Help? Anybody?

Watching “Martyrs” is like staring into the sun, it’s interesting that it makes you look, but at the same time as you look there is this pain that blinds you telling you not to look further. This film is downright difficult to watch and it becomes harder to endure as it goes on. To be honest this movie is the most disturbing movie that I have ever seen, the experience of watching this movie has left a deep impression of the deprivation of human rights, the things people can do just to satisfy their own thirst for knowledge, revenge, etc. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of horror you should be impressed as to its ability to force such torment both to its characters and the viewers.

 

The movie Martyrs, provokes us to know what is it that happens after death. But before that the movie begins with Lucie’s retribution against what seems to be a very normal family, shot-gunning them to their death right before their eyes on a Sunday morning. Anna then is informed by Lucie of this incident, coming to Lucie’s aid, she buries the dead bodies and tries to accept Lucie’s story of the torture and abuse the family has done to her. Lucie, after a while slits her throat to free herself from this painful world, running away from the past that was deeply imprinted onto her. Anna then discovers another victim deep inside the basement of the house and tries to help, in the end the victim also committed suicide, all the more, Anna was kept imprisoned and tortured for the sake of personal interests by this same organization that has taken individuals like Lucie and the other victim that put them to long solitary torture for years.

 

More than being intolerable and disturbing, the movie also brings out emotions, anger, sadness, etc. The ability of the movie to make us feel the discomfort of seeing people suffer, making us see the horror that really strikes hard. The blood and gore had nothing to do with the real horror of the movie for me, the real horror of movie strikes and builds up into our mind through this thing we call torture. It misdirects us from the usual blood and gore horror movie to this unfathomable feeling of helplessness because of torture. It lets us see people being hurt in ways unimaginable, ways in which death would have been better, it puts us in a place of helplessness even as viewers all we could do is watch and feel pain for the ones being tortured, we could not do anything at all but sit in pain. In the end, this fear of the unknown has crept up into us and makes us wonder how painful or agonizing the feeling is whatever it may be.

 

Nevertheless, comparing this movie to other horror flicks, we can say that most horror movies focus on monsters, lore, spirits, etc. What makes this movie different and still the same is that it grabs your attention in a way that it makes you invest on the characters, making you really want to watch it until the very end even though it is disturbing. And what makes this movie even scarier than other horror movies is the fear as a viewer, seeing people get hurt and imagining what if it happens to us. This movie worked me up in terms of my mental stability in those torture situations in the film, it made me realize my mental capability that I am afraid of getting hurt even more so through those methods. Basically, every time Anna was tortured, I cringed and feared out of the pain that I imagined her receiving. This  torture parts make me feel the most discomfort because it leaves me in an action less state, in a way, I wanted to help Anna myself but I just could not.

 

All in all the film was great in the sense that it is a horror movie that scares and brings out fear and emotion out of people, but I personally did not like the film in a way because seeing people get tortured is not really my thing, I’d rather watch horror movies that give characters a fighting chance rather than being pained slowly in many heinous ways. Yes, the movie grants us the experience of horror. Yes, it makes us root for Anna that she would eventually escape the hands of the organization. Yes, the movie can be considered a work of art. But in the end, although it brought out my inner coward, my sympathies, my fear, I did not like it because it left me in a state of helplessness, something I would never ever want to be in.

Where’s the Wolf?

Ginger Snaps is a movie that got my attention in the past, and so did its sequel Ginger Snaps 2. The movie was really interesting from beginning to end. The movie, for me, started on the right terms with a somehow stylish opening credit which set the dark tone of the movie. Although the  sequel did not offer as much dark comedy as it did in the first movie, it still got my attention all the more because of more action rather than the transition to puberty. The movie was more of a struggle, trying to get out of something, trying to be the different one in terms of transforming.

 

Moving on, the film begins with Brigitte being a renegade trying to avoid this inevitable transformation into a lycanthrope as she was infected by her sister by transfusing herself with werewolf blood. Downing herself with monkshood or wolfsbane, taking down notes of her regeneration, shaving her hair, and even cutting a part of her ear is a proof of Brigitte trying to defy or slow down the inevitable, which is her transformation. She also goes to the local library in order to read up on bloodletting and things about blood. Later on, Brigitte was attacked by a werewolf as she was trying to escape, she was found unconscious then later on brought into a care facility. There she meets this little girl named Ghost, who has been voluntarily staying at the clinic to take care of her grandmother who I think she burned alive accidentally but not really (it was intentional) as you can see it on the grandmother’s face or what’s left of it. Ghost then informs Brigitte about the care facility as Ghost has taken a liking to Brigitte as she would often read comics and noticed the werewolf characteristics of Brigitte.

