That’s Terrific

Stephen King on the horror genre: “The 3 types of horror: The Gross-out: the sight of a severed head tumbling down a flight of stairs, it’s when the lights go out and something green and slimy splatters against your arm. The Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it’s when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own had been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It’s when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there’s nothing there…”

I would just like to point out that in some level horror movies share the aspect of terror in varying degrees. It is the fear of the unknown and uncontrolled, but seemingly close and intimate. It is the sinking feeling that something (everything) is not right. It is dreading that something inevitable and unfathomable is going to happen. Hopelessness overcomes your senses as you anticipate (consciously and unconsciously) the monster (within or without).

In addition, the great thriller, horror, sci-fi novelist, Stephen King, is an expert in building up an atmosphere of terror, slowly going under your skin until that very moment horror takes over.

What do you guys think?

FamBam

Last House on The Left Remake

Rating:

Startle Scenes: †††

Atmosphere: †††

Character Development: †††††

The Monster: †††††

Depth: ††††

 

About  the Film:

The film, a remake of the 70’s classic slasher film of the same name, tells the revenge story of the parents of Mari Collingwood, Emma and John, aimed at retaliating against a group of strangers who seek shelter under their roof, and consequently who they discover abducted, raped, and shot their daughter.

My Impressions of the Film:

As always my initial impressions of the movie, given that it is under the slasher/thriller genre, that it was going to be just full of absurd amount of blood and gore. Beforehand, I already heard how good its predecessor is. While watching the film, I found myself very excited as I rooted for the Collingwood family, as they try to outsmart the thugs who did their daughter wrong. It is not that common to watch the supposedly good guys of a slasher film fight back with so much power from a privileged position (it is their house and the thugs don’t know that they know. It was a new take on Carol J. Clover’s notion of the Final Girl, in this case, I face a conflict regarding who to identify myself in watching the battle of the killer. In the end, I felt triumphant when the family did succeed in punishing the ones who did their daughter wrong.

I was surprised of how well and mature the film was made, especially considering that its original is a classic, in the 70’s it was considered one of the most disturbing films of all time. It was very dark and twisted, but at the same time you can still feel the warmth of the family; the moral conflict and the love a parent is capable of for their children.

It gives us a micro view of how the moral compass of even the most noble of families can be shaken by a tragic event and push them to accomplish evil acts. It places the Hammurabi’s Code: An Eye for an Eye, in the most unlikely of places, the family setting, which is supposedly the basic unit of society, the very first venue to cultivate civilization within people. Again the film succeeds in using horror and some of its traditional conventions, especially from the slasher genre, to shock people; and then more importantly, ask a question to the society which is so doubtful about it as a genre, as a means of pleasure. It makes us doubt how humanitarian really the family is, when it can be driven by the most primal of instincts, preservation of its young. This revenge driven

My Favorite Scenes:

I liked the scene where Mari tried to outsmart the thugs in the car, and then she took the car lighter and pushed it against Sadie’s forehead. It was nice to see a seemingly final girl figure trying to fight back in such an early stage of a slasher film (well this is not your typical slasher film after all). It is really exciting how Mari I such a survivor. Imagine running, swimming, and pretending to be dead, after being raped and shot. She even managed to go back to her parents house.

Now about the awesome killing scenes. First it was amazing to see a girl versus girl action between Emma and Sadie, concluding with Emma shooting Sadie in the head with a shotgun. But the very best scene (one of my favorites of all time) is when the Collingwood finally knocks Krug (the leader of the thugs) unconscious, paralyze him from the neck down (with John’s medical skills as a doctor), then put his head in a microwave oven to finally kill him in such a brutal way he deserves. Justice served?

Do I Recommend It?

I highly recommend this remake; first of all, because good (tolerable) remakes of slashers are really rare, and because it allows you to see the good guys fight back in such an extreme and liberating way, especially for the genre’s fans. Expect a lot of strange family bonding moments, outsmarting by the good guys (multiple final girls!), and of course brutal slays. Family bonding!

Shining, Simmering, Splendid

 

Rating

Startle Scenes: †††

Atmosphere: †††††

Character Development: †††††

The Monster: †††††

Depth: †††

The Shining, the film adaptation of the Stephen King classic novel of the same title, follows a family of three, Jack Torrance with his wife, Wendy, and son Danny, who is gifted with psychic visions, as thay spend months in a Hotel in the mountain peaks; little did they know, guests both human and supernatural alike have been occupying the Hotel in its long and horrific history. As as the hotel slowly comes alive, slowly but steadily unleashing its terror, the Torrance family is trapped in its four walls with Jack slowly transforming into a terrorizing psychopathic maniac.

