I can’t say enough good things about Sleepy Hollow. And I only hope I can express how much I loved it…when I first saw it 25 years ago, and again this year. This movie has something for everyone: horror, detective mystery, a great love story, and Young Adult horror/fantasy..
It’s loosely (very loosely) based on one of the oldest known works of American fiction, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1820)written by Washington Irving. The best known adaptation till then was a Disney animated feature. Another adaptation was actually a made-for-TV movie starring Jeff Goldblum and Dick Butkus.
Its director Tim Burton was on a hot streak around that time and got a lot of freedom to do as he wanted. Burton had a vision and was able to capture a lot of that vision. That included a wonderful cast including the great Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci and several horror movie veterans you will probably recognize.
Burton used some subtle touches too: the views of the river upstate; like a painting from the Hudson River School, but with all of its primary colors drained away. The drawing room of the inn where Ichabod meets the town elders. Their faces—grotesque but grotesque in a way you can’t quite put your finger on. Other things you can’t help but notice, the dark gloomy grey color enveloping the town of Sleepy Hollow.
Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane, a New York City police constable sent to solve a series of murders in an upstate town…all the victims beheaded by a phantom with a sword. No clue where the heads wound up. The city police force are glad to get rid of Ichabod. They despise his preference for “scientific” detective methods, his refusal to torture confessions out of suspects. The people holding the power in Sleepy Hollow appear willing to tolerate Ichabod—for a short stretch anyway. They are that desperate to stop the killings. But they don’t hesitate to tell him, you’re long way from home, son.
Ichabod arrives just in time for a party at the one big inn in town. The guests in the midst of a game of pickety-witch; a woman designated “the witch” blindfolded, trying to guess the man who has just kissed her. She is Katrina Van Tassel, the innkeeper’s daughter. You can sense the chemistry between Katrina and Ichabod; so thick you can cut it with a knife.
But you can feel the distance separating Katrina and Ichabod too. Sleepy Hollow is a tight-knit community; just a few families closely intertwined…almost inbred. Anyone else is treated as an outsider and must pass rigorous tests before being accepted. It won’t be long till you sense the dirty secrets in town history…and Katrina’s family is a part of those secrets.
Before the end of the next day, things change—quickly and dramatically. Ichabod, who believes in scientific methods, not superstition, sees the horseman for himself. At first, the sight overwhelms him; a supernatural creature he’s always insisted would not, cannot exist. Immobile in bed, he lies, shaking, while townspeople stare at him, “Well I guess it’s back to the city then,” someone blurts out. You can understand their impression. Ichabod can barely ride a horse. He has a phobia of insects and spiders. All in all, not a tough guy.
But Ichabod finds his courage the next day. He may not believe in witches but he meets one in the flesh. And he is able to discover some of what he needs to know. It’s a brilliant scene, combining humor with some visceral terror. A tightrope-walking feat that scenes like this seldom achieve. Even some elements of the original Psycho where Lila Crane (Vera Miles) encounters Norman Bates’ terrible mother and his mother’s worst secrets.
Humor too—Ichabod is so agitated he uses the word “which” three times in a matter of seconds. The witch’s whole face is covered with shaggy grey hair. When he finally sees her face it is a nightmare-ish vision. But like Norman’s mother the witch supplies a major clue in Ichabod’s search.
In addition you watch a different sort of clue; Katrina and Ichabod’s growing chemistry. Riding away from the witch’s cave, Ichabod faces a stranger—face covered by a hood. To his astonishment he sees Katrina. What are you doing here, he asks.
None of the men in town were willing to come here, Katrina says.
Then I am twice the man, Ichabod says…Subtle but powerful partnership. And not the last time.
I don’t want to give away any more of the story line. The story has way more twists and turns—more than you can keep track of. Even Ichabod has some childhood memories he wants to forget…but memories he needs to deal with in the here and now.
The world where Ichabod finds himself cannot be dealt with entirely with science and reason. He has to use some methods he had thought to be supernatural, borderline-magic. Watching him combine the scientific and magical methods, you can see how much he grows. You’ll want to take that journey with him.
Some people have trouble resisting any movie they are told was ever banned. Even if they know the reason in advance and they doubt it’s justified. I admit to being one of those curious people. My curiosity about Kill Baby Kill got the better of me. Even though I knew the general argument for banning it—the theme of revenge but the avenger being a little girl, ten or younger. Not long after, this movie would be overshadowed by at least two others: Night the Living Dead and The Exorcist. Little girls doing some major violence. Then what did the censors find so unacceptable about Kill Baby Kill?
Melissa, the avenging angel in this movie is actually fairly bland. No satanic expressions on her face. No demonic voices. No dire threats. (“The sow is mine.”). But we do know she is seeking revenge…probably she is justified. And others have died in the neglected, backward village where she lived all her life.
The movie has more than its share of weaknesses. Bad dubbing from Italian into English. Generally shallow characters. Acting—average at best. A plot that’s nothing new—apart from Melissa.
Then what are the movie’s strong points? (Keep in mind, it has more than its share of admirers.) Atmosphere—an overall sense of an isolated village with its mysteries well hidden. Well guarded against strangers. People determined to keep their secrets to themselves. An overall sense—sickness, a cancer that needs to be cut out. But a strong resistance to permitting anyone to do it.
