a24 – Horror Ghouls

I Saw the TV Glow (2024)

Posted on December 20, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

The year is 1996, and the teenagers Owen and Maddy start bonding over a TV show called The Pink Opaque. The show is about two teenage girls, Isabel and Tara, who use their psychic powers to fight the supervillain Mr. Melancholy. Owen, who isn’t allowed to stay up late enough to watch the show, sneaks over to Maddy’s house so they can watch it together. Both of them live rather isolated lives, but Maddy ends up wanting to run away in order to escape her abusive stepfather. She wants Owen to join her, but he finds himself not being able to go through with it. So, Maddy ends up missing, and at the same time, The Pink Opaque is cancelled…

I Saw the TV Glow is a supernatural horror drama film, written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun. The series in the film, The Pink Opaque, was inspired by 90’s TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997), Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990) and The Secret World of Alex Mack (1994).

If you’re familiar with A24’s repertoire, you know that they often release some really artsy movies (like Beau is Afraid). This one belongs to this category, as another unconventional arthouse film which is naturally divisive. They are also often filled with loads of metaphors and allegories, surrealism and awkwardness. I Saw the TV Glow looks, on the surface, to be some kind of 90s nostalgia throwback film, but it’s also layered as a much more complex coming-of-age movie. The director started writing the script three months after having begun hormone replacement therapy, and while wanting to make the movie about the transitioning of coming out, the director made the choice of leaving this more ambiguous. This makes the movie work as an allegory for a lot more, and portrays a lot of themes and situations many of us can recognize.

Now, I was born in the 80’s. This means I was a teenager during the 90s, and watched several of the typical 90’s TV shows, remembering some of them fondly. And there is a scene, where Owen in his older days decides to re-watch some episodes of The Pink Opaque, only to see that they’re not quite the way he remembered them. I think many of us can very much relate to how certain things are so layered with the rose-colored glow of nostalgia that we remember them so differently…not because they were different, of course, but because we were different. How the sort of magic that exists in your youth cannot be replicated in adult life, no matter how hard you try…and how you must simply come to terms with that, and find a new magic in your life and fill it with new interests and new things to do. Some people are not so lucky, though. In I Saw the TV Glow, Owen and Maddy become so consumed by the TV show The Pink Opaque because they use it as a coping mechanism.

I Saw the TV Glow is an arthouse movie that’s mostly an allegory for finding your identity. More surreal drama than horror, and definitely not everyone’s cup of Mad Hatter’s tea, but if you’ve lived for some time on this arduous earth, you’re most likely going to resonate with at least some of the themes it represents.

Writer and director: Jane Schoenbrun
Country & year: USA, UK, 2024
Actors: Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Lindsey Jordan, Danielle Deadwyler, Fred Durst, Conner O’Malley, Emma Portner, Madaline Riley
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15574270/

Heretic (2024)

Posted on December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are two Mormon Church Missionaries, who ends up at the home of a man called Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) who has asked for their visitation. Reed is a bit of a reclusive, but the lovely smell of blueberry pie in the oven that he tells them his wife is preparing, is quick to put the young women at ease. They begin discussing religion, and Reed starts asking a lot of questions and makes a few uncomfortable comments about their faith. They are being served one red flag after another, until they have had enough and decide to leave. Only to find out that they can’t, of course. And now they are trapped in Reed’s house, where he puts them up to challenges and giving them lectures, claiming that he has found the one true religion. And he wants to show these young women his findings…

Heretic is a psychological horror film, written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (Haunt, 2019 and 65, 2023).

This is a movie where the few characters and limited location leave the actors with limited tools, but in the right setting such movies can work wonders in building up a tense atmosphere. This one certainly belongs in that category. The acting is good and the characters believable, where Hugh Grant really sells it as the coldly vicious villain. This was his second horror film since The Lair of the White Worm (1988), where romantic comedies have been his main department over the years. Well, it’s often nice to do something completely different after such a long time! Also, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East were both raised Mormon so they carry their roles with what appears to offer a good insight and a convincing performance.

