Real scary
TWO NEW FILMS DIP INTO A FRESH HORROR TREND AND ADD THEIR OWN SPIN
I’m the last person you want to see a horror movie with. I always get way too sucked into them.
Ever since I was young, almost any time an element of a horror film entered my vision, it stuck there. The aliens from “Independence Day” and “Mars Attacks!” became as real to me as my elementary schoolteachers and lackluster PE grades. I remember walking home alone after watching “The Blair Witch Project” in middle school and was fully expecting to never make it. My house was less than a block away.
I half enjoy horror and half dread it. But recently, I’ve been excited about a subgenre of horror that’s rooted in reality. Call it “unbeatable horror.” Essentially, the genre pits its characters against insurmountable odds. Cliche jump scares are nowhere to be seen, replaced with a dubious, spooky tone. Only a handful of new films fit the mold, but it’s slowly creeping into notoriety between the flashy “Insidious” and “Sinister” sequels.
The latest entries are “Son of Saul” and “The Witch.” Both start playing in Oklahoma on Friday. I caught advance screenings of the films within a couple days of each other, and both were nearperfect. I have no hesitation awarding the movies 4-star reviews.
“Son of Saul” is an Oscar nominee and a front-runner for Best Foreign Language Film. Set inside a crematorium at Auschwitz, it tells the story of a Jewish father who desperately works to give his dead son a proper burial within the confines of the concentration camp. It’s the longest, saddest funeral you could imagine.
“The Witch” follows a Christian
family in New England in 1630. The seven family members live on an isolated farm, and their world slips into madness after their infant son vanishes. I’ll give you one guess who’s responsible, and it ain’t Hermione Granger. Director Robert Eggers won the Best Director prize at Sundance for his debut writing/directing effort.
Both films feature overwhelming antagonists that blanket their victims with hopelessness. Saul (played by Geza Rohrig) works in a concrete maze that’s guarded by countless Nazis. There’s barely a scene in the entire film where he isn’t being put to work or facing an atrocity. It’s not for the faint of heart. Countless bodies line the walls of gas chambers, and Jews get shot into pits.
In “The Witch,” farmer (Ralph Ineson) and his wife (Kate Dickie) try to make a living in unforgiving times. If they can’t grow food, their family dies. Grief and despair tear the family apart, and there’s little that can glue the family back together after a witch enters the picture.
“The Babadook” (2014) and “It Follows” (2015) share more than a few similarities with “Son of Saul” and “The Witch.” “It Follows” and “The Babadook” both focus on a woman who’s forced to confront a monster that can’t be killed, only managed.
The biggest difference between the two sets of films is the stifling amount of historical accuracy. “Son of Saul” and “The Witch” are not only deeply rooted in documented accounts of the past, but everything from the wood on the cabins and the design of the crematorium was fussed over. “The Witch” director Robert Eggers even made sure the button holes on costumes were accurate.
These details aren’t scary themselves, but they’re dedicated to pluck viewers out of their cellphone-induced comfort and place them in an environment where easy doesn’t exist. Convenient is a funny three-syllable word that wasn’t invented yet. There’s no curtain to pull back that makes you realize things will be OK. It’s true horror, and scenes not only stuck in my mind but made me leave the theater thinking about what I saw. That’s horror, and filmmaking, at its best. Both films also hold up as effective dramas. Regardless of genre, they’re well-built and perfectly acted.
When I think back on viewing these films, I’m reminded of something my mom used to say to me when I was growing up. It was along the lines of “there’s enough bad stuff in the world, so why watch something intentionally frightening?” That’s a pretty good point, but my appreciation for great movies doesn’t let something like genre or the inevitability of nightmares stop me.
Nobody rushes to the theater for films about failure. I’m not guessing “Son of Saul” or “The Witch” will be box-office smashes. Instead, I see them as a shining example of smart, impactful storytelling.
I’m not afraid of aliens anymore, but these filmmakers could make anything really scary. Or better yet, real and scary.