A physician, Dr. Eswai, arrives in the village on a bright day, in broad daylight. Still, the coach driver refuses to come close to the main street. Inside the inn, hostile looks, silence. As though a stranger can only make life worse for them. Karl, the burgomeister is the only one in town willing to speak to Dr. Eswai.
Irena, a village woman has died recently, falling from a balcony onto a row of metal spikes. Besides Eswai, a government inspector is in town to investigate Irena’s death. Villagers, the few willing to speak, have suggested to the inspector and to the doctor that the solution lies within the villa Graps—a huge mansion dwarfing the town. But they warn the outsiders—never go inside…for any reason. Dr. Eswai suspects the inspector has gone there…and may be already dead.
An unwavering materialist, Dr. Eswai has no fear of ghosts and avenging spirits. He walks through an open door into the huge, ominous villa. The atmosphere he finds inside is one of the movie’s strong points…maybe the strongest. Cobwebs, everywhere he looks, obscuring portraits and mounted animals and birds, straight out of Norman Bates’ office in Psycho. And the size of each room, dwarfing the doctor, who is a tall man himself. Hard to believe he will ever find his way out. A spiral staircase, narrow but seemingly endless. Bright blue and red colors. Many believe the blues and reds were an inspiration for the ways Dario Argento colored his masterpiece Suspiria. I find that hard to argue; just watch Argento’s movie for yourself.
Dr. Eswai is not an exciting character yet he is someone you respect for keeping up his search for Melissa, her reputed curse and a way to finally end it. He finds a long string of secrets and plot twists inside the villa. As bland as he may be, you have to admire him for his determination to solve the mysteries. So many characters have long-buried secrets. As I stated, you experience the secrets as cancers that need to be cut out. None of the people are evil people. But their quests for vengeance have corrupted them. Both the baroness Graps and Melissa have suffered wrongs that explain their parts in the larger tale you watch unfold. Try to follow each character carefully and unravel their part in this tragic story.
In the 70’s, the great success of The Exorcist opened the floodgates for possessed and evil children in horror films. People now will probably look at Kill Baby Kill as a historical relic—-a symbol of big changes to come. For better or worse, just read a list of 70’s releases; you can’t miss it.
Anja Plaschg—Austrian musician, a superb portrayal as Agnes
Imagine yourself face to face with the devil as he smirks at you. He tells you; take a good look at what damage organized religion has done. Why don’t we start with Austria, around 1750, he says. Let’s see now…historic records of babies and children murdered by their families.
The reason? It’s a little bit complicated he says. In that time and place, people can be forgiven for murdering babies and children…if they beg for mercy
No such forgiveness for committing suicide. You have disobeyed god’s command to treasure his greatest gift—thrown it away. God can forgive murder but not that.
Agnes—Joyous expectations for her marriage
Clearly, a lot of people hated their lives—hundreds of murders were committed in these decades. The devil smirks at you again; your churches did people a real favor, didn’t they?
Or maybe people were evil to start with, he goes on. They chopped the heads off the child-murderers. Then drank the blood as it sputtered out, they danced and sang. Talk about partying. Yet the murderers were forgiven.
The devil smirking at you can be a terrifying vision but I think TheDevil’s Bath wanted to go in a different direction. Not strictly a condemnation of religion. Not to create a tale scaring the shit out of you. Though it does a good job of scaring you too.
Instead, it wants to move closer to tragedy. To show you one individual’s story; one that will illustrate just one tragedy of many.
From the beginning, you have some idea what to expect. A woman tossing her baby over a huge waterfall, then confessing her monstrous sin. You know she will surely be condemned, and executed. No other way things could go.
As is customary a man with a sharp sword will behead her. Her mutilated body left sitting in a chair, her head next to her, in a metal basket.
Agnes, a woman on her way to her wedding ceremony. Dreaming of being lifted up by the congregation, a joyful smile on her face. She stops a moment to play with a spider crawling on her hand. Not a butterfly, not even a ladybug. Most people can relate to touching one of those. But a spider; something that will disgust most of us, nothing we ever want touching us. She cherishes all living creatures. You can smell tragedy ahead.
Her life ahead is not a life of brutal slavery. Her husband Wolf is not a bad man; he is actually a gentle man. You can see that he wants to make Agnes happy.
But their life has an ugliness to it; along with a sense of something missing. Every day the same work, fishing in chilly, muddy water. Hints that Agnes hoped to experience the sensuality of their marriage bed. For Wolf, the sex act is just something you indulge when you feel the need, like jerking off.
Wolf’s mother, a mother in law from our worst nightmares. A woman in charge of the fishing crew, unsparing, unforgiving. She feels she is in charge of Wolf’s house too. Little praise, endless
criticism for all that Agnes does. Wolf never stands up to her. Agnes is unable to.
The outside world is much the same. No one ever speaks out against the crowd—and Wolf’s mother specifically. Don’t talk to that slut. No extra money to that guy who says his family is hungry.
No one questions the church’s authority. A man hangs himself—a crowd forces their way into his house while his mother screams at them to get out. No effect; they drag his body away and literally throw it onto a garbage heap.
Agnes—A growing sense of despair
You keep hoping you are wrong—that Agnes will never become the woman tossing her baby away. But all the warning signs point that way. In this country, “the devil’s bath” describes the state of depression and repressed anger causing someone unable to work…then unable even to function.
