Tag Archives: Movie

Tales of Despair: Werewolves in Suburbia

This is a tale of depression, misanthropy and suicide. Of coming of age, and of dying. It speaks of the banality of modern society, and the terrible havoc of a demon from long ago.

In a basement, two sisters live. In the dim light, they dream of their escape, by flight or by death. In the waking world, they are disliked by all; in the dungeon of their home, their dislike is only for themselves, and for life. Though their parents live above them, they have little contact with them, and the disconnect between their lives is total.

And then, the eldest sister is mauled by the beast. They know not what the beast is, nor its provenance, but the girl’s transformation becomes slowly unmistakable. The physical is preceded by the mental and the emotional, and she turns upon her own sister, ostracizing her in favor of encounters that satisfy her newfound and ravenous sexuality, and her equally ravenous and terrible appetite.

Refusing to leave her sister to her fate, the younger girl pursues her, even as she starts down an irreversible path of death and destruction, beginning with the devouring of pets, and leading to the murder of a local girl. In a rare lucid state, the elder sister helps her sister bury the dead girl, but the realization comes to the younger one’s mind that her sister is not the person she once knew: she would eat the dead girl, given the chance.

Desperate to redeem her sister, her only soulmate, the younger sister discovers a possible cure – but it is too late. Despite barring her in their shared bathroom, her transformation has become too great, and she escapes, leading her to their school. Frantic, the younger sister follows her, encounters her as she seduces a boy, the only one who believes the truth of her transformation. In pain and torment, they subdue her, and drag her to their home, where the last dregs of their cure remains. But it is too late – her transformation is complete. Now a beast herself, the boy is murdered before her eyes, yet her devotion to her sister, terror through she now is, is resolute: she will cure her, or release her from her pain.

And in the end, of course, the cure is forsaken, and the girl, weeping, is left with no choice, and plunges the knife deep into her sister’s heart, listening to the beast’s slow and ragged breathing until, finally, it ceases.

Go watch Ginger Snaps.

Tales of Despair: The Road and the Unhappy Ending

There are so many creations in the realm of literature and art that draw inspiration from despair that they have, in some areas, grown a cult of their own. Entire genres are dedicated to these themes, and as far back as Shakespeare people have been fascinated by fate and the tragic ending. Macbeth is a perfect example of a tale which is very much doomed from the start – from the very beginning, we know there is no hope left for this man, and we follow him powerlessly to his doom.

In most areas of art, the artist is mostly, if not entirely, in control of their work. This allows a great freedom to take the story where it leads, regardless of the end. As a storyteller, it is with great relish – though also with great pain – that we can put our characters through a hell they sometimes don’t survive. Tolkien allowed Frodo to be scarred, physically and mentally, for the rest of his life. Orwell provided no escape for Winston Smith, and in the end he was powerless to stop himself from being reintegrated into the society he so hated. Stephen King is a master of the ability to push the darkness of a tale past the point of no return, whether it is Louis Creed graphically losing his son early in Pet Semetary and eventually driving him to insanity, or Paul Sheldon losing his entire leg to Annie’s madness in Misery. These are things that can’t be recovered from; for these characters, there will be no happy ending.

Yet there is one artistic medium in which it is much more difficult to avoid the inevitable ending upturn, and that is film. Particularly in the large-budget Hollywood industry, revenue is all-important in recouping the cost of developing the film, and the story ultimately falls to the demands of the crowd. In the end, most people just don’t go to the movies to feel bad.

What ends happening is that, with the exception of those few movies that are actually based upon novels (see the Stephen King examples above), it is almost impossible to find a movie that is willing to commit to the permanent destruction of their characters, and refuse to relent even at the very last moment. As scary as horror movies are, someone always survives. As moving as dramas are, someone always wins an insurmountable struggle.

Occasionally, you will come across a movie that goes halfway, and doesn’t quite provide quite the satisfying ending you might expect. Donnie Darko does this well – certainly not a happy ending, but one that somehow resonates nonetheless with a just fate. There are bittersweet endings, such as in Toy Story 3, with a conclusion we know is coming from the very beginning, yet somehow don’t want to face.

But there are very few movies that have the guts to go the full distance. In the end, there are few that can claim this credit as a stand-alone film (American Beauty springs to mind as an exception), but even in novel adaptations, the temptation to veer from the story can be overwhelming.

The Road, however, is not one of these. It is in every possible way as bleak and terrible as the novel it was based on, and doesn’t stray from its course even at the final stage. In a way, the shattered world in which our characters live give us little reason for hope form the outset, but a vast canon of apocalypse tales (thank you, John Wyndham) has taught us that at least some sort of redemption awaits at the end. At first, we want to believe that salvation may, in fact, lie at the coast, despite there being no evidence other than the father’s words. When the father becomes ill, we expect this as the twist, the seat-edger. What happens from there, however, is the push too far that casts the whole story into despair. There is no redemption, and even as we watch the boy watch over his father’s body, there is still some tiny hope that maybe we’re wrong, and that he’ll come back.

This ending has earned The Road the dubious accolade of being my favorite movie I would never want to see again. I fell in love with it visually from the very first scene, and the impeccably executed plot was riveting. But as a father, the ending cut a little too close to home, and I watched the credits roll through a pretty thick veil of tears. I want to watch this again…but perhaps not any time soon.

