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Marianne (2019)
Don't miss it!
Superbly executed horror is not only possible, but very real.
This series has you hooked from the very first scene.
Exceptional writing, solid pacing, great performances, credible and likeable characters (presented warts and all), amazing soundtrack, stunning cinematography.
It delivers some real scares (the kind where you have to pause to summon the strength to go on), while delving deep into the psychology of the characters.
I found Emma's character to be wonderfully charming, with her cool facade and many flaws and terrible secrets. Marianne is terrifying in all of her incarnations (especially as Madame Daugeron). The cast of characters is really diverse and they're all well portrayed and given the full spectrum of human traits: quirky, funny, kind, morally ambiguous, mysterious, weak, tough, honest, fickle...what a playground for a both a viewer and a demon to explore!
What I particularly appreciated are the hilarious moments that happen at just the right time, relieving a bit of the tension without taking away from the drama.
Creating a horror series is exceptionally difficult, especially one that doggedly sticks to its concept to the very end. Its bloody twists and gory turns unwind in a kind of zig-zag pattern that manages to avoid the clichés of the genre and tell a story that stays with you.
Even if you end up dreaming about Marianne for a while afterwards, it's only because she never leaves empty-handed. It's all worth it in the end!
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)
A visual poem
On the surface, it begins like any old haunted house flick: the protagonist, Lily, is a young hospice nurse who moves into a big house to take care of its single frail inhabitant, an elderly novelist suffering from dementia. Now we sit back and wait for the scares to start, trying to guess what sort of dark secret the old writer may be hiding, and whether it could be anything original. Surely we've seen this story unfold so many times before, right? Wrong.
The reviews of this film are really mixed, and I can readily understand why anyone would want to stop watching and be disappointed in something that subverts almost everything we know and love about horror movies. However, it's precisely that refusal to fit in any mould that makes it stand out and resonate with the viewer long after the credits roll. It also relies on those very irregularities to drive its point home.
There's nothing formulaic about this film, and yet it manages to strike a chord and be utterly unnerving and tense. It moves so slowly and seemingly without direction.
First of all, the narrative is supremely disjointed, with a jump of 11 months that aren't accounted for, and the rest of the time we catch glimpses of Lily doing things around the house. Disfigurement and rotting play an important role in the film's visual symbolism, and I see the disfigured narrative as form being true to function.
Next, the protagonist is nothing like what we're used to in horror films: the plucky survivor who goes out exploring the spooky house with a flashlight and a laugh. Lily is terrified of everything and can barely make herself read a horror novel. That's why it's not completely accurate to say she's trying to unravel the mystery, because a huge part of this film is concerned with seeing vs. choosing not to see. I believe a great amount of the tension comes as a result of the viewer desperately wanting to know and getting frustrated in their curiosity, which clashes with Lily's need to avoid seeing. The blinds in the house are constantly lowered, not once does she touch a light switch, and many reviews point out that she frequently takes off her glasses when she turns to look at something (my initial take was that she does this because they're reading/TV glasses, but we do see her watching a movie without them later on).
Another very powerful theme explored in the movie is isolation and the inability to connect with others, as witnessed several times: the one-sided telephone call that sounds extremely awkward and ends with the receiver being yanked out of Lily's hand, Ms. Blum blundering into the room while Lily's tinkering with the television, the estate being unconcerned with Lily's well-being and counting the days until Ms. Blum passes away, Ms. Blum's monologue about the decay of pretty things that only makes sense in the grand scheme of things, and so on and so forth.
Just as Ms. Blum's most widely acclaimed novel is left unfinished, so too must the viewer infer many things for themselves in this poetic exercise in sparse storytelling. Yes, it involves watching some scenes over and over again several times, and contemplating how some pieces of the puzzle fit together.
Altogether, it seems like a piece of art made for art's sake rather than for ratings or the box office, which is a rare thing in itself and deserves respect. The performances are wonderful, the atmosphere dark and filled with foreboding, and just when you're led into thinking there's so much wasted potential here, the movie really does come back to you like a song.
The Appearance (2018)
Lots of potential, but unfinished
Period horror still has a lot to bring to the genre, but only given the creators work hard to avoid clichés and boldly commit to polishing a new idea and to taking it to completion.
When Inquisitor Mateho and his friend Johnny are secretly summoned to an abbey in a village terrorized by the plague, they find a dead body and a strange prisoner waiting for them. Tension builds as the villagers outside demand to see the witch burn, and the abbot seems very anxious to appease them. But the inquisitor is not convinced.
Will the accused girl talk before it's too late? What is the connection between the mysterious death and the inquisitor's own past? Can either science or the cross help the monks cope?
This film has the atmosphere, acting, and clever twist to make it an excellent horror flick. It definitely provides the scares and gives the viewer a constant feeling of doom and uncertainty, especially with the low light in many scenes and the excellent use of the fact that they didn't have electricity in the Middle Ages. However, it falls short of greatness due to the many plot holes and somewhat clumsy delivery of the big reveal in the third act.
It reminds me a lot of The Autopsy of Jane Doe, it's like a cross between that and The Name of the Rose, with which it's being constantly compared (but apart from the medieval setting, monks dying, and a detective figure, I see nothing else they share).
Overall, it needs stronger connections in the first two thirds of the film to the big reveal (even though I realise they probably wanted to keep the ending a surprise), a bit more research to make the setting more credible, and slightly more fleshed out characters with more background.
As it is, it's still a very enjoyable experience that showcases the potential of period horror. I can't help but wonder how it could have been different had it been written/directed by a woman, having that great twist to work with.
Spoiler alert: Kristian Nairn's character gets to hold a door!
Out (2017)
An inspired directorial debut
Fine script, seamless acting, stunning interplay of several languages. The situations in which the protagonist finds himself are bizarre, hilarious, and often completely random, but never tastelessly exaggerated.
The cinematography is truly mesmerising, and the way the symbol of the fish is woven into the film is very clever.
The director confirmed that the lead actor only speaks Hungarian, and had to learn his (many!) lines in other languages phonetically, which is frankly undetectable in the film.
Don't miss it!
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
Precisely as expected
This is one of this year's exciting new titles that are definitely worth seeing on the big screen. It is a logical continuation of the events and shows us the dark side of the Capitol hauntingly and without reserve. Passing proper judgment on aspects such as character development is not easy without having read the books, but I did find Katniss' concern and affection for Peeta slightly exaggerated, even when still considering everything they went through together. What I liked the most was the series of "moves and counter-moves" on the part of the rebels and the Capitol in an attempt to outplay each other, and I thought that was rather aptly portrayed. Despite the fact that it is just the tiniest bit slower-moving than the previous two films, there is enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat, as well as this franchise's standard share of sacrifice and moving moments. Perhaps the twists and turns had more impact on me as I haven't read the books, but I'd still rate this as an overall enjoyable film, with a cool score and good performances.