I reminded myself about historical changes still to come, in Austria and in other places. People attending churches who saw more to god’s plan than intimidating commands, threats, retribution. After watching The Devil’s Bath, you will need to remind yourself of that history. Here you experience the horror of the dark times, people inflicting their worst on those they lived with. Believing they are doing god’s will.
The introduction mentions hundred of people condemned for murdering children. Only numbers. Here, you get to watch one individual for yourself. You find it agonizing to watch Agnes drift into that place—especially after remembering her smile as she watches the spider, her look of wonder.
It would be easy for zombie- movie fans to take
this film lightly. To call it a combined
rip-off of the Night of the Living Dead/Dawn of the Dead/Day of the
Dead
series, the under-appreciated early 70’s movie The Crazies, Stephen King’s
The Stand, and lots more you will probably
remember. Technically it isn’t even about zombies, but
people infected with a virus.
But writer Alex Garland and director Danny
Boyle have taken some familiar elements and given them a
freshness, an originality, even a vision, that is uniquely their
own. They have come up with a plot that is simple but
tight, and well-drawn characters. They also give you several
subtle reminders as to how precious our stressed-out, early
21st century life can be, as aggravating as it feel s
day-to-day.
This movie could have taken a paranoid
viewpoint, with mega-corporations uniting to enslave
the world with disease. Instead you see a series of
careless errors that come together to set off bigger
and bigger explosions. First, scientists create a virus
called Rage. Then they test it on chimpanzees which are
locked in cruel confinement (tiny glass tanks). The Rage
virus turns the chimpanzees into killing machines ready to go
off at any time.
Then, animal rights activists liberate
them.
The activists really want to do the right
thing. Given the amount of abuse done to apes in the
name of science, these activists refuse to believe a researcher
who tells them they are making a terrible mistake. They
react to this man like he is “the boy who cried wolf.” Only
this time it’s no bullshit. With their idealistic
animals-rights agenda, they are literally letting a plague loose
on the world. Not only do the infected chimps attack
the first human they get their hands on, but in a matter of
seconds you can see that she has been infected too, just
from the look in her eyes.
Ignorance, coupled with foolishly dangerous,
misguided science has resulted in a situation far worse than
a conspiracy-theory believer could dream up.
The movie’s hero, Jim, had been hospitalized
for injuries from a traffic accident. He awakes to
silence that feels deafening . Silence so thick you
could cut it with a knife. Outside the
hospital, he can see the usual pigeons and gulls but
otherwise the city is lifeless; all is still, unmoving. No
people to be seen anywhere. Familiar sights,
the Tower of London, the Houses of Parliament, but everywhere
the same deathly silence.
A bizarre dream–London without people
Jim is not normally a man of action. For
a long time he wanders, not sure how to react.
Ironically, the first living human he sees is a complete
lunatic, a minister in his own church, a place you might
well expect to serve as some sort of sanctuary.
Jim pulls out of his apathy long enough to bash
the minister with a bag full of metal cans. This allows
him to stay alive.
After more wandering, a group of maniacs spot
him. Jim runs but you wonder how much further he can
get. At that moment he meets the first normal people he has
seen, Selena and Mark. They rescue Jim by setting the
maniacs on fire.
Jim–One mistake can be fatal
Jim can see that neither Selena nor Mark has
been a soldier or police officer, but they have
quickly learned how to survive in this new world.
Selena quickly tells Jim there has been a plague, but not to
ask too many questions; “Staying alive is as good as
it gets.” The rules she and Mark follow are simple:
never go anywhere alone, and never go out at night, unless
absolutely necessary. You soon learn one more valuable
rule—if anyone you know catches the disease, you kill
them with no hesitation.
Selena and Mark go with Jim for a last visit to
his house. Because it’s too late to walk back to a
safe place before dark, they sleep there till the next
day. While Jim watches videos of his dead mother
and father, a man enters through a window. Clearly
infected. Mark and Jim are soon covered with blood
while they subdue him. Suddenly Selena kills Mark. She
tells Jim she knew right away that Mark was infected, by the
expression on his face. She is quick to add, “ I’d do
the same to you.”
One bite is all it takes
Eventually, Jim and Selena find two more
survivors living in a high-rise building, Frank and
his daughter Hannah. Holed up in this apartment, they
hear a radio message promising help and safety, at a location
near the city of Manchester. After some hesitating,
they decide to drive there.
Exposed and vulnerable
Even though each attack by an Infected (as
Selena calls them) is gruesome and thick with
spattered blood, you are shown one reminder after another of
how life was, how precious. A life you probably take
for granted, waking up each day and telling yourself something to
the effect of—Same shit, different day.
Only after this holocaust can people see the
small touches of happiness they once had. Jim’s family
in the video, his mum’s book of recipes. The goldfish in
Frank’s apartment, trying to survive in just a few inches of
water. Some beautifully shot scenes of horses running wild
in the countryside outside Manchester. Jim
feeling the breeze through the car windows. Selena and
Hannah playing cards in the back seat.
They find the city of Manchester burning, but
also find the people who had been
broadcasting salvation. These people are
army personnel and at first they seem decent enough. Major
West, the officer in charge, appears to have the trust of his
soldiers. He shows his practical side (keeping
an Infected man chained, to see how long he will take to
starve to death). Also a touch of the
philosopher: People were killing people before the
plague hit, he says, and basically nothing has changed.
