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Is family the biggest horror of all? Discussing The Witch (Eggers, 2016)

Modern Horror, at times, misuses the notion of Family, films like Maggie (Hobson, 2015), Poltergeist (Kenan, 2015) and The Conjuring (Wan, 2013) are just some films that use family as an empowering theme. In these films, our hero fights the Monster for the sake of the family because family is always safe, always strong and always there. This is why the start of The Witch appears too slow because the audience does not suspect the family at all, all Eggers provides the audience with is the beginning of a tale. The film immediately invokes sympathy with them, they are banished from their village and forced to go it alone in the forest. The characters are easy to identify with, the use of old language can put some spectators off but fundamentally, Eggers encourages the audience to understand this Puritan family as our own. At the core of this film is a family coming to terms with loss but this, by no means, suggests that the family is innocent. The Witch shows that horror starts at home and by the halfway point of the narrative, the audience loses all sense of family values.

The audience is forced to experience this film with the characters and once they leave the Village, the setting switches between the forest and their new makeshift home. The use of long shots connotes that the family is completely alone, they only have each other and their Puritan religion to keep them going. This is one of the most interesting aspects about the film, as all they have is each other, they quick to turn and suspect one another. The audience shares the narrative experience with the family, both completely unsure about when and where the horror will emerge from. Will it be from the Witch in the forest or will it be from inside the family which is being torn apart in front of the audience’s eyes?. As the narrative progresses, the audience clearly suspects the latter more. It is interesting to add in here that this film is set in 1630, yet family is still a questionable structure to this day. A 2009 FBI report stated that 25% of murders take place within the family and furthermore, over half of all murder victims know their killer. The Witch shows that fear does not come from the ambiguous creature who lives in the forest, it comes from the people who are “supposed” to love you unconditionally. The terror each family member feels is caused by a sense of loss and confusion with their relatives, their own flesh and blood whom they suspect is terrorising them.

The Witch is a film that lingers on the mind and after viewing it I was completely unsure how I felt. The audience is immediately put on edge and the strategic use of intermittent blank screens makes us wait in fear for the next potential scare. The film is more of a tale than a horror movie, the narrative is incredibly rich and engaging but the best thing about this film is its use of family. The Witch challenges the notion of family, family traps you, family suspects you and ultimately, family can kill you.

Is Maniac (Khalfoun, 2012) a Horror film that only women will fear?

The narrative starts in a place that people who have ended, what should have been an “amazing night out with friends”, completely alone. For some, the experience of walking home alone at night surrounded by drunk people may not be a jarring thought. However, for many, the experience is incredibly uncomfortable and films like Maniac reenforce the horror of these situations.  Aziz Ansari hilariously pointed out the difference between the genders in this situation in his Netflix series Master of None. In an episode dedicated to pointing out Ansari’s own feminism, his character Dev walks home and so does another girl who was at the bar with him that night. The editing cuts between both of them, when the camera fixes on Dev the music is cheery and more specifically plays the tune from “don’t worry, be happy” but the female’s music is much more sinister. Dev believes his night has gone poorly as he steps in dog poo, whilst the woman’s night goes badly as she is followed home by a drunk man who would not leave her alone in the bar and is catcalled frequently. After he follows her home, the drunk man states, “let me in…let a nice guy win for once”.  As 90% of all rape victims know their rapist, it seems fair to suggest that the “nice guy” is more dangerous than the creepy person lurking in an alley (This scene can be watched here). Unlike Master of None,Maniac forces the audience to see through the disgusting eyes of the completely sober man following women home at night.

All the above shots have voyeuristic elements but the whole film is shot in POV (the last one is used through the protagonist, Frank, looking in a mirror) and only once does the film allow us to see outside of Frank’s vision. Frank only targets women in his attacks and the other men in the film are used as ways of intimidating Frank, whilst he anonymously follows women home, he stutters when he speaks to other men. Maniac is a film designed to scare women, as to men, it simply poses no threat. However, what makes Maniac a truly abhorrent film is Khalfoun appears to suggest that Frank’s poor relationship with his Mother is too blame for his behaviour. At various points the film cuts to a flashback of Frank watching his Mother have sex and the audience quickly comes to the conclusion that this plays a huge part in his psychosis. It is impossible for the audience to identify with the Mother as she does not seem maternal throughout the narrative and her character is simply there to show how her sexuality has harmed Frank. Through the flashbacks, Khalfoun creates a sense of sympathy with Frank as he shows him as a young child looking afraid, it becomes difficult for the audience to remain unsympathetic towards the character. This makes the film more uncomfortable, sympathy is encouraged with a sadistic, psychotic murderer and the female characters are hugely undeveloped to the point where at times it is difficult to have sympathy towards them.

