The House of the Devil (2009) - Friday afternoon I headed to Salem MA to see the two movies that are the entries for these days. Salem Massachusetts, The Halloween capital of the world has a wonderful Salem Horrorfest most of the month of October. I purchases tickets to see the Original Suspiria on the big screen as well as this film and the podcast to follow it. I am going to use the Susperia film as my entry for the 13th even though I saw them both on the same night, Am I cheating? At the time of it's release it was a delightful surprise from writer director Ti West. The throwback to a period when horror movies built up to an overpowering dread is captured in this well done little film. The story is simple, in the 1980's a young college women, Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) has a need to earn some cash quickly. She calls for a sitter job at a house in the country that will solve her financial problems. Things are not quite how she envisioned them when she and her friend Megan arrive to meet the couple, Mr and Mrs Ulman (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov) they are strange but not too scary. Instead of sitting for kids she will be minding the house with the old mother upstairs. Now we know she should bail here but the money. She need $300 on Monday for the apartment that will take her out of her dorm room and away from the messy and very inconsiderate room mate. She negotiates a price of $400 making the job more than she can pass up. Megan (Greta Gerwig) is a smart and good friend.She senses the problem with the couple and is great at pointing out that they lied to Sam. she pleads with her friend to leave the job. Sam though sends her friend home until the end of the job and settles in for a night. What West does so well is create dread for the audience even though the character is unsuspecting of the danger she is in. Megan never arrives home and we see her fate and know from that point on that Sam is in deep trouble. This is only the end of the first act Samantha is a bit creeped out by the house, it builds and the reveals are well done to keep the tension growing. When she hears a noise upstairs and listens outside a bedroom door, all is quiet for her but the reveal of the interior of the room is terrifying. The stakes for the audience are being raised but the main character is still none the wiser. When the finale arrives the action is quick and well done. Sam is a fighter and manages fend off attackers at every turn. The ending is unexpected but follows the movie title well. Being a teenager in the 80s I had a real appreciation for the feel of the movie and the slow burn it is. The newer flash and cut method of film making sometimes gets on my nerves but West doesn't do that he brings us along on Samantha's ride without trying to shock us every two seconds. Donahue has to carry the film and does a great job of it. She is a 19 yr old character when she has to be and a fighter when that is needed, not that you can't be both. The McGuffin of the eclipse works well and Samantha realizes its significance when she has to, making for a really great climax. The post climax scene is a bit explanatory and probably was not needed. I got to see this film for the first time on the big screen last night as part of the Faculty of Horror section of the Salem Horror Fest.
Being at the Faculty of Horror Podcast Live was a real treat. I love the podcast, both Andrea Subisatti and Alex West not only do their homework on the film they are covering but they always add ideas that never occur to a hack reviewer like me. They add to my though about film which is the whole point of my writing here. I want to do a bit more than mindlessly watch. I want to force myself to think a bit more deeply about the films I enjoy. In The House of the Devil there were several ideas that they brought to the conversation so credit these intelligent woman for what follows. Hopefully I can articulate as well as they did in their place. First the idea of the placard at the beginning of the film. The satanic panic and the idea by Walter Benjamin who when writing about how film changed the aura of art. Alex West went into detail concerning his ideas concerning how art is viewed through the lens of changing technologies. He was speaking at the time of film becoming predominant in the 1930's and how generations of people will have new ways to view art and how those new ways also change the art. Connecting these ideas to the nights feature was about the placard at the beginning of the film. Ti West chose to include information firmly placing the film as a film about the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. But more than just a setting he is implying through the film that there was something to the fear people of the time had about satanic abusive cults. The story itself is just that, it is not a story about the panic but is a story about a satanic cult. So even though the scare in the eighties was really more about conservative fear of a changing world, this film lends credence to the idea there was actually something to fear. Of course I can't explain quite as well as Alex West did in the podcast, so subscribe to the Faculty of Horror and listen for yourself.
A less developed theme in the podcast was about Ti West's use of Mother figures in the film. In the beginning we see Samantha trying to rent an apartment. The older woman (Dee Wallace) owner takes the time as a mother to remember her own child renting a first apartment and she connects with that memory when interacting with Sam. Later when Sam in taking the job of babysitting it is revealed that she will be doing so for the Ullman's Mother, then again the leader in the satanic ritual is called Mother and the purpose of the ritual is to impregnate Samantha. All connecting threads in the film, a small theme running through it.
Overall I found the experience of seeing the film again on the big screen and meeting and listening to the faculty of Horror a really enjoyable night. Salem is a bit of a drive for me but I left work early enough to skip the bulk of rush hour traffic. The town in the month of October is busy with tourist from all over the world who come to explorer the themes the town is famous for.
October 14:
Suspiria (1977) - This is a strange fever dream of a film remarkable for its lighting and soundtrack that is a work of art in the world of horror films. Written and Directed by the late great Dario Argento with shared writing credit with Daria Nicolodi. It is the story of Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) a dancer arriving at a prestigious German ballet academy at the same time that there is the murder of one of the students. The mystery of what happened to the student and the stranger mystery concerning the school unfold in the short 98 minute run time. Filled with colorful sets and lighting and a thumping score by the band Goblin it is a great film to experience in the theater. At times a bit dated it still holds up as a unique piece of art and a classic of the genre. It will be interesting to see how this film will be re-imagined in the remake coming out later this year.