But Major West is nowhere as sincere as he
seems. His radio message promised “salvation” but he is
far from any cure for the virus. He tries to justify the lie
to Jim by saying he had no choice, that his men were on the
brink of despair and suicide. “I promised them women,” he
explains. “Women mean a future.”
But for the soldiers, a future starting a new
extended family is not a goal. What they want are
sex slaves, pure and simple. They are ready to kill
anyone standing in the way, whether it’s another soldier or
Jim.
For the first time, everything depends on Jim.
(Frank was accidentally infected, and shot dead by two of the
soldiers.) To save Selena and Hannah, he must outwit more
than a half-dozen armed soldiers, none of them exactly filled
with compassion. Without spoiling the ending, I will say
this: The next time Selena sees Jim, she is shocked to
find (almost too late) that he is not one of the
Infected.
I enjoyed this movie the first time I saw it
and it appears to get better each time I see it again.
Selena and Jim’s parts are both written well and acted
well. (Naomie Harris is Selena; Cillian Murphy is
Jim, both real good.) Selena’s changes at many
crucial moments from pure survival instinct back to
a yearning to get close to people is touching. Watch
her face just after the wild horses have passed. She says to
Jim, “I was wrong about saying: ‘staying alive is as good as it
gets.’”
You see the gradual changes in Jim. At
first he seems almost clueless, hoping he can avoid
taking action, not knowing how to take
action. You see a huge change in Jim when he realizes what
the situation at the army camp really is. Christopher
Eccleston who has had plenty of experience playing men in
pain (Jude, A Price above Rubies, Let Him Have It) is all too believable as Major West .
Those in positions of authority turn out to
be as desperate (probably more desperate) than those
people who came to them for salvation. The Major almost
appears to be saying to Jim: giving these women to my
soldiers is the best I can do, under the circumstances.
I could go on and on about a number of
other characters and actors, but I’ll leave it at this:
No one strikes a false note in this movie.
The screenwriting and the directing are also
excellent, though there are so many tilted shots you feel
at times like you’re back watching the Batman TV show of the 60’s. The digital
photography which worked so effectively in Saving Private Ryan works well here too.
And as horrible as the scenes with Infected attacking are, so
many moments are just as effective in their still beauty.
Not many movies are able to make you jump out of your seat at
one moment, then silence you with stillness at another.
In the uncertain days of 1968 a
new, low-budget independently-made zombie movie was
released. Reviewers (the few who bothered) mostly wrote it
off as violent junk. It was soon forgotten.
But in a few years, people began
hearing about a strange movie with cannibals/cannibal
zombies. The movie sounded like it went to places few others
dared to go. Especially at that time. A little
girl eats her mother. That’s one of the all-time
cultural taboos, I remember my sister saying.
Especially on campuses, this movie picked up momentum
as a midnight feature. Of course, it turned out to be that
same 1968 movie.
Night of the Living Dead deserved the
acclaim. It delivered the goods. Although the actors
were unknowns, they held their own. The action sequences
kept you squirming and jumping. The plot, simple as it was,
was highly absorbing. And the idea of everyday, ordinary
folks trying their best to break into your house and eat you (for
reasons you barely understood) was about as disturbing as you
could get.
Forty or so years later, it’s
easier to sit back and make sense of how this movie fit into the
culture then. A war was heating up that divided the country
like none other before. A president decided not to run
again. Recent diaries of Lyndon Johnson show a man who saw
his country headed into quicksand (Vietnam), yet going straight
into war because he simply didn’t know what else to
do. A new president was elected, largely for saying he had a
secret plan to end the war. (Actually he would keep the war
going another four years, then announce a peace settlement the
week before the next presidential election).
Every summer starting with 1964
had seen violence in the Afro-American sections of big
cities. Drugs, especially the psychedelics such as LSD, STP,
mescaline and psilocybin were changing people’s lives. The
“changes” formed a spectrum from a beautiful new vision, as some
described the psychedelics to, in other people’s minds the
ultimate nightmare. (How many people had heard the urban
legend about the babysitter telling the baby’s mother: “ …
and the turkey is in the oven…” told as a true story?)
That sense of the unknown swooping down on us was exactly what this movie
delivered. Being attacked and killed by a grizzly bear might
make sense. But a bland middle-American guy suddenly going
berserk in a peaceful cemetery and killing your brother for no
reason at all—nobody was ready for this. Suddenly
your world has changed, and you’re doing your best to take action
you never dreamed was necessary.
This is the situation Johnny and
Barbara, an ordinary 20-something brother and sister from Western
Pennsylvania find themselves in one late Sunday afternoon.
Johnny is killed right away. Barbara escapes into a
country home, and waits for someone to save her.
.
Johnny and Barbara–their world about to change
forever
But there’s no Steve McQueen, John Wayne, Sean
Connery or any other 1968 heroes around here. There’s the old lady of the house, already chewed up more than a
bit. And another lone survivor trying desperately to
clear his head enough from the insanity in order to protect
himself.]
The first of many zombies
Ben, this other survivor uses all his
common-sense and imagination to protect the house and the people
who have run there for safety. He’s got plenty
to deal with; an army of zombies soon surround the house. In
moments they are doing all they can to break in. Soon, Ben
and Barbara find out that these zombies are actually eating the
flesh of the people they kill. And unlike the many Westerns
that American audiences grew up on, there doesn’t seem to be any
cavalry on the way to rescue them. They are in this alone.