Maniac is clearly designed to terrify a female audience. The unrelenting use of POV shots forces the audience to gaze at a victim, whilst the eyes we are looking through are clearly a man who, on the surface, appears completely ‘normal‘. Khalfoun plays with the concept of the “nice guy” but still, forces sympathy with the protagonist. Maniac is an incredibly uncomfortable watch at times, particularly when discussing the cause of Frank’s psychosis and Khalfoun clearly suggests that female sexuality is too blame. Is the director suggesting that female sexuality is the cause of attacks on women? After re watching the film, I do believe that at times the director appears to take a victim blaming approach. To a certain extent, most Horror encourages a victim blaming approach. The typical “if I was in a horror film I would never….” or “is that character stupid?! why would they do that!” response is victim blaming at it’s core. Rather than the audience feeling abhorrent towards the murderer, victim blaming seems to be an audience’s way of dealing with the texts. What makes the film so unnerving is that at times Khalfoun forces us to identify with the man who ruthlessly kills anonymous women that the audience know nothing about.

Boy (Waititi, 2010)

“She reckons it's better to be risk your money on something big and be real poor, than sit around being a bit poor.”

also i watched room!!!! 

Brie Larson is genuinely one of my favourite actresses but particularly as a comedy character, I was amazed at her performance in Room- it was genuinely one of the most intoxicatingly beautiful films I’ve ever watched. It perfectly encapsulated the moments where you want to look away but the films interpellates you to the point that you still feel it, despite not looking at the screen. Jacob Tremblay gave one of the best child performances, i’ve never identified with a child’s character as much. (also he’s 9!!! wtf that’s incredible)

but yeah, incredible.

i have so much film work 

weirdly happy and excited

Rushmore (Anderson, 1998)

“Tell that stupid Mick he just made my list of things to do today”

The Lobster (Lanthimos, 2015)

”I just have this limp, which is also my defining characteristic. My wife died six days ago. She was very beautiful and I loved her very much. She had a limp too.”

The Lobster (Lanthimos, 2015)

The Lobster is set in a dystopian future where single people spend 44 days at a Hotel, if they remain alone throughout the 45 days, their stay ends with them transforming into an animal of their own choice.

The Hotel reinforces the concept that to be alone is to be weak but to be with a partner is a matter of survival. The mise-en-scene shows the sheer lack of love in the shots, meaning that relationships become hostile and purely strategical. The warm colouring of yellow in most of the shots is completely overshadowed by the horrendous acts the spectator sees on the screen. The film does not discuss reproduction, if a couple stays together long enough, they are allocated a child.  The film argues that, simply, to be alone makes you vulnerable. This is seen in the reenactment scene, the camera remains completey still whilst the workers at the Hotel act out how vulnerable it is for females to walk alone at night. The voiceover is clearly authoritative and furthermore, is devoid of any emotion. Furthermore, it trivializes the situation and rids the characters of any individuality as they cannot even tell their own story. The stilted performance of all characters helps anchor this fragility and this is best highlighted through Biscuit woman, who calmly states that she is “good at blowjobs”, the sexual proposal is not suggested in an enticing way, the spectator fully believes that she is saying this to prove her worth as a potential partner. Moments later she discusses how she will jump out of her window if she is alone by the end of the 45 days.

The film challenges the concept of soul mates, and destined relationships. the film suggests that for soul mates to work, one must suspend disbelief. The limping man’s repeatedly bangs his face against walls to make his nose bleed so that the nosebleed woman percieves that he is the one- that this uncanny resemblance is completely believable. The spectator is forced to see the idiocracy in this concept. At the end of the film, the protagonist still believes in this concept. As he believes he has found his ‘soul mate’ he ails himself so that he can fully ‘match’ his love. 

It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra, 1946)

“Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings! Love, Clarence”

Frank (Abrahamson, 2014)

“We’ll have many productive seasons here”

Lost in Translation (Coppola, 2003)

“I don’t want to leave.”

“So don’t. Stay here with me. We’ll start a Jazz band.”

Fargo: The Crocodile’s Dilemma (S1, E1)

“Your problem is you've spent your whole life thinking there are rules. There aren't. We used to be gorillas.”

“I’m not in love with you anymore”

The Royal Tenenbaums (Anderson, 2001) and the colour yellow

“Judy, please, it can’t matter to you.”

Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958) and the colour green

“Au Revoir, Shosanna”

Inglorious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009) and the colour red

“In fair Verona, where we lay our scene”

Romeo + Juliet (Luhrmann, 1996)and the colour blue

Se7en follows the story of Detective Mills and Detective Sommerset trying to find a serial killer committing his crimes in the way of the seven deadly sins. This screenshot beautifully examines the films theme of the relevance of religion in modern day society. 

The establishing shot highlights the dominance of electricity pylons in relation to the empty desert. The desert immediately has religious connotations, the story of Jesus spending 40 days and 40 nights in the vacuous space. The desert should connote spirituality and a location in which religion could potentially flourish. However, the mise-en-scene makes it impossible to see the desert alone. The spectator struggles to find a glimpse of the desert through the pylons. The shot draws into question the importance of religion in modern day society. Religion no longer holds the relevance that technology does. The only desert the spectator can see is the road in which a serial killer is driving on. 

Some of the most beautiful shots I’ve ever seen:

1. Drive (Refn, 2011)

2. Requiem for a Dream (Aronofsky, 2000)

3. Se7en (Fincher, 1995)

4. Shaun of the Dead (Wright, 2004)

One of Hitchcock’s repeatedly used narrative techniques was the concept of libido ripping it’s way through to reality, this is seen in Vertigo (1958) and The Birds (1963). However, Psycho (1960) provides a different narrative technique.

Psycho can be read as a film solely about the repression of our true desires and how horrific the release of our “Id” can be. Norman Bates acts as the embodiment of the classic Hitchcockian film whereas, Norma Bates acts as the films repressive figure. The ambiguity regarding Norman’s identity towards the end of the film further proves this, if only Norma exists than the only thing we can truly do is repress our desires as society rejects the freedom of our Id. Norma’s final actions prove this as she states, “I’m not even going to swat that fly. I hope they are watching… they’ll see. They’ll see and they’ll know, and they’ll say, “Why, she wouldn’t even harm a fly…”. This highlights how important repressing actions is to her character.

Whilst The Birds find it’s narrative progression through the freeing of our desires, Psycho (and definitely, Vertigo) highlights the horror of male desire and how the world cannot exist along with desire becoming reality.

Identity can be an ambiguous subject in Horror but increasingly, Horror narratives are turning towards the theory of the “Other”. The Other acts as the antagonist, one that the spectator cannot identify with and that the spectator realises in quintessentially different from themselves. The Other often takes on the form of the foreigner in Horror, thus increasing the xenophobia in modern horror and furthermore, exploiting current xenophobic social fears.

The three films above, The Strangers (2008, Bertino), Funny Games US (2007, Haneke) and The Purge (2013, DeMonaco) all feature the “Other”. All three films use this technique as it places the audience as the vulnerable voyeur, enabling the spectator to fully engage in a cathartic experience with the protagonists. If the spectator does not understand the motives of the antagonist we are forced to constantly ask questions and therefore, continue to become engrossed and interpellated into the film.

Alfred Hitchcock is notorious for his use of the ideal Hitchcockian woman, many of the female protagonists or figures of romance in Hitchcock movies look incredibly similar. An example of the “ideal Hitchcock woman” is Madeline in Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958), her hair is blonde and she wears a tight, almost fetishised, suit. Tippi Hedren matched this criteria and her relationship with Hitch become one of great controversy. During the filming of The Birds (1963), Hitchcock became incredibly controlling over Hedren, particularly controlling what she ate and drank. He reportedly told cast and crew they were not to talk to Hedren and furthermore, Hedren claimed that Hitchcock tried to kiss her in the back of a car.

This behaviour only enhanced during the shooting of Marnie (1964), a film that can be read as solely about Hitchcock’s fear of female identity and his need for control over Hedren, specifically her sexuality.  Hedren said, “Everyone - I mean everyone - knew he was obsessed with me. He always wanted a glass of wine or champagne, with me alone, at the end of the day…he was really isolating me from everyone”. The relationship reached a climax when Hitchcock refused to allow Hedren the opportunity to visit New York, Hitchcock claimed that he’d ruin Hedren’s career, before it had truly started.

Hitchcock’s control over Hedren’s contract allowed him to decline or accept offers as he wished, he turned down several offers on Hedren’s behalf.

Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) is notable for a number of reasons, one of these is the first use of the “man gone wrong” antagonist. Although this is a common and popular narrative device in many modern Horror films, such as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho and Michael Myers in Halloween, at the time Norman Bates was a revolutionary character as he would change the role of antagonists forever. Norman’s name was chosen simply because it would close to the word “Normal”.

