I actually watched another horror movie between this movie and Outcast. But it was shit and I gave up half way through. And I know you're wondering what that movie is, well oh well! Any way, on with the fourth day of Halloween!
This film, this film was so close to getting my heart. To going right up there near the top of my list of fave movies. So close to me screaming recommendations. For me to say things like. 'Horror done right', 'the movie every horror fan should see'.
It isn't about jump scares, or monsters or really...anything. For at least 3/4's of the movie nothing much really happens. Weird shit goes down, no doubt. And there is the creepy subplot of Mary and her split personalities, a case at the now abandoned asylum. Amongst other subplot's, which are better discovered yourself.
But the film spends the majority of its time building atmosphere, and it is scary as fuck. You are white knuckling the entire time, waiting for something to jump out at you or whatever. And somehow, it's made worse by the fact that nothing ever does.
And then it happens fifteen minutes or so away from being a horror masterpiece, the ending happens. Oh my God, the ending. The best part is, it looks look the entire horror community didn't understand the fucking ending either. So sort of demon possession killing spree thing. Or maybe a modern day Shining.
Who the fuck knows, all I know is, either of these endings could have been great ways to cap off the movie, if it had been explained. Especially the idea of someone generally being weak willed, getting possessed by Simon, a kind of supernatural force or demon, who ultimately pushes them to do that one thing you always think about, that dark thing that you'd never really do. The baby just won't stop crying, sometimes I just want to strangle it, I just wish it'd shut up. Well here comes Simon, to make that a reality... but that isn't the real ending, that is me writing a better fucking ending than the fucking film has.
Okay, so the story goes a little bit like this. Captain Jim Brass decides CSI and CSI Miami need a crossover set in an abandoned mental asylum. So he shows Horatio Caine and his team of erm...asbestos clearer's around an abandoned mental asylum. That guy from Boy A who is now working for CSI Miami or something, manages to swing Brass to get the job by saying they'll finish it in a ridiculous amount of time. And from there, not a whole lot happens. A little character development, a little horror. For the main chunk of the movie, this is much more like an art piece setting up a thick, frightening atmosphere and then demons and shit the end.
Like I say, it's a shame I can't really recommend this because of that God awful ending because there is SO MUCH for a horror fan to like. It's shot entirely on location in a real abandoned mental asylum, it's genuinely creepy and frightening simply through atmosphere, it's just the ending is so bad, so confusing it makes you completely forget about how great the movie you were just watching was.
One thing, aside from the amazing atmosphere, that I enjoyed in this movie was some genuinely human reactions from characters and one specific scene. The specific scene is, that one of the characters is nyctophobic and at one point the generator powering their lights is cut off. So he literally begins to run from the darkness, as one by one the lights behind him go out in this long tunnel. It's a beautiful sequence. The darkness becomes a monster, chasing him, eventually consuming him. And of course he goes nuts. And by the human reactions, there's a sequence where one of the characters is walking around the asylum at night and he's spinning around, stabbing his torchlight beam into the darkness and jumping at pretty much everything. You know, like we would. I don't remember the last time characters actually felt human in a horror flick.
So ultimately? I don't know man. As much as the ending sucks, I liked this movie. Hell I LOVED this movie. At least the hour and twenty or so minutes before the ending happened. I won't go as far to say that the ending ruins the entire experience because there have been quite a few really fascinating readings of the ending and although none of them are official, if you pretend they are it caps off what is basically the closest thing a movie can be to the perfect horror movie.
The horror genre is stale, it's so bogged with cliches and conventions that we just yawn and roll our eyes at some extremely disturbing films. Like we should be appalled at the kind of stuff we shrug our shoulders at these days. Forcing films to be more and more sick and twisted and yet somehow even more boring. So it's so refreshing to watch a film be genuinly terrifying and not have to result to copious gore, crappy monster effects or jump scares. This film is mainly about nothing. But it's a mood piece. And it's a bloody marvellous one at that.
Think About It!
-Locke.
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