Iconic image for the 60’s; living dead surround the house, then move in for the
kill
No doubt the violence alone made this movie
memorable in 1968. But what made it more than
just a crude, sensational shocker were some memorable
characters. Ben is clearly a courageous man, doing his best
to deal with overwhelming events. Tom and Judy, a likeable
young couple, try hard to use their ingenuity and strength to
figure out the right escape plan.
Then there is Harry and his family.
Harry is played by Karl Hardman.
Hardman, like Russell Streiner (Johnny) was one of the principal
filmmakers/movers behind this movie. You may have thought
Harry was a kind of sit-com character, grouchy on the outside, but
warm on the inside when you got to know him. He’s not.
He is a selfish bully in an unhappy marriage who does not know how
to change. The movie may be black and white but this is not
your standard primetime TV comedy. His daughter has already
been bitten by a zombie. No one can figure out what medicine
she needs; not that any is likely to be there anyway.
Tom and Judy do their best to work with
Ben to come up with an escape plan. Harry is in it only for
himself, and is only concerned for his family. Helen,
Harry’s wife, is left in the middle between them as they debate
the possible ways of staying alive in the house.
The story breaks away again and again
from expectations for a Hollywood picture. The escape plan
figured out by Ben, Tom and Judy fails with gruesome
results. And it is nobody’s fault or nobody’s
backstabbing that causes it to fail. It fails because…as one
writer put it, gasoline can spill and then get ignited when things
don’t go exactly right.
Also, Barbara never gets over the
shock of seeing her bother Johnny die. You keep expecting
Ben to slap her or find another way to “snap her out of it,” but
he is never able to do this. Perhaps the filmmakers took the
safe route in this; Ben is Afro-American, Barbara is white, and
any close relationship between them was too much of a risk in
1968. But equally likely—someone like Barbara was simply not going to bounce back from all the horror going on
around her.
Even worse, Kyra, the bitten girl, dies,
turns into a zombie and goes right after Helen and Harry.
Both of them (with good reason) are too devastated to save
themselves. (Kyra Schon, the actress playing this
girl, later had her own website, including a favorite tattoo of
her in zombie make-up and some kind words about Duane Jones,
who played Ben.)
Perhaps the least hopeful sign is
when a crowd with guns finally shows up and destroys the army of
zombies. You learn that bullets can take them down but only
with a head shot. A TV reporter asks one of the men with
guns about dealing with the zombies. His answer (no irony
intended): “Yeah, they’re dead…they’re all messed-up.” Not exactly reassuring. The
movie ends with a look at the zombies being burned. The
ugliness feels like it’s spilling right off the movie screen till
it is all around us.
Night of the Living
Dead
worked well as a straight-ahead action movie. Although most of the actors had limited experience, they were
convincing. With a few exceptions, the dialogue worked
well too. According to director Romero, friends and
neighbors of the filmmakers who played the zombies were given all
the beer they wanted and making the movie turned out to be
enjoyable. They too were convincing—they certainly did not look Hollywood or even like wannabes of any
kind. Their ordinary looks worked in their favor.
Like Psycho, The Exorcist, and in other ways, Deliverance, Night of the Living Dead had a
strong resonance in the USA and many European countries at the
time. All of these movies changed the film-going experience
in a big way. You can get a general idea of these changes by
comparing each of these movies to blockbusters at that time, then
looking at those that came soon after.
Things would never be the
same. Despite the low budget I consider this movie one of
the 10 best of its kind. I hope I can do it justice by
pointing out some of its effects on those that came later.
Another iconic image–average American girl, turned cannibal
zombie
Like so many movies I wrote about, Wendigo sets its sights high. It
refuses to follow commercial formulas. Not that it
succeeds at everything it tries to do. Many of its special
effects are unconvincing. The story may seem confused,
or too ambiguous. Others will find it pretentious.
What does Wendigo hope to
accomplish, that makes it stand out?
It shows us a frightening series of
events, coming hard and fast. You feel their effects
on an upper middle-class Manhattan family, especially their
young child. This young boy, Miles is too bright,
too imaginative not to try to put these devastating
events into perspective. It is a chilling process to
watch Miles do this.
As Wendigo begins, Miles is sitting
alone, in the back of a large, well-furnished car on a
dark country road. He is absorbed in some private game;
in one hand he holds a plastic model of a wolfman slightly
resembling the character from the 1940’s movies. In the
other hand, a figure resembling a “transformer.”
George and Kim, Miles’ father and mother, talk
quietly in the front seat. Upscale Manhattan talk,
high-power careers.
Then in a second, everything changes. The car
slams into a male deer. The deer propelled over
the roof, leaving a trail of blood across the windshield.
Then it is lying by the side of the road, motionless but not
dead. The car is trapped in snow and mud. Three local
hunters approach the car. All carrying high-power
rifles. Two have that “same shit, different day” look on
their faces. The third has a look of quiet fury—a
walking time bomb.
George is able to keep it together. “You mind
putting that thing down?” he asks calmly. But you see
Miles’ face, literally twitching as he takes this in. It’s
not as if his family ignores him; when one hunter shoots the
buck, Kim gets out of the car and screams at him for using the gun
in front of Miles.
The family has a long wait for a tow truck. The
hunters, not asked to stay, remain at the scene.
