to get to the afterlife based on what Anna told her? Or did she realize the pointlessness of everything she has done because there was no afterlife, and that she couldn’t live with the guilt of it? Or did she realize that she wouldn’t be able to reach the afterlife unless she went through the torture she put Anna through? And was Anna really telling the truth when she attested to experiencing the afterlife/transcendence, or did she manipulatively make something up knowing that it was the goal of Mademoiselle from the very beginning? Did she kill herself for selfish reasons, or because she believed that everyone else was better off not knowing? This leaves us (and the other characters) with a different kind of suffering — the suffering of never knowing. This ending could also be a challenge to the audience to stop searching for answers about the afterlife because we’re better off not knowing, and to instead focus on living a life of love. For Anna, the meaning of her life or her “heaven” was her love for Lucie. It could also be a challenge for the audience that the message/meaning must be earned through suffering before it can be attained. Either way, I really loved the film and how it beautifully and masterfully played with the art of horror in relation to the meaning of life, love, pain, and suffering.

References:

The Philosophy of ‘Martyrs’: Transcendence in Torture

http://montanamancavemassacre.blogspot.com/2011/06/beauty-in-brutality-defense-of-laugiers.html

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

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Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed is an interesting sequel because it strays from the themes and social concerns of the first film. There is a shift in the patterns presented and the context the stories are in. In some way, it could be said that the sequel “matured” in different aspects. The setting of the film moves from the suburb to the city, and from sisters’ home and high school to the rehabilitation center and cabin. Ginger is now no longer the main character of the film, although her ghost still has appearances every now and then, but the story now revolves around Brigitte and her new found friend and side-kick, Ghost. The main symbolism and concern of the first movie was the sisters going through puberty parallel to Ginger’s transformation of monstrosity. The concern of the second movie, however, was drug abuse and self-control. The story shifts from naivety to maturity, from Ginger to Brigitte. In the first movie, Brigitte was in some way “under,” overpowered by, and living in the shadow of Ginger. In the second movie, however, she matures and attempts to take control in every way possible. She regularly injects herself with wolfsbane and tracks the duration of her transformation. She also controls her sexual desires and urges, and also tries to avoid being tracked down by the werewolf my transferring locations. Unlike in the first movie, Brigitte is not tied down to anything nor anyone anymore (Ginger, her family, school), and has learned from her experience with Ginger who was the one who lost control and gave in to the urges. It is ironic, however, that the second film is called “Unleashed” when in fact, the whole movie has been about trying to repress the transformation and ends with Brigitte as a werewolf being trapped in the basement. The appearance of Ginger’s ghost is also interesting because it seems to be on Brigitte’s side by warning her whenever the werewolf is approaching, but also seems to be a temptation to give in to the transformation. The newest and most dynamic character in the story would be Ghost. She volunteers at the rehabilitation center/hospital because of her grandmother who suffered serious burns from a fire (which, apparently, was purposely caused by Ghost). She seems to be everywhere and knows everyone’s business although she isn’t liked by the other girls residing in the hospital. For me, the most interesting scene was when Ghost was being bullied in the television room by the other girls who kept throwing coins at her. It was in that moment that Ghost, who normally appeared to be so confident and all-knowing, was shown as helpless little girl. Another interesting part of this scene was when Brigitte actually defended Ghost, which was not how she responded to when she herself was bullied in high school. In some way, she became the “Ginger” of Ghost.

The werewolf’s intention also got my curiosity because in the first movie, it was Ginger who was the werewolf and seemed to only be after eating/killing people. However, in the second movie, the werewolf was after Brigitte so he could mate her. It made me wonder where these werewolves were from, and if all of them were transformed humans? And what exactly were they after, and why only Brigitte?

The movie also focused on feminism and female empowerment. In this film, all female characters were unique and strong-willed. Brigitte was in control of her life and actions and didn’t let her situation and surroundings trap her, as she still managed a way to do what needed to be done. Ghost was also extremely manipulative and independent, which was most evident when she made a deal with Brigitte that she would help her escape if she allowed her to tag along. It was also evident when they got to Ghost’s cabin and she knew exactly what to do and how to run the whole place on her own. However, what interested me the most was the ending. Although the whole movie revolved around the build up and strengthening of Brigitte’s character, the ending seemed to negate the whole point of it because Ghost trapped her in the basement, allowing her to transform and be trapped with the werewolf. So all of her efforts throughout the whole movie to fight the urge of transformation and running away from the werewolf was put to waste because of Ghost. So there seems to be another role reversal and shift in power, which began with Ginger, to Brigitte, and now to Ghost. Another difference of the second movie from the first is the decrease in the dry sarcastic humorous moments. The second movie seemed to be a little more serious and mature than the first, that it lost its “comic relief,” which was provided by the mother in the first movie. It also left me hanging with a few questions such as, what happened to their mother? And what happened during the time in between the movies, and how did Brigitte end up in the city?

