I have this criteria of sorts when it comes to seeing a new horror film in the cinema.
- The film is R-rated
- The film is not part of a franchise or remake.
- The film is not “found footage.”
If the film fits all of these, I at least buy the ticket. Even if I don’t want to take the ride (to borrow from Hunter S. Thompson), I’ll spend the money because it is the kind of horror film that needs support in this day and age. It has become this credo of mine. I’ll be honest though, I always take the ride.
This isn’t to say that these are automatically better films, nor does it say movies that don't fit this criteria are bad. I enjoy found footage flicks from time to time, the occasional sequel, and even PG-13 horror. It isn’t about quality, it’s about encouraging something new.
There’s a new horror flick out now called The Witch (or The VVitch if we want to follow the style). From the trailer I could tell this would fit all my criteria. I finally got around to seeing it the other night and I’m not going to surprise you, I enjoyed it.
The film is like Nick Cave adapting Nathanial Hawthorne. The story is set in puritanical times in New England. It is about an isolated family near the edge of the woods and “strange goings on.” It’s family horror, with a historical twist. Lots of distrust, paranoia, and religiosity. I felt the film did an amazing job with the language of the time. The language makes this more of an “adult” film. I don’t mean that in the Cinemax sort of way, but I think this film is better geared toward adults. Horror is a teenage genre for the most part, but I don’t see this being a big hit with the kiddos. When I was teaching English to freshmen this year, their biggest complaint about Shakespeare and Hawthorne was the language- so I could see this turning them off. Not that there aren’t teenagers that are into this sort of thing. We all knew those 4 or 5 kids who really dug Shakespeare in high school. Still, it’s nice to have a film for adults, regardless of genre.
I might be a little desensitized to horror, so take it with a grain of salt when I say that I wasn’t frightened by this very much. It did give me a good case of the “heebie jeebies,” for lack of a better phrase. No, it didn’t keep me up at night, but that isn’t a mark of its quality. The film is well made in every sense; very well acted, directed, and finely executed. So if you are on the fence about this, I say (to quote Hunter): Buy the ticket, take the ride. Grade: A-
Now sometimes my system doesn’t always pan out. To “walk the walk” this week I also saw The Other Side of the Door. It fits all the criteria, but as I said, those aren’t about quality.
The film is another family horror film or sorts, but with a different focus. An American family living in India lose their son in a car accident. The mother is so distraught she tries to kill herself. Their Indian house keeper tells her of a magic way she can speak to her son to say goodbye, but of course there are rules. The mother, as expected, breaks those rules. The family is then haunted by the dead son and “strange goings on” ensue.
We’ve seen this before, many many times. This “undead son trope” probably goes back before “The Monkey’s Paw.” I think the film uses the trope effectively, but you can pretty much see what’s coming at any moment. I think horror films about grief are very interesting, so this intrigued me. OSotD owes a lot to Pet Semetary, and there are better films that explore grief in just the last couple of years (The Babadook and The Final Girls). I couldn't help but think of Bob Clark's Deathdream while sitting in the theater. The India setting is neat, but I can’t decide if it is really that important or is it just an excuse to be vaguely racist. I feel like this movie would have worked better if this was 1976.
Despite the flaws, there are things the film does right. We rarely see the undead son, there are a number of set-ups for cliché scares that they don’t follow through on, the mood is fairly spooky, and generally the acting doesn’t suck. Jeremy Sisto, who I’ve been a fan of since Six Feet Under, does a great job even if he seems underused. I’m not sure why this was rated R, though. The violence is no worse than the average AMC show, there is no nudity, and the language is pretty tame.
Basically, it is nothing amazing but I’m sure it will make for a good teenage sleepover viewing in the future. Perhaps not worth the ride, but it’s nice to see something trying to stand-alone. Grade: C-
Here are some songs that got stuck in my head while viewing these flicks:
The Witch
The Other Side of the Door
- Andrew