As can be expected, the underlying critique of religious structures and the control they maintain is served through much of Reed’s lectures. And while you’ll probably ponder a bit what the so-called “one true religion“ really is, which Reed claims he’s found, you probably won’t be too surprised once it’s revealed. The film also doesn’t hammer it down on your head which “side“ you’re supposed to agree with the most. In fact, Reed is undoubtedly completely right with many of the things he lectures about to the young women, but Barnes and Paxton also provides reasonable views and thoughts on their own beliefs. Now, I am not a religious person myself, but I did find myself agreeing with the young women on certain points even though they weren’t “right“…like how Sister Paxton mentions how prayer experiments have shown that praying doesn’t help, but she still considers it a nice thing to do in order to offer comfort to someone else. Reed might be right in a lot of his conclusions, but just like certain religious aspects which he’s eager to criticize, he’s using his beliefs to commit and justify his actions and thus inevitably placing him in the same category as other religious fanatics trying to control others.

I don’t want to spoil anything else as this movie is best watched while knowing as little about it as possible. Heretic is a suspenseful and dark theological thriller, very dialogue-driven but mastering it with great skill.

In the film’s credits, there’s the statement “No Generative Al was used in the making of this film“. So thumbs up for that!

Writers and directors: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Country & year: USA, Canada, 2024
Actors: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace, Elle Young, Julie Lynn Mortensen
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28015403/

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (2015)

Posted on September 17, 2024December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Deedle, deedle, Blackcoat’s Daughter. What was in the holy water? Gone to bed on an unclean head. The angels, they forgot her.

It’s February, and the students at the Catholic boarding school Bramford Academy are about to get picked up by their parents for a week-long break. Kat, a freshman at the school, wakes up from a nightmare where she’s witnessed her parents dying in a car crash. And later her parents do not arrive to pick her up, and they cannot be reached by phone. At the same time, a senior student named Rose suspects that she might be pregnant, and has lied to her parents about when to pick her up so she can buy some time to get things settled. Kat and Rose ends up being the only two left at the school, aside from two nuns. Kat starts acting weirder and weirder, and receives strange phone calls.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter (aka February, and also aka The Daughter of Evil) is a supernatural horror film from 2015 written and directed by Osgood Perkins. It was his directorial feature debut, and stars Kiernan Shipka as Kat, Emma Roberts as Joan and Lucy Boynton as Rose. While Perkins have made several slow-burn horror films during the years, including the Netflix film I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016) and Gretel & Hansel (2020), he’s gotten most known for his recent satanic horror film Longlegs with Nicolas Cage himself playing a crazy satanic serial killer. And you could’ve easily believed that The Blackcoat’s Daughter belonged to the same universe, as they’re both having satanic devil-worship elements and the same dark, helpless nihilistic atmosphere. Just like the titular character in Longlegs, we here also meet a character who not only ends up becoming a victim to evil forces, but totally embraces it. The conventional portrayal of possessed people needing and wanting to be saved is turned completely upside down.

The Blackcoat’s Daughter is weighed with symbolism, with a narrative that explores the themes of mental illness, loneliness and longing, and how it can open up a crack that invites bad things in and lets them fester. The movie is divided in three parts, skipping a bit back and forth in time until we are left with the inevitably bleak and despairing ending. It’s a very dark and brooding film, never offering any kind of fast pace and the horror elements are often mostly subtle. It may require a bit of patience to fully get the most out of it, and is definitely a movie better suited for those that prefer slow atmospheric horror over fast-paced action and jumpscares. If you liked Osgood’s latest movie Longlegs, chances are you will also enjoy The Blackcoat’s Daughter.

Writer and director: Oz Perkins
Country & year: USA/Canada, 2015
Also known as: The Daughter of Evil, February
Actors: Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, James Remar, Lauren Holly, Greg Ellwand, Elana Krausz, Heather Tod Mitchell, Peter James Haworth, Emma Holzer, Peter J. Gray
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3286052/

MaXXXine (2024)

Posted on September 6, 2024December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

She’s a killer, she’s a thriller. And a ballcrusher. But most of all – she’s Maxine FUCKING Minx!

So, after waiting for two months after the official theatrical release, we finally got to see MaXXXine on the big screen here in Norway. Two months to avoid any spoilers and such. So let’s fucking gooooo!