I have read the novel, and after watching the movie I can really say it was meant to be a movie. It succeeds in building upo a sense of terror through its use of subtle tools and conventions. I can really feel the hotel slowly coming alive. The atmosphere of the movie is its strongest point. It banks on the fear of the unknown but uninevitable; one can really have an errie sense of the hotel’s past.

Throught the pacing of the film, I can feel the events, the subtle hints steadily closing in to its intense finale. As months turn into weeks, weeks to days, and days to hours, I can really feel what the Torrance family is going through; the dread of being alone (or really, of not). Unlike moat ghoat stories, the characters are forced not only to face the unknown supernatural enitity but more intensely, the unknow within themselves. The hotel and the Torrance family both have dark past, and by converging with one another, the possibility of an unspeakalble intensifies.

Strongest Elements:

Danny Torrance, the Gifted

As a kid, I had a fascination (obession) about telepathy and psychic visions. At one point I even genuinely believed I was one. So by adding a telepathic/psychic figure in the story, really captured my interest. Danny’s abilities really contributed to the tensions of the story. Most movies are kind of one-sided, as a conflict between the human and the supernatural, seemingly leaving the human handicapped. In The Shining, the conflict becomes more mutual, the supernatural hotel meets the supernaturally gifted child. This element of the story functions as a tool to maximize its horrific effects. By having a psychic in our side (as humans), we acquire a more intimate and stronger connection with the entities of the hotel. Fortunately, or unfortunately, we are forced to assume the visions of Danny, presenting the horrific past of the hotel. It drills on the point that moost of the time, horror happens inside the human mind than the outside.

Strong, Vivid Images

I really appreciated the flashes of Danny’s visions throughout the  movie. The images presented were very intense and rich. As a preview of what the Torrance family are fated for, it build up a sense of dread and terror in me. Specifically, I vividly remember the scene wherein waves of blood flood the halls of the hotel; it reinforces the  notion that the hotel is really a living entity with blood pulsing in its veins. Also I was subtlely creeped out by the image of the twins holding hands in tthe corridor. Their pale doll-like faces, and their eerie symmetry was really effective in sending out the message that even children are not safe in the hotel.

Jack Torrance

Adding the scared and mentally unstable character of Jack Torrance was really effective. We don’t only get a clash of the supernatural, but also a sense of the human as a threat. This makes the story even more successful in eliciting horror. Ghosts can be unreal, but psychopaths are undubitable realities of our society. Which do you prefer, being haunted or hunted?

Do I Recommend It?

One poll informs that The Shining is one of the Horror movies that burns the most calories. I highly recommend it, especially if you are looking for horror classics. Expect a steady buildup, and a powerfully eeire atmosphere. No need to read the novel, the film has a life of its own.

Under My Skin

Startle Scenes: ††††

Atmosphere: ††††

Character development: †††††

The Monster: †††

Depth (horror class concepts): †††††

About the Film:

The film is about Lucie, who escaped as a young girl from a cell where she was held captive and was tortured. The trauma from her experience made her mentally and socially unstable as she grows up under foster care, where she meets an intimate friend, Anna. As she goes on with her life, her past keeps catching up with her. She restlessly pursues to find the people who have wronged her to vengeance. This leads her to encounter a family in a seemingly normal state of affairs; consequently horrific things uncover, even more so when she calls Anna for help.

The film gives its audience a bitter taste of what more the horror genre can to offer. It is part body horror, psychological thriller, has apparitions, and much more, as it touches psychological, social, moral, escathological, and soteriological themes along the way. It is as successful in directing attention as it is grabbing it. It pumps up the shock factor to show you what the fuck is going on with us as a human race. Through its long and rich narrative, it touches on questions about ourselves and make apparent some of our darkest tendencies in our relentless pursuit for knowledge.

My Impressions of the Film:

My initial impressions of Martyrs was that it was going to be a dark and dry foreign film. It will follow a slow and uneventful narrative, and will end on a strong philosophical note. The movie proved to be a fast-paced narrative taking all sorts of forms. The scenes were seamlessly put together, that I didn’t realize that I was watching many things happening at the same time. My initial impressions were affirmed in that it did end on a very strong philosophical note. (Liken to that of the 2013 movie Lucy) however I was wrong in saying that it was going to be dry, it was very fluid and powerful.

