Darling (2015) Horror Thriller

Darling (2015)  Darling is a thriller with some horror elements about a woman named Darling (Lauren Ashley Carter) who after being traumatized has a breakdown while caring for a socialite's infamous house in NY City. Broken into chapters, Her, Invocation, Thrills, Demon, Inferno, and The Caretaker it is a film drawing on some other famous films set in city apartments most strongly two from Roman Polanski, The Tenant and Repulsion. Shot in black and white it definitely often looks like Repulsion. Where it is a film about a character losing her mind it is going to get a lot of comparisons to that film too. From the beginning we see the tightness in in the character, clothes hair makeup perfectly constructed like she is holding herself together through her appearance. Played beautifully by Carter with just enough facial nuance to let the audience know that Darling is not all she is presenting herself to be. She carries an edginess that enhances the script and manages to emote the chaos that boils behind her characters eyes.
  Chapter 1: Her is an introduction to Darling but also to the house. We see the Madame (Sean Young) of the house telling Darling about its storied history how the last caretaker threw herself off the upper balcony, but not only that but that there is an earlier stories of house being haunted. Darling in her controlled way assures the woman that this is not a problem for her. Much of this chapter is exploring the house after the Madame leaves for the weekend. The house becomes a character as we get some great setup shots of the different rooms. Originally the locations was going to be a working class apartment more like in The Tenant but by chance a renovated former boarding school in Harlem became available so the location was changed. It is a beautiful multi floored place and we see Darling going about checking different rooms. When she settles in her room she finds a rosary in on of the bureau drawers, but also the noises start to startle her as night closes in. I have always like slow builds and even though this film is a tight 78 minutes it does not jump right into the scares. Instead we get little things like the rosary, was it owned by the last caretaker who killed herself? Then there is the room that gets to that balcony which is locked, and Darling's strange dream where she is standing on the balcony. Finally when Darling walks to the store and is really scared by a man (Brian Morvant) returning the rosary she dropped to her we see that although put together on the outside she is really terrified and not totally together on the inside.
Chapter 2: Invocation, Now the definition of the noun invocation is "the action of invoking something or someone for assistance or as an authority." and in this chapter we see that Darling while laying in her bed at night see a Latin phrase scratched into the side of the nightstand. "Abyssus Abyssum Invocat" or "One misstep leads to another" when she reads these words we go to a shot from the POV of where the nightstand is looking back at Darling. What is cool is they use this shot so we can also see the bedroom door behind her as she lays in the bed. It opens by itself until it slams into the all startling Darling. I have always like that kind of camera shot, the use of foreground and background to give an effect, it still is very cool.  We also see that not only is Darling a bit of an insomniac but that she is starting to stare into space a bit. It well done by the actress and director to build slight changes in her behavior as she heads down the road to insanity. Then we see she is also starting to obsess standing in front of the Man's apartment building watching for him to come out. Let's remember that the interaction she had was random and innocent but now she is thinking about him a lot.
Chapter 3: Thrills, Is about getting the Man to pick her up at a bar. Darling stalks and sets him up leading him to talk to her in a bar and then inviting him back to the house. The awkwardness of the conversation is wonderful and Carter really shows her chops in this setup portion portraying Darling fragility with a nuance performance. Leading to the biggest turn of the film I will leave a lot of the detail of this chapter out, but we do learn a bit more about the house. It was not just the last caretaker's death that built the reputation as a haunted house but also as we learn through the conversation of the Man there is a longer history. That same locked room at the top of the house was a place where the former owner of the house tried to conjure the Devil. Adding weight to the location beyond an earlier tragedy. When the chapter gets rolling we see Darling's mental state cross a threshold that she will not be able to come back from. I really liked all the way through the things shown to show the slippage in Darlings thought process. From the beginning each morning the Madam calls to check in with her and with each call Darling is less and less able to engage with her on the phone.
Chapter 4: Demon is about dealing with the consequences of actions taken in chapter three. Darling must sort of become a demon to do what she has to do. She is a changed character at this point and we the audience see the breakdown of her sanity first hand. Chapter 5 : Inferno is about the psychological consequences of her actions and the realization in Darling that she sees her own illness and finally Chapter 6: The Caretaker is where the outside world reenters the story and the full horror of the events are witnessed.
  Overall the film, called a tribute to the other films mentioned above is really quite derivative of those films. It plays so close to the plot of Repulsion that it could sort of be a re-imagining of that film. Director Mickey Keating obviously knows what he is doing behind the camera. Under the age of 30 he already has five features all tight and well drawn that were made on small budgets. He is sort of a director made for independent horror. I am sure it won't be long before he is hitting with a film from a large studio. There are some great filming techniques used in this film like quite cutting and strobe lights, a killer sound design and the starkness of the black and white that all come together to make this an enjoyable film to view. This film deals with the effects of earlier abuse on the antagonist so be warned that this theme is there and important to the story.   I enjoyed it and would recommend that you take a look at it.

