I love all kinds of horror, from the major studio to crude independent productions, from the gore filled to the psychological, from the blatant to the metaphorical. As I fall deeper down the rabbit hole of the horror genre and discover more styles and more nationalities, I am drawn increasingly to the artistic horror film because I'm looking for something different. These movies, though, can be very hard to judge and are usually very divisive. Those who love them will insult the haters' intelligence, while those that hate them love to throw out words like "pretentious".
Let's get things out of the way, then. There are ways to make artistic horror, with gorgeous imagery and do it well. There are ways to present stylistic moving paintings in your camera shot and still bring the audience a story and a plot that are entertaining. Then, there are movies like this. We can sit here and argue cinematography and camera angles, shot selection and color. The fact is that those things really only matter to an intellectual few who either write reviews for certain zines and blogs, or went to film school and have long since forgotten what made them love movies in the first place.
Yes, this movie is gorgeous to behold. I will not argue that with anyone for a moment. There are stunning shots, including the book end shots of the opening and closing segments, very similar scenes that weave images into a tapestry of visual stimulation. I was so intrigued by that opening shot and really thought that I was in for something spectacular, but this movie is full of empty calories. It looks good, it tastes good, it makes you want to come back and sample a little more, but in the end you find that you're still hungry for something with substance.
Most of the movie watching public wants a plot. We want some action. I have a degree in Literature and a love of horror. I'm fine with metaphor. I'm fine with hidden meaning. I'm fine with symbolism, but much better film makers have been able to do those things and still bring a fantastic movie, from Argento to Bava to Kubrick, there are ways to bring a visual feast and still fill my hunger with something sustaining. Even the little bit of meaning and metaphor that is here is so boring and mundane. The glamorous world of modeling ultimately devours people. The innocent usually fall when pride takes over. Jealousy is a cruel beast that will inflict deadly harm. These story arcs have been done so many times that they're cliché. Yet, I find so many reviews here praising this guy like he's some sort of genius for putting these thoughts on film.
I was really hoping for something like BLACK SWAN mixed with a better version of STARRY EYES. Something that could take that artistic horror spin and use it to really say something or give me something meaningful. This is nothing more than a Calvin Klein television ad, drawn out for two interminable hours, with a brief moment of actual horror tacked on to the end to say that they've given us a denouement.
I rarely give ratings below a 5 on this site because most movies don't deserve them. I really thought to myself that I've seen plenty of "artsy horror" films get bad reviews on this site and I usually like a lot of them myself, but in this case it deserves every nasty review you've seen and more.
Let's get things out of the way, then. There are ways to make artistic horror, with gorgeous imagery and do it well. There are ways to present stylistic moving paintings in your camera shot and still bring the audience a story and a plot that are entertaining. Then, there are movies like this. We can sit here and argue cinematography and camera angles, shot selection and color. The fact is that those things really only matter to an intellectual few who either write reviews for certain zines and blogs, or went to film school and have long since forgotten what made them love movies in the first place.
Yes, this movie is gorgeous to behold. I will not argue that with anyone for a moment. There are stunning shots, including the book end shots of the opening and closing segments, very similar scenes that weave images into a tapestry of visual stimulation. I was so intrigued by that opening shot and really thought that I was in for something spectacular, but this movie is full of empty calories. It looks good, it tastes good, it makes you want to come back and sample a little more, but in the end you find that you're still hungry for something with substance.
Most of the movie watching public wants a plot. We want some action. I have a degree in Literature and a love of horror. I'm fine with metaphor. I'm fine with hidden meaning. I'm fine with symbolism, but much better film makers have been able to do those things and still bring a fantastic movie, from Argento to Bava to Kubrick, there are ways to bring a visual feast and still fill my hunger with something sustaining. Even the little bit of meaning and metaphor that is here is so boring and mundane. The glamorous world of modeling ultimately devours people. The innocent usually fall when pride takes over. Jealousy is a cruel beast that will inflict deadly harm. These story arcs have been done so many times that they're cliché. Yet, I find so many reviews here praising this guy like he's some sort of genius for putting these thoughts on film.
I was really hoping for something like BLACK SWAN mixed with a better version of STARRY EYES. Something that could take that artistic horror spin and use it to really say something or give me something meaningful. This is nothing more than a Calvin Klein television ad, drawn out for two interminable hours, with a brief moment of actual horror tacked on to the end to say that they've given us a denouement.
I rarely give ratings below a 5 on this site because most movies don't deserve them. I really thought to myself that I've seen plenty of "artsy horror" films get bad reviews on this site and I usually like a lot of them myself, but in this case it deserves every nasty review you've seen and more.