Temple (2017) Horror Demon

Temple (2017) - On the heels of The Ritual (2017) let me dig into Temple these two with my entry last year, The Shrine (2010) should make a nice trio of films on the subject of gods and monsters. I was excited to see that this film was written by Simon Barrett, The Guest (2014), Blair Witch (2016), You're Next (2011). A great writer but something about the story having credits from three producers made me worry. Not that producers don't also come up with great story ideas but how did this writing job come about for Barrett? Seems a strange thing but whatever, if a producer thinks they have a good story idea, Barrett would not be a bad guy to have write the screenplay. Unfortunately I think the film suffered from a bit too much convoluted storytelling.
 Opening is Japanese cops searching for someone and then making a gruesome discovery. Credit include newspapers saying that six children went missing and showing the Temple we will later see. The monk of the temple was suspected and ominous rumor spread.
  There is a storytelling structure where we see a scene in a hospital, a man in a wheelchair sort of covered like a bubble, an detective asks the patient questions. This is going to be one of the characters we follow but his identity is hidden.  They show him a video, it starts with Kate (Natalia Warner) and her camera. Her boyfriend James (Brandon Sklenar) is flying in from San Francisco to join her and her childhood friend Chris (Logan Huffman). Chris is  a damaged friend coming on the trip because he speaks Japanese but he still struggling with his brothers death. Kate is studying how religion influences myth and vice versa and wants to photograph Japanese shrines. You think that since the cops questioning the injured person is a repeated setting it is key to the story, but really it is just a framing device for telling the tale. You eventually learn who the character is but there is a weird not very satisfying ending to this device. It leaves the watcher not knowing what was real and what was imagined as the movie plays out. On one hand it definitely does imply the survivor killed the other two, but circumstances at the site leaves the viewer thinking that it would be impossible.
  The stage is set with scenes of the three out on the town and Chris envious that James gets the girl?
Chris is not at all what the boyfriend imagined. He seems fine but his voice and face is betraying him. He can't believe Chris is not attracted to Kate. She sort of likes he may be a bit jealous of this long time friend. Awkward travel conversation on the train creating a dynamic between the two men. Maybe the point here is to paint Chris as an unstable person and a relationship triangle to keep tension between the characters and to reduce trust. Chris and he telling her he feels like a third wheel but also obviously digs Kate. (Talk about over doing the triangle dynamic and how in the end it is not serving the story) Finding a folktale book in a second hand store they see an old temple in it in a myth about a shape-shifter. The woman running the store does not want to sell it.
  Later at the club reinforce the Chris dynamic as he watches the couple dance. He is having no luck with the locals so leaves the bar and goes back to the shop, sees the book and buys it off the little kid that is watching the shop. He finally gets to look at it in more detail at a quiet roadside bar the bartender knows where the temple is. Chris gets a warning from the the other customer in the bar that the temple will make you sick, crazy some of this is lost in translation. Now Chris know where the place is and you can bet your bottom dollar that it will be the first place they go. Chris is spooked in an alley [suddenly film's the music and visuals are darkening] but he makes it back to the house and leaves the book for Kate. Director Michael Barrett includes flashes of scary scenes to let us know that the horror is coming.
It seems that the relationship triangle is building as a trigger when things go horribly wrong. It really did not turnout that way though. Seems that all the build up of rivalry between the men is for not. Sure Kate has shared a secret with Chris that she did not share with her boyfriend but it really didn't really matter because as soon as the audience learns this, Kate tells James so there is no consequence to the James / Chris relationship. These men competing though is so odd going as far as when they are all bunked in one room, Chris watches with camera as Kate and James get it on. Why would James and girl be screwing around when they are all sharing the room? Fucking alfa dog shit right there.
They head off to find the temple the next day. They are dropped at the village below the temple. We see the kid from the bookstore, in flashes we see a long clawed hand. So maybe the women who refused to sell the book acted to protect them from the creature. The shape-shifter, who may be the kid that sold the book, was the creature seen in its true form in the flash and then he reappears at the village and says "When I was a kid I played in the temple. I can show it to you."  The kid did not talk when the old woman poked in her head, pretty sure just Chris is the only one seeing him. They find the statue from the book, the Shape-shifter statue. Musical queue when the little boy looks at it so we know something will be up with that later, or the director felt like raising a bit of audience anticipation. When they reach the temple Chris says goodbye to the kid, he warns them with a another musical queue to get back before dark. James does not want to stay long there is a bit of tension between the couple. Photos as they look about by Kate and Chris but they both get spooked separately. Kate is so spooked she wants to leave immediately thinking there is someone watching them.