MaXXXine takes place in 1985, six years after the incidents at the farm we saw in X which have been reported in the news as the greatest film title never released: “The Texas Porn Star Massacre“. Since then, Maxine still snorts lines, lives in a small apartment in Los Angeles, and still works in the porn biz. Like a character from GTA, she’s been upgraded to have an agent (Giancarlo Esposito, Gus from Breaking Bad) that is actually not a shady sleazeball, and earn enough decent money to not stay in Cecil Hotel. Writer and director Ti West throws no punches to set the tone and takes us far into the memory lane of a country in full moral panic. Rock and heavy metal have consumed the youth, parents freak out as their kids listen to Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe, Judas Priest, etc. Dee Snider is at full war with Tipper Gore who wants to censor his music. Yes, there was actually a time when music was the most evil thing on planet Earth, in God-fearing America, at least. The first wave of the Satanic panic has hit full force as the serial killer, and the self-proclaimed Satanist, Richard Ramirez (aka The Night Stalker), is body counting around the city. Yet a far more innocent USA than it is today.

Anyway – life isn’t as bad as someone in Maxine’s situation should be, even though she’s clearly very damaged and struggles with PTSD. But life goes on. Especially if you want to get a chance to star in a Hollywood film. And now, as Maxine is in her mid 30s and wants to be in “real movies“ and climb the career ladder up to the more mainstream surface, she sees the opportunity to audition for a horror movie called Puritan II. And since Maxine is a phenomenal actress as Mia Goth, she impresses the director Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) and secures the role on the spot. Yay! The producers are not so keen on casting her, though, with her filthy porn background and all. Well, we all have to start somewhere.

But the road to her Hollywood break isn’t getting that easy when she gets a VHS mysteriously delivered at her doorstep. On the tape we see clips of her from “The Farmer’s Daughters”, which was filmed at the farm that she does her best to forget. A sleazy weasel of a dude (Kevin Bacon) dressed like Jack Nicholson from Chinatown tracks her down to blackmail and paint her as the killer in the so far unsolved murder mystery in the Texas Porn massacre case, if she doesn’t do as told. In the meantime, friends and colleagues within her porn circle starts to get killed in brutal ways by an obscure person in a giallo outfit.

X was the throwback of the 1970s, the standalone prequel and character study of Pearl was filled with 1930s Technicolor, and this one the neon-soaked 1980s. Three different eras with three distinct styles. And of all the 80s throwback films that have been spewed out during the last twenty years or so, I dare to say that Ti West has come closest to duplicating the style flawlessly. Whereas similar attempts come across more like parodies, MaXXXine feels more natural, organic and like a pure 80s film from start to finish. The way it’s shot, edited, the music and how the characters behave, the overall vibe and atmosphere, is perfection. Tarantino should be jealous. Maxine is also a character easy to vibe with and root for, many thanks to Mia Goth, who deserves all the praise she can get.

One would expect Mia Goth to outshine the whole cast, but surprisingly, there isn’t one character here that I found shallow. We have a frustrated good cop, bad cop duo that really do their best to get the link between Maxine and the killer. And Maxine is caught in the middle of the urban crossfire while she just wants to get on with her life, until she has no choice but to get her claws out. Kevin Bacon also seemed to have a really fun time here as the side-kick villain. And just like Maxine, if we’re going to ignore the porn, Kevin Bacon also got his start in a horror movie, that is Friday the 13th (1980). Lily Collins grinning from ear to ear while having her face smeared with fake blood was super cute. And it warms my ghoulish heart to see the Psycho house, which is a character by itself, still standing in the Universal Studios Lot and being taken care of.

The soundtrack is also filled with 80s music, all from ZZ Top to synth pop like Animotion. We also hear tunes from New Order, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Ratt, Judas Priest, and more. I must point out a lost opportunity to use the song Ballcrusher by W.A.S.P. here, though. And you know what scene I’m talking about. The film ends (—UH-OH SPOILER—) appropriately enough with Bette Davis Eyes, which the film also pays a tribute to.

Yeah, I’m really creaming all over MaXXXine, maybe because the film was much better than expected after the more lukewarm reception. We had an overall blast with this one in the movie theater and wasn’t bored for one second. The common complaints I’ve noticed is the third act/the reveal/the last ten minutes. The ending is predictable, for sure, and the reveal didn’t come as a shocker. No spoilers here, but I really loved how the film painted Christianity as an equally bad thing, for lack of a better word, as Satanism. What a big, fat middle-finger to flash straight in the face to moral activists.