Strongest Elements of The Film

The movie was the perfect ending to the course for two reasons: 1) it ties up everything that was said about the horror genre; and 2) it leaves a big and haunting question mark in everyone’s faces, just like how the genre as a whole always does. Martyrs really pushed the boundary for me regarding what a horror movie is and what it can represent. Social, psychological, philosophical, and even theological themes were touched by its griping and shocking images. From the beginning until the very end I never really knew what it was really about; but reflecting further, a thought cam to me: maybe it was about everything regarding human nature. We are very utilitarian, ruthless in our pursuit to know and control our destinies, that we fail to value and protect life itself.

Martyrs, in connection with the horror genre,  succeeds in presenting a myriad of sub-genres and themes that are in the deepest layer of horror. At first was there was that psychological fear/scar that manifested itself as a monster/apparition in Lucie’s life. Then it became a thriller, then gore, then it transformed completely, it became bright and inspirational (especially in the scene where Lucie’s tells Anna that she is not scared any longer), and ended very with a very philosophical statement. Unlike Evil dead, it kept me at the edge of my seat but for less straightforward reasons. It kept on throwing strange and strong images at me one after the other, while I haven’t even digested the previous one.

The relationship of Lucie and Anna also alludes to the notions of surplus repression of the female sexual energies as well as homo sexuality. The depiction of their seemingly love affair is quite retrained and contained; although it is a driving force in how they, especially Anna, react and behave throughout the story.

Another lesson to think about is the issue of the female gaze. Linda William states that somehow in horror, when the female do looks, she is punished for her curiosity. First, Lucie by seeing her co-prisoner as she tries to escape her torture chamber, is punished all her life by means of a schizophrenic apparition that causes her to inflict punishment on herself long after her escape. And then Anna, because of involving herself in Lucie’s situation, and then finding out what was hidden beneath the house, and then not leaving immediately, caused her the ultimate punishment, to finally be in the place of those victims she is so sympathetic to.

In all of its attention grabbing gore and horror, it was as successful in directing its audience’s attention to many themes and issues regarding human existence and consciousness. The woman, the institutions, the family, the person himself was deconstructed and attacked in so many levels. It leaves you with the question: what hides in your own basement?

Scariest Scenes:

I was very terrified when Anna found out what lies beneath the seemingly normal house. I was surprised that there was more to the story than what I would normally expect from a slasher film. Anna discovering the basement slash torture chamber really gave me the creeps. To discover that Lucie was right all along was really something I wouldn’t have guessed. It was a nice turn of events.

   

Of course the image of Anna being skinned alive was very scary (it even garnered the strongest reaction from the class throughout the semester). When we thought it couldn’t get any worse, that Anna wouldn’t be tortured anymore, boom, it happens. I remember lessons about the human body as the ultimate abjection in death. I am also reminded of the antagonist in the Silence of the Lambs who skins his victims to make coats.

Do I Recommend It?

I highly recommend Martyrs if you want a taste of what horror films are out there besides your regular dose of startle scenes. I recommend it to people who have a strong gut, and who look for much deeper and puzzling depictions of the horror genre and human nature. Expect gore, disgust, disturbing scenes. Nothing can prepare you for what you are about to see; watching the movie many times won’t even make you used to it. Enjoy.

Puppy Love

Rating:

Startle Scenes: †

Atmosphere: ††††

Character development: ††††

The Monster: †††

Depth (horror class concepts): ††††

About the Film:

The film focuses on the budding relationship between a human kid, Oskar, and a strange young girl, Eli, amidst a series of bloody murders happening around their neighborhood. Eli’s moving in next door becomes a catalyst to a string of events that develops the character of bullied Oskar, and unveils the reality about Eli’s true nature as a vampire. The film has a very Gothic and indie fill to it. The narrative is dry but intense. We get a view of how
My initial impressions of it is that it was going to be a dark kind of horror unveiling a myriad of layers. I encountered a very fresh take on the vampire genre, and a young love with a very dark twist. The overall production succeeds in eliciting all sorts of emotions. Throughout the movie, it did affirm my initial impressions.

Strongest Scenes/Elements


The caretaker, Hakan, really exemplified what inhumanity can be brought about  by non-humans. I saw as much inhumanity in him as in Eli as he slaughters people, even kids, just to satisfy the hunger of Eli. He is a very strong element in the film’s ability to evoke fear and horror. At the surface he’s just your average guy, but in reality he is as much of a monster as Eli is (or even more). However you can’t also help feel sympathy for him as you realize his true place in Eli’s life, is he just another Oskar manipulated to satisfy Eli? The you have a clue regarding where Oskar and Eli’s relationship is going.