  In the temple a hand pulls Chris through the floorboards. He is unconscious for a second. He is hurt enough that they have to spend the night split up his leg and starts a fire. James and Kate are a bit at odds because of the secret and James does not even know about that yet. Kate never told James about the fact that she aborted James baby. James come back and thinks the thing she has not told him is that she is going to break up or something. Tension fills the air at this point. Kate told Chris but not James about the pregnancy. So James and Kate wander off together to have it out. I guess she told him because his ass is out of there. When she comes back and James has stormed off, she is doing the I'm upset but rebounding on the guy that is there, of course Chris is like quietly accepting her attention. She lays with him after caressing his hair and wants to be held. Animal like breathing and growling outside.
 Now is about the time where the editors went into overdrive, cutting from one character to another. I am not sure it really works so instead I will try to explain what happens to each character without cutting back and forth. So the scary climax comes on in the night which is dark and full of terrors. We cut to James trying to hike out in the dark. He finds himself confronting a shape-shifter statue in the dark. He sees it come to life.
  Kate hears the Screams and heads out to find him. "He needs me" James running being pursued by the statue come to life falls in the dark. Kate follows the sounds towards James. James in the meantime is caught by the creature? Kate follows some whimpering sounds into the mines, this may not turn out well for her.  Kate really far into the mines, she so is never going to find her way out. Kate finds James but he looks all mangled, could be the creature? She runs blindly now. Animal growling and shrieking as she runs shouting for help. She finds a dead end, and breaks down crying. Deep in the mines as we see Kate whispering as the creature finds might have found her.
   Chris is left at the temple with he hurt leg, tries to follow Kate but falls because of his leg. He sees a visage of the monk sitting by a fire, struggles to get back in the temple before the being reaches him.  He pulls himself in and I guess feels more secure with the wall between he and the monk visage.
From the hole he was pulled through Chris sees the boy and other children crawl from the hole in the temple floor. Then all the children and they have sharp teeth and attack Chris.Chris being finished off. Question whether Chris imagined the children and mangled himself? Is he imagining everything? He can't be the responsible for the other's deaths since he is injured. Then the hospital interview seems to shit on that? A bit confusing.
  I was not pleased with how this film was worked out. If as the cops say Chris was an unstable dude who killed his friends why add the supernatural elements. Sure it make his story and that of the monk accused years earlier parallel but then why the imaginary friend and the scary creature sounds? All three did not seem to be having hallucinations. Why also the scenes that establish the shape-shifter coming from the book? If it was supernatural why have the last stabbing scene? This film just did not come together for me. Maybe I missed something but it just did not make a lot of sense to me. Then there was the general classic gray blue tinge and that most of the film was dark. It did not particularly look good. I would probably pass if I knew all these things ahead of time.

The Ritual (2017) Horror Myth

The Ritual (2017) - THIS IS QUITE SPOILERY SO DON"T BOTHER UNTIL YOU SEE THIS FINE FILM! This film had a fair amount of Twitter hype, people I follow at least, seem to rate it highly so I must be following the right people. Director David Bruckner has done some notable things in the horror genre, The Signal (2007), V/H/S/ (2012) and Southbound (2015) as well as being the writer of Siren (2016). The films easy availability on Netflix made it was a no-brainer that it would be my first film of the year, in what has been this very neglected blog.
 At its heart it is a very male story about masculinity and the struggle with fear in dangerous situations. It's about how men have to confront those fears and the costs to our ego and relationship when we do or don't. Centered in the relationships of four men we get a good dose of how men interact when there is an incident that changes their lives. On a smaller scale we journey with Luke (Rafe Spall) as he confronts the guilt of not being brave when he possibly needed to be.
  The setup is quick but a real powerhouse scene, the writer (Joe Barton) get's it right out there in the first few pages. That is how you get a script read have an early banging scene. Five friends are talking about a hiking trip to Sweden for their annual men's trip. Before that can happen one of the mates Robert (Paul Reid) dies in a tragic way leaving the other four to carry through with the hike in memorial. It is the kind of setup to give just enough character information to get us into the lives of these men. Also very clever making the scene Luke's dream which allows the viewer to join the hike in progress with enough development to get into the main story.