 

Nonetheless, Brigitte’s transformation was bound to happen and it escalated quickly. Hairy palms, long ears, changing eye color, sense of smell was all starting to come out. As soon as Brigitte and Ghost escaped the care facility they lay out traps for the werewolf that has been chasing Brigitte. But later on in the movie the wolf attacks were the least of Brigitte’s worries as she herself was transforming, and eventually transformed into what she did not want the most.

 

Looking at how the movie progressed, Ginger Snaps 2 is somehow like the first film but lacks the story and the humor as it had in the original. Because in the first, the film cleverly used the werewolf knowledge to compare it with a woman’s situation, especially during the transition from girl to woman, and it also uses some dark comedy which made it nice to watch. One thing that I noticed was that when compared to the first film, it was much harder for the sequel to deliver more of what the original had to offer as many of the coming-of-age ideas were already used in the original, which made it hard for the sequel to come up with new content. The sequel had a whole new plot to it as it strayed away from the original in terms of development because the ending of the sequel somehow negated all the development that was aimed at Brigitte, instead of a werewolf movie it somehow pivoted to comics.

 

Although the movie shifted from werewolf to comics, it still has its merits as a horror movie. In terms of the character Brigitte, it was nice as to how she conveyed her inner-self with passion, showing how tortured she was because of this infection and this somehow shows the ugly side or the horror which got my attention. All the more that the gore in this movie was more present than the original. Personally, even if the sequel didn’t follow up with the story line of the first that much, it is still an acceptable follow up because you can watch the sequel independently of the original. All in all I found the film to be worthwhile, it was better than most of the other films that I have watched. I would definitely recommend this film because I like action and comics with a touch of horror.

Letting the Right One In

Let the Right One In is not like any other horror movie, it’s a different kind of horror movie that takes you and lets you see different forms of pain, cruelty, love, and fear among children. It shows that there are two sides to every story, and that there are two sides to every person. It lets us see who we are, and who we can be. It is as if we have one side to us that we reveal to the world, while the other one is kept deep down inside of us hidden and contained. As the movie goes, we can see that Oskar and Eli both possess the potential of being extraordinary people despite having lives that are full challenges and obstacles. As Oskar is a 12 year old boy, he attends school, and in school he is constantly bullied. Oskar just keeps it to himself, he does not surrender or fight back, he just goes with it by spending his evening stabbing a tree, pretending to be the kid that bullies others instead of the one being bullied. Eli on the other hand has been a 12 year old kid for quite a time now, because of her nature of being a vampire, and this being a vampire entails a tiresome and demanding task which is to kill people in order to live off their blood. Nonetheless, when the two eventually meet, the idea of a relationship has begun to change the two kids for better or for worse.

 

Again, in finding each other at the playground, Oskar and Eli begins their relationship in an awkward manner but nonetheless they change each other’s life. Eli challenged Oskar to fight back and stand up to bullying, while Oskar helps Eli in a way by helping her experience what it means to be human. Eli shares her secret to Oskar, which eventually invited Oskar to be part of her life, and soon tore down the walls of isolation for the two.

 

There are many reasons as to why “Let the Right One In” is a very different type of horror movie, but the one that stands out the most is the element of romantic love between Oskar and Eli. This element of romantic love between the children somehow shows innocence, and in innocence  we sometimes find the most scary things, because we can say that once the innocence is broken the horror happens, our eyes are opened to the world and how it really works, we begin to see the bad things, the scary things, the things we hoped we’d never see or hear. Moreover, children in horror movies are usually the most oppressed as they are the most vulnerable even as monsters. By looking at it, Eli is a monster, but in her eternal youth she still is dependent on her “father”, “lover”, etc. named Hakan, for food (blood). Moving on, Oskar was not the typical “normal”  kid, when he was given an opportunity to make a friend he did his best, eventually he found a friend in Eli as they even went “steady”. Let us not forget how the two kids are identified, they were seen in a position of an outcast of society, which is why Eli and Oskar found it easier to form a friendship with one another because they share the same position. Nevertheless, there is a further portrayal of a romantic relationship between Oskar and Eli, which strengthens their link to one another, where in love plays a big role in the conclusion of the movie. Having lost Hakan, Eli left the place she calls home, but when Oskar was held up by the bullies at the swimming pool area and threatened with a knife, Eli went there and protected Oskar. This was an act of love by Eli, which shows that she has already opened her life to Oskar. In the end, Oskar takes this offer and somehow becomes the new Hakan. We can see in these acts the horror people can do for love.

