31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 28: THE BROOD

“MOMMIE DEAREST”

The covert and overt fear over motherhood are part of what lies at the core of the horror in David Cronenberg’s “The Brood”. The power (both physically and mentally) inherent in motherhood, and given over by a patriarchal society in which men are conditioned to believe that the job of rearing children is largely that of a woman's - never mind the unconscious fear of a woman who can create children independent of a man - are seated in the foundation of both the biological and psychological horror on display.  That Cronenberg wrote this film while still grappling with still raw emotions over a rough divorce is also germane, and an alternative reading of Cronenberg’s film finds it an “emotionally realistic horror movie about the collateral damage of divorce “ something I wholly agree with, while adding that considering the narrative allegiances he forms with the characters (especially Frank Carveth) and subconscious fears apparent in the writing it is apparent with whom Cronenberg most wants the audience to side with, or at least whose side he’s on. It's in the visual representation of a child almost literally bring clawed at and torn by the children of a Mother’s Rage. And in the recycling of a time honored tradition of men that holds that women often use children as bartering chips to keep a man in their life. As well as the subtle if not overt demonization of a woman (Frank’s wife Nola) who is being held prisoner in a cabin with every form of contact with the outside world regulated,  or restricted by the combined efforts of her husband and the veritable Dr Frankenstein of this wellness center Hal Raglan while he performs a very ethically questionable form of therapy on her.  But this is the terror of the film, the horror in the film again, in my opinion is rooted in Motherhood.

Since the film never seeks to acknowledge in any meaningful way the mothers own connection to her child, the horror she might feel being isolated by this mad therapist, or simply who she is beyond her trauma, and illness then in many ways she becomes not so much different than the Xenomorph queen in James Cameron’s “Aliens”. As a matter of fact she is referred to as the “Queen Bee” by a disgruntled former resident of the institute. Devoid of any real character development she is simply queen of a hive. Walled off from the world not only the fictional setting, but even from us the audience. She is the avatar of a complex combination of the inferiority, abandonment , and impotency linked with motherhood and pregnancy independent of male interference, and translated as horror.

End of The Brood

We are meant to be repulsed as Frank is - and that repulsion stems not only from the physically grotesque nature of the birth, or her almost ravenous licking of the blood off her child, but on a deeper level from this womans asexual ability to reproduce. I do not mean all of this to be a repudiation of the film (The Brood is a classic in my opinion, and not all good horror possesses messages good messaging), but rather to examine what is at the root of my own and (I suspect others) horror in this film, and in this scene which is one of the most memorable in Horror if you have seen it. What Cronenberg accomplishes here can and will be looked at as either subversive, or complaint in upholding horrors tradition of torturing, reducing, and (though maybe not in this case) objectifying its women. For me it is mostly the latter which in some strange way cements the horror of the scene and the film as effectively repulsive in more ways than one.

31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 24: POSSESSION AND STARRY EYES

“Out of Body Experience”

