They say, “Love has a sharp taste...” A lonely torch timidly illuminates the corridor of the dungeon, through which a girl who did not know the name of the Bible steps. Long hair frames an expressive face with huge eyes, in which children's fear surprisingly coexists with adolescent curiosity and adult perseverance. A child of vicious power, a henchman of the bloody throne, but in his own way, the still pure creation of Salome goes to a man whom he hardly knows, but fervently desires. The ugly grimace was built by love – such a union could not have a bright future, as the prophet the Baptist could not accept the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. Touching the lips, tenacious fingers on a woman’s neck, sharp nails, tearing into the blood of a man’s cheek – death rather rubs his bony hands, because John, who dared to reject young Salome, now has not long to live. One dance for the pleasure of the king's gaze is more influential than all the courts in the world. No charges, no interrogations, no defense, no sentence. For the dance of the Satanic angel, Herod will fulfill his every whim.
The famous play of Oscar Wilde only formally relies on evangelical motives, in reality, the meeting of Salome with John the Baptist became more than one of the tragic manifestations of love. Was the dance of the seven veils performed for her? It is hard to believe that Salome, fascinated by her mother’s words, realized what she was doing in a gloomy casemate. Vedoma was a girl not by reason, but by the voice of instinct, the heat of the lustful body, the iron will of vicious temptation. With a minimum of cinematic means, the canonical plot found another life, albeit one that did not break out of the deep pit of the European underground. Cheap shooting, a minimum of scenery did not prevent Clive Barker to convey the dynamic horror, which led to ordinary curiosity, mixed with teenage immediacy and uncertainty. Having sent a few characters to nightmare dungeons, the director who began at that time did not notice how the haze of a thousand-year history covered the dancing maiden with a soft cloud.
Depressive music with a dozen dull bells is given in the ears. The dry crackling of fire, ominous rustles foreshadow a terrible event that enters into an uneasy confrontation with the beauty of graceful dance. No need for words when a beautiful girl figure speaks about the diversity of feelings of the hostess. The image of Salome came out frighteningly whole, meticulously mysterious, charmingly gloomy. The film stirs the blood in the veins not with twists of the famous plot, but with an exciting expectation, coinciding with the naive desire to admire the dance for as long as possible. As you know, King Herod had no choice, and the casemate will become an eternal refuge for at least one person. However, the clever play of light and shadow makes you doubt the predetermined outcome. Barker manages to drive the viewer into a whirlpool of inside-out doubts. Is Salome a lone angel or a calculating devil? Is John a victim of a conspiracy or a heartless fanatic? Is Herod a man of word or a natural despot? The characters converge in a triple confrontation, witnessed only by the fluctuating flame of the torch. In the dungeon, human destinies are decided, by a crazy wave of the hand, by the rustle of a falling sheet.
At a time when Clive Barker was not yet a recognized playwright, and his name was not associated with the famous series of films “Hellraiser”, he created purgatory, which is very difficult to forget. “Salome” is technically unimaginative, but in the end, many future masters of directing started small. The paradox lies in the connection of this short film only with its continuation “Forbidden”, and with nothing else in the work of Barker. There is no reason for such a long break from the director before the premiere of his most famous film. As if touching the most ancient tragedy had an effect of alienation even on the creator himself, opening the way to the study of hellish splendor, for the embodiment of which it is not necessary to flip the Bible. Dance with a gloomy entourage became a symbol of the power of human madness, easily acquiring graceful feminine features. Whoever is responsible for the events that took place in the prison of John the Baptist, and the dramatic breakdown of common sense will remain incomparably more important than any nuances of his image.