So I can say that I enjoyed the sequel of the film better than the first one because it was deeper and more exciting, since we already knew the context behind the story. It is also interesting to note how there are so many underlying social themes and issues a horror film can contain.

The Innkeepers

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The first thing I noticed about The Innkeepers was its slow pace. That’s not to say I found it boring, but it was as film that took its time to build up and get to the whole point of the story. Based on the reading “Why Horror?”, it says that the audience does not necessarily find pleasure in the monster, and in fact it repels them, but it’s the “narrative structure in which the presentation of the monster is staged.” The structure of the narrative of horror films are centered around proving, disclosing, discovering, and confirming the existence of an impossible monster. For the case of The Innkeepers, it was Claire and Luke trying to prove the existence of Madeline O’Maley’s ghost. The plot twist here is that although the audience, along with Claire, believed that the ghost really existed based on Luke’s testimony, he was apparently making everything up — only to be proven wrong by the actual ghosts making their presence felt. Horror films keep the audience watching by postponing whether or not the monster does exist, which explains the slow pace of The Innkeepers. And once this information is discovered, the horror film keeps its audience locked by the curiosity of wanting to know more about the said monster such as its identity, origin, purpose, powers, among others. This was the case when Claire heard and saw the piano playing by itself, and when Lee made contact with the spirits. It has been proven that they existed, now Claire (and we, the audience) wanted to know who they were, what happened, and what they wanted.

Horror films attract the audience’s curiosity and desire to know through the process of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation, hypothesis, and confirmation of the monster. The monster also attracts curiosity as it is usually an unusual and impossible being, and something unknowable. The monster is said to be repelling because it breaches existing categories, which also makes it so compelling at the same time. The monster thrills and catches the attention of the audience while simultaneously disturbs, distresses, and disgusts the audience.

Another notable thing in the film was its numerous startle scenes. These were usually composed of the slow approach of the camera, suspense music, and focus on areas that make you expect something to appear. There were also a lot of fake startle scenes which train you to look more closely and anticipate something to appear, so that when the real thing comes, you literally jump out of your seat. For me, The Innkeepers was one of the scarier films we’ve watched in class because ghosts are the most realistic “monsters” that actually do exist in real life. Although the supposed original ghosts (excluding the old man who killed himself in the end) were never explicitly shown in the film, the threat of their presence (expressed in other forms, mostly through sound) was just as scary as if they were shown. The ghost of the old man was also just as surprising, although it was pretty obvious that he was going to kill himself, because seemed to have no reason to haunt Claire. What makes me most curious is why he returned to the hotel (was he Madeline O’Malley’s fiance?), and what exactly happened to Madeline, and who the other ghosts were and what was their relation to Madeline. Everyone got involved in the death of Madeline O’Malley, including the staff and guests at the hotel, and the other ghosts roaming around the hotel. It also makes you wonder if Claire’s spirit will then begin to haunt the hotel as well, and what it was the Lee actually predicted when she went down the basement. The testimony Luke gave to the police at the end of the film also made me wonder if he was telling the truth, and if what Claire had experienced was something only she imagined, or something only she could experience, and why her and not Luke or Lee? This is the kind of curiosity and desire to know that the reading refers to, and in relation to The Innkeepers, it did an exceptional job at drawing the audience’s curiosity.

May

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May was an interesting film because it was not so heavy on the thriller, startle scenes but tapped deeper into a psychological projection of the character. As mentioned in the reading, May, as the monster, was at the same time still human. She was frightening, violent, and alien in a sense that she was weird and awkward (not necessarily a different unhuman sense), but the qualities that made her a “monster” are also what attracted our pity and sympathy for her. Her life of violence and revenge could have been a product of her social circumstances but also on her personal deficiencies.

