The power of fear The debut directorial work of Anthony DeBlacey, who produces horror films such as the Midnight Express, Tormented Souls, The Risen from Hell and The Book of Blood, turned out to be a rather peculiar horror film, presenting old ideas in a new way.
In fact, it is a philosophical parable about the nature of fear and human behavior. With a large share of the author's position, it is not quite clear whether this is the position of the director, or the original Barker ideas. It doesn't matter, though. All the bloody orgy and cruel torture porn can be safely called a psychological and uncompromising author's work.
Art house is different, and the range of ideas in itself is always quite wide. The main thing is that such an art house does not go into the underground, because the same famous “Slaughter of puking dolls” and “Puelled Victim” of Lucifer Valentine, with all the blackness, can not be called otherwise than an author’s film, its originality will not be understood by everyone, and many people at all like to see a deep meaning in the meaningless, but nevertheless all the originality and permissibility of the director to shoot a film completely under himself, already makes such a film an author’s self-expression. And of course, “Fear” is much easier to perceive than the creations of Valentine, but against the background of more beautiful art horrors such as “Antichrist” and “Let me in”, this film will seem almost completely devoid of beauty.
After all, the main emphasis of the presentation of events is not on the visual series, which still came out quite strong and rich, but on psychological pressure and dialogue. “If you do not find the beast – sooner or later the beast will find you,” one of the central characters will say, starting a metaphorical ribbon of interesting statements and dialogues, among which you can hear “but I was right! – what difference does it make?”, various manifestations of lies and its exposure, illustrative examples of using people for selfish purposes, and psychotherapy of getting rid of their own suffering by observing others.
In principle, the whole film is full of psychotherapy. We are given a choice of four heroes who at first glance do not represent anything. Emo boys, emo girls, however, not devoid of some zest, or because of the small number of actors, leaving at least some imprint in memory. Separate scenes, details of appearance, final lines of fate of each in the junction - this makes them bright and unique, and behind each lie their secrets, which they share in public, or rather among themselves, but so that they heard the viewer.
Here, perhaps, it does not matter who said something, the rearrangement of characters during communication will not change anything at all, but the very essence will increasingly reveal various ideas, demonstrating methods of radical therapy. What is the power of fear? Who is stronger, man or still his inner beast? What is the cause of fear and how far do you have to go to deal with it? The film raises serious questions, answering them as directly and revealingly as possible. But whether the public will like such answers - the author does not think at all, cutting the truth ruthlessly and frankly, as far as possible, and at the same time, public imagination.
Filling the visual scenes of cruelty and sex, the dynamic whirlpool of events at the end almost woven into a bacchanalia of secondaryness. It seems that the film is about to grow into “Saw”, and in the end it begins to resemble Uvebollovsk “Sid”. But the presence of serious meaning makes it much closer to the cult creation of James Wan, with elements of his own style and originality. Dirty aesthetics and grotesque betray to it its uniqueness and peculiarity. The film is not reduced to a banal survival game, like many clones of “Saws”, and does not present unexpected tricks of the plot at the end. The action develops linearly, but at the same time uncompromising and firm, with maximum cruelty forcing to find the beast and look beyond fear.
The pill for the treatment of the disease here is not a simple answer to eternal questions, and the proof of truth here comes more from the opposite than from the direct interpretation of events, phenomena and situations. And healing doesn’t lie on the other side of the river of suffering, it’s abstract values, while the film throws it to extremes. And the viewer is forced to watch how a devout Christian dismembers with an axe with a sweet smile, how a girl smears herself with acid, and from the lips of the main character the word “sick” is repeated every now and then.
Yes, this film is actually just sick and crazy, which catches and attracts attention. Every genius is necessarily a madman, but not every madman is a genius. And some will see senseless violence and lust here, others will be imbued with characters and recognize themselves, and even look at their own fears, others will engage in deep psychoanalysis of all this therapy. And when a brilliant, but at the same time completely insane doctor tries to look for a cure for an incurable disease, it turns out that the search for an unrestrained beast, in a collision with which there is no chance.
DeBlacey made an incredibly atmospheric, psychological and rich movie. There is something to think about and something to admire. It does not pretend to be a revelation, but clearly speaks in a clear and accessible language, facilitating the understanding and acceptance of the ideas embedded in the film. And the ideas are quite multifaceted, so that different viewers find different messages in it. And the only way to compare this shrillly clever set of tortures is to call the Devil in a ceremony where, after a bunch of sexual orgies and repeated martyrdoms, everyone realizes that the beast is actually inside, in each of us. He pursues us with a shadow, he sends us nightmares, he even sometimes protects us from unnecessary and ill-considered actions, and sometimes insanely and spontaneously pushes on the rapid and most important decisions of life, always near and we feel his breath, even sometimes forgetting about his existence. And the name of this beast is Fear.
10 IZ 10
Original