Jug Face (2013) Horror Supernatural

Jug Face (2013) - Sometimes ideas for independent horror there is a crystal of an idea that has to be  cut and polished up to be a gem. When that happens the buzz is palpable in the horror community, with everyone seeing and reviewing, and others talking the movie up on their podcasts. When that happens even the smallest of film making companies might recoup the cost of their endeavor, hell they even might make some money for the next film. We love it when this happens, its what keeps the independent horror scene alive and vibrant. Unfortunately there is another side where that crystal pretty much stays what it was, its pretty and has its own value but there may never be a demand for it. This is the case with the film Jug Face, it has its solid structure and an idea worth exploring but it just never quite shines.
Soresport Movies may be in the minority when it comes to this film as there have been some glowing reviews on it after it came out last year. (looked after wrote this review so apparently saw this differently than many.) The film is a small budget affair and the gore a minimalist variety that get the point across without costing the film makers too much budget. Bloody water, sliced throat effects and some scattered body parts give the impression of horrible savage violence without actually having to show any. Cloudy eye contacts also make serve a purpose to cue the audience to what is happening. Advertized as a "character driven" story one has to wonder if the person who wrote that copy watched the film since the story arc of the main character is really small and centers around an inevitable decision to accept responsibility for her quite reasonable decisions. My daughter Joy joined me in the viewing as I have been trying to get her to watch horror in a way that would allow her to contribute to this blog. She watched but very quickly tuned out and played on her phone. Multitasking is a behavior her generation does but I was surprised at how quickly the tune out came. At the end of the film her first response was "That sucked." I tried to steer the conversation to what she liked or didn't. In the end the most I got out of her was:
1. You never see the monster and it is never explained what it is or why the people would make a deal with it.
2. The main character is not very likable, she fucked things up for everyone.
3. The special effects sucked.
  Now I agree with her to an extent but I also felt that there was some value to this film. The plotting structure is well done. It leaks the story of these people a bit at a time until at the third act you know what the full picture is. Some things did not make sense to me though, and maybe the second watching will clarify my questions. A pretty good cast Ada (Lauren Ashley Carter) as the main character, Sean Bridgers as Dawai the potter, Larry Fessenden as Ada father Sustin,   and Sean Young as her cruel mother.  First during the images accompanying the credits we see the story of this community, a group who has given up on the existing organized religion that was in place but now instead prays to a pit of muddy water. We see them sacrificing their minister to the pit and later images of community members bathing in the pool at the bottom of the pit. We learn later that in the past during a smallpox epidemic ( maybe the big one 1775 - 82?) the people figured out how to make a deal with an entity in the pool in exchange for a sacrifice every now and again the pit provides healing waters. Now this deal when you think of it as a solution in the 1700s seems reasonable and it truly did become the religion for these people. When a sacrifice is wanted by the pit it puts "the sculptor" into a trance and that person creates a jug with the face of the next victim. The community then gathers and sacrifices that person at the pit. Now though we see in the film that the people in those hills have trucks and cars and interact with the town nearby selling moonshine for cash. So although presented as isolated  the insular nature of the community does not cancel the fact that health care is readily available in the civilized world. So really the thing that keep the arrangement going with the pit is that it has become a sacred relationship. To me it seems that the arrangement of killing one of your own so others can be healed is stupid when you can drive in town to a hospital. Talk about death panels the pit is a one entity death panel.
  Second I question is around the choice to make the main character unlikable. Ada is the main character and the plot is driven by her decisions. I think as a way to define the hill people as isolated we see Ada and a young man playing in the woods and having sex. Then we learn they are brother and sister and the whole thing is fucking creepy. Not just that it perpetuates stereotypes about hillbillies but  come on really the film has to go there that early. Later when we see the size of the community you have to wonder if resorting to incest was really necessary or just a gimmick.  It all fits the plot though and like I said earlier the pieces of information are well structure so we learn more of the full story as the film progresses. Pregnant from her brother and promised to another man she finds the jug face of the next sacrifice and it is her. Her story arc is that she hides the jug face with horrible consequences for all. She must come to her decision to take responsibility before too many innocents are taken by the pit. Since escape  from this community is never presented as a achievable option we know what she will have to do, its just who will have to die before the guilt gets to her enough for her to act.
  Helping her along the way is a ghost who is trying to convince Ada to return her jug face. He is a shunned one, a soul that can't rest because it was taken from the pit and as punishment for not fulfilling a sacrifice. The device is to give expository dialog to fill in the mythology but I am not totally sure that it works since the "why" would it communicate question is never really explained.
It is not really a happy ending film and you really expect anything good to come out of it. Instead you can marvel at the hill freaks who believe stupid shit and suffer for it. I am not sure that I am ready to give this film a recommendation I am a bit on the fence. Written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle,  It is certainly well thought out and the idea of an alternative religious centered group is okay. I just think that there was no outside the community characters to bounce the sanity of the belief system off so it just comes off as an acceptable way of doing things for these characters, when lets be honest it is not. I wished there was more money for special effects there is a problem when you have a monster but never get to see it. I wish the vague agreement this group had with the was more clearly explored because honestly the reasons for killing loved ones did not seem very strong. So I will pass on recommending this film. Note I am in the minority if you look around the internet.