May was a weird, extremely awkward, and quite creepy girl whose only friend was her doll. Her doll was also an important and central part of the movie although it was not always the focus of the storyline. Her doll seemed to be a reflection of herself and how she lived inside the glass of her “monstrosity.” Her doll, which did not move but apparently May was able to communicate with, would show its disapproval of May when she started changing for other people by slowly cracking the glass enclosure/case. I think that the scene of when the doll’s glass case shattered when she brought her doll to the school for blind kids was a symbolism of May’s breaking point in a mental or psychological sense. May seemed to be so closely linked to her doll and its power over her despite its being lifeless. The use of the doll in the movie was also interesting because it gave off a creepy and eerie vibe, although it was not alive, it kept you on your toes for when it might attack. And although the doll was lifeless and harmless in the movie, its connection with May made it seem to have a life of its own or at least an overpowering factor over May which added to its creepy vibe and tension in the movie.

May also seemed obsessed with perfection as she always noticed certain isolated features of people for their beauty. This obsession with perfection is what led her to step out of herself and form relationships with other people, but it is also what drove her to insanity and back to herself in the end. People rejecting her only fed her desire and obsession for perfection, which she attained in the end by creating a new doll from her favourite parts of people. She was so obsessed with perfection that she even sacrificed her own eyeball for the doll. I think that the creepiest part of the movie, which I still do not seem to fully comprehend, is when her “perfect human doll” came to life in the end and moved its arm.

May was also gory but not because there was fighting or battling involved (unlike in Evil Dead, Ginger Snaps, or Rec) but because May’s killings was linked to her twisted psychological aspect. It is interesting that the killings and bloody disembodiments were all one-sided and all done by May. Although the film was not necessarily scary, it was creepy and disturbing on a psychological level. It did not make use of other creatures but instead, projected horror through the mental world of a normal human girl.

Let the Right One In

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Let the Right One In was probably one of my favourite movies from those we’ve watched in class and one I really enjoyed. The reading “Horror for sale: The marketing and reception of classic horror cinema,” there are traditional gender dynamics expected from audiences – the women are typically expected to tremble in fear while in the arms of brave men. However, it could also be that the male audience puts up a brave front to disguise his own fear and terror. Either way, the female audience is a significant market for horror films. The reading discusses the gender stereotypes of the audiences and their expectations, which is contrary to previous readings which focus more on the gender stereotypes of the characters in the films.

It has been established that the emotional aspect of horror movies are what pull the female audiences in. Female fans are said to get some kind of emotional kick from the romance, drama, and love stories incorporated in horror films. I can personally attest to this with regards to the film Let the Right One In because its love story is what made me enjoy the film a lot. Usually in horror movies, kids are usually depicted as creepy, and are probably even the scariest kind of character to use for a startle effect. But for this film, the kiddie romance made the storyline really cute and sweet, despite the absurdity of the vampire aspect. At the beginning, I knew that there was something off about Eli, but I didn’t expect her to be such a stereotypical vampire. I knew that whenever she would ask Oskar if he would still like her even if she wasn’t a girl, she might have had some kind of identity crisis, but I didn’t not expect at all that she was born a boy whose private parts were cut off (which I only found out from the group report). Eli and Oskar’s relationship is quite interesting, because although it was Eli who was cold and distant at the start, it was her who ended up warming up and running to Oskar. In the end, however, it was Eli who came in and rescued Oskar from the school bullies.

Eli is also an interesting character because although there were times that she was creepy, you couldn’t help but feel bad for her and her situation as well. I honestly found it really freaky that she could climb walls and jump from high places, and how easily and mercilessly killed people for their blood. The scene I found the creepiest was when blood started coming out from all over her face when Oskar didn’t allow her to enter his house. However, her situation also allowed pity from the audience because she always seemed so pale and fragile, and that her father (?) always tried his best to provide her with her needs. I think the saddest part of the film was when her father sacrificed himself for her, after pouring acid on himself as to not be identified, and offering himself for her to drink blood from. Her father, or that old man, if he isn’t her father, is also an interesting character because there’s little that is known of him, who he is, and of his relationship to Eli. He seemed to be willing to do anything for Eli, even give up his own life. If he isn’t her father, it makes me wonder if he used to be a young teenage boy, just like Oskar, who also fell in love with Eli and loyally took care of her even as he started to age and she didn’t.