The angry one, Otis, suddenly walks over to the car and tells
George he busted one of the buck’s antlers.
Finally the tow comes. The driver knows the
hunters, and they convince him to let them pull the
car free.
George refuses to pay them, saying, no one
asked for your help. Kim gives them money; Otis thanks
her sarcastically.
Your first impression: things could have worked
out much worse. Like in Deliverance.
But keep in mind, Miles is a young child who’s never heard of Deliverance. He’s just
seen an innocent creature killed, his car stuck in the middle
of the wilderness, and his parents confronted by men
with guns. Not exactly The Velveteen Rabbit.
At first, the house where they’re spending the
weekend looks safe and comfortable. Miles never sees
the bullet holes in the windows and wall, but George notices.
And without a doubt, Miles picks up on his father’s
anxiety.
Miles draws pictures of what he
remembers. The buck. All the blood. Unable to sleep, he looks
through the illustrations in his book of Native American
History. The (appropriate and realistic) violence in
the pictures means more to Miles than ever before. He falls
asleep but dreams of Otis coming in the room and shooting
him.
Miles’ drawing–so much fear he needs to let out
The next morning is sunny and bright.
They drive to town; the landscape is stark, but not grim.
In fact, beautiful at times. Kim and Miles stop at a
thrift shop. From Miles’ point of view, many
close-ups of antique toys and illustrations. Frontier
violence. Men tough as nails and animals
larger-than-life. No doubt Miles is still trying to make
sense of last night.
He stares at a wood carving in one case. A
strange but gentle Native American man describes the figure
to Miles. The Wendigo, a truly powerful spirit,
capable of taking on many forms. “It can fly at you
like a sudden storm…without warning.”
“Always hungry, its hunger is never
satisfied. The more it eats the bigger it gets, the bigger
it gets the hungrier it gets.”
The figure Miles finds
Miles is more intrigued than
frightened. He appears to view the legends as another
form of super-hero story. He has frames of reference
for those.
But the buck’s violent death is different for
him. Back in the car, he is recalling the
Native American’s words, “there are spirits that are angry”
as they drive by Otis’ house and see the buck hanging on a
rack. Miles imagines the buck’s angry spirit and is
terrified. He may well feel responsible; he was riding
in the car that hit it.
Otis–not satisfied till he gets vengeance
You see a dramatic change in Miles when George
takes him sledding. The father does most of the talking
as they walk up a long hill. He recites a little bit of Robert
Frost’s poetry, exactly right for this snowy day. Miles
asks his dad if he’s heard of the Wendigo. George
answers in a reassuring way: probably it only eats the bad
guys, not good kids like you. He speaks a little about
people’s need for mythology. Telling his
son: don’t disbelieve it, but don’t view it literally.
These moments represent a
near-perfect father and son bonding. The father points the
way for the son growing up and viewing the world. He
doesn’t tell him, look at it my way, but gently
introduces him to his perspectives. Miles is more than
willing to listen; not a clone of his father, but able to
integrate his viewpoints.
Only seconds after they start downhill, George falls
backward off the sled and lies motionless. Miles
is afraid his father is dead. The wind picks up
suddenly; the snow blows in circles. Miles abruptly
is frightened and runs.
Hours later, Kim finds Miles asleep in the snow, in
shock. They search for George; he seems to have walked
away. After a long search they finally find him near the
house. Although he is conscious and talking, they can
see he has lost a lot of blood.
Kim sends Miles inside to bring out a blanket; Miles
does it, stopping to pick up the wooden figure.
Standing next to his bleeding dad, Miles momentarily sees
something—perhaps the real Wendigo, two or three
times as tall as George, made up entirely of bare, dead
branches. He recalls the words, “It can fly at you…and
devour you…”
As they drive to the hospital, George is in a
delirious state and talks a lot. You imagine Miles’
struggle, processing all of it, on top of knowing that his
father was shot. George asks him about the
wooden figure, tells him, “See? I was listening to
you…Give me your hand, Miles.”
In the car and waiting in the hospital corridor,
Miles hears a much-condensed tale of life and death from his
dad. Not that Miles is anywhere near ready for his
initiation, but it is forced on him, like it or
not. Every word deeply powerful in its own way.
“Miles, I want you to take care of your Mom…Such a
beautiful day…You’re my family…I’m always gonna be with you…”
Then his dad is rolled into the OR; Miles is alone
and he knows it.
No one notices Miles entering the room while
his father is prepped for surgery. He doesn’t see much
blood but it is clear his dad’s life is hanging in the
balance. Miles imagines in graphic detail his dad
sitting up, screaming for help. Miles faints.
Sometime later, Kim finds Miles on the floor.
Later still, Miles watches his mother in the corridor while a
woman from the hospital talks to her, and ominously drops his
dad’s boots. Seeing Kim’s expression, Miles probably
knows already. His dad is dead.
Only a few minutes later, Otis is wheeled down the
same corridor. His eyes meet Miles’ for a moment, then
Otis is gone, too.
You never find out what goes through Miles’ mind,
seeing Otis. That Otis is about to die too?
That the wooden Wendigo protected him and his mom, but not
his dad, not Otis? That he himself willed the Wendigo to kill Otis? That the
angry spirit of the buck, working somehow through
the Wendigo, killed Otis? So many questions, so few
answers, especially for a city kid; the Catskills may as well
be Siberia for him.