Writer and director: Ti West
Country & year: USA, ~~1985~~ 2024
Actors: Mia Goth, Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Moses Sumney, Halsey, Chloe Farnworth, Charley Rowan McCain, Simon Prast, Lily Collins
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22048412/

X (2022)

Posted on September 3, 2024December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

– AAhh..AAAhhh, FUCK ma PUSSY! You make me so WEEEH…!!

The year is 1979 where the young 27-year-old Maxine (Mia Goth) snorts a big, fat line to get ready for another day in the porn biz. She wants to be famous and no one can blame her for being a runaway daughter of a Kenneth Copeland-like televangelist. We’re in hot n’ sticky Texas where she and a small film crew are driving to the middle of Leatherface land to shoot their next porn flick titled “The Farmer’s Daughters”. No hitchhiker to spot here, just to mention, their trip goes as smoothly as a stiff, slippery cock sliding into a freshly-shaved vagina. They drive by a nasty and gory accident scene, though, where a poor cow has been sliced in two after a clash with a truck that makes Maxine throw up in the car. Welcome to Texas, even though it’s all filmed in Queenstown, New Zealand.

Our crew is the producer and Maxine’s boyfriend Wayne (Martin Henderson), RJ (Owen Campbell) is the director, his girlfriend, Lorraine, (Jenna Ortega) is the one holding the dick… sorry, the mick, and she’s the youngest on the crew. She’s shy and doesn’t say much, but you can bet she has a horny little beast hidden in her shell, just waiting to get unleashed. We also have Maxine’s two co-actors, the BBC Jackson (Kid Cudi) and the blonde chick Bobby-Lynn (Brittany Snow).

Their destination is an old farm owned by the old, miserable and one-foot-in-the-grave couple, Howard and Pearl, who are way past their glory hole days. The natural circle that we call life is harsh and brutal and is not for everybody to embrace gracefully. Howard is a goblin-and bedbug-bitten-looking gentleman who’s agreed to rent out a guesthouse to the crew as long they mind their own business and stay away from the main house. Pearl, who looks like the witch from Pumpkinhead, is quick to get her old, half-dead eyes lazer-focused on Maxine. Because she reminds her of her younger self, and gets jealous of her youth. And Howard is too afraid to have a heart attack if he tries to sexually please her. I think they would both have a heart attack, to be honest. But it’s worth a try, because what is there to lose at this point. Pearl is also played by Mia Goth, hidden by a thick layer of convincing old-age makeup.

Anyway, Pearl gets more drawn to her in some creepy, obsessive way and starts mirroring her like a true, deranged narcissist. Some may sympathize with Pearl, but I don’t. I know the kind too well. And….well, I think I’ve said enough about the plot.

The film takes its time to build up the more and more eerie mood and atmosphere, and the uncertainty of where the plot is actually going. After the quick flashback in the opening scene (which I forgot to mention) where the local cops find a horrific murder scene in the farm basement, we have a foreshadowing tone from the start that slowly builds up. So, this is not your typical fast-paced teen-slasher, in other words. It’s after the first hour mark that the horror elements really start to kick in, and it goes full slasher-mode from there on.

Our small group of actors does a solid job with their roles and have great chemistry. They’re also likable and well-written, which is a big plus since we spend a lot of time with them. It was also somewhat peculiar to see Jenna Ortega in a far more pure and innocent role (until she isn’t) after watching the first season of Wednesday. Mia Goth is, of course, the big star here as the rebellious young Maxine who just wants to be famous and prove her dad a thing or two. She’s at her best, if not intense, when playing the old, fragile and unhinged Pearl, where it’s hard to at least not feel some pity for her.

There isn’t too much to say about X without tipping the toes too far into spoiler territory – but overall, X is a rough and decent 1970s-sexploitation throwback flick with some gnarly, brutal kills and raunchy soft-core nudeness – and not least with a unique angle on the slasher genre. Ti West knows his stuff when it comes to the visual aesthetics from that era, which he also nailed in The House of the Devil (2009). The film should have gone full-out hardcore with the sex scenes, though, so it could’ve gone full circle with an actual X-rating. That would have been fun.

