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It’s nearing the end of 2009 and although there may be a few more releases, it may be safe to say that the best horror films have come and gone. I love top ten lists, so below are a synopses of what I deem to be the best of 2009.
10. Friday the 13th (2009)
Review is forthcoming. This one is not a particularly good film, but it is an entry into one of my favourite horror franchises. As much as I appreciate well-crafted horror films, I can appreciate a fun senseless slasher flick that conforms to all the typical stereotypes and genre tropes that have become clichéd. This one is in the top ten simply for that reason.
In Grace, a mother/child relationship sees the desire to provide the child with absolutely everything it needs for nourishment and sustenance, at the cost of devouring the very life-blood of the mother. Madeline insists on carrying her stillborn child to term and shortly thereafter manages to resuscitate it back to life through feeding it her blood. It takes some time for Madeline to realize precisely what is happening here, but once it is clear, she becomes eerily disturbed at what she is required to do to provide her child with the means to live. This disturbance however does not stop Madeline from actually following through with murder in order to obtain blood for her child to feed on. The symbolic strength of the need for blood is a potent device that Solet uses to startling effect here. Grace not only requires her mother to provide her own life for hers, but at times necessitates the need for others to offer their lives. Grace is the monster in this film and an interesting monster at that. Instead of tormenting her victims and killing them by force, she remains perfectly still and by the sheer fact of being a child and the social implications that surround how a child is to be loved and cared for, manages to reek havoc and mayhem through the actions of those who love her most. Grace is easily defeatable, however the socially ingrained desire to conceive of and raise children in order to obtain the picture-perfect family dynamic is so potent and strong that Grace becomes the most dangerous and effective monster to date. Everyone around her dies in effort to vie for who will take care of her most (even at the expense of their lives), while she remains perfectly still.
What is the most salient aspect of this film is how personal it becomes. The distance between audience member(s) and character/plot that is common amongst more traditional narrative films is quite apparent, one can always reassure oneself that ‘it is only a movie’, and that ‘these things don’t happen in real life.’ This film attempts to demolish that boundary between audience reality and the going-ons portrayed on the screen. It really feels like you are watching actual footage of preternatural occurrences, and that those involved are psychologically damaged from their experiences with it. This connection to the audience is real and formidable, it is what manages to hold the audience in its grasp and effectively trigger those psychological subconscious fears of sensations one suspects may be paranormal. Even as I right this I can’t help but consider the possibility that those creaky noises I hear from my basement are the beginnings of someone or something making its way up to hover over me as I sleep.
It seems to me that Shankland decided to pen a scenario whereby the “my-child-is-the-most-important-thing-in-my-world-and-yours” syndrome is tested and exploited. The only character willing to believe the violent manipulation and severity of the children’s behaviours is the teenage daughter. She does not have children of her own and she has matured enough to comprehend the internalizing manipulation of children in ways that objectively discerns proper bratty behaviour—and so, she becomes the film’s heroine. Although it may be difficult for the mother Elaine, to harm a child and give them much needed discipline (as Miska argues in his review), she later manages to decipher the difference between ill-intended violent childlike behaviour over the life and consideration of her teenage daughter, Casey (who may not be as socially ‘innocent’ but still deserving of respect). She drives over her younger daughter to save Casey—so ultimately Elaine has learned to step outside of the socially accepted role of ‘child-comes-first’ to manage the situation properly, giving every party involved consideration and respect.
After the film had finished, I was drawn back less by the imbricated storylines and dialogue that helped accent the film, and more by the atmospheric presence it holds. The continuous presence of jack-o-lanterns, twilight yellows (from either candles or from the eerily disturbing Halloween sun), delight in costuming, and the wonderful entity of Sam (the childlike figure who plagues each story, wearing a custom fitted burlap sack over his suspiciously enlarged head). What writer/director Michael Dougherty managed to pull off with the character of Sam, is a pre-iconic figure that encapsulates the childlike fear and attraction to evil and dread that comes with the fascination of Halloween. The film is littered with this sensation, much like how a Christmas film incorporates all the seemingly traditional Euro-North American associations with that particular holiday. So this is why the film is scary. It’s not because something terrifying happens in the film (of which some do, but nothing to overwhelm the senses of fear). It is because long after the film is done, you begin to remember when you were a child and could not pragmatically reason your way out of a fear spiral that you begin to recall that sensation. How you felt trying to relish in the fun of Halloween: getting and consuming candy, dressing up as your favourite (anti-)hero, and watching scary movies. Always knowing that in the back of your mind, there was something more dark and sinister about what is happening, what Halloween is really about, and the fear that on this day, you should not tempt the fate of your mortality.