To many, an ending like this must be unsatisfying, a
reason not to like Wendigo. Too much
ambiguity, too much not explained.
But think about a movie like The Emerald Forest, and you may get some
additional perspective.
In that film, Tomme has grown up among adults who
have taught him long and hard about his world. They can
sense exactly when he is ready to become a Man. They
not only give him the appropriate ceremony, they send him on
a vision quest to ensure he finds his own way. Miles is much
younger, and lives in a society which has lost touch with
most of its rites of manhood. This is the real horror
of Wendigo; imagining yourself in
Miles’ shoes.
With only the little bit of learning he has had, he
now must face life without a father.
I can see plenty of negatives people will find with
this movie. Too ambiguous. It jumps around,
telling too many stories at once. Amateurish special
effects at times. Shock-editing with no clear
purpose. All valid complaints…to some extent.
But look at Miles and all he is forced to go
through. His struggle to put any of his strange
journey into perspective makes a story that cuts deep.
Like Saw, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street,
Hostel
was a big hit. Sequels followed. But it left plenty of
people turned off. Some critics called it a prime example of
a new movie category, “torture porn.” Other viewers, more
open-minded, tolerated the torture scenes, but still found it
confusing. They were left wondering, what was the point?
I honestly don’t know if it was supposed to
have a point. Yet it struck a nerve for me, hard. I
keep asking myself: Could Hostel be showing
us a sick part of humanity that we hoped didn’t exist?
Something we hoped was only fiction… but most likely did happen
and still does happen?
Let me explain. This is what we hope is
fiction:
If you have a lot of money, and know the right
people, you can buy anything. Even the chance to abuse
people, maybe even kill them…just for recreation, for a new
thrill.
Where there is a buyer, you can find a seller.
Hostel is one of the few
mainstream movies to raise this possibility. It gives you its own
answer to the question; “Faced with that situation, what would you
do?”
In Hostel, the victims are young
tourists, who tend to be more vulnerable, less protected and
easiest to fool. But they are not poor people, like the
teenagers (or younger) in Thailand and other places, sold by their
families into the sex-tourism industry. That in itself may
anger people who consider themselves social activists.
They have a strong argument. I will answer it
in a simple way: The first step is awareness.
Hostel does try to give you some of
this awareness. One way it does is by telling the story from the
point of view of the victims.
The con job begins in Amsterdam. Three
friends; two, Paxton and Josh are American, recent college
graduates. Oli is Icelandic, a little older, recently
divorced, trying to recapture his youth.
Time is an issue for Paxton and Josh too.
This vacation is their last fling, before facing the
pressure of growing up. Paxton sees Europe as his chance,
not just for pleasure now, but as an experience he can look back
on during grueling hours of study (law school).
Josh is headed for graduate school; he is the only
reflective one. But none of them are mean people; for example, not
guys who’d ever give you date-rape drugs. In most ways, your
average college kids.
Amsterdam is what they expected, what they
looked forward to. But a random conversation with a Russian
tourist promises much more. A hostel in Slovakia; not in the
guidebooks. More females than males. Women horny for
handsome young Americans
The last time they have before adult
responsibilities take over
It sounds too good to be true, but the photos
on the Russian guy’s cell phone convince them.
Their journey is uneventful except for a chance
meeting with a strange businessman. A good talker…maybe too
good. He tells them they are headed to the right place; they will
love the Slovakian girls. Some of them will do anything you
want. Then abruptly putting his hand on Josh’s thigh, he
asks him, “What is your nature?”
Josh is furious right away. The man takes his
bag and leaves. He seems harmless enough yet threatening in
a way you can’t describe.
The hostel turns out to be just what the Russian
described. The lady at the front desk tells them they will
have roommates…very attractive women.
She is not exaggerating. The place even has its
own sauna and disco, with an attractive ratio of women to men.
Only Josh is slightly leery—things seem too good to be true.
But later that night, a woman from the hostel staff
takes Josh back to their room. Great sex. Everything
the Russian promised.
Women who seem too good to be true–just as
promised
Josh wakes next morning to find Paxton
grinning back at him. You know he scored too.
But no sign of Oli. They wonder if they
knew him well enough; would he tell them he was leaving, or just
go off on his own? A beautiful young Asian tourist tells
them Oli left a club with her friend, but no sign of them since.
Meanwhile, Paxton reassures Josh, Oli is okay.
Josh can’t stop worrying. In the lobby, he starts to feel
dizzy. The lady at the desk helps him to bed.
Cut to a point-of-view shot—what looks like a black
box with one hole to see out of. A long row of torture
implements in a dark ugly room.
You realize it is not a box, it is a black hood over
Josh’s head. He is cuffed into a chair. He can see two men.
One approaches him with an electric drill.
Josh never has time to think. He begs
them, at least talk to me. “I didn’t do anything to you.”
One man stays silent, but drills straight into Josh—twice.
It takes awhile to recognize him in his outfit, but it is
the man from the train.
The man talks now; he sounds insane. He picks
up a scalpel. “I always wanted to be a surgeon…” He
gashes Josh behind both ankles. Next he undoes the handcuffs
and says, “You’re free to go.”
Josh tries to run but both his Achilles tendons are
severed; he falls flat on his face. He promises money for
his freedom, but the man answers contemptuously, “I am the one
paying them.” Without further thought, he cuts Josh’s
throat. Through all of it, he is utterly cold; a true
monster.