The Woman (2011) Horror

The Woman (2011) - THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT PLOT POINTS IN THE FILM!!! Evil is a word brandished about in the horror genre, to describe any number of things, devil cults, serial killers, demons, vengeful ghosts and Satan himself. Even though there are none of these supernatural elements in the film "The Woman" it is no doubt about evil. It is the evil that man does to his fellow being that is on display here. The evil he persecutes on his family and those you would think a man considered loved ones. The Woman is less about the Woman of the title and more about the man who comes to possess her. It is a film about a particularly evil man and how he imposes his will on those around him.
At he introduction of this man, Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) we see him as a mild mannered husband hanging out at a cookout with the neighbors. Still there are some signs that things are not quite what they seem. Director Lucky McKee makes a point to show him standing on a porch high enough that he can scan the yard. High enough to see his family, to know who they are interacting with. We also get a look into his families reaction to him. The teenaged daughter Peggy ( Lauren Ashley Carter) is caution in even seeming to talk to a boy who is showing interest. She looks over her shoulder knowing her father is watching. When he sees his son shooting free throws at a basketball hoop his interaction is not one of encouragement but more of pressuring the son to practice towards perfection. Later at home he is established as the controlling douche bag he is. So we think we have an idea of who he is but evil? That will be confirmed as this film continues.
   When we first see The Woman (Pollyanna McIntosh) she is wounded and stumbling to a stream to wash her wound. We see this montage like fever dream that may be letting us know her origin as a woman raised by wolves. She is definitely feral with what looks like the remains of a tent for clothing. It is a stylish introduction that is nonverbal but effective.  It may have been that she had a baby that was taken by wolves and that is why she kills one. It was a bit confusing but the ending leads to believing that there is a motherhood hole she needs to fill.
  A couple days after this she is spied by the hunting Chris Cleek as she washes herself in the stream. Her breasts exposed or at least in Chris's imagination they are he gets an idea that will change the world he has created. The music in this scene is a bit too on the nose as he watches her walk away. Still it forecasts the coming events.
 He captures the woman and takes her back to his root cellar where he strings her up a shackled captive. This does not make her helpless as he learns when he lets his hand get a bit too close to her. In a wonderfully performed scene we see that The Woman has some power in this relationship that has been forced upon her. It is a real stark reality for Chris to meet a woman he can't dominate. He has the upper hand, well at least most of it, but he will never truly control this woman.
There is a dynamic in this film that is perfectly structured. The women who are part of civilized society are dominated by the men. Chris over his wife and daughters, his taking advantage, financially of a neighbor who comes to him in business, the boys teasing a little girl at the cookout. We have society's nurture relationships of all showing the dominance of men over women. Chris is the front man in this, a misogynist prick who rules with an iron fist and only sees women as weaker beings to be used and abused as he sees fit. He represents the male perception of superiority in society. The Woman is nature, the wild woman, the being who without societies molds is as potent and powerful as any man. She represents what women are without the structures of society imposed on them.