 

In the end, love truly is the main theme of this movie as I see it, but horror still remains. Personally, I can somehow compare this movie to twilight as both films include vampires and a human that interacts with them, eventually they fall in love with each other. Nevertheless, the two films are really different from each other, the feel of the movie especially, as they have different characteristics, it might be because of age or power that Eli has. Because if you compare Eli to the different vampires that we know of such as Dracula, Edward, etc. they really are leaps apart, I don’t really see Eli as much of a threat compared to the other vampires. But all in all, I liked the movie. Although, in its entirety, “Let the Right One In” is a different kind of horror movie, I still find it interesting and enjoyable, it was refreshing in a way as it gave me a sense of horror in what we call love, and love with this thing we call horror.

I Hear Fear

Pontypool is one of those movies that really got to me, it made me think, it made me confused, it got me really worked up on what the hell was happening. It was more of a mystery movie in terms of figuring things out rather than a horror movie that gives me the creeps. Considering that everything was unknown, what the monster is or whatever it may be, it was difficult to grasp in a sense that the characters had no idea where it started or any solid information on what was happening. Considering the movie is a claustrophobic movie as it took place in only one setting, it was really interesting how it would play later on. The movie in many ways can grab your attention into trying to figure out what was happening.

 

Basically, the movie starts kind of randomly as a girl suddenly appears out of nowhere outside the car of Grant Mazzy then later on disappears.  Later on, when the news came out that there was a disturbance in Pontypool, Grant Mazzy tries to elaborate what was happening in Pontypool without any hard evidence on the situation. He talks with his source Ken Loney and tries to get the details of what is happening and the current situation of Ken Loney in his so-called “Chopper”. Grant along with his co-workers Laurel-Ann and Sydney stay behind in the studio when the mob of “zombies” or “infected” rushes into the radio station and tries to attack them. Soon after the mob of infected people arrived alongside Dr. Mendez, they realiz that Larel-Ann has already been infected. The three remaining survivors in the radio station remain in the sound proof booth to stay clear of the infection.

 

Moving on, Dr. Mendez starts to explain how the virus infects other people through the English language, and has clung on to certain words which are different for every person. When those taboo words are understood by the speaker, the person starts to become something that we can compare to a mindless zombie. Looking closely at the movie, we can notice that Pontypool falls in the category of the typical zombie movie and at the same time outside of that category, making full use of different elements effectively. Having said that, the monster is not personified or given any concrete form of a person, beast, monster, etc thus leaving the horror shrouded in mystery. As the horror is shrouded in mystery, the notion of fear is brought about because of the unknown, and it is in this helpless feeling that aggravation and fear strikes people where they will hurt or suffer the most.

 

As the movie Pontypool used the English language as the carrier of this unknown horror, such that the act of hearing and understanding a simple word led to the spread of the infection that would more or less cause an unwanted death. With that said, “understanding” brings about both power and unwanted danger. Think about it, nowadays, guns, missiles, or swords are not the most dangerous weapons as of this day, rather it is information in other words language, interpretation, meaning, etc., as language can be means of declaring peace or war, spreading true or false information, etc. This movie is really different from the typical horror movies that consist of blood and gore, this movie depicts a very unique element, which is portraying language as the “monster” in this film. There is no doubt that words can hurt, damage, or even kill a person even I get hurt because of simple words such as ugly, fat, stupid, etc. Language is a tool for communication, and everybody is affected by this thing we call language, some may not understand different languages but as soon as they do they will be affected.

 

Nonetheless, the movie Pontypool was kind of nice in terms of getting your attention because you hear about all the things that are happening but you don’t really see it yourself. Just as how news gets to us, we might hear it but that does not mean that it is true, we tend to look for proof or an evidence that it really did happen in form of pictures, videos, testimonies, etc. The movie can really make you mad, especially when you invest your time trying to figure things out, because that little clue that you might have heard or saw can be the small thing that ties everything together which makes the whole thing understandable. And that’s what I liked about the movie. You only see what the characters hear, you only see what the characters see, it’s as if you’re part of the movie. But in the end what is the message of the movie? I myself do not know but I came up with some possible theories like they’re all crazy people, they were infected from the beginning all they needed was a trigger, etc. But it was nice trying to figure it out, it gives you something to talk about especially if you watch it with a friend. Anyway, I recommend this movie for those who want to watch something original and interesting.

