2017 Horror Part Fifteen

RIFT

Dir - Erlingur Thoroddsen

Overall: GOOD

 

Though its supernatural components may be too murky and ill-defined for some tastes, Erlingur Thoroddsen's sophomore full-length Rift, (Sumrak), excels as a heartfelt breakup film.  Björn Stefánsson, (who looks like a cross between Richard Marx and Michael Shannon), and Sigurður Þór Óskarsson play a couple that is struggling with moving on from each other and the entire film can be interpreted as their means of coming to terms with such a traumatic breakup, even by unearthly means.  Writer/director Thoroddsen's script thankfully spends most of its time patiently and realistically showing the frustration and confusion surrounding complex romantic relationships and being a movie where said relationship is a homosexual one, the subject matter is treated respectfully even with some obvious allusions to what many could consider to be universal hardships within the gay community.  All production aspects are top notch, from the performances to J.P. Wakayama's contemporary, naturalistic cinematography that gorgeously captures the Icelandic countryside as well as evoking an effective amount of dread where the spooky sequences are concerned.

 

MARLINA THE MURDERER IN FOUR ACTS

Dir - Mouly Surya

Overall: GOOD

 

A collaboration between Indonesian filmmakers Mouly Surya and Garin Nugroho, (the former being behind the lens and the latter conceiving of the story), Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts is a low-key rape and revenge western that casts a unique spell both for its narrative and execution.  Set on the island of Sumba, (where exteriors where likewise shot), the remote location provides an eerie backdrop where even in contemporary times, people can find themselves so easily brutalized when miles upon miles of desert landscape lay between any neighbors.  Similar to the American Old West which may as well have been a lawless no man's land in such respects, the women in particular here are left at the mercy of men who will nonchalantly overpower them.  It all creates a tense atmosphere where such brutality is taken at face value and Surya downplays every threat as well as every act of violence in a chilling manner.  Pacing wise, it certainly takes its time, but this is to the film's benefit.  Beautifully photographed in mostly wide shots and long takes as well as peppered with both regional music and soundtrack motifs lifted right out of the Spaghetti Western playbook, the audience is left to simmer in a combination of uncomfortable and evocative moments throughout. 

 

REPLACE

Dir - Norbert Keil

Overall: MEH

 

German director Norbert Keil's second full-length film Replace is a schlocky affair that attempts a type of David Cronenberg-inspired, psychological body horror with a tone straight out of bargain bin silliness.  Things begin interesting enough with what seems like a pretty singular premise of a young woman discovering that both her memory is a bit faulty as of late and that she has deteriorating skin patches at random spots on her body.  As the plot thickens though, the goofy melodrama takes center stage and half-baked ideas and characters do things like murder, fall in love, make promises to each other, or in Barbara Crampton's case, lazily behave in a way that about a billion other cold-hearted, "mad scientists working on top secret medical technology that will revolutionize the world as we know it" have.  Keil's idea for an intense finale is to loop the same piece of music over and over again to the point of daring the audience to plug their ears as Rebecca Forsythe and Lucie Aron haphazardly attempt an escape, only to give up and profess their love for each other as the credits arrive with a false sense of profoundness that the movie never earns.  The photography is quite excellent though and while Crampton's one-note villainess character leaves her no choice but to B-movie her way through it, Forsythe and Aron's performances are pretty decent at least.