  None of the men are experienced hikers and so when something goes wrong the decision making goes a bit skewed towards poor. Being someone who has hiked for over thirty years and has lead dozens of groups of backpackers I can tell you I totally anticipated the bad decision making. I was resolved to the fact it was going to happen to drive the plot along. Bad Hiking Decision #1: Dom (Sam Troughton) twists a knee, okay, if he can not walk on it you give food and water to last the number of days it will takes to get help. Then two hike out on the known route, leaving one guy behind to keep the hurt companion company. If the guy can walk some he can continue forward with his companion while the other two travel the established route at a faster pace to get help.What you don't do is go off trail into a forest thinking you are going to save time and get help sooner. What do you think happens in this film? Sure enough they whip out a compass and attempt to more all four people through the forest. That is really the setup then as in all horror films, things go horribly wrong.
 The music changes we get shots of the forest dark and deep and the hikers wishing the trip was over as they make there way through the woods. A bear strung up and gutted in the forest is the first sign that these guys are not alone and that there are things more dangerous afoot. Bad Hiking Decision #2: As the light fades they trudge on making another horrible mistake traveling through the night. Not that you can't navigate in the dark with a compass and map but beginners should really tent up for the night. Finding a cabin in the woods all boarded up and they break in. In exploring the house Hutch (Robert James-Collier) find what looks like an effigy of a straw man with antler hands and hooves. That is ominous to say the least. Luke hears sounds in the forest or is this just his guilt talking to him? Now he could be psychologically damaged from the incident that lead to Roberts death, when he hid behind store shelves instead of taking some kind of action. Director Bruckner does a nice job with the repeated dream sequences where Luke ends up back in the store. They happen through out the film and the way the current forest blends in to the store more and more as the plot progresses was nicely done. They discuss the possible origins of the figure and what other strange beliefs the Swedes might have. Bad Hiking Decision 3: The hiking decision that put them in this situation is questioned, leaving the trail that is. It still possible for the group to start backtracking to the original path but this idea discarded for heading on a course that can not be predicted. The people pushing this ill fated course of action rationalize now how it was the best choice. It is so necessary for the plot but so damn frustrating for me.
  A night in a creepy cabin means that we have another dream for Luke. When he wakes to a light outside the cabin, its blinding but no one else wakes, he opens the door to be back in the liqueur store. As we see he has not worked through those feelings we know at least it is a dream. He wakes to find himself in daylight outside the cabin with cuts on his chest in a circular pattern. Did something run away as he woke. Hutch is screaming with a nightmare inside the cabin. He pissed himself it was so scary. Dom also having a nightmare and Luke wakes him.  Upstairs Phil (Arsher Ali) is by the effigy asleep and praying to it, really out of sorts. This is tight tense and really brings the dread of the story to a whole new level. All four men are really shaken, and when they step outside ready to leave, they see runes carved in the trees around the house and the smart choice at this point would be top go back the way they came and get on the original trail. Bad Hiking Decision 4: This is squashed by the frustrated Dom who sees the path that leads to the cabin and insists they follow it since it must come from somewhere where there are people. Let's just follow some random path that does not even go in the correct direction? Really? Already they should have arrived the village they saw from the original path but because of weather they can blame it for not reaching it yet.
  They begin rationalizes the experience in the cabin as they walked, but you know Hutch really doesn't want to talk about since he pissed himself. Dom says his knee hurts too bad and then sort of quits on them. They are traveling the wrong direction for hours because of his rage decision and now he has had enough. Luke heads up the ridge hoping to see something but is frustrated by the density of the forest. He hears something up there and maybe we see a real like version of the effigy and of course when he gets back to his mates they did not hear or see anything. So some are skeptical of his story. He shows them his circular pattern cuts on his chest and then Don cuts him down as not trustworthy while still railing against their situation. Some of the feelings about his past cowardliness now comes out between them. Rob would be dead if he had stood up, thrown a bottle or something. These feeling pent up and  now the group is falling apart. Hutch can't really back up Luke he prefers they don't confront it. The script here could have given us a bit more earlier on to define the Hutch and Phil characters a bit more distinctly. Maybe it is just that Phil is not particularly well drawn?