The relationship of Oskar and Eli really alludes to Robin Wood’s notion of the excess repression of both children’s sexual desired and homo/bisexuality. A biography of the character Eli from IMDb explains that “Eli tells Oskar that she is not a girl and he catches a glimpse of her genital area, seeing that she does not have genitals. In the book, however, she tells Oskar that not only is she not a girl, but she used to be a boy who’s full name is Elias. The novel does not give any specific details, but the reader can gather that her/his becoming a vampire resulted in the loss of being a specific sex.” Here the film evokes the fear of castration and the possibility of the normal male dominated society with other kind of powerful sexuality. Just like what Linda Williams suggest that the monster in the horror film is feared by the “normal” males of such films in ways very similar to the notion of the male child’s fear of this mother’s power-in- difference. For, looked at from the woman’s perspective, the monster is not so much lacking as he is powerful in a different way. The vampire film offers a clear example of the threat this different form of sexuality represents to the male. The vampiric act of sucking blood, sapping the life fluid of a victim so that the victim in turn becomes a vampire, is similar to the female role of milking the sperm of the male during intercourse. What the vampire seems to represent then is a sexual power whose threat lies in its difference from a phallic “norm.” The vampire’s power to make its victim resemble itself is a very real mutilation of the once human victim (teeth marks, blood loss), but the vampire itself is not perceived as mutilated, just different.


Grossest Scene/Favorite Scenes
Of course all the mutilation that happened in the swimming pool was fantastic, the scene was silent but stark and strong. The comparison between Oskar’s face under the pool and all of the bloody body parts floating around really left a strong image. Hakan melting his face was also a strong horrific scene in the film. Finally, it really baffled me when Eli spout out so much blood when she/he entered Oskar’s apartment without letting her/him in, it was my first time to see that trait from a vampire; it make me want to know about his/her history more.

Do I Recommend It?

I recommend this flick as a refreshing take on the overused and abused take on the classic vampire figure. Although it presents vampires for what they really are: sun averse, blood-sucking, pale-looking, dry-humored beings; it does so with the power of dark young romance. Twilight fans watch this to reeducate themselves, and really feel the romance-fear tension that a human and vampire love affair brings forth. Expect a perversion of puppy love. Remember all of the ugliness of love lies beneath the surface, anytime, any age, just like the entity of the vampire. Prepare yourself by saying goodbye to the innocence of childhood.

Love, Blood, and Other Drugs

Rating:

Startle Scenes: †††††

Atmosphere: †††††

Character development: †††

The Monster: ††††

Depth (horror class concepts): †††††

About the Movie:

The movie is a sequel to the 2000 teen-monster horror, Ginger Snaps. It follows what happens to Bridget after the death of her sister turned werewolf, Ginger. Having been infected by the werewolf virus, Bridget is now transforming into a flesh-craving monster; while ginger reprises her role as an apparition. Bridget tries to impede the transformation by injecting wolf bane into her system. She is attacked by the werewolf who’s implied to be hunting her for some time, and then she wakes up in rehab center where she meets Ghost, a peculiar young girl with twisted fantasies, and Alice, a doctor who seems to have a history of substance abuse like what Bridget is accused of.

It was a nice thing that we watched a sequel in class. It gives us the opportunity to study the progression of horror films in sequels, and get to compare themes from both. Like its predecessor, this darkly humorous body horror flick further tackles female sexuality, in yet another dimension, coupled with the experience of substance addiction, in light of the daunting transformations in becoming a ware wolf (a monster).

At first, I expected the sequel to be worse than its predecessor, given that I didn’t like the first one that much. In all of the horror sequels I watched, this one proved my initial impressions wrong. Building on its predecessor’s strengths and taking a life of its own all together; Ginger Snaps Unleashed succeeds as metaphor of female sexuality and substance abuse.

Strongest Elements:

I found the fingering session really interesting. It highlights the desires and drives that are taking over and which Bridget tries so hard to suppress. It just drills on the comparison between the hungers of the flesh and the appetites of a monster. Quoting Robin Wood, it shows the pervasive and particular repression of the female sexual energy, which is caged like an animal, can return to hunt the very systems and structures that represses it.

The Monster

The idea of the werewolf haunting Bridget to mate with her was really twisted. There was even one scene where he even sniffs Bridget’s thighs. It begs me to think whether our sexual desires really attracts monsters (inside and out).

