Hello dear reader, January is always a shitter of a month, but at least I saw a bunch of decent horror movies. My reviews are spoiler free.
Possessor (2020) 9/10
Brandon Cronenberg’s excellent Canadian science fiction body horror is a visually striking, gory and sometimes shocking movie which forces us to question gender, reality and invasive technology. An assassin, Tasya Vos, inhabits the bodies of other people in order to carry out hits undetected. However, things go tits up whilst inside her latest victim as she begins to lose mental and physical control. Possessor topped many people’s 2020 Top Ten horror lists so there was a lot of hype swimming around the film and thankfully I wasn’t disappointed. There’s a whole suite of cracking performances, from Andrea Risborough as Tasya (who I’ve loved ever since Mindhorn 2016)) to Christopher Abbott as her unsuspecting victim. Sean Bean is also on excellent nasty, morally ambiguous form as one of Tasya’s hits. There are some truly brilliant visceral and surreal special effects from the great 13 Fingerfx studio which lingered in my mind long after the film was over. I also enjoyed some of the Terry Gilliam-esque design aesthetic choices and, of course, the references to Cronenberg’s father’s amazingly predictive film eXistenZ (1998) (Jennifer Jason Leigh included). I also appreciated how it throws up some really complex questions around how we ascribe gender roles, the nature of gender performativity and also a woman’s capacity for violence. It offers a striking commentary on the difficulties some women face balancing their professional lives with familial responsibilities, and the still very much taboo subject of a woman who does not love their own child. I found Possessor to be a challenging but deeply rewarding watch, which certainly deserves its place in the best horrors, if not films, of 2020.
Suspiria (2018) 7/10
Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 occult horror Suspiria is creepy, beguiling and beautifully-shot, but ultimately a frustrating watch. Dance ingenue Susie Bannion arrives in late 70s Berlin to join the Markos Dance Academy run by the enigmatic Madame Blanc, however it soon becomes clear something witchy is afoot. As a fan of the original movie in all its daft glory I had previously avoided watching this version, but I felt I was now ready to appreciate it on its own terms. I welcomed Guadagnino’s choice to considerably differentiate it from the original, which makes the film more of a homage (including the 1980 sequel Inferno) rather than a straightforward remake. Guadagnino places the movie directly at odds with Argento’s visual and auditory feast of the senses by giving us a bleak and gloomy landscape with minimal, ethereal music. The film wasn’t particularly scary, although there are some very eerie moments, with inventive, gory set-pieces and visceral dance sequences. Dakota Johnson as Susie and Tilda Swinton as Madame Blanc et al are unsurprisingly excellent. The film also contains some interesting ideas about female self-actualisation, generational trauma and guilt and the dangers of blind adherence to political ideologies/movements. However, considering the lengthy running time some of these ideas feel a bit frustratingly meandering and underdeveloped. I don’t normally have a problem with long, slow movies, but there were definitely moments when I was unexpectedly bored. Perhaps the movie needs to marinate in my wee brain for a little bit longer or it just needs a second watch, but I was sad I didn’t love it more.
American Mary (2012) 7/10
Jen and Sylvia Soska’s sophomore film is a powerful and darkly humourous Canadian body horror which explores a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, the expression of trauma through art and the difficulties faced by female creators in male dominated spaces. Mary Mason, a talented but impoverished medical student, begins to perform underground medical procedures to make ends meet, but finds herself drawn into the world of extreme body modification and revenge. Legendary Canadian scream queen Katherine Isabelle plays Mary with an excellently cool touch, but I particularly loved Tristan Risk’s performance as Beatress, Mary’s customer and uncanny Betty Boop lookalike. Having seen The Perfection (2019) before this movie some of the more shocking and controversial moments did not hit me quite as hard as they could have done. However, don’t get me wrong, some of the sequences are still deeply uncomfortable and upsetting. There are also some lovely (perhaps inevitable) nods to David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers (1988) and the slasher genre at large. I also wondered if Mary’s rejection from mainstream medicine to the loving embrace of this subterranean scene mirrored the Soska Sister’s own experience of leaving film school and working within the independent film industry and the horror genre. Overall, there’s definitely some pacing issues at the end and there are some pretty hokey acting moments, however it’s a solid and fascinating film with strong feminist leanings and certainly worth a watch if you have the stomach for it.