I am somewhat free styling going off the top of my head riding in the direct moment, but I would definitely venture to say as truthfully as is possible that body horror is either the number one or number one A. most terrifying form of horror for me. And for today I'm going to do a sort of a double feature of 2 scenes that I think represented the best of this sort of sub genre within horror. Heck even within body horror, because there are different kinds and types for example; the sort of corporealistic body horror of a Cronenberg,  or in another case the mirror touch synesthesia that comes with watching someone have their Achilles tendon sliced.   In these cases the body horror is one of a psychotic kind as well as a physical possession of sorts. The kind of possession that leads to the loss of control of one's own body and then begins to look and feels as if damage is being inflicted upon that person's body merely by the act of being watched. I think the easier part for an actor to perform (and in I say this with an air of relativity) is a production of the effect of just the possession and of itself the entry of something foreign into the body. This is mostly an action, and can be reproduced to the audience through a strange or unfamiliar dance move, or a combination of some form of jerking, or convulsing simulating to the audience that something foreign has entered possession of your body.  The harder part, the part that I think both these actresses the legendary Isabelle Adjani, and Alexandra Essoe execute is the indication that you yourself, the owner of the body is still there, as well as the foreign invasion, because that is where the deepest fear is at, or at least that's the case for me. When done well you can look into the actor's eyes and feel like they are still there, afraid, fully aware of what is going on but unable to do anything about it because that the entity is too strong , the feeling to seductive, or enticing. There is a real terror behind possession, in my opinion, it's not merely something taking over. Without your knowledge that is scary in and of itself, but I think when we can identify with a feeling of complete powerlessness, being awake and held prisoner inside our own bodies, aware of what is going on and yet out of control, I think that's a few layers deeper in the psyche. As far as the actor, it becomes their job to kind of take on a form of double mindedness . In essence, they're playing 2 roles with their body when they have to disconnect the mind a little bit from the body, disassociate. You have to produce this kind of air or feeling that has no exact definition,in experience but what the actor can imagine, and reproduce this for the audience. In 1981 “Possession” and the lesser known but absolute gem “Starry Eyes” (2014) we see two actors who provide us with both the body horror in the physical nature and the horror that lies in a more cognitive nature, the consciousness, the awareness. The recognition that you're going somewhere else.

Adjani’s work is physically terrifying.  Watching her writhe,  contort, and scream,  and resist,  and give in,  is something that goes seemingly beyond the pale of acting and ironically into possession itself.  It's mortifying watching her descend into her attack,  and equally as mortifying to watch her return.  It's maybe THE Masterclass in physical acting,  and body work as Adjani seemingly incorporates dance and breathing technique into a canvas of her own creation to morph into something unlike anything ever seen on screen before or after.  Its harrowing in and of itself and one of the greatest feats of acting Iv seen on screen that haunts much more than any ghoul or goblin Ive encountered on the silver screen.

a maravilhosa atriz Isabelle Adjani dando um show de atuação na cena do metrô no filme Possessão de 1981. Cena de ARREPIAR! palmas para Isabelle :) the wonderful actress Isabelle Adjani giving a performance show on the subway scene in the film Possession 1981. chilling scene! palms for Isabelle.

In Starry Eyes ( which I again highly recommend) Alexandra Essoe’s possession is more gradual, less explicit but nonetheless still there. There is more of a seduction here, a wooing, by an entity that begins to take hold of her and Essoe’s work is again like Adjani both very much so in and out of her body. You can feel the lure of letting go, but also the fear of being out of control and - without giving anything away - taken over. Essoes scene is terrifying because it seems like it feels good, and sometimes thats the worst of the lures into darkness. Essoe is hyper expressive, and a lot of the work integral to the scene is done with her eyes, her voice, and her hands. Its very expressive work done by an actor who has a clear hold on what and who her character is, and - maybe an actors best friend - a hyper imagination. Its great work creating one of the more memorable scenes in my recent memory. Both scenes are representative of the power, the allure, the physical and psychological terror of possession communicated to us the audience via fantastic performances etching the terror in our minds eye.

31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 21: THE DEVIL'S RAIN

“THE EYES HAVE IT”

I am 99.9 percent sure that I'm not educating anyone when I say there is something very important about our eyes..  Windows to the soul it's said...I'm not so sure that they aren't THE soul.  When the eyes seemed glazed over,  when there is damage to the iris, if the cornea is milky or cloudy,  or if the eyes are simply missing, the body seems like a hollowed out shell,  some part of our brain assumes a lacking in empathy in any number of known human conditions and expressions of emotion.   A Person can appear robotic, and historically,  as well as in horror,  these various conditions of the eye are associated with the demonic,  otherworldly,  or supernatural.

David Cronenberg's “Scanners”, Nicolas Roeg's “ Don't Look Now”, Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Sam Raimi’s “Drag me to Hell” all represent different aspects of the ways in which the eyes can be used to demonstrate other worldliness.