You know Paxton is next. But Paxton knows
too…at least he is pretty sure. He is desperately trying to
walk the thin line–finding his friends…without getting caught
himself.
At an old tavern, he finds the roommates; the women
he and Josh had sex with. They tell him that Josh and Oli
went to an art show with two women. Paxton tells them, take
me there.
A large rundown building with a huge parking lot.
Yet plenty of art shows take place in venues like this.
Paxton goes in. Almost immediately, a group of men
grab him. His “roommate” watches with satisfaction.
“You bitch,” he says.
She says bringing him here will pay her well, “and
that makes you my bitch.”
As they drag him to a vacant room, Paxton sees a
lot. Rooms with young tourists tied down in chairs.
Josh’s body, the man from the train next to it.
Everywhere, what seem to be security guards.
He is strapped to a chair like Josh was. But
unlike his friend, Paxton is not paralyzed with disbelief.
“Talk,” a man says.
“What the fuck you want me to say?”
The man pulls off a surgical mask. Compared to
Josh’s killer, he seems newer at this…less sure of himself.
Paxton can speak passable German. He tells the man, if
you kill me, you will see me in your dreams the rest of your life.
The man slaps Paxton’s face, then storms out.
A security guard comes in, gags Paxton and leaves.
The first man holds a gun to Paxton’s forehead and
pantomimes shooting it. He puts the gun down, holds a chain
saw to Paxton’s face. He cuts Paxton’s hand, slices off two
fingers…and breaks the chain holding Paxton’s wrists. Blood
spurts all over. The man comes back with the chain saw but
slips on the blood and falls, the saw tearing a deep gash into his
leg. A second later, he is up again…
Paxton shoots him with the gun he dropped. The
guard comes in—Paxton kills him
too.
Paxton–Knowing only he can save himself
The room is unlocked, but leaving the building
is hard. In his journey, Paxton sees a man chopping bodies
up, then burning them in a crematorium. He goes into a
locker room. On the floor, he notices a business card
reading simply, Elite Hunting.
I don’t want to give away much more. But the
next scene is devastating, and ironically, no one gets hurt.
A man walks in. He takes it for granted
that Paxton is a paying customer like himself.
Paxton is terrified he will give himself away. But
the questions he expects never come. With the man talking a
mile a minute, Paxton barely needs to say anything.
The customer speaks English with no accent; you’d
guess he is from the USA. I expected him to be a spoiled,
decadent rich kid. Sure that his family can buy his way out
of any problems with the law.
Instead, he is totally down to earth. He would
look at home at any tailgate party at any stadium in any
state. Or any gym in any city, any major suburb.
But he’s not here to watch a football game. He
wants a more intense experience…some heightened reality. The
chance to torture and kill, to indulge his fantasies to the
fullest. I keep thinking of the line from In the Company of
Men.
“Why? Because I can.”
At first, I felt the moviemakers might have cast
someone different, someone with more of a rich, privileged
appearance. (Like a young James Spader, back in the 80’s and
90’s) I honestly don’t know if their decision to use this
actor was just a matter of chance.
But choosing someone so average actually gives Hostel more sting. It reminds us; these
sick fantasies are not only for the super-rich and jaded.
They cut across class lines, social lines, political lines.
You keep hoping… Maybe the guy is talking
about something else. Maybe he doesn’t know yet what he is
paying for…
Minutes later, Paxton sees him again.
You realize beyond a doubt: the guy knew what he wanted; he paid
for the whole package. A beautiful young Asian woman tied to
the same kind of chair. The customer is literally ripping
her face off. As Paxton walks in, the guy’s words say it
all: “Find your own fucking room.”
I remembered a scene from Chinatown. Noah Cross (John Huston), a
powerful man who has committed incest with his daughter for years,
talks to J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson). Cross tells him:
under the right circumstances, people are capable of anything.
And Noah is not apologizing, or even trying to
justify what he has done. He feels he has no reason to say
he is sorry or to make excuses.
Chinatown was set in the 1930’s,
before air travel was popular. Now, people have greater
freedom; you can be one person at home with your family.
Another person when you are away on business. You may
keep that life a secret for years. You find ways to cover
your tracks.
You compartmentalize it, keep it separate from
the rest of your life. Maybe you tell yourself, it’s my
money, I earned it. Or you contribute a large sum to a place
for homeless children or some third world children’s organization
and tell yourself, this good karma might cancel out my bad karma.
But once you’re talking about child prostitution
rather than torture, it’s only a question of definition, a
question of degree. Anyone who visits the third world for
the chance to have sex with children is a torturer, period.
Back in your own country, you can be a good father, a valued
member of your church or synagogue, start your own personal soup
kitchen. But nothing gets erased.
I spent a little time looking at interviews with the
writer/ director Eli Roth, without finding out much about what he
intended in making Hostel.
But still. Hostel’s not the
first movie where someone is tied down, helpless by a monster or a
human monster.
However, it is one of the best at making you
experience, all the way down in your gut, what that feels like.
That helpless feeling they have gone through: Josh,
Paxton, and the Asian girl Paxton tries to save —is a short taste
of what a kid sold into the sex industry will feel. For me,
if Hostel gets you to experience that, it’s done
its job and more.