Towards the end one becomes baffled with who really is the monster of the story: Ginger, the ghost from the past; Bridget, the one becoming a werewolf; The werewolf stalking Bridget; Troy, the sexual predator; or is it little Ghost, in all her twisted glory? The movie is full of repressed energies emanating from different characters. There’s the intense repression of the female sexual energy seen in Tyler’s sexual preys, Alice’s past, Ghost’s grandmother, and in Bridget’s suppression of her carnal desires. It is like the whole rehabilitation center is a boiling pot of outcasts, others at the peripherals of the dominant society.

The ending was really shocking. At some level we know that Ghosts isn’t really normal and that somehow she really belongs to the rehab center; but when actualizes her fantasies and hunger for control, we face the fact that the monster can really take on any face or character. Ghost is a representation of the repression of children’s’ energies in the world of adulthood, she took the chance to finally turn the tables when she saw the opportunity. Childhood dreams come true.

Do I Recommend It?

I highly recommend this sequel, it is really well made. It goes beyond expectations of its predecessor. It tackles the themes in a more mature and dark manner. I recommend it to people who loos for well-thought teen horror flicks, not just full of gore and sex (plenty of that in here though). Expect a lot of sex (again), drugs, and animistic tendencies in everyone. To prepare yourself, reawaken your childhood fascinations in werewolves.

Zombies Don’t Suck Anymore

Rating:

Startle Scenes: ††

Atmosphere: ††††

Character development: ††

The Monster: ††††

Depth (horror class concepts): ††††

About the Film:

Pontypool is a film directed by Bruce McDonald based on the novel, Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess. Pontypool, for me, is the  strangest film we viewed in class; as it seems disconnected and yet coherent at the same time. I can’t really be sure what it is genuinely about. It follows the day of a radio station crew composing of Grant Mazzy, Sydney Briar, and Laurel-Ann Drummond, which starts with a bizarre encounter by Mazzy on his way to the station; then things escalate to strange and violent events around the town of Pontpool. Set mainly (only) in a radio station, Pontypool is kind of a zombie horror with a twist that plays with its audience’s imagination.

The film gave off a very strong vibe even from the opening credits playing one of Mazzy’s recordings. Being limited to a small and contained setting even added to its effectivity as a horror film with a War of the Worlds kind of mystery and deprivation. It was subtly intense and engaging, especially hilighting hearing Mazzy’s voice. In the end the film really appeared to me as very meta and postmodern, as it deconstructed meaning in various levels inside and outside of itself.

Strong Elements of the Film:

Calling the infected “conversationalists”, the McDonald explains that: “There are three stages to this to this virus. The first stage is you might begin to repeat a word. Something gets stuck. And usually it’s words that are terms of endearment like sweetheart or honey. The second stage is your language becomes scrambled and you can’t express yourself properly. The third stage you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person.” Seeing this process happen on screen is quite the experience. The film, the same way it does with language, nuances how a zombie movie commonly operates. When I think of it language, words,  can be a way of infecting people, just like a zombie virus but more unconsciously and in much a larger scale. Referring to the film, words infect people when they understand what is said. Nuances, as in poetry, cure this infection. Through creating a rupture in the said matrix of words and created meaning, one subverts the order. Language is a big part of maintaining and transmitting order across generations; the movie succeeds in making this apparent in battering its audience with a lot of absurdity.

I have to discuss Mazzy’s cool and intense voice. You can’t help but to be engaged once his vocals take off; the crispness and clarity to his tone reinforces the film’s propaganda-like theme of the film.

The Ending
Mazzy’s speech in the end to the people raining terror outside was also interesting point to reflect on because the absurdity of killing people is paralleled with understand meaning where it isn’t inherent (as in words and signifiers); it directs attention to ways the state maintains order. It also touches on the absurdity of war. It was also interesting that  Mazzy ends with stating the “it’s not the end of the world, just the end of another day.” Seemingly implying the fact that after all the chaos and absurdity, humanity can always normalize the state of things. Will we do the same things we did yesterday? Does it allude to/ the fact that human beings like to give meaning to things for them to comprehend, grasp, and then take control?

I really loved the post credit scene because it makes the film self-referring. The film does to itself, what it tries to do with words, to make meaning absurd. To go beyond rules and constrains of a medium. It went from an intense horror film (with its regular dark humor), to a some sort of eastern, black-and-white, Quentin Tarantino-like action film.