Hitchcock was obsessed with the idea of verisimilitude throughout the filming of Psycho, he used television actors from his series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” rather than high profile actresses and actors, as he had done in films such as Vertigo (1958) and Rear Window (1954). The audience is encouraged to identify with Norman as soon as Marion leaves the narrative, the spectator follows Norman cleaning the mess and film critic Zizek argues that we identify with this as he undertakes cleaning jobs like the spectator.

Hitchcock’s innovation with the “man gone wrong” antagonist has changed horror films and furthermore, highlighted the horror of true life. Part of the attraction in horror films is that fact that, most of the time, the antagonist is caught and the spectator revels in the idea that the protagonists are safe. However, in real life this is rarely the case, numerous murderers and criminals are not caught and this was what the man gone wrong antagonist proves- it points out that serial killers/murderers/general criminals look like the everyman and we are living amongst them, just as Marion lived next door to Norman Bates.

Lake Mungo (Anderson, 2008)

The mockumentary format enables the audience to trust the protagonists and furthermore, identify with their grief over losing their daughter. Unlike other ‘haunting’ sub-genres of horror, the focal point of the narrative appears to be with all family members accepting the death of Alice rather than cheap scare shots. Arguably, the uneasy tension created at the start of the film is through both the identification with the protagonist and through the genius use of mockumentary sub-genre.

The integration of the hand-held camera and late night recording narrative device is so underrated and is successful in creating a higher level of intrigue for the audience. However, the narrative threads created by the use of the camera reflects family relations. The initial shots of Alice are created by her brother to help her mother accept Alice’s death and analysing of the second tape shows Alice’s sexual relations with her next door neighbour. Furthermore, the use of the family psychic Ray increases the sense of verisimilitude throughout the film and he also allows an insight to Alice’s inner fears. Ray is another essential narrative device for the film as he vocalises the similar fears of both Mother and Daughter (Alice’s fear being losing her Mother and her Mother’s fear of her distance from Alice).

The discovery of Alice’s phone in Lake Mungo provides the scariest moment in the film and shows Alice confronting her fears of drowning-she sees her bloated, dead body in front of her. As her parents revealed she never talked about the Lake Mungo trip, it shows the sheer distance between the characters. Despite the climatic moment being scary, it’s also liberating(in a sense.) Alice’s parents believe the spirit in the house has changed since the discovery of Alice’s phone so the audience believes that the family’s problems are over. Arguably, this is due to the genre codes and conventions- the audience shouldn’t identify with the ghost, when the family believes they are safe, the audience are safe. However, this is not the end.

The interchanging shots of Alice’s final interview with Ray and her Mother’s show that the distance is still there, despite the fact her family believes Alice is free. Alice talks about how she sees her Mother yet her Mother does not see her. In comparison, her Mother talks about how she doesn’t see Alice. The final shot of the family shows a figure at the window, the audience is led to believe that this is Alice. Thus, creating the idea that Alice has been there all along and the family has found various reasons to not see her. The physical distance between the family and Alice shows this.

In my opinion, although the message is somewhat cliched, the film discusses the distance between teenagers and their parents. Furthermore, the idea that after death nothing is solved and we never truly knows what someone else feels. The film is incredibly well executed and is both terrifying and emotional.

It Follows (Mitchell, 2014)

What makes It Follows (Mitchell, 2014) so effective as a horror film is that it tells the spectator that they are right to fear the unknown, because the unknown is the voyeur. The Male Gaze objectifies the subject (usually feminine) and empowers the gazer (usually masculine), It Follows subverts this typical film convention. If we gaze into the unknown we believe that we hold the power, yet if the unknown gazes back, without noticing, we are objectified. Mitchell’s use of camera panning encourages passivity, the camera moves for us, the spectator holds no power as in our nightmares, we are passive. Many shots of our protagonist, Jay, are positioned uncomfortably. Some show Jay passing a window whilst others place us with her, gazing at the antagonist. Through the repeated use of the wide shots, the spectator is left vulnerable as we gaze at the shot in it’s entirety, much like our protagonist, we have no idea where it is. 

Another way in which It Follows is incredibly effective is it’s use of isolation as a key theme. In order to pass on the curse, sex is needed. Although this should connote intimacy and love, sex is the cause of this isolation for the ones who suffer from the curse. In isolation, we find ourselves at our most vulnerable and when we are in need, only we truly knows what we need. The almost art-house-esque focuses on the stillness of the shot, the minimalism of most of the shots and mise-en-scene also connotes the emptiness of the film and furthermore, anchors the lack of intimacy.