   In horror, as in life, I don't think there's any other extremity that is as terrifying as horrifying,  as conducive to producing an empathetic nervous response as is watching someone's eyes be popped out,  pushed in,  burned out,  or injected with some sort of needle.   In a great deal of horror films these phenomena, and our cultural unease with them has been used to effectively produce a mood, or quite simply to frighten us. A character in possession of these characteristics maybe presented as some sort of gateway as in communication with some supernatural power or possessed by some demon, as is any person whose eyes have some of unique discoloration,  or whose eyes are completely missing. I had and still have this feeling of the eerie when watching this scene in 1975's The Devil's rain. I first stumbled upon this movie when I was younger up later than I was normally allowed watching those Saturday night late night movies that would come on on local networks. Needless to say this did not go very well, cheesy effects and all I saw those hollowed out eyes and I was done. Those final minutes of cavernous eyes, and a goat like Ernest Borgnine, and melting skin produced quite a few nightmares, for weeks after, but I was also very intrigued, and weirdly excited.

Featuring William Shatner as Mark Preston, Ernest Borgnine as Jonathan Corbis, Tom Skerritt as Tom Preston, Ida Lupino as Mrs. Preston, Anton LaVey as High Priest, and John Travolta in his first feature film role as Danny ("Blasphemer! Blasphemer!").

Much later on when I saw it again on the AMC in my 30's I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. It's cheesy, pretty poorly acted, and camou as hell, but it's also fun, and the scene in question were William, Shatner is awakened now a disciple like all the others, his eyes hollowed out of his head is still like the ultimate creep factor for me, I know what's going on, I know it's going to happen, and I can't stop myself from feeling that eeriness.  If you're looking to take a rest from having your nerves rattled by ACTUALLY scary films or psychological thriller films where your mental endurance is tested I highly recommend popping in the devil's rain and just enjoying seeing a silly, ridiculously bad in all the best ways B movie horror film featuring the likes of John Travolta, Ernest Borgnine, Tom Skerritt and William Shatner. Oh and don't cover your eyes.

31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 20: JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING

“A STRANGER AMONGST US”

I'd like to start on a quick tangent that I loved how (for lack of a better word) diverse John Carpenter films were in the 80s.  I don't know if they were representationally correct.- Though it is my opinion they were the best by far of the time,  and truthfully ahead of their time -  but in truth, a lot of John carpenter's characters were just in general stock characters, even the leads.  It's not like Roddy Piper in "They live" was some paragon of character construction. He like so many of Carpenter's characters were functions of moving his philosophy forward,  and usually two dimensional avatars.  But whether in Halloween,  or They live, or Big trouble in little China, or Prince of Darkness, Carpenter always involved other cultures, and he gave them characters that weren't steeped in stereotypes from the era. And I am telling you, if you didn't grow up in that era, its just hard to convey to you just how a huge a deal it was watching Asian,  and African American characters be not only integral to the story but make it out ALIVE!!! - was in and of itself. 

Now to the scene at hand.  I mean this is just excellent setup, design,  and execution for teasing an outcome, and constructing a surprise.  Tension in an incubator,  and it burns hot enough to convince you to move your hands.  You have all these men trapped in one single room in a sort of “Monsters are due on Maple Street” type story that is The Thing in the first place.   And I love Carpenter's decision to get rid of any music. In this scene, you didn't need it at all.  In fact it's more effective that all you hear is the bellowing of the wind outside, which is a wonderful, nice additional effect, something I think reminds us of our earliest associations of wind with something wicked this way coming,  and the low whisper of the gas emanating from the flame thrower. 

Then you have this almost clue like elimination of whodunit. Cut aways from the business end of the flame thrower heating up the small rod -now acting as the jury for these men - to their anxiety ridden facial expressions.  We the audience actively trying to convince ourselves of who the monster is now that we know it is in the room.  Its fairly simple,  yet by playing on what we expect, on our desire to find out before the reveal  ( so as to relieve our own tension) Carpenter is able to elicit a genuine shock that I think begins with the line " I thought you'd feel that way Gary,  you were the only one who could've got to that blood, we'll do you last"    Automatically,  I think for a couple of minutes at least...We, the audience think we're safe.  It has been teased to us that there is a wait coming,  we've been given a misdirection, and then all of a sudden, just like that, it's PALMER!!!. 