 No one in his family will challenge him they are all too afraid. It is not just that he must have dominance there is also a sexual element to Chris that creeps into the way he looks at the woman. Like the imagining of her breasts as she washed in the stream. You can tell he is not really thinking about how to civilize this woman. He is a much sicker man than originally thought and every revelation makes the audience wonder how far can it go. Sure the proper foreshadowing of his deviance was in place early in the film but when we get to the middle of the film we realize he is a truly evil person. Lucky McKee does a fine job in presenting this family as well rounded but lets the audience see the cracks that run through its foundations. When he brings his entire family into the cellar and shows them the Woman he talks about how they owe it to her to civilize her. There is no questioning of him in this scene, no one says maybe they should call the cops. Everyone in the room who is old enough to understand knew he intention with the woman was to a a fuck toy and not to help her in any way. In fact in the privacy of the bedroom his mouse wife Belle, excellently played by Angela Bettis, asks the simple question "Should we really be doing this?" His response of hitting her hard across the face without a word is all you need to know about his absolute power in this family. This is such a complex set of circumstances for this character. Rewatching the scene where he is checking in with his older daughter is sooo much more creepy when you realize that he has imprgnated her. The way his wife hovers behind him obviously nervous for her.

 When we see Chris go out in the night to use The Woman's strung up body, while is wife lays awake knowing where he is. While The Woman sheds a single tear during her rape. It is a horrible thing that Belle is letting her husband do what he wants to the woman. She also knows though that by doing so she is also protecting her family, if his abuse is focused on the stranger in the cellar than it is not focused on the family members. 
  Adding to the disturbing look at this fucked up family is how the father seems to be grooming his son Brian (Zach Rand) to be a misogynist as well. We see the boy who is acting out like his father and instead of a firm hand the father makes it clear in his belittling of the women in the family that a mans place is the dominant one and the boy will stand at his right hand in running the family. When Brian takes a turn at abusing the bound Woman and is caught things really come to a head in the family. With all the abused and craziness that Belle has been subject to the straw that gets her to stand up is that her son may become like his father. She confronts the boy and then his father saying that the behavior is sick. Finally confronting him does not really work out as she planned and as her unconscious body lays on the kitchen floor the doorbell rings. Peggy's Teacher, Genevieve Raton (Carlee Baker) arrives right at this moment to reveal her suspicions that Peggy is pregnant and offer her help.It is also an interesting choice to have the attractive possibly lesbian teacher be the only proactive woman in the society that we see.
  These final scenes where Chris goes over the edge and attacks the teacher are incredibly harsh. He obvious can't come back from this and as an audience member who cares if he does. The women in their desperation to help Raton finally get to fighting back. In the gory and violent ending we finally get to see the Woman respond to male aggression with arms free. We learn just want was meant when the word "anophthalmia" was bantered about earlier in the film. We see the oppressive male structure not be able to handle to wild nature of the Woman in what was a very satisfying ending. This was never intended to be a feel good movie so if you are looking for truly happy endings this is not the film for you. Nor is it the film for those who hate to see violence towards women. It does treat its characters honestly and they behave to the character traits they were given no matter how disturbing that is to the viewer. The acting is excellent from Pollyanna McIntosh, the Woman to Belle Cleek, Angela Bettis and the wonderfully evil Chris Cleek, Sean Bridgers. The music somewhat counter intuitive in its upbeat score during really horrific scenes was interesting although this seems to be a fad in horror. I am also not a big fan of music montage to move things along and there are a few in this film. It is not that they are poorly done, just a personal preference. Still the gurgles of gore where present and the mood was set throughout with a score that added and did not take away from what was happening on screen. The revelations we well drawn out in a script that revealed just enough to keep you thinking as you watched. I am not sure how much was added by the last revelation of the daughter with no eyes living with the dogs. Having worked in mental health many years ago I did know of one case where a child was made to sleep with the dogs in a pen. In fact I met some people who did equally horrible things to their families. So for this viewer at least Chris Cleek was just another sick bastard and I enjoyed his final scene. I just wish it had been longer and more painful. So with that let me say I strongly recommend this movie but with a bit of a warning.
This is an extremely disturbing film and it will not be for everyone. It is a story about a character who has a complete disdain for women and the scenes and revelations showing how poor a human being he is are disgusting and hard to watch. So if you do not think you are able to deal with it avoid the film. Otherwise have at it.
Rating (7.5) 5.0 and up are recommended, some just more recommended than others.