Dir - Ashim Ahluwalia/Can Evrenol/Severin Fiala/Veronika Franz/Katrin Gebbe/Calvin Reeder/Agnieszka Smoczyńska/Peter Strickland/Yannis Veslemes
Overall: MEH
Uneven yet admirable for its culturally rich aesthetics, The Field Guide to Evil is an ambitious folk horror anthology from the Legion M production company that brings together filmmakers from eight different countries, each contributing their own entry. Opening with three acceptable ones from Austria's Veronika Franze and Severin Fiala, Turkey's Can Evrenol, and Poland's Aginieszka Smoczyńska, the forth from American Calvin Reeder is easily the weakest out of the whole and seems distractedly amatuerish compared to everything else presented. Yannis Veslemes' "Whatever Happened to Panagas the Pagan" and Peter Strickland's "Cobbler's Lot" are the most fairy tale-esque, with the latter taking a highly stylized, quasi-silent film approach to its material. Katrin Gebbe's "A Nocturnal Breath" blends in a bit too much with some of the others to make a satisfying impression, though Ashim Ahluwalia's "The Palace of Horrors" takes a Lovecraftian cue and is the most effectively creepy out of the bunch. Still, each story presented here could probably benefit from a more full-length approach as the folkloric details are quite intriguing yet often times barely touched upon, resulting in some rushed endings along the way.
Dir - Stacie Passon
Overall: MEH
The first cinematic adaptation of Shirley Jackson's final novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle is muddled with bizarre characterizations that make any kind of coherent through-line difficult to decipher. When each central character seems to be afflicted with eccentric mannerisms to say the least, yet the story is not presented in a fantastical manner, the audience is left with a conundrum to get their proper footing. As her sophomore, full-length effort behind the lens, Stacie Passon never quite establishes the type of story that she is telling which is primarily a problem for those unfamiliar with Jackson's source material. The only mystery seems to be why the highly aloof Blackwood family behaves the way that they do with the youngest member casting makeshift spells in a constant state of paranoia, the elder sister cheerily smiling and making light of every situation that transpires, and the handicapped uncle talking over people in an alzheimers daze. Sebastian Stan showing up only complicates things more as he is either equally as crazy while annoyed yet also manipulative as to what is going on or he could actually be the lone voice of reason in all of this. By the film's conclusion, it just seems to be one frustrating showcase for mental illness in a period setting with romantic music playing throughout the whole thing. Whether or not that is a good or bad thing depends on if the viewer can find something, (anything), to latch onto.
Dir - Ali Abbasi
Overall: GOOD
Iranian-born filmmaker Ali Abbasi and Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist join forces on Border, (Gräns); an adaptation of the latter's short story of the same name which originally appeared in his anthology collection Let the Old Dreams Die. The film can obviously be seen as a metaphor for the loss of one's culture and the upheaval suffered by orphans, (since as the title would suggest), it deals with the personal and emotional "border" between humans and creatures of Nordic folklore, whose mythology is fascinatingly tweaked in a real world, modern day setting. Struggling with the traumatic reveal of her true heritage, Eva Melander's biologically artificial humanity is called into question by Eero Milonoff who represents a type of retaliation against the gross mistreatment and obliteration of their species, (i.e race). Both Melander and Milonoff turn in very impressive performances under largely unrecognizable, heavy prosthetic makeup which is startling to behold, purposely challenging the audience to project their own sympathy towards their plight. Sticking to a similarly tranquil yet grounded tone as he also did on his debut Shelley, Abbassi presents a number of shocking, even grotesque images yet he does so in a tender, beautiful way that is centered on a heartfelt romance no less. It is all richly complex in this manner and a thoroughly unique genre experience, treated with a type of sincerity that is wholly appreciated.
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