If you know me, you know I love horror movies! Let's jump right in:
It Comes at Night
This atmospheric, psychological horror film, directed by Trey Edward Shults, caused a number of people to walk out of the theatre I saw it in. Not because of over-the-top gore, but because of unmet expectations.
It Comes at Night was marketed as a straightforward horror movie that takes place in the aftermath of a epidemic that kills off a large portion of the population. Survivalist Paul (Joel Edgerton, amazing and edgy), his wife Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), and his son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) live in their rustic home, deep in the woods and literally barricaded so that there is only one exit and the door is locked at night: no one goes out and no one comes in after dark.
But one day, Paul catches a man, Will (Christopher Abbott), trying to break in. After beating the shit out of the him and tying him to a tree all night to make sure he doesn't have the disease that killed off most of the outside world, Paul interrogates Will and finds out he has a wife and a young son--he was looking for water and was desperate. After some negotiations, Paul allows Will and family to move in as long as the follow the rules.
Without giving anything away, this arrangement crumbles pretty quickly.
It Comes at Night seems to be about monsters in the woods and diseases, but it's really about paranoia and the horrific actions people will take to protect "their own". It's also about masculine hubris. Macho Paul thinks he has things under control--he is the king of his home and no one challenges him. But ultimately, the tighter he clenches his fist, the more quickly he loses control. People walked out of this movie because they thought the bought a ticket to see the next Blair Witch or 28 Days Later, and what they got was a movie about the horrors of the human heart.
Grade: B
***
The Eyes of My Mother
The freshman effort of director Nicolas Pesce is a beautiful and sickening black and white film about Francisca, a young woman who lives on an isolated farm and learns to slaughter and dissect cows from her surgeon mother. When a stranger shows up at Francisca's door while her father is away and asks to use the phone, we know things will not turn out well.
With the know-how to surgically remove eyeballs and vocal cords, and a complete lack of empathy or a conscience, Francisca pirouettes deftly from potential prey to sadistic predator. The film skips ahead in time so that we see Francisca attempting to remedy her isolation in terrifying and disgusting ways.
I won't say more, except that this movie is likely only to be enjoyed by fans of super-indie horror who have strong stomachs. It's not as bad as, say, Hostel in terms of explicit violence, but it's in many ways more disturbing.
Grade: B-
***
XX
I should have loved this horror anthology composed of four short films, all directed by women, but alas it only whetted my appetite without fully satisfying. The women who directed these films were given no theme, but three of them focus on motherhood and specifically on women who lose control of their children/lives in horrific (and sometimes funny) ways.
My favorite of the films, which many critics deemed the weakest of the four, is "The Box", directed by Jovanka Vuckovic. It has an incredible simple premise--a boy sees a man on the subway carrying a box. He asks to see what's inside it. Whatever he sees causes him to stop eating, and no matter what his mother does--cooks his favorite foods, takes him to the doctor, cajoles, punishes, begs--nothing keeps him from wasting away. It's an elegant and disturbing short story.
The other films didn't really do it for me, at least in their short-feature length. But if you like horror, and especially horror directed by women, XX is worth checking out.
Grade: C+
***
The Devil's Candy
This quirky film is about a family of artists who move into a suspiciously cheap home where two deaths have taken place. Dad Jesse (Ethan Embry) is a long-haired artist who loves death metal. Mom Astrid (Shiri Appleby) is a hairdresser and laid-back "cool mom" type. Young teen Zooey (Kiara Glasco) is a natural born misfit who worships her dad and longs for a sweet-ass guitar that she can learn to play metal on.
Turns out, the deaths that occurred in the home were not so innocent (are they ever, in these types of movies?) -- the little old lady who lived in the home did not, in fact, fall down the stairs, but was pushed by her mentally unstable son who was hearing voices telling him to kill...kill...KILL. And that man is still on the loose, still hearing voices, and still collecting children (the "devil's candy") to murder...and once he sees young Zooey, he realizes that she's "the sweetest candy" of all (ick).
The Devil's Candy is over-the-top, ridiculous, and a lot of fun. The climatic scene is incredibly unrealistic in the way that makes you scream at the screen "No one could survive ALL THAT!"
I can't really recommend the movie, but I can't NOT recommend it either. If you like death metal, demonic voices, and children getting hacked to bits, you will probably enjoy it! :D
Grade: B-
Metal as fuk
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