In my opinion, Let the Right One In can still be classified as a horror film more than a romance film, and that it depends on the audience which aspect of the film draws them in more.

Pontypool

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Pontypool was an interesting horror film because it stretched the borders of the typical expectations from a horror film. Just like the reading suggests, art-horror films slip between genres and are relatively unstable regarding categorization. There is a need for valorization of cinematic trash which are films that are ignored or rejected by the legitimate film culture. This valorization calls for a different and more complicated reading strategy than is commonly assumed due to the stylistic variety, eccentricity, and bizarreness of the film. Just like how in Pontypool, a person becomes infected once they truly understand a certain word, so is the emphasis on understanding for horror-art films. In the film, the English language was said to be infected, which can be seen as the mainstream films in the industry today and the typical way of analyzing them. However, there is a need to look deeper and to use a different perspective on viewing the film such as how the characters began using the French language. An important part in the film is when Grant started chanting “kill is kiss” in order to cure Sydney, the meaning of the word changes thus altering the understanding of it as well.

The reading also talks about how the Hollywood audience has become not just segmented, but also polarized. There was a change in audience demographics as mainstream audiences decreased and ‘special interest groups’ increased. There was a polarization between mainstream audiences and “alternative” or “fringe” audiences who appreciated the art in cinematic “trash.” This can also be linked to the characters in the film, as Grant could symbolize the trash scene of cinema, while Sydney was the mainstream cinema who was dictating to Grant what the audience would like to hear. Laura Ann, however, appreciated Grant’s efforts and could be linked to being the “specialized” audience, while Dr. Mendez, on the other hand is the mainstream audience trying to understand paracinema.

What is interesting about Pontypool is how the actual events are never shown and the setting of the film never leaves the radio station. The whole story related to the characters inside the station is actually happening on the outside, but it is never shown to us. Therefore, as the audience, we can only know as much from Grant’s radio show, as if we ourselves are also part of his listeners. It is also ironic how the infection was passed around through language, when the whole film revolves around a radio show. For a horror film, there is also not as much blood, gore, and startle scenes as one would typically expect. Despite this, it gives of an eerie vibe and keeps you on the edge of your seat with the little action, setting, and characters involved. The so-called “monster” in the film cannot be linked to a specific person because the infection was said to travel through language and words. It makes you double think if as the audience of the film, you would also perhaps catch the infection if you understood the words and the film too well. Another interesting thing to note is that compared to the previous films we’ve watched in class, there is no blur between the line of the monster and the victim, and there was not much fear of the monster in this film as the audience. However, just like other horror films, Pontypool twists the sense of normality by taking a unique stand on words/language becoming the virus/monster. Just as the missing cat story at the beginning of the film was the most exciting news in Pontypool town, although things may seem bland, unexciting, and uninteresting, cinematic “trash” can also be seen as a form of art with the proper way of reading and understanding the films.

Evil Dead

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Evil Dead was the first slasher horror film I’ve ever watched and it was quite a shock. At the beginning, I was expecting it to be a film about witchcraft, ghosts, or a possession. And although it was related to a possession, there was also nonstop action and excessive gore which left me cringing and terrified at every moment. The reading Her Body, Himself, presents fear as a gendered emotion. Slasher films use what is called a “male gaze” where in the female is objectified to be the object of the gaze, and is the point of identification for the spectator. The reading also mentions that if a beautiful woman is walking around a haunted house, the audience would feel more fear for her than if it were to be a man. Slasher films emphasize the “womanness” of the female and break the common stereotype of women in horror films. Females characters are usually marginal and underdeveloped, and more often than not die early in the film. Male characters, on the other hand, are typically the last minute heroes that the male audience can identify with and are the protectors of helpless females. However, in a slasher film, female characters are the heroes. They are the only characters who are developed in psychological detail, as they are the last ones standing to live to tell the tale. Just like in Evil Dead, Mia starts out and remains the victim who was possessed by a demon for the most part of the film. It is only in the end that she is redeemed as the hero and only survivor. The prolonged struggles of women are also shown more often than those of the male characters, because women tend to show more emotional expression. In Evil Dead, Mia did not turn out to be a heroine who was rescued by a male character, but instead became a hero who rescued herself. This shows that triumphant self-rescue is no longer entirely limited to the masculine gender. The killer, who in this movie is the demon who possessed Mia, is often unseen throughout the film. However, the audience is forced to identify with him in some scenes as he or she gazes and approaches the victim.