Scariest Scene:

A disturbing scene from the film was when Sydney and Mazzy jumped on and battered the girl that startled them, it was so out of nowhere and shocking (I’m not really sure why). We even see Sydney writing about it on the walls when they are trapped in a room. It just really adds to the absurdity of it all

Comparing the two films, Pontypool and Evil Dead, I can see how the zombie horror genre can go both ways: one really banks on the ultimate abjection of the body in disease and death, and how the spiritual realm overcomes all human senses and rationalities (with all the gore and the bodily fluids); while the other is very poetic and subtle in expressing the concept of infection.

I recommend this film especially to people who really like mindfuck moments for them to apply their critical thinking. It’s weirdness and ingenuity really innovates the zombie genre. Expect a lot of words, talk, and yet meaninglessness. To prepare, empty yourself from all urges to make sense of things (all the time) and keep an open mind.

May Day

Rating:

Startle Scenes: †

Atmosphere: †††

Character development: ††††

The Monster: ††

Depth (horror class concepts): †††

 

The film mainly revolves around May; who as a kid, endured the insecurities of having a lazy eye, and was traumatized by being an outcast because of her physical defect. Consequently, as an adult she develops problems with her social life. She then develops a fascination with individual body parts, and weird ways to channel herself.

My initial impressions of the movie was that it was going to be a sick slaughter-fest of some sort, with mystical and demonic elements (the doll’s fault). I was expecting a bigger pool of bloody victims, and much more sick kills by May. Watching the whole film was a very underwhelming experience for me. The transitions where very boring and slow. It seemed more like a documentary than a slasher flick. Most of the time, I only felt mere pity for May’s life.

However, dragging buildup is saved by its deeper social implications. The character of May drowns in a kind of an escapist fantasy wherein she assumes a more dominating role by deconstructing (literally) the expectations and limits society imposes on her, in her own little twisted ways. She manifests this in several scenes.

Critical Analysis: Text and Context

Just as how Frankenstein’s Monster’s body can be cut, manipulated, twisted, switched, and reproduced again and again, the same goes for its text and how it reflects and influences the context it belongs to. In looking at May as a modern allusion of the monster of Frankenstein, one encounters parallels between Frankenstein the monster itself, and the text as a whole (whether as a film, play, or a novel); and how it is a construct of the society where it belongs.

As O’Flinn suggests, in the third category where alteration and realignment of a text happens, namely the way in which the movement of history itself refocuses a text and reorders its elements. Frankenstein, he likes to argue, meant certain thing irrespective of intention. He explains that images need to be repeatedly broken up and reconstituted if they are to continue to touch people, which is one of the reasons why horror films that are thirty or forty years old can often seem simply boring or preposterous to a later audience. In this case May, as a reconstitution and reinterpretation, aims to reflect certain realities of the current society in its effort to make Frankenstein relevant to the generation of its audience.

Strongest Elements of the Movie:

Following this logic, May has a lot to say about and to the society it belongs, through some of its memorable scenes and elements.
The Doll Named Suzie

This creepy caged doll given to May by her mother really evokes a supernatural vibe to the somewhat dull setting of the movie. It mainly serves as a conduit for everything that is happening beneath her seemingly dull composure. One can see this in the symbolic cracks slowly manifesting on the case’s glass surface; it reflects May slowly breaking free from the expectations and limitations imposed on her. Moreover, the doll is her best friend. She talks to her, asks her for advice. The doll is nothing more but a projection of herself. Thus, she channels her repressed energies (sexualities) onto the doll; where she can see something concrete, something tangible, manageable, something contained; for so long she kept the doll inside its glass cage, reflecting her own situation.

She makes her own clothes

Clothes are one kind of social and cultural artifacts. A signifier of status and roles; A way of signifying and maintaining the status quo. In some ways, May challenges and go against pre-determined roles, norms, and conventions through making clothes for herself. This fact is still consistent in her mantra of being in control by making her own. It also reflects the notion of mixing and matching body parts, and in a more deeper sense social realities like sexuality; for in making, anything goes.

Regarding Sexuality
In line with this point is her affair with Polly. This is yet another way for her to create small ripples in the normal state of things, in this case, heterosexuality. As Benshoff expresses, horror stories and monster movies, perhaps more than any other genre, actively invoke queer readings, because of their obvious metaphorical (non-realist) forms and narrative formats which disrupt the heterosexual status quo.