Run! Zombies!

Over the years, the zombie film theme has been a staple in in the horror genre. I don’t get it myself why I love playing games that involve killing zombies like “left4dead”, watching series that involve killing zombies like “the walking dead”, etc. maybe we just love watching bad guys or evil monsters die. But like any other zombie film, although the characters change or the plot changes the experience remains the same. It usually happens during a post-apocalyptic or the day after tomorrow scenario where the zombie apocalypse come or the city is already infested with these zombies(fast or slow), but the people already seem familiar like the betrayer (Don), the expert (Scarlet), the innocent (Tammy and Andy), the sacrifice (Doyle), and the army, or what some can say the usual.

Basically, 28 weeks later all starts in a small rural cottage where Don thinks he and his wife are safe from the rage virus as it transforms a large portion of mainland Britain into rage infected zombies that utter high-pitched piercing sounds, vomits blood, and runs extremely fast. The opening scene already gives so much feels, especially as it shows how wrong Don is for leaving his wife, it shows the true nature of Don that in a state of panic he will leave behind everyone to preserve his own life. Nevertheless, 28 weeks later the American military shows up and declares that a part of mainland Britain has been sanitized and quarantined making it safe for people to inhabit the said area as it was declared that it was infection free. But not for long, the quarantined area was infected as the wife of Don was found in their old house and brought back to the medical facility of mainland Britain because of the kids.

Moving on, after the outbreak ensues, it can be seen that order and chaos are somehow intertwined. Order in a sense that the military knows what to do, what their protocols are for “Code Red”, and are committed to those protocols even to the point of killing innocent civilians. On the other hand, chaos is the result of this so-called order, people running for their lives because they are being shot for the sole reason of following protocols. Sometimes I forget that 28 weeks later is a rage zombie movie because of all the military scenes. When you look back and look closer or pay attention to the movie what you notice is how the military is a lot more scarier than zombies because of all their weaponry and power. Weaponry in a sense that you can be killed with just one hit of a bullet, you can also be burned alive, poisoned, bombed, etc. Compared to the zombies, the military is 100 levels scarier because of their wide array of decapitation measures. Nonetheless, the power of the military leaves the zombies behind.

When I think about life and look back at the movie, what I can say is that trust is a really valuable and fragile thing as it is paramount to living. After the movie, I realized that the scariest things in life can happen anytime, like your family member leaving you just as Don left his wife, a shootout in school like how snipers shot innocent civilians, bombing at a train station like how the military firebombed the whole of the quarantined area, or a coup d’état. Especially nowadays where the war on terror is rampant because of the recent bombings in France, Belgium, Syria, and other countries that were and are affected as this sight is ultimately destructive for all people. Realism then is a lot scarier as they are logically possible things that can happen to like being separated from family in times of calamity or danger.

Nevertheless, the movie was action packed. As a lover of action movies I liked how from beginning to end there was suspense from running away from the zombies to shooting everybody in plain sight. Also I loved the fact that there is an understanding on what it means to be human and about how important human life is. Also, this movie shows the feelings and emotions the moment humanity is stripped off of their rights to live because in life things are mostly unfair. But in the end, I just got tired of this the army is evil and they will kill you if necessary theme. The “army is evil” theme is very overused and very insulting to the people who are in the army, as they are both men and women who risk their lives to protect us and keep us safe as much as they can, and it is just right for us to respect them for their bravery.

LF: Friend

Imagine being a kid with a lazy eye, how difficult it is to fit in with the crowds, to make friends. It’s difficult to see how one lazy eye can lead to a life of loneliness. We all know that children are honest beings, they spew out everything on their minds, they get hurt easily, and they hurt others easily. With that said, imagine being in May’s shoes, how difficult of a life she has lead, the kind of discrimination she has suffered, the isolation she has experienced during her youth. When May was in elementary school, she had a problem with her eye. To resolve this issue, her ophthalmologist prescribed wearing an eyepatch to correct the lazy eye. May had to wear this eyepatch to school, this made her different, often subject to discrimination making others think that she’s weird and different. Because of this May had no friends, her mom tries to cheer her up by saying, “if you can’t find a friend, make one”. May then received a very special doll from her mom, enclosed in a cabinet, which became May’s best friend throughout her childhood.