Evil Dead is interesting as it seemed to be a struggle between the two genders. For the most part, the fate of Mia was in the hands of David. He showed the most sympathy for her although she was already clearly possessed by a demon. He also went through an emotional struggle as he felt guilty for abandoning her and her mother, which is what made it more difficult for him to do what was necessary in order to put an end to Mia’s possession. In the end, however, he sacrificed his life in order for his sister to survive, and Mia had to deal with the demons on her own. This is where she showed a shared masculinity as she was both the heroine and the hero. Throughout the film, there were shifting points of view and sympathies, but it always ended with the perspective of the Final Girl, who was Mia.

I would have to say that Evil Dead was probably the most terrifying film among those we’ve watched in class so far. Although the events were very unrealistic, it left me crippled with fear, terror, disgust, and anxiety at every moment for the whole duration of the film. However, it also brought a very interesting perspective on the female characters in comparison to the previous films we’ve watched in class.1

Grace

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After having already watched a number and a variety of horror films in class, I realized that they don’t necessarily have to be scary in order to be classified as a horror film. Horror films often cross the boundaries of reality and normality and disturb you in other ways that are not necessarily “scary,” Just like the film Grace, there wasn’t a single “startle scene” but the film had me cringing for most of the time. The women of the film were once again portrayed as the “monstrous feminine” through their abjection. It seems as though all of the main characters in the film were female, namely Grace, Madeline, Vivian, and Patricia, and all of them were extremely obsessed with something in one way or another. Grace was obsessed with human blood or the blood of her mother, Madeline was obsessed with having a child and with her veganism, which was evident in the meals she ate and with her obsession with watching the animal channel. Vivian, on the other hand, was obsessed with getting custody of her granddaughter and controlling the lives of her son, husband, and grandchild, while Patricia was obsessed with Madeline. The extreme obsession of the female characters in the film crosses the borders, disturbs the order, and questions the “normality” of their identities. They are presented as extreme versions of their female roles. Abjection is a violation of borders, positions, and rules, of the line between the screen and the spectator, the good versus evil, the normal versus abnormal, and the man versus beast. The abject is the place where meaning collapses, such as when Grace lived when she shouldn’t have. There was a lack of explanation of her rebirth which is when you begin to get a hint that something is wrong. The movie began and ended with no explanation of who, what, and why Grace was that way. It was weird and disturbing from beginning to end which seemed to be the whole point of the movie. Abjection was also seen in the refusal of Vivian to let go of her son by trying to control his life, and although he tries to break away from her, he still remains under her power or control to some extent. The abject challenges the patriarchy and role of the men in society. The men or the fathers are often accepted as the representation of the law, order, and stability, but in this film, it was the women who were more dominant and significant. Bodily wastes were also an important element of the film which symbolizes the body’s way of protecting itself by ejecting these wastes. Vomit, blood, and drool were present in almost every scene of the movie which in some way warned the audience that what was happening was not normal. The disgust that the spillage of the excess wastes makes the audience feel is also what draws us to keep watching, because they break the ritual and normality of what we know.

[Rec]

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[Rec] was definitely my favourite film from those we’ve watched in class so far. The pace at the beginning of the movie was quite slow as Angela was touring “us,” the audience and her viewers around the fire station with the raw video footage being shot by Pablo, her cameraman. This was quite an effective way to begin the movie as the audience did not know what to expect at all. On their way to apartment building with the emergency, at first I expected there to be a fire, obviously, but then with the mention of an old lady, I expected them to be rescuing maybe an old lady trapped inside her apartment. Things got crazy when they got there and the old lady started attacking the fireman and police, but I still didn’t understand where the “horror” aspect of the film was. However, things started to get exciting when they got quarantined inside the building including the police and no one knew or wanted to say why.