X followed up with the sequels XX and XXX and can be found after some quick searches on PornHub. Har-har, just kidding. Watch out for Pearl and the recent MaXXXine.

Writer and director: Ti West
Country & year: USA/New Zealand, 2022
Actors: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Kid Cudi, Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, James Gaylyn, Simon Prast, Geoff Dolan, Matthew J. Saville, Bryony Skillington
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13560574/

Beau Is Afraid (2023)

Posted on August 25, 2023December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Beau Wasserman is afraid. He’s afraid of a lot of things, but mostly he’s afraid of going back to his childhood home. He’s grown up without a father, and his mother told him he died in the instant Beau was conceived, due to a heart murmur caused by orgasm which is supposed to run in the family (or at least according to his mother). His mother, Mona, is a successful and wealthy businesswoman, while Beau has grown up to become an extremely anxious person living in the crime-ridden Skid Row. He’s prepared for a flight in order to visit his mother for the anniversary of his father’s death, but his apartment keys and luggage are stolen and all hell breaks lose, his home is invaded by a bunch of homeless people for the night, and of course he misses his flight. How does his mother take the news about that? Well, I guess you can imagine. Later, he tries to call his mother again, only to get a UPS driver on the line telling him that he found his mother decapitated after a chandelier fell on her head. Beau, not far from having a complete mental breakdown at this point, ends up taking a bath in order to prepare himself for a final travel to his mother’s place in time for the funeral, but ends up getting in a violent confrontation with an intruder, runs out in the street naked and tries to get help from a police officer. That goes as well as you can imagine. After trying to get away from the incompetent police officer threatening to shoot him, he gets hit by a food truck, and then his anxiety-ridden journey in order to reach his mother’s funeral has just begun.

Beau Is Afraid is a surrealistic comedy drama with some horror elements, written and directed by Ari Aster. Aster, most known for his directorial debut hit Hereditary and his other horror film Midsommar, actually intended to have Beau Is Afraid as his directorial debut, with a 2011 short entitled Beau serving as the basis for this movie.. Well…for his career’s sake, it was probably best he didn’t and went for making Hereditary first, because Beau Is Afraid was a major box office bomb, despite receiving rather positive reviews from critics. It had a budget of $35 million (making it A24’s most expensive film) while only grossing $11 million. The problem with this movie is that its three hours of arthouse tragicomedy surrealism is certainly not for everyone, and it’s a movie where you need to know what you’re in for, and most specifically you should not compare it to any of Aster’s earlier movies. Those who end up watching this expecting another Hereditary or Midsommar, will be disappointed and most likely confused as heck.

The movie is chock-full of metaphors about childhood trauma, manipulation, guilt-tripping, shame and anxiety, presented with some crazy visuals, weird characters and great performances. Art-wise you could say it often leans into the more abstract, where you aren’t told exactly how to interpret everything and this will often lead to some real wtf-moments. To be honest, the first part of the movie which takes place in Skid Row, despite how insane it actually is, is probably the most down-to-earth and believable part of the entire movie. Just like Beau has no other choice than to keep trudging through the weirdness he encounters, we who watch his journey have no other choice than to keep trudging through it with him, not always able to make sense of what is happening. One easy way to define the movie, is to call it “Beau has mommy issues”, with very clear depictions of his mother being manipulative and toxic. He’s filled with anxiety, guilt, shame, and everything that comes with such a crappy upbringing. While this is certainly the core of the movie’s topics, there’s so many other things here that could make you quite busy with metaphor-hunting. I personally saw some vague hints about possible sexual abuse, and possibly some Jocasta complex thrown into the mix. Many things in Beau’s life appears to be muddled with lies from his mother, and we, the viewers, are not entirely sure what is fact and what is not.

Joaquin Phoenix does a good job portraying the anxiety-ridden, guilt-tripped to the point of barely functioning, and constantly confused and scared Beau. The character’s confused and totally lost appearance fits in with how completely without hope we realize Beau actually is. Aster described this film as a “nightmare comedy”, and as “if you pumped a 10-year-old full of Zoloft, and had him get your groceries”. No matter how you may view this film and how you may interpret it, there’s no doubt Aster knows a little bit about trauma and anxiety, that’s for sure.

Beau Is Afraid is a weird, surrealistic Freudian nightmare, sometimes quite abstract and a bit demanding to keep up with, but if you want something on the weirder scale, this might be something for you.