 

As an adult, May was the same, she had no real friends. May remained in her own little world, the only thing that kept her company was her best friend Suzy, her doll. Later on she meets Adam, her world changes. Suzy was not the only thing in her life anymore, now starting to make friends. She corrects her eyes with a special contact lens. She thought that Adam was perfect, she stalks him, she wonders about him especially his hands, she found them perfect. May wanted to be friends with Adam, a mechanic who she saw working on a car while eating, she even goes out on secret dates with Adam, dates only she knows about. When May eventually became friends with Adam, she interacted with Adam as she does with Suzy, because that’s the only way she knows how to interact. May would go to Adam’s place anytime she wanted, which is really creepy, you can compare May to an overly obsessed stalker at this point. When Adam discovers how weird May really is, he rejects may in an unclear way, leaving may to be deranged, in a sense mentally unbalanced or she went crazy. Ultimately, after neglecting Suzy, and getting mad at her, she breaks the glass cabinet that holds Suzy leading to an outburst, which resulted to a blood bath, she harvested all the perfect body parts she wanted from Adam, her co worker, the friends of her co worker in order to make that friend that her mom supposedly told her.  It was only when May made her new friend Amy that she saw how much of a monster she has become. A monster who like her did not see clearly because the doll was missing eyes. May gave one of her eyes to Amy, and saw herself from a new perspective through Amy.

 

Bad parenting is often a cause of having a bad child, a parent neglecting their child is somehow common nowadays because of work, defects, etc. It is obvious that neglectful parenting is what led May to think differently, forming an abnormal conscience or what call nowadays a mental illness. May is the “abject” of the film, in other words the monster as she disturbed the normal order that was in place. May was in an extremely bad situation that all of us would never want to be in. Further intensifying and establishing May as the monster through her intense gaze onto the subject Adam, in a way you could sense this desire to objectify and own this certain something. Because of a state of oppression, May was led to live a life of a monster, being shunned away from society, she had no experience whatsoever as to what is right and what is wrong because she had no real idea how monstrous the world can be.

 

Personally, it comes to mind who really is the monster, is it May or is it this world we live in. The world can be as scary as monsters we typically find in movies as it holds things we do not expect, opinions that should have been kept, etc. Looking at how the movie played out, May could just be a victim of this cruel world we live in, changing her into a monster because she just could not keep up with how the world works. Notice how poverty has affected the lives of kids, leading them to a life they would not want to live, a life of crime, a life they did not choose to be in. Many more examples such as having a defect and being taunted, being dark skinned, being Muslim, etc.

 

Nevertheless, the film May is very different from the horror movies i usually see, in the beginning i was expecting the doll to become alive and go on a chuckie-like killing spree but nonetheless, it captured my attention. This film captures your attention through sympathy for the lead character, seeing how May was alone, having no friends but her doll. All in all, i personally did not enjoy the film because of its concept, but that did not stop me from watching, it captured my attention, it got my eyes glued to the screen because i wanted to know how it ends.

Nope, Not Dead

Possessions, exorcisms, and dolls are the things i hate most when it comes to horror movies, I just can’t stand them, especially those based on true stories. For one, I find them especially scary because of its nature of demons and devils, gore and blood has never really scared me that much but the face or how the possessed looks like hits me hard because I don’t like looking at ugly things because of the dark feels when you look at them, especially when they surprise you. Imagine waking up to a wart infested face looking at you, wont you be scared? I’m no expert at possessions but one thing I know is that when they transform they look really disgusting. Although the movie had gore written all over it, it was not that scary mainly because of the long exposure of the monster and so much damage being done to it like zombie television shows or movies. It was kind of ridiculous and unbelievable from the very moment when they started killing the possessed but it wont die. From there on it was not that scary at all because of all the fighting and bloody computer games I play.

 

Basically, the movie is another cabin in the wood type of movie, although it is a remake it is not grouped together with other remakes which seem boring, lazy, and witless, as it was fully action packed and alive despite its title, Evil Dead. The remake still has the feel of Evil Dead, welcoming us with this grey, sweating, psychopath of a possession filled with disgusting stuff and all the stabbing, slashing, limb-flying action, etc.