There were actually a number of scenes that really scared me in the movie because of a lot of factors. The point of view from Pablo’s camera was the only perspective allowed for us, the audience, which also made us feel like we were with them inside the building. That style enhances the viewing experience because it limits us to what and how we see the events happening inside. During the times when the police ordered them to stop filming, although we knew it that if we were really in that situation, having two people roaming around and filming everything while there was chaos inside would be annoying, we didn’t want them to stop because that was our only access to what was happening in the movie. The raw footage, the lack of a soundtrack, the shaky camera, and even during the times the camera fell to the floor or wasn’t focused on the people, all added to the personal viewing or realism and primary identification that the audience had with the film. It was also because of how the events were so unexpected from how the story began which kept our eyes glued to the screen the whole time. The uneasy feeling of anticipation was due to the bizarreness of the events yet which were also the most realistic to happen, unlike the previous films we’ve watched in class.

The being in quarantine of everyone in the building also contributed to the feeling of claustrophobia and tension as events started building up. It was Angela and Pablo who sort of balanced out the panic of everyone in the building and the tension growing between the characters, but at the same time they also added to it. The main characters make things happen but things also happen to them. So although Angela and Pablo were to some degree in control of the narrative and of how they were filming what was happening, they were also vulnerable to being victims. What I noticed from the startle scenes in [Rec] was how they didn’t make me scream out loud, but instead made me jump in my seat and immediately look away and left my heart beating rapidly even after the scene was over. I think that because in some way we expect something to happen, and we don’t expect it to be some supernatural being to pop up on the screen, but we know that something intense is about to happen we just don’t know what exactly because we’ve been conditioned from the beginning of the movie to expect the unexpected. Towards the end of the movie, the room with the articles on the wall and the girl who was the source of the disease sort of gave us the answer as to why everything had happened in the first place. But the ending scene of Angela being dragged and the camera shutting down also left us hanging with more questions unanswered, which I think is a brilliant way to end a horror movie and to make us want to watch the sequel.

Deadgirl

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Horror film audiences always expect monstrosity from the genre. In the case of Deadgirl, it is not a battle of the monster versus the victim, but instead, the monster as the victim. The more obvious monster in the film would be the dead girl, who is found by JT and Rickie in an abandoned mental asylum. To their surprise, the dead girl is in some way immortal and does not die despite their numerous attempts to kill her. She also appears to be violent as she attacks people, and had to be tied down to prevent her from killing them. The identity of the dead girl cannot be exactly identified because although she has the physical appearance of a human, her monstrosity and immortality make her the least bit human. However, the dead girl, who is never given a name, gains the audience’s sympathy as the story progresses. This shows her duality as both the monster and the victim. She was held captive by JT and used as a sex slave. This issue also reflects some social concerns of the present day such as rape and objectification of women. And as JT continues to abuse the dead girl, he starts to become the monster himself as he involves other people in the abuse of the dead girl.

Rickie also seems to go through a moral journey as the story progresses. The movie began with him following JT’s lead or being inferior to JT, but soon stands up for himself against JT. This is similar to the case of Ginger and Brigette in Ginger Snaps as Brigette eventually starts thinking on her own and goes against Ginger’s lead. For the case of Rickie and JT, Rickie kept trying to talk JT out of it and rescuing the dead girl. He controls his sexual desire and never engages in sexual acts with the dead girl, unlike JT who eventually becomes so obsessed with the dead girl that he starts living in the abandoned asylum with her. This is an example of the return of the repressed, which for this instance, is their repressed sexuality. This theme is seen in various instances in the movie. JT’s repressed sexuality is unleashed through his using the dead girl as his sex toy, and his giving in to his sexual desire eventually turns him into the “monster.” The dead girl, who is victimized and repressed, also fought back in the end and set out for revenge once she was set free. And in the end, Rickie betrays the audience as he also does the same to Joanne’s “dead” body, after him trying to right the whole situation throughout the whole movie. With this ending, the movie has no redeeming qualities or saving grace. It leaves you disturbed and provokes a strong response of dissatisfaction and even contempt towards the movie.

The little of what I enjoyed in the movie were the few humorous moments which lightened the mood or sort of broke the tension for a little while. Examples of this would be when the face of the dead girl was covered with a ripped off page from a magazine showing a face of a porn star, or when during Joanne’s dying moments, Rickie told her he loved her and she responded by coughing blood on his face. An important scene which says a lot about the recurring theme of the return of the repressed is the gas station scene wherein JT and Wheeler try to knock out another woman to victimize as the next dead girl but then she fights back and beats them up. This shows a reversal of power and the constant return of the repressed, which is a very important theme in the horror genre. However, despite the insertions of humour, I found the movie awfully disturbing and unlikeable, which is also what makes it a good horror film.