The Cave. The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Cry_Wolf. Roll Bounce. Ladies and gentlemen, no matter what new trend is trotted out to the multiplexes, our movie studios can always be counted on to keep the crappy horror movie crank a-turnin' (that last one isn't a horror movie, you say? Have you seen the ads? Let's face it, folks - we are never going to get the definitive roller-skating movie). As long as producers can readily get their hands on pretty faces from the WB to shriek convincingly, music-video directors well-trained in the quick cut and strobe light arts, and screenwriters able to find new ways to maim said pretty faces and shock viewers with arbitrary twist endings, they will continue to ride those first-week grosses all the way to DVD sales. The machine has been particularly busy of late, and things don't get any better this fall, a season normally reserved for costume dramas and triumph-over-disability biopics. Before the end of the year, we'll be treated to the video game-based Doom starring The Rock (who might actually be more interesting if he were based on Prudential), a remake of the decidedly un-classic The Fog, and Saw II (we can only hope that if we are indeed forced to endure a second sequel, they'll simply add the word Much to the title).
But there is hope for those that through it all might still want to get a little chill in their film. It's called DVD, people. And before you shut your computer off and head to your local video store, the two films I want to mention will more than likely not be found anywhere near brick-and-mortar. So surf your way over to Netflix (no, they're not paying me) and check out two of my all-time favorite horror movies.
Audition
Part of the joy I derive from this film is the knowledge that this is one Japanese-language product that American producers will more than likely not touch. The story starts off slow and satirical - a widow enlists the help of a friend to stage a fake audition meant to find a potential girlfriend-then-wife. The setup is fairly amusing, but most weened on American horror films will grow quickly impatient, waiting for the scares. But that's the sick brilliance of the movie. Eventually the man settles on a girl whose meekness fascinates him. Scared yet? For anyone who has seen this movie, there is no arguing what scene turns the film on end - the phone and the bag. For those that haven't, suffice to say that the shy girl predictably is far more than meets the eye. It's the events that unfold once the aforementioned bag moves (trust me, you'll know what I'm talking about if you see it) that are anything but predictable. Even when the scares finally come, the sheer bizarreness of it all will probably put off all but the most strong of will. And if you endure to the last set piece, you'll be rewarded with the most demented, difficult-to-watch torture scene I personally have ever witnessed (sorry, Marathon Man). So to review: subtitles, slow first-half, off-putting violence the camera is never scared by. I doubt any blonde, thrice-named actress is reading the script right now.
Repulsion
Yes, they rhyme! Well, this one's in English. However, it's in black and white and dates back to 1965. Well, for those that are convinced that "classics" can't scare us anymore, I challenge you to watch this one at home, at night, by yourself. Repulsion was Roman Polanski's first English-language film, although there isn't a whole lot of dialogue anyhow. Polanski also directed Rosemary's Baby years later, but this is still a better horror film, and probably second only to Chinatown in his entire canon. Catherine Denueve plays Carol, an anti-social girl living in a London apartment with her sister. The sister leaves on holiday with her boyfriend, leaving Carol to deal with the leaking water, cracking walls and ticking clocks on her own. But it is the overt sexual overtones of the film that truly disturb (Repulsion features the first orgasm ever heard in a British film - thank you to the Edinburgh University Film Society for that bit of trivia). Carol fantasizes/hallucinates several sexual attacks - the grainy B&W film and the probable constraints of the culture of the day rended the scenes barely intelligible, heightening the tension and horror by leaving it all to our imagination. Psychosis is omnipresent in horror films, but rarely are we allowed a first-person view of the mad person. That alone makes the movie memorable, but because virtually all aspects of the filmmaking are executed so well (of particular note is the jarring music, which is used sparingly to great effect), Repulsion can easily stand alongside films like Psycho and The Silence of the Lambs (don't anyone go adding Hannibal to that list). Like Audition, the pacing will strike most American horror fans as torturous in a bad way, but it is precisely that slow creep that helps sear the shocking visions and sounds of both films into our memory.
It's a holiday for a hangin', yeah
- Rilo Kiley, "It's a Hit"
Posted by Joel at 9/11/2005 01:02:00 AM
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