I somehow decided to give a chance to the disgusting gore horror tape that’s been the talk of the town and that everyone deems “instant cult film”. I don't want to consider myself a Sr. Analyst of the Seventh Art, far from it, and although I do tolerate cinematic experiences that are far from being a marvel for the most critical eyes, in this case I couldn't lie to myself. My body was wandering around, as if it were half-asleep and unwilling to finish the movie. The last strength I had left, made me hit play to a title I had been hearing about for some time, and that generated in me, to say the least, a certain curiosity. Curiosity, a word that was much more powerful than any other marketing campaign and that shows us that we live in an era where conventional promotions no longer take effect as they used to do before...
I never considered myself a fan that exalts the power of graphics in film visuals, but I do consider myself one who appreciates shock. However, let's not get confused, they are two totally different things. It may sound quite confusing to mention the word since literally a shock is a condition that occurs in our body when it is not having enough blood flow to be able to function properly. In cinema, mentioning that a movie was shocking to us means that it paralyzed us at a certain moment or perhaps during most of the viewing, resulting in a myriad of sensations and emotions that intertwine and leave us alone with our thoughts. If I have to think the perfect depiction of shock, the first thing that comes to mind is hopelessness at the end of The Vanishing, the parallel sequence where we see the total decline of the protagonists in Requiem For A Dream... or that murky image that we can never see but can imagine when Morgan Freeman says “John Doe is in control” in Se7en.
I never felt that way watching the (so far) three films of the Terrifier saga, even if the director had intended otherwise. Terror, as we should keep in mind, is a subjective emotion that mutates with the passage of time. If ten years ago films like The Conjuring frightened me, today, I can say that they no longer do. My fears are the ones that have been changing, but the movies remain the same. Do you feel me? This year there were two films in the genre that really petrified me: Longlegs and The First Prophecy. Two simmering titles that definitely got under my skin brought something refreshing while keeping references to the genre without losing their true identity at any point.
But the Damien I least wanted to become famous is sadly making a name for himself ―I would have preferred that Hollywood did NOT cancel Damien Chazelle after Babylon, although there is always hope―with an unexpected success that leaves Joaquin Phoenix's Joker and his sequel in ruins. This director, of whom many knew absolutely nothing until a few months ago, knew how to take several ideas, mix them together in a messy and crude way in his mental blender and thus create this imminent new icon of the modern slasher: Art The Clown. An entity in the form of a human being with clown makeup, demonic teeth, a curious “ability” to never die (a rather common feature in these sagas), and a quiet yet terrifying stance. But of course, this is not a novelty...
Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers and even the most recent protagonist of Thanksgiving belong to this select group of killers who won't, shouldn't or can't talk, as if that would take away the aura that makes them terrifying. In this context, and in addition to the fact that there hasn’t been much talk about this subgenre of horror―beyond the attempted resurrection of Scream or some other decent example―Damien Leone (named after his mother since she is a fan of the saga of The Prophecy) decided to bring life to a story full of clichés and that in no way refreshes or innovates within this "microverse". There is the young girl traumatized by the lurid murders of this clown, an endless list of secondary characters who ignore his presence, the murderer who will try to take the young girl's life again... and the final girl.
What is rather striking is that, in this saga, there is too much blood and the hype and gore for the murder scenes is extreme. There’s a fine line between morbidity and what these kind of movies makes us feel, the need to look away and rethink why we support this kind of genre to begin with. What motivated this practical effects lover to have no filter at all? Was it a fondness for B movies? Did he think people would like it? Does someone actually like it? It makes me wonder, should I just ignore my critical side and enjoy something that I can't make any sense of? Leone's direction is simply horrifying, it’s so bad that it doesn't even manage to disgust me anymore. Am I the one who’s wrong here? Or everyone who liked this movie is? Although everyone has different tastes, we should be more cautious about what we watch and rave about…
BY JERÓNIMO CASCO
Posted on NOVEMEBER 15, 2024, 17:23 PM | UTC-GMT -3
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