 

Moving on, looking at all the characters of the movie, we can say that they are all dimwitted because they did not sense the danger from the very beginning. It is the remake of a classic horror movie after all, where the stupid ones and the courageous ones die first. Again, because the film is a classic we can see the pattern where the female protagonist is left alone to fight her own battle and emerge victorious in the end, as Carol Clover says in her article, Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film. Looking at how the movie played out, Mia is the weak beautiful female protagonist in the movie, considering the fact that she was vulnerable because of withdrawal from drugs leaving her in a weak state of mind. This trend of having the weak female protagonist attracts the attention of the viewers, eventually making them follow the journey of this weak protagonist fighting the monster or killer who is almost always male, but in this case an evil female spirit. Although the ending was predictable because of the pattern of having the final protagonist being female, invincible and all, it was nice to watch because of all the action, some people might find it disgusting because of all the blood spewing or limbs being cut off, but that’s the point of the movie the protagonist and the monster slugging it out until the end. Personally, the best part of the movie for me was when Mia chops her arm of in desperation and dismembers the monster with a chainsaw using one arm, because where else can you see that type of action. All the action and fighting may seem unrealistic as if all the other characters had 10 lives and Mia having 20, it actually is unrealistic but then again where can you see that sort of thing because if i were in the shoes of Mia or any character in the movie, i would have already passed out because of blood loss. Nonetheless, it is nice to compare this movie to “The Raid: Redemption” because of all the action and combat it has in the movie, in terms of still being alive after being stabbed in the neck multiple times with a light bulb (Watch The Raid: Redemption).

 

Nevertheless, the movie fooled me in some parts making me think that Mia was already dead and  all, because she was already buried. Moreover, the demon was kind of smart in a sense that it only attacked when the characters were isolated and it had this tactic of acting and reverting its face back to the original face of the character and asks for pity, which sometimes gets to the head of the one being haunted. Although the film was centered on this demonic possession theme it felt more of an action horror movie to me because of all the bloodshed like the hack and slash video games I used to play.

 

Personally, I like the movie in a sense that it was full of action because I am a fan of action movies with all the violence, weapon, and gore included in this movie. If I were to recommend a horror movie to my friends who like action it would be this one despite not watching the original one. Nonetheless, I now look forward to more movies like this one rather than those horror movies that scare the living hell out of me. All in all, I would rate this 8/10 and put this in the list of my favorite horror movies.

Mother Dearest

Often we see mothers as the loving, caring, and kind being that has always been there for us ever since the day we were born, and that image of mothers will never change. The bond we share with our mother is a bond that sustains us physically, emotionally, mentally, etc., from the moment that we were in the womb even up to today.  One thing that we notice is that a mother’s love for her child is paramount to her own needs and safety even to a point that she would give up all the things she loved to do prior to us being born. The amount of sacrifice a mother would do for the sake of her child is unimaginable.

 

Moving on, looking at the movie “Grace”, we can somehow picture the love of a mother for her child, and all the crazy things that mothers can do to a point that they can kill. Like certain advertisements, drugs, waivers, rides, the movie Grace should come with a warning for all mothers expecting a child because of the nature of the film being dark and gruesome. The movie emphasizes how difficult pregnancy can be and points out certain issues a mother can have during and after birth. Nevertheless, I personally think that pregnant women should not watch this film because it is certain to give them nightmares and worries about their future child and birthing process.

 

Basically, the movie starts of with sex, Madeline and Michael attempting another pregnancy after numerous failed attempts of failed pregnancies, this can be seen through Madeline’s emotionlessness during coitus. Nevertheless, when they succeeded, Madeline decides to go with unconventional ways in the modern day by going to a midwife named Patricia whom she trusts, despite all the meddling of her mother-in-law, Vivian. Moving on, Michael and Madeline gets into a car accident leaving both the baby and Michael dead. After the incident, all the weird things start, starting off with Madeline insisting on carrying out the pregnancy to Patricia accepting the request to deliver the baby. Later on, the dead baby comes to life and eventually needed blood to survive.

 

Some points that showed the beginning of Madeline’s troubles was when Grace started to show symptoms such as low body temperature, odor, fly attraction, and most especially refusing to drink milk. Yes, these things are disturbing, but there are more things for us to consider more disturbing especially because of double standards that we have today. One of the many double standards we see in the movie is the lesbian relationship between Patricia and Madeline, back then when the movie was made the standard of relationships were supposed to be composed of a male and female, having a same sex relationship was not common back then as it is today, thus showing that what could go wrong will go wrong. Another thing people see as a double standard is when a female leads the man in any way possible such as sexual activities to decision making because it has become accustomed to us that men should be the one to make the move or the decision, but not in this movie. Moreover, what i found the most disturbing is Vivian and her actions toward her husband, treating her husband as if he were Michael as a child, letting him drink milk from her breast. Last but not the least is the double standard of old people having sex, showing it in movies is just so wrong, it may be acceptable for the age range of 18-40s but not with the 60s and up. What would you do if you were to enter a room just to find out that your grand parents are having intercourse? Let that sink in, because personally i see that more of a horror than the movie itself, you would never see them as the loving caring grandparents that you thought you had. This just goes to show that different people think differently.