5. Halloween II
Review is forthcoming. Not a typical slasher film, infused with intricate character analysis and bizarre visual representation of vacuous evil. This film was systematically panned by critics who probably expected to be disappointed from its onset, because God-forbid anyone dare to bear their mark on the sanctimonious shrine that is the original Halloween. Rob Zombie’s take on the series is effective in making it the most unlike Halloween film in the long line of Halloween films, which by its 9th installment, is a welcome change of pace.
Despite the slow burn execution, there are a few moments of unexpected shock and horror, occurring so quickly that the slow pace shortly afterwards is welcomed to ease the audience back into a film that just scared the crap out of them. However, I would be remiss to label the occurrences in the film ‘horror’, but rather unrelenting and lingering disturbance, which drives the viewer to internalize his/her dread, lingering long after the scene or movie has completed—much in the same way that Paranormal Activity does. In addition to the film’s merit within the horror genre, it is overall, a superbly executed film, warranting an analysis beyond the paradigmatic lens that hinders most reviews of horror movies. The dread is real, the isolation exquisite, and the malignant malevolence of the heroine’s attackers and their intentions with her, are horrific. The satanic-worshipping subgenre of horror has had an iffy track-record, however given this brilliant inclusion I wouldn’t be surprised if more Devil-infested films were on the roster in the near future.
The film is an interesting display of the female body and how the female body is central to larger, more complex, interpersonal relationships—how it serves to signify sexual meaning and understanding within prevailing patriarchal heteronormativity. In a recent correspondence with Marla Newborn, or Fangoria Magazine, it came to my attention that even the casting of the film plays an intricate role to its complex nature—the societal lusting after Megan Fox is inverted by Megan Fox’s portrayal of Jennifer: a seemingly bisexual demonic beast that devours the male who dares to objectify her, and shows compassion only to females. It is their objectification that nourishes Megan/Jennifer, another complex contradiction of the film and its confusing portrayal of sexual dread. The male gaze sustains Jennifer’s superficial needs, but it is femininity and female relations that motivate her actions.
Drag Me to Hell exposes the individuation of the bureaucratic system and the personal agency of those subjects who comprise it. The rules of bureaucracy are determined and enforced by people who have every ability to make exceptions and special circumstantial decisions. Instead, the invisible and omnipresent watchful eye of economic growth lingers over each individual within the bureaucratic system, causing them to self-internalize their own governance—disallowing room for exception or ethical decisions that may slightly inconvenience one for massive benefits to others.
With intricate overlapping layers of substance, and boasting some of the best performances this side of the horror genre, Orphan is a well-calculated venture into the world of psychosexuality and the often ignored sexual development of children—and the potentials for this going awry. There may be something wrong with Esther, but there is very little wrong with this film.
In case you are wondering why one of your favourite horror films of this year isn’t on my list, below are a variety of films I have not seen (most are straight-to-DVD). If it’s not listed below, or in the top ten above, that means I’ve seen it and didn’t care too much for it. Unseen:
- Acolytes
- Alien Raiders
- Amusement
- Blood: The Last Vampire
- Boogeyman 3
- Book of Blood
- Blood Creek
- Carriers
- The Cell 2
- Cold Prey
- The Collector
- Dead Snow
- Donkey Punch
- Eden Log
- Feast III: The Happy Finish
- Home Movie
- Homecoming
- Mutant Chronicles
- Nature’s Grave
- Outlander
- Prey
- [REC] 2
- Skeleton Crew
- Surveillance
- Thirst
- Vinyan
- Whiteout
- Zombieland