In the end, of course, we are allowed at least a brief reprise from despair in the form of the family that take the boy in. Yet they are a poor substitute, and the genuine love and caring the boy has lost in his father is irreplaceable. Ultimately, the closing message seems to suggest that kindness itself is irrelevant; in a world such as this, there is truthfully survival – or death.

Movies I Am Already Looking Forward to This Year

I am not a great fan of movies that are billed as “the most original since…” or “brilliant ★★★★” (how I loathe those stars). I don’t particularly care for gut-wrenchers that seem to exist solely to beat your spirit to the ground with an iron rod. And I wouldn’t go out of my way to catch an avant-garde, indie film whose creators lost sight of the story amidst their obsession with being different.

What I do enjoy are films that have a strong story, strong characters and strong directing. Actors are neither here nor there; I’ve rarely seen a good movie ruined by a poor actor, and never seen a bad movie saved by one. Cinematography is important, but must take second place to the story. Explosions, too, are important, but must also be a passenger to the story. Effects in general should serve the story, and not the other way around. This is why Hugo was amazing, and Transformers was not.

My favorite films include Alien, Angel Heart, Corpse Bride, The Crow, The Da Vinci Virus (not Code), The Dark Knight, Donnie Darko, Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola’s version), Ginger Snaps, The Goonies, The Hitcher (with Rutger Hauer, not Sean Bean, love him though I do), Jacob’s Ladder, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Love Actually, The Lovely Bones, The Muppets’ Treasure Island, Ring (Hideo Nakata’s version), Sin City, Star Wars (yes, all of them), This Is Spinal Tap and WALL•E.

An odd mix, perhaps, but it sets the scene, I suppose. Some of these have spectacular visual effects; Coppola in particular impressed me by using absolutely no digital effects at all in his Dracula. Jackson impressed me just as much with his almost entirely digital Lord of the Rings. Both of these were based on exceptionally good story material. In fact, I like to think the same could be said of each of the above. And so that is why the following films are the ones I am looking forward to seeing the most this year (knowing, of course, that some might change):

April 13: The Cabin in the Woods

Can’t say I know much about this; critics are being very wary of giving anything away, and this in itself is intriguing me. It reminds me of the glory days of Hitchcock (or even E.T. The Extraterrestrial for that matter) when nothing but actually seeing the movie would tell you anything about it. People are calling it art-horror, and I’m good with all of that. [IMDB]

April 27: The Raven

An interesting play into the fictional history genre; detectives seek out Edgar Allan Poe to help them capture a murderer inspired by his own writing. I love Poe; I love John Cusack; I love period films. Period. [IMDB]

May 11: Dark Shadows

I’ll be honest – I didn’t even look this one up. It’s based on a TV series, apparently. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp…enough said (no Helena Bonham Carter though, disappointingly). [IMDB]

June 8: Prometheus

Ridley Scott has done an excellent job of keeping the nature of this movie a secret, and even the tantalizing images and trailers that are leaking out are giving nothing away. Remember the first one in my list of favorite films? Yep. [IMDB]

June 15: Brave

Disney and Pixar’s thirteenth outing is a must-see for me because I have an eight-year-old, and…well, just because. Pixar are gods in my eyes, and this goes way beyond the animation; WALL•E was a dangerously unorthodox love story, as was Up, which followed it. This one looks like an interesting departure from the usual tales, however – as someone pointed out to me, it is the first Disney/Pixar release to feature a female lead. I also like Scotland. [IMDB]

June 15: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

I’m not sure how this film ever got green-lit, but I’m glad it did. Like The Raven, we’re looking at fictional history, and this time it just looks plain silly. Tim Burton at the helm again (he’s busy this year!), and Abe looks awesome wielding an axe! [IMDB]

July 20: The Dark Night Rises

Pretty predictable, I guess – first summer blockbuster of the year, and probably going to outsell every other single film in the history of anything, ever. Batman Begins was good. The Dark Knight was astonishing, and unexpected. I was brought to the edge of my seat, and was so glad that Christopher Nolan didn’t back off, and pushed the story all the way off the edge and into darkness. I’m anxious to see if The Dark Night Rises falls somewhere between the two, or becomes simply the most amazing action movie of all time. [IMDB]

August 3: Total Recall

I don’t think they could possibly top Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone, but still…I’m just going to have to see it, for the hell of it. Along with Robocop next year. [IMDB]

October 5: Frankenweenie

A return to the magic of Tim Burton animation. I can’t wait. [IMDB]

October 29: Cloud Atlas

This movie looks impossible, in concept at least. The characters are spanned across time and space, and are yet connected to each other in way that has not been revealed, and will probably rent the fabric of the universe when it is. Oh, and I should mention: Tom Hanks, Hugo Weaving, Susan Sarandon, Halle Berry and Hugh Grant. I realize I said actors were neither here nor there…but these ones are all here. [IMDB]

December 7: Les Misérables

If they do to this what they did to Chicago, we’re in for a treat. [IMDB]

December 14: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I have been looking forward to this movie for ten years, and it can not come soon enough. In a way, though, I’m glad I still need to wait another 274 days; no matter what happens this year, no matter how terrible things might get, finishing 2012 with The Hobbit will make it all okay. This is magic of another kind. [IMDB]

And that’s it. Maybe more will come out, and there might be some I’ve somehow missed. I don’t really keep up on these things; these are just the ones Zite told me about. Perhaps you’d like to share the films you’re most excited to see this year?

Note: The further away the movies’ release dates are, the less accurate these dates will be. The ones I’ve given are as stated on the IMDB as of writing.