 

Looking at modern society, things are not how they were back then when females were not allowed to work or study, same sex marriage was not accepted, black people were treated as slaves, etc. Seeing that women tend to be considered the weaklings or the ones who are not able to protect themselves or do what they want in most movies we can contrast it with how the movie, “Grace,” depicting how strong women can be. Looking into Barbara Creed’s article, Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection, Creed ultimately explains how females are depicted as weaklings or helpless. This is paramount to how we see society wherein males are dominant. According to Creed, males are threatened by women due to the fact that they are whole in a sense they are empowered which gives them a strong point. We can see this in the movie through Madeline and Vivian, they are both seen here as the dominant characters to their male counter parts. Nevertheless, going back to the point of a mother’s love for her child shows that women too, are strong and willing to make sacrifices and that they can be as threatening as males.

 

Ultimately, I did not enjoy the film that much mainly because of Vivian’s breast feeding and the idea of old people having sex. But what i commend in this movie is the notion of a mother’s love for her child, seeing the things a mother can do to protect her child even if the child has defects is paramount to the idea of family and love, even though we have our shortcomings our mother will always see us as perfect, handsome, beautiful, smart, even if society does not consider us so.

 

 

Follow You Into The Dark

Follow You Into The Dark

 

The unknown has always brought about fear and curiosity, no matter where we are. Moving on, people tend to try out new things that will either let them enjoy or regret the things they have done. As H.P. Lovecraft says, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown.”

 

Having said that, “It Follows”, shows the unknown through the title of the movie. What is “It”? We don’t know. If you look at the title closely, an uneasy feeling somehow creeps up, basically, it’s unsettling because you can’t tell what the movie really is about, and that’s the whole point of the movie, it keeps you guessing.

 

As I started watching the movie, I was wondering what it was about because the title does not give that much information. As the movie progressed, I got even more confused whether it was a thriller kind of movie or a ghost movie. Nevertheless, it revolved around teenagers having sex, and having filled that curiosity lead to misfortune. In a sense it somehow concerns this never-ending state of hormonal crisis we call “adolescence,” the film really is about making absurd or illogical actions that have these long-lasting consequences or as I have said a while ago misfortunes, but really, it’s about acting rashly.

 

Basically, to summarize the plot, Jay, the perfect example of a teen that makes rash decisions, learns after having sex with Hugh that she will be “followed”. Jay is the latest victim of this sexually transmitted haunting, something we can basically compare to any kind of STDs, once you have it, you pass it on or simply suffer alone. But unlike STDs in real life, Hugh explained to Jay after being chloroformed from behind that something will happen to her, and that she must pass this burden or problem on to another person by having sexual intercourse. If Jay doesn’t, someone will constantly follow Jay, it might be someone she knows, some stranger, basically anybody. And that something, that “It,” will follow Jay and hurt her. Jay then passes this knowledge on to her friends, her friends then in effect try to help her as much as they can and try to get rid of this this that is after her.

 

If I were to analyze the film, I would see the plot as somehow teenagers transitioning into adulthood. If anything, it shows that the view of the kids is still limited in a sense that it does not show the horror of the real world. In a way, Jay expects sex to be a moment of being free, being free of responsibilities, but she does not see the whole picture, leading to a panic, a way of denying this natural occurrence of being an adult, which is to have responsibilities also known as adulthood. We can somehow see this in the momentary scare being followed by a series of people she knows or may not know of.

 

Nonetheless, the way I see the horror at the heart of “It Follows,” is not an unprecedented threat, rather the vague knowledge that nothing lasts forever, basically, change. Jay and her friends try to make a bridge to each other physically, but only ending up to the realization that although they have this connection, change is inevitable. In a sense this is where the movie gets frustrating, somehow showing that sex is a sin, sex is bad, or that after having sex you will die. It somehow shows that if you have sex your soul will leave your body and you will no longer be human.

 

When you look closely, “It Follows” is not really about sexual intercourse, but an intolerable, unsinkable state of mind that sinks in when you come of age, and never totally disappears, not even after orgasm, or other violent acts. It is a reality that we must face, a reality full of horrors that we can not bear to imagine, it just happens.