Now celebrating it's 35th Anniversary, John Carpenter's The Thing (copyright Universal Pictures, 1982) has at least one memorable sequence that is simple to the point of elegance. The group's reluctant leader R.J.

Just like that I'm as out of my seat as Palmer himself,  as the alien life form springs forth from his body.  Possession is naturally a primal fear and scary enough on its own but it doesn't even end there, because now we must watch in dread, our cinematic empathy tying us to the rest of these men who are literally stuck on a chair next to this guy as he transforms into this monstrosity helpless to do anything about it,  and the actors sell the hell out of the terror.   When I tell you it's one of the most terrifying things i've seen on screen, I MEAN IT.   I've seen Carpenters version a million times, and I'm never not surprised when the canister hits the ground, and Palmer goes berserk, it's as hard to time as Bryson Tiller's last "Don't" in his hit song Don't.  And (especially if i've had enough time between viewings ) I'm never not terrified at the idea of being strapped to the thing as it jirates and convulses out of its host.  The acting is outstanding,  especially by the triumvirate of Kurt Russell,  Keith David,  and Donald Moffat,  - who has one of my favorite line deliveries in the movie "I know you gentleman have been through a lot,  but when you find the time,  I'd rather not spend the rest of this winter TIED TO THIS FUCKING COUCH!!! " It's an amazing combination of a genuine connection with the terror,  relief, and exasperation with the whole entire situation,  and I just don't know that I can think of any actor who could've delivered it better.  As good as maybe, but not better. And I get it, and we get it, it's part of just what makes it one of the most memorable scenes that I can think of when it comes to horror, and every time I think of the thing, I first think of this scene, because of the acting,  because it's grotesque, because it is absolutely terrifying,  because it builds its tension so well, because its surprising and shocking and all the things that I think culminate to make a great scene in the genre. 

31 DAYS OF HORROR SCENES THAT STICK. DAY 13: RAVENOUS

“BONE APÉTITE”

If I could spend at least twice a day posting about Antonia bird’s Ravenous without annoying everyone to death, I most assuredly would. I’m really quite unsure as to why her film isn’t talked about in the same way that we talk about maybe a Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, or Sam Raimi's Evil Dead as audacious breakout features. From its offbeat score, to its offbeat off kilter performances to its subject matter, ravenous is truly a unique movie..one of a kind if ever there was one. This scene in the cave is not only my favorite in the film, but is central to what makes this film such a wonderfully world apart film. Robert Carlyle’s uncanny, hair raisingly insane performance, the palpable fear in Jeremy Davies young soldier…that peculiar, unsettling score, the shocking discovery.

this tantrum is from Ravenous...if you could call it a tantrum

It’s representative of all the things that set this film apart from others. In tone, in the beats, and predictability as to exactly where this film is going to go. Antonia bird – in the best way possible – does what I think a lot of provocative filmmakers don’t do well, which is she told a story that provokes you without pretense. And while you will be able to discover new things with each new viewing of this film, you don’t have to watch it a million times to figure out what the hell is going on. Bird delivered a brutal, bloody, character study of cowardice, and power. A film plays with and blends genres, genres that I think are difficult to coalesce and still make a cohesive film. Horror, comedy, a supernatural, psychological thriller, that integrates themes of man versus nature, man vs man, nihilism, survival instinct, and power but doesn’t really set up camp in any of them. It’s beautifully directed, well shot, gripping, and superbly acted from top to bottom. With a pulse dropping score their ratchets up the stakes with every scene. I highly recommend it this Halloween, and again recommend knowing as little as possible going in if you haven’t seen it. Fix your bib, and prepare yourself for a delectable horror feast.