By giving its audience some creepy and disturbing images, it did direct our attention to some discourses about sexuality and the heterosexual status quo. May doesn’t look at the person, she seeks body parts; parts that can be used, manipulated, and replaced. Her object of desire has no face. Again quoting Benshoff, “the male homosexual or queer is monstrous precisely because he embodies characteristics of the feminine, either in outward displays or in the selection of a sexual object choice traditionally reserved for women.” As May’s new friend, Amy exemplifies, having been bestowed body parts from different people with different genders. It embodies the blurring of what can be acceptable, or even desirable.

Halloween
Halloween is also a significant image in the film. This is the moment where May finally hides herself behind the face of her doll and becomes her self. At the very core of her person is a sadistic tendency where she finds pleasure and excitement amidst her dull and uneventful life. She symbolically breaks free from the limits of “permanent” body parts used in everyday life.

Do I Recommend it?

I don’t recommend this movie; it tends to be boring as one follows the initially dull life of May. However, if one prefers a very slow build up, with that creepy feeling of what is happening behind the seams, go ahead. Expect a lot of awkward moments, and a feeling of pity for May. Prepare for a slow ride.

D E M O N

Rating:

Startle Scenes: †††††

Atmosphere: †††††

Character development: ††††

The Monster: †††

Depth – horror class concepts: †††

About the Film:

This remake of the classic Evil Dead (1981) is a really effective effort to make the original even more relevant to my generation. Just like its predecessor, it tells the story of a group of friends’ escapade in a cabin in the middle of the woods; who then unleashes an evil and deadly curse upon themselves. As Mia, the lead female character, becomes possessed by a powerful evil entity, the group is hunted one by one.

My Impressions:
When I first saw this version, my initial impressions was that it was going to be like one of those lame slasher films that crowd the cinemas in certain times throughout the year. You know the regular: a group of friends traveling to the middle of nowhere, split up, then become hopelessly but stupidly hunted on by one(as parodied by Cabin in the Woods). Unable to deliver conventions of the genre effectively, they suddenly turn horror into an awkward comedy of some sorts. After watching it, I was very pumped up and pleasantly surprised that it did not only do its predecessor justice, but it also stood out as a work well done in the genre, bearable sequels are pretty rare. It was an authentic slasher film banking not only on the strengths of its predecessor, but as well as the conventions of the genre as a whole.  It may played within the rules of the genre but it did so with nice twists along the way. I love that from the beginning until the end, the film keeps me in the edge of my seat, pulling me towards two directions, pumping adrenaline on one, and eliciting horror on the other. The phasing of the film makes it straight to the point, a hardcore, intense, non-stop killing and gore fest.

Strongest Elements of the Film:

It was interesting to read about Carol Clover’s notion of the ability of the horror film, especially for slasher flick like Evil Dead, to subtlety make their audience betraying their sex throughout the progression of the plot. Through introducing the female victim-hero, the notion of gender roles and identification are nuanced. Females can be made to assume the male gaze and objectify the female.

The Evil Dead plays with the process of identification and mis-identification. Citing my own experience: first, as a male viewer, I objectify the female, as Mia and the others are being possessed, raped, and slaughtered. Then towards the end, when traditional conventions seemed to be broken that at last the final girl figure is being assumed by a male character (David), normalizing my gender identification; at the very last minute,  I betray my sex (as a male viewer) being forced identify with Mia who rose up from the dead and the all of the abjection to take the role of the final girl. She overcomes her predicament at fights the abomination. Just a side note: I always enjoyed female figures in slasher flicks, if not outrunning, outsmarting the antagonist (I’m talking to you Ghost Face). To quote clover on the significance of the final girl in the sex and gender issue of slasher flicks: “Abject terror may still be gendered feminine, but the willingness of one immensely popular current genre to re-represent the hero as an anatomical female would seem to suggest that at least one of the traditional marks of heroism, triumphant self-rescue, is no longer strictly gendered masculine.”

For me, it just shows that (unlike Hitchcock’s vies that the female should be tortured) nothing is really normal in the roles that gender assume in films, especially in horror. These formulas have nothing but created meaning. Nothing in the body of the female inherently contains that it should be objectified, castrated, and slaughtered. Males can both identify with the male and the female figure, and can change perspectives as the scene calls for.

Grossest Scene/Favorite Scenes
Eric
It was a horrific fact all the torture Eric’s body endures in the flick. He gets stabbed in the eye with a syringe, he pulls it out himself; he then gets battered by a nail gun, his arms even being nailed together; then his hand gets deformed by a crowbar; only to become an undead himself and get burned into bits in the end. Too bad he didn’t live to tell the tale (but then again according to Carol no male character of any stature lives to tell the tale most of the time).
 