Alice Sweet Alice (1976) 8/10
Alfred Sole’s 70s slasher classic is a campy delight, which satisfyingly mixes high melodrama and gore. Set in early 60s New Jersey, Karen (a very young Brooke Shields) is horribly murdered by an unknown assailant at her first Communion, but suspicion soon falls upon her short-tempered sister Alice. The film features an extremely iconic serial killer costume that I actually find quite scary and the use of the Catholic iconograph is sometimes quite overwhelming and terrifying. I was not surprised to learn that Sole was greatly influenced by Don’t Look Now’s (1974) chilling imagery. There’s some pretty provocative although non-subtle discussions around religious hypocrisy, changing social attitudes towards marriage and sexuality, the reluctance to adequately address mental illness and how damaging, toxic attitudes are passed on through the generations. Linda Miller as Alice’s mother and Mildred Clinton as the Cardinal’s housekeeper Mrs Tredoni are both great, although I found Paula Sheppard’s Alice a little uneven and her voice definitely belies the fact she’s an eighteen year old playing a twelve year old child. Coming from a modern perspective there’s also some pretty lazy, negative fat stereotyping going on and the increasing levels of hysteria might be too much for some tastes, however I thoroughly enjoyed the madness.
Tesis (Thesis) (1996) 8/10
Alejandro Amenabar’s debut feature is a brilliantly thrilling and sometimes scary movie which lovingly references and questions horror cinema in a thought-provoking way. Whilst working on a thesis about audiovisual violence and the family, university student Angela discovers a horrifying videotape which hints at a disturbing mystery within her film school. The film examines society’s simultaneous repulsion and attraction to violent, forbidden images, the ‘Americanization’ of Spanish cinema and also a woman exploring her own ‘deviant’ sexuality. Given that Amenabar was a closeted gay man at the time, Angela’s struggle with, and fear of, her own sexuality could also be a stand in for other forms of non-heteronormative sexuality. There is also a now very timely commentary on the film industry enabling film-makers to abuse women and profit from their pain. Ana Torrent is excellent as the ballsy heroine Angela and as is Fele Martinez as Chema, her sidekick and amusingly stereotypical 90s male horror fan. There are some nice but understated horror references including Nightmare on Elm Street, Psycho, giallo films and slashers. Tesis’ style and deconstruction of horror cinema reminded me a lot of The Vanishing’s (1988) approach to the serial killer genre and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games (1997), albeit with less mean-spiritedness. I also must admit as a person in their mid-thirties there’s something very nostalgic about a plot revolving around VHS tapes (imagine having to physically seek out films), floppy disks and, oh yes, those 90s fashions really made me smile.
Anything for Jackson (2020) 6/10
Justin G. Dyck’s occult horror is darkly humourous and pretty creepy, but ultimately does not quite live up to the promise of the first half of the movie. A mild-mannered Satanist couple kidnap a pregnant woman in order to reverse exorcise their dead grandson Jackson into the body of her unborn child, however the ritual doesn’t quite go to plan. So it’s sort of like if Rosemary’s Baby was from the perspective of a much less colourful version of the Castevets, but was also slapped across the face by a well-worn The Omen/The Exorcist DVD. The film contains a couple of good scares and Sheila McCarthy and Julian Richings deliver excellent, well-observed performances as the grieving couple. I also wonder if there’s meant to be some political commentary on how the white, middle-class ‘Baby Boomer’ generation feeds off the less powerful and marginalised in society in order to achieve their own selfish desires? However, the climax is confusing and the film ends up being a tad unsatisfying, especially since it was such an intriguing premise. Additionally, Ian, the fellow Satanist congregant and sinister incel dude, feels a bit one-dimensional and forced within the narrative. There’s actually a much more fascinating and complex iteration of this character in Liam Gavin’s A Dark Song (2016) which I recommend to anyone who enjoys a good occult movie with bonkers rituals.
So what did you think of these movies? Do you agree with my thoughts or was I completely wrong? Let me know in the comments below.
Let's Scare Lauren to Death 