 

What makes this movie amazing is that the decisions these teenagers make when in front of a devastating evil are all so extremely stupid. That’s life. There is no zombies, no Madelyn O’Malley, no Sadako, there is just the decisions you make in life and that decision can either make your life good or in the case of Jay, bad. What makes this movie wonderfully relatable is that we all make stupid mistakes whether it be in school, work, or at home. The reality here is that people sometimes make decisions with no thought put into it especially when faced with great evil or temptation. Even today, there are kids who make decisions with no thought, which is exactly what the teenagers in the movie did; they made decisions with no thought put into it. Making decisions is a part of life, whether it be bad or good, you are the one who made it, you can’t blame another person for it, you have to face that, that’s what makes it scary but at the same time a reality that will always be creeping up behind you and in the end all you can do is live with it.

 

Dead Girl: Loss of Morality

Guilt is a powerful burden that will haunt you as long as you live. You can try to turn back and forget about it, but that’s when it creeps up behind you and bites you in the ass. Most people struggle to give meaning to their own wrongdoings. Unwilling, or unable to explain what they did wrong and the part they play in it. Others turn away from their guilt, shedding their moral sense until there’s no sense of right and wrong left at all. But personally, I run toward my own guilt. I just can’t live knowing that I hurt somebody or I if did something wrong. Guilt plays a big role in my life; it reminds me that I am human.

 

I have never seen the film Deadgirl before but just looking at the title, I could say that it would indeed involve a dead girl. The movie centers on the two friends, JT and Rickie, rejects in their high school, who stumbles upon a tied-up naked girl. On the day they cut classes and decide to look into an old, abandoned mental hospital while thrashing and kicking everything that they see, they come across a tied-up naked girl in one of the underground facilities. Rickie, the more morally developed of the two, believe that they should free the girl and go home, but JT has some twisted plans in mind. Rickie does not want to have any role in this twisted plan of JT. JT stays behind and begins to make his way with the naked girl. When JT discovers that the girl is no longer living as he strangles the neck and could not be killed, he develops a taste for the dead. The rest of the story points at issues with regards to right and wrong doings, challenging Rickie to either do something about the problem or stay away.

 

Sexuality is no stranger to horror films, as portrayed in a number of slasher films where the murderer hunts down a group of young people, the victims usually being girls. Moreover, based on my experience of watching horror films there usually is sex or nudity involved just to get attention or showing vulnerability during that period. But this film in particular deals with a foul objectification of women, where a dead zombie-like girl becomes a sexual object, in other words a sex slave to a group of hormonal high school boys. I personally did not enjoy the movie, because I found it to be unpleasant and unfinished. What I found disturbing in this movie is how boys are presented as sex fiends, ready to fuck anything with a hole, not thinking about the consequences to their health or the well being of the other person.

 

 

The objectification of the dead girl in this movie is very hard to stomach, and as Robin Wood explains it, is deeply rooted in society’s inclination to subdue or repress. Sexuality and sexual energy are seen as “taboo”, and are one of the principal things being repressed in our culture and society. The term “gender” has come to tell or dictate what particular actions are socially acceptable regarding male and female behavior. For me, my way of understanding the repeated use of the words such as “fuck” and “bro” in Deadgirl suggests a gender behavior specifically related to how males behave. JT, despite the repulsiveness of having sex with a dead girl, was able to convince other boys like Wheeler, and the two jocks into having sex with the dead girl by using characteristic gender roles as a threat to how manly they are. The characteristic of being submissive was portrayed by the dead girl, which also shows a representation of remnants of a patriarchal society where women were expected to obey their husbands or were weaker than men. This was all possible by the use of objectification.

 

In order to carry out such acts of barbarity to the dead girl, JT and the other boys must have first used objectification to see the dead girl as something that Wood calls the “other”. They did not acknowledge the dead girl as a human being or even a brain-eating zombie, but viewed her as a sex slave. In doing this, they endangered themselves with the possibility of being killed, or worse, the chance of being infected with dead girl’s DNA or getting STDs.

 

Nonetheless, the movie was not scary in a sense that there is a monster and that monster is going to kill you so you better watch out way. But it shows a different kind of scare, which depicts sex acts that can possibly happen in real life through kidnapping, slave trades, etc. Like any other horror films, there are also cringe worthy scenes in the movie that not only happens to girls but also to the boys. In a sense, for women, being raped is a horror that they would personally want to stay away from, but for guys, getting their dick bit off is absolute horror in my opinion. Overall, the film is not something that I would want to watch twice because of its disturbing nature.