2020 Horror Part Two

POSSESSOR

Dir - Brandon Cronenberg

Overall: GOOD

 

Like Antiviral before it, Brandon Cronenberg's sophomore effort Possessor unabashedly channels the work of his famous father while simultaneously helping to carve out an impressive niche for himself.  More ambitious, more violent, and more savagely unnerving than his debut, Possessor is equal parts Black Mirror, The Matrix, Inception, and the good ole Cronenberg body horror stock and trade.  While various points of origin are noticeable, these elements are fused uniquely due to a confident vision.  Like most good, challenging science fiction, the film showcases the dark, humanity sucking consequences of technological advancement.  The world seems both polished and high end, yet also lived in.  Visually, its bloodshed and nightmarish glitches are as vibrant as they are deeply disturbing.  The two leads in Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott, (the latter of whom pulls an even more impressive dual role of sorts), bring a cold, emotionally challenged undercurrent to the movie's central theme of human alienation and detachment.  While the gore factor is cranked up considerably even by modern standards and moments of cheerful uplifting are none to be found, it is an excellent work for those looking to have their buttons psychologically pushed.

 

HOST

Dir - Rob Savage
Overall: MEH

If one were to be generous, Rob Savage's COVID-19 quarantine inspired Host could be seen as the found footage equivalent to gas station food.  It provides absolutely zero essential nourishment, but if you are in a jam and do not feel like putting any effort into resisting the urge to indulge in sodium and sugar loaded garbage for the mere immediate thrill of it, then go crazy.  On paper, Host has an interesting set up.  Filmed in 2020, post-pandemic and based on a YouTube short that he posted shortly beforehand, Savage seems to have found a clever way around making a movie in such an environment.  If everyone cannot safely be around each other on a film set, why not just shoot it on Zoom?  The movie's inventiveness unfortunately begins and ends there as it is a gross, criminally insulting barrage of found footage cliches all across the board.  At only fifty-six minutes in length, it seems to pack just as many jump scares into it and no explanation is remotely bothered with in giving several people a reason to not even think of calling the cops while walking around terrified with laptops and no lights on so we can all see spooky stuff happening.  Props for giving such an idea a try and besides its forgivable running time and one or two "Yeah that's somewhat creepy" beats, it is the same shit, different found footage movie.

ALIVE

Dir - Cho Il-hyung
Overall: GOOD

Yet another contemporary South Korean zombie film, director Cho Il-hyung's debut Alive is as strong of an entry into the over-saturated sub-genre as can be.  Being rather potent for the time by arriving in a real life COVID-19 pandemic and utilizing the gimmick of people told to stay in their homes during a flesh-eating corpse outbreak, it carries some immediate, topical weight that otherwise would be lacking if the film arrived just a handful of months earlier.  The moments of frenzied, zombie mayhem are routinely boring and go the same routes as the boatloads of other such movies that have been churned out over the last few decades, but the film wisely does not make such things its primary focus.  Instead, most of the time is spent on its very small number of uninfected characters, examining the traumatic coping mechanisms of people shut off from society and trying desperately to find the emotional strength needed to survive.  The film is intentionally funny at times and such scenes never seem out of place under the serious, heartfelt ones.  Best of all, it is also legitimately hopeful, which is a welcome change from the more dour tone many movies of such ilk often take.