  We get some possible dubious history about hiking through these woods. They find a tent with belongings from a family, the credit card in the wallet is from from 1984 as seen on the. Rationalization for Bad Hiking Decision 4: We registered with the lodge. They are going to see that we did not turn up and a rescue party will be sent. Well all well and good but you left not only thee original path but change direction part way from your shortcut and now are wandering a path from the cabin and finding the remains of families that disappeared her decades before.This is the half way point in the film. Hutch, spooked enough decides to give Luke the compass in the morning and send him southwest (the original shortcut route) The night is dark and filled with terrors. Luke awake in his tent hears sounds of heavy breathing and snapping branches and then unzipping and looking out he see the liqueur stop seen that breaks into the creature in the woods. The shift really happens here where it goes from maybe Luke is imagining to being a full blown crisis. Luke wakes from his dream and finds Phil screaming about shadows, Hutch's tent is ripped open and the small amount of blood is all that is left of their friend. All had dreams again and not the three remaining men hear Hutch yell from the midnight dark forest. Bad Hiking Decision 5: They hear the sounds of the creature but go after him anyway. They are worried about getting lost in the dark but it is a crisis and often that leads to impulsive decision making. When morning breaks they have not found the tents or Hutch. Don't wander off into the woods at night.
 They find Hutch in a tree like the bear with his guts ripped open. Luke keeps himself in together enough to get the compass and knife from the body. But these guys are screwed no gear and no shelter. Phil is loosing his mind a bit and they are now all accepting that they are in deep shit. Footprints in the sand by a stream and now there are people to contend with. They choose to go a different way up the hill which is much harder for Don. There is this great visual of the creature moving in the background without them seeing it. Really nicely done. Phil can't get the thought of the thing from his head. It is dire straights and the worse is yet to come. When the creature takes Phil and then there were two. The story is written so much from Luke's point of view you know he will be the last man standing. Dom though got some decent development so you have hope he will also make it.
  Dom and Luke are left and as they flee the creature they come to light from a village. Pursued they rush to a cabin and are met with villagers that knock them unconscious. Dom is sacrificed to the god and since Luke is the on with the circular cut marks on his chest he is not. Luke is left the sole survivor still a captive of the village folk. When one comes to feed him, the one who speaks English explains that they worship it. It is a God born from Loki and wishes all to bow to it. It keeps them in the forest but there is no more pain and no more death, eternal life in return for sacrifices. Your Ritual begins tonight you will kneel before the god she says. So he will be the one to join the group? He is left with this and he attempts his escape, to be brave, overcome his fear. The upstairs room is a roomful of old dried corpses, that are animated enough to make the raspy screaming sounds he has been hearing. He burns the room and goes for the guns he saw then all hell breaks loose.
The villagers kneel to the god but Luke has upset the order of things. Shit gets real as he makes his way out, sees the God and gets scared and runs. He pisses it off by shooting it and flees to the woods. One last delusion of the liqueur store. It knocks him over. He is grabbed by it and then it drops him into a bowed position. When he tries to rise it pushes him back down. He tries again defying the God and slashing it with an ax. He makes another run for it. Into a field outside the woods. It stops at the boundary and he screams at it roaring like it roared at him.The sun comes up as he walks back up a field seeing a road off in the distance.
  I really enjoyed this film even with the absolutely horrible backpacking decisions these characters made. (Have to drive plot I suppose.) Some of the characterization could have been deeper but they all served a purpose. I thought Hutch and Phil sort of were a bit underdeveloped could have been interchangable, while Dom was one toned. In the end it all works since it is Luke's story. I am not sure Luke ever really got brave but I think he made some progress. Now of course there are no more friends left to look down on him for being a coward. I suppose he will think he got past it but three more finds losses to deal with. I don't know if he will make it. His back was truly against the wall in the village. Let's pretend for a second that all four friends are in the village. If Luke got a chance to cut and run do you think he would?  I lean maybe. The film was honest though about how men treat loss and feeling they may have about it towards others. On the Monster movie side I think Bruckner pull it off really well. I enjoyed the early teasing of the monster and I think the design really worked when it was finally shown in full. It is not easy to do this and I think it was done well here. Check this one out on Netflix right now.