My favorite scene from the movie is when Natalie slices off her arm with the electronic meat cutter that was even foreshadowed earlier in the movie. The helplessness of Natalie in preventing the infection to spread really drilled on the horrific effect of the scene. To add to the awesomeness of it all, the whole arm even slid off her only to be reattached again, and the infecting her (I can hear the nail gun again). Talk about first aid.

Do I Recommend the Film?

Watch this hardcore slasher flick! It will break and go beyond your expectations, especially as a fan of the sub-genre. Be prepared for a fast-paced, adrenaline-packed, breathless chase. Nothing can prepare you physically or mentally for the spectacle you will see. Just let the film take you on its twisted, but enjoyable ride.

Motherhood: Blood and Breast Milk

Rating:

Startle Scenes: †

Atmosphere: †††

Character development: †††

The Monster: ††††

Depth – horror class concepts: †††

 

About the Movie:

Pregnant Madeline gets in a car accident, killing both her husband and her unborn child, Grace. Madeline refuses to discard the fetus from her body and decides to keep it for the remaining months. Grace eventually is born as an undead child that hungers for blood and flesh. Throughout the film Madeline seems both mentally unstable and sexually ambiguous. A main figure also in the film is Madeline’s midwife, Patricia, who appears to have a past with her.

My Impressions of the Film:

My initial impressions of the film was that it was going to involve a lot of gore and rotting; Grace unleashing her monstrosity on everyone. I thought it will follow the typically zombie flick with its fair share of infections and brutality. In the end I was quite disappointed that it didn’t do as much as an undead movie usually does. As a psychological thriller tough, it succeeded in presenting strong images regarding the female body and the transformations its goes through, mentally and biologically during motherhood.

Strongest Scenes Elements of the Film:

In line with Ginger Snaps, Grace explores further into the essence of womanhood, showing fidelity to Barbara Creed’s notion of the Monstrous-Feminine. The female body really goes through a lot of pain and transformation, when it biologically accomplishes what it is made for; just like in Ginger Snaps, this somewhat ordinary female human activity/stage, child bearing, is transformed into something monstrously disturbing. It brings to life rather graphically the saying that a child is a mother’s “flesh and blood”. Literally the infant is sucking life out from her mother. From just milk to blood.

The grandmother, Vivian, is also a relevant image in manifesting the essence of womanhood, with all her weird obsessions and urges. This makes us ponder on the question: “when does a woman stop being a woman?” Is one’s womanhood contingent on the ability to bear children, or even, to produce breast milk, which is the fountain of life for the early years of an infant?

The female is also portrayed to be capable of such a degree of monstrosity. It can be both a beautiful experience and a dark place to be in. What lengths a woman is willing to take in order to protect her young. I can imagine that images expressed can be relatable to some female audiences; the truth that beneath the humanity is an animalistic instinct to protect one’s own. Moreover, there comes a point where the monster is no longer Grace, but what has become of her mother, Madeline. Peaking when she accidentally kills, but then extracted blood from the doctor. Looking back, she was a vegetarian and even repulsed at the sight of innards of even just animals. But towards the end, instinct took over and made her do things a person would not normally do. Again we see here the parallels between the woman and the monster. Indeed she saw literally herself in the monster, because the monster was her very own.

I also want to discuss the repressed sexuality emphasized in the beginning of the story, with the dry and lifeless sex scene, and then throughout the film with the lesbian relationship she has with her midwife, Patricia. Although her sexuality was ambiguous, it was very clear that she derived a lot of it from her motherhood. It became the central force in her life. One point to raise here is when the accident with her husband happened; It was very easy for her to let go of him, and it was evident that her child was of utmost importance. This sexual ambiguity drills on the point that being a woman, unlike in the traditional sense, doesn’t have to involve a relationship with a man. The woman’s body, at its very core, is what it is biologically made for, to bear children, regardless of a relationship with the father.



Grossest Scene/Favorite Scene
s

The scariest scene for me was the ending wherein Patricia and Madeline eloped together in a trailer van. It is later revealed that Grace was starting to teeth, meaning she craves more than blood now. The movie ends with the image of Madeline’s exposed and chewed up breasts. Just imagine the fears of motherhood now, talk about flesh and blood?

Do I Recommend it?

I don’t recommend this film especially to zombie/vampire/undead movie enthusiasts who looks for more action and gore. People who are looking for a more critical view of the female body and the undead may enjoy this. Expect a very slow and dry progression. Just let the movie shock you in the underwhelming ways it does.