Writer and director: Ari Aster
Country & year: USA, 2023
Actors: Joaquin Phoenix, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Kylie Rogers, Denis Ménochet, Parker Posey, Zoe Lister-Jones, Armen Nahapetian, Julia Antonelli, Stephen McKinley Henderson
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt13521006/

The Lighthouse (2019)

Posted on February 1, 2020December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

On a remote New England Island in the 1890s, two lighthouse keepers have to stay there for four weeks. Thomas Wake, the oldest between the two, has been watching over the lighthouse for a long time and is used to the unfavorable conditions. His new assistant, Ephraim Winslow, does not settle in with ease however. Ephraim is getting more and more frustrated by the older man’s fussing and complaints, where he is being bossed around constantly. When the four weeks are over, and the boat still doesn’t come to pick up Ephraim due to very bad weather, they both realize they might be stuck on the island for far longer than anticipated. Plagued by bad dreams and hallucinations (or are they hallucinations?) Ephraim tries to keep his sanity on the forsaken rock – but this proves to be difficult as deeply sunken secrets are about to break the surface.

The Lighthouse by Robert Eggers (who earlier gave us the very haunting and creepy film The Witch) is a very atmospheric black & white film, and is actually loosely based on a real-life tragedy that happened in 1801. Two Welsh Lighthouse keepers, who were in fact both named Thomas, became trapped due to a storm. That incident is referred to as The Smalls Lighthouse Tragedy. The movie was also shot on 35mm black and white Double-X 5222 film, and due to this, they needed a lot more light, so they put up flickering 500-800 watt halogen bulbs in period-correct kerosene lamps. These lamps were just a few feet away from the actor’s faces, so the result is a lot of imagery that simply looks stunning, especially with the facial expressions and grimaces being heavily toned due to the contrasts. Plain and simple, it is beautiful to watch.

There is a good amount of claustrophobic dread to appreciate from The Lighthouse. And with Ephraim’s dreams and visions (or are they all just dreams and visions?) with mermaids and giant tentacles, we get a dose of some of the old and classical myths and legends from sea folk. Thomas tells supernatural tales of sea gulls and bad omens, but while Ephraim tries to ignore the old man’s ramblings, it’s evident that there are certain things laying under the surface that causes him to become vulnerable to the tales. It doesn’t take long before Ephraim is slowly descending into madness…whether it be from the isolation, Thomas and his bossy demeanor and tales, the past…or maybe a mix of it all, who knows. When the men realize they are stranded, possibly for a long time to come, they both start drinking their senses away, somewhat easing up the tension for a little while as the drunken men starts dancing and singing sea shanties – but it doesn’t take long until the songs turn into insults and aggressive behavior, and a battle for dominance as the cabin fever starts to creep in.

“Nothing good can happen when two men are trapped alone in a giant phallus”, is the line Robert Eggers have used to describe this film. And he has done a very good job of portraying just this concept!

Director: Robert Eggers
Country & year: Canada | USA, 2019
Actors: Robert Pattinson, Willem Dafoe, Valeriia Karaman, Logan Hawkes, and a lot of sea gulls
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt7984734/

Midsommar (2019)

Posted on July 27, 2019December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

Dani and Christian, a young American couple, are at the brink of breaking up. Christian has already started planning a trip abroad with his friends and is more or less starting to walk out the door on the relationship, but after Dani experiences a horrible family tragedy where she loses her parents and sister in a murder-suicide, Christian can’t make himself break out. Months later, when Dani finds out about his planned trip to Sweden with his friends, she invites herself along with them. One of Christian’s friends, the Swede Pelle, brings them all to a traditional “Midsommar” celebration in a secluded area called “Harga”. All seem to be flowers and sunshine, until it becomes clear that they’ve ventured into a sect whose “traditions” proves to be rather disturbing.

As a Norwegian (Sweden is one of our neighbouring countries) I was already familiar with their summer tradition called “Midsommar” (Midsummer), which is highly celebrated in the entire country and by some considered the most popular tradition (to the point of even surpassing Christmas). It involves decorating your hair with flowers, dancing around the “Majstång” (Maypole), partying and in general having lots of fun. In other words: the real “Midsommar” is a harmless and fun tradition, so just relax: if you want to visit a Scandinavian country, you won’t be killed by crazy sect-members during a summer festival.

Ari Aster made quite a name for himself with last year’s “Hereditary”, which is considered by many as the best horror movie made in recent years. And despite your own personal opinion on that matter, there’s no denying that the guy sure knows how to make creepy and unsettling movies. “Midsommar” is quite different from his previous film, however, and you may probably consider it more as a thriller. It’s primarily a story about a couple breaking up with each other, and Dani’s broken psyche due to her terrible loss. In this movie, Ari Aster has taken folklore and turned it into a bizarre nightmare filled with sunshine and flowers, heavy with symbolism and tons of things open to interpretation. Some of the rituals depicted in the movie are based on actual rituals, while others belong more to myths and legends without definitive proof that they were ever real. Like the “Ättestupa” scene, where two elders are jumping from a cliff to their deaths: this is based on ritual senicide during Nordic prehistoric times, where elderly people either jumped to their deaths or were thrown in order to not be a burden to the household. Suicide precipices and stories of such is debated to be more myth and legend than true, however, and there is no real proof this ever happened. Still makes for quite a horrible scene in the movie, though…

While “Midsommar” may test your patience a little bit, it’s held up strongly by a believable protagonist that you really feel sorry for and sympathize with. Dani has been troubled with an unstable and bi-polar sister for years, who has threatened to kill herself multiple times over and thus having kept Dani on the edge and worried sick for a long time. This was even described as one of the strains on Dani and Christian’s relationship. So, when Dani’s sister actually does kill herself and their parents in a murder-suicide, Dani’s year-long worries all become true and she falls completely apart. So when we see her reactions and behavior throughout the rest of the movie, it makes sense. All the worries had gnawed away at her for years, and made her vulnerable. It wasn’t just an accident or tragedy that happened out of the blue, this was something Dani had feared for years. And it happening at the brink of Christian’s break-up with her, which makes him feel compelled to stay with her, gives the story just the right amount of unease and tension between them. So when they arrive at the festival in Sweden, and is given a fair amount of drugs together with the sunshine and flowers, the movie starts having a really bad and bizarre trip. It’s nightmarish, surreal and emotionally strong, and even quite funny in some parts, and makes for quite an experience.

Side note: it would have been a lot of fun (and kinda fitting) if they could have played Sigge Fürst’s “Bullfest” in the ending credits. No such luck, though…

Director: Ari Aster
Country & year: USA, 2019
Actors: Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor, Vilhelm Blomgren, William Jackson Harper, Will Poulter, Ellora Torchia, Archie Madekwe, Henrik Norlén, Gunnel Fred, Isabelle Grill, Agnes Westerlund Rase, Julia Ragnarsson, Mats Blomgren, Lars Väringer, Anna Åström
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt8772262/

The Witch (2015)

Posted on February 15, 2019December 10, 2024 by HorrorGhouls

«The Witch» , or «The VVitch: A New England Folktale» takes place in the 17th century in New England, where the poor family man William is banned from a Puritan plantation together with his wife and four kids. They settle in a small worn farm in an isolated nobody’s land, in hopes of making their lives go on. Then creepy things start to happen. It turns out that a witch lives nearby, a witch who likes to kidnap young children.

«The Witch» was a big talk back when it was shown on Sundance, and it achieved cult status pretty much overnight. This is not the kind of movie for those who are looking for jump scares, fast editing, fast-paced horror-action and stuff like that. «The Witch» is a slow burner, where the horror elements is shown on a very subtile level. The psychological aspects and build-up of tension is what defines this movie.

The directing by Robert Eggers, who also wrote it, is amazing. It reminds me of Stanley Kubrick’s works, with its long takes and the wide shots. The grim atmosphere is all over the place, the forest landscapes are pretty grim and the feeling of plain dread and despair is everywhere. Thanks to great acting you also feel for the family and what they’re going through.

All in all, a suspenseful little film with the most refreshing endings I’ve seen in these types of horror movies in years.

Director: Robert Eggers
Country & year: UK / Canada / USA, 2015
Actors: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson, Kate Dickie, Harvey Scrimshaw, Ellie Grainger, Lucas Dawson, Julian Richings,
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt4263482/