Halloween 2020: October 22nd

Relic (2020)

Recently, there was a tweet that got some attention, about how the poster was sick of horror movies being About Something. It was a silly opinion, for many reasons, but I sort of understand where they was coming from. 2020's indie horror scene is certainly crowded with movies that want to be the next “Hereditary.” Even otherwise good movies are somewhat stigmatized by how much they want to be included in the “elevated horror” club. Such as “Relic,” a fright film clearly about the horrors of dementia. While the Australian chiller has earned some praise, it's also earned some criticism from people tired of “underlit, slow-burn dramas” masquerading as horror pictures. It's definitely time for me to weigh in on this one.

Kay’s mother, Edna, is showing signs of dementia. Recently, she flooded her home after leaving a bath running. After wandering away from the house for three days, Kay and her daughter, Sam, temporarily move in. They discover Edna’s condition is far worst than either realized. She leaves notes around the house to remember to do simple things. She has conversations with people who aren’t there. She forgets conversations she had earlier, forgets where she is, and sometimes becomes violent. The longer Kay and Sam stay, the clearer it becomes that a supernatural presence is affecting Edna and her home.

In “Relic,” dementia is the monster. Unlike “Hereditary,” no demonic explanation is added to disguise the film’s theme. All the creepy stuff that happens in “Relic” — and “Relic” is creepy — is a metaphor for its ideas. Edna’s home is decaying, much like her mind. A black mold like substance is seen on the walls and eventually spreads to Edna’s body. Her body breaks down, skin tearing away and bone stabbing through, because her mind is breaking down. In one of the scariest sequences in the film, Sam gets lost in winding corridors inside the home. Much like how her grandmother is frequently lost in her own memories. This commitment to the idea, that dementia replaces the person you love with a monster, is probably why some of the more grounded scenes are “Relic’s” most upsetting. Like when Edna jerks a ring off Sam’s finger, forgetting she gave it to her earlier. Or when she stares at her own daughter with a blank face, clearly not recognizing her. 

Part of the reason why we, the viewer, are willing to play along with “Relic” is because we care about its characters. Almost the entire movie is devoted to Kay, Edna, and Sam. So it’s a good thing a strong cast is here to keep you invested. Emily Mortimer, as Kay, is not afraid to show the frustration the character feels. She’s reluctant to confront why her mom is acting this way, why the person who has taken care of her now requires care. Robyn Nevin can certainly be frightening as Edna, during her most demonic moments. Yet she’s mostly heartbreaking, as a woman loosing her mind. A scene mother and daughter share, burying a photo album, is destined to be among 2020’s saddest cinematic moments. Ultimately, love and sympathy is what drives the film, earning a more contemplative conclusion than you may be expecting. Bella Heathcote is also pretty good as Sam, even if she’s more of a typical screaming heroine type. (And would be the protagonist in a weaker movie.)

You can accuse director Natalie Erika James of wanting to make a domestic drama about dementia but turning it into a horror film to make it more commercial. Maybe. But James is pretty good at the scary stuff too. A feeling of creeping dread presides from the earliest scenes. Edna’s home is a totally normal place but feels intrinsically wrong. “Relic’s” sound design is excellent, clattering noises from behind the walls or a thumping laundry machine often putting the viewer on edge. As the paranormal horror becomes more overt, James ratchets up the tension. The dark hallways of the home become ominous, as a twitching monster lurks within them. Squirming body horror and full-bore attack scenes keep the unease high. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before but it’s very well done. Only the swirling nightmare sequences feel trite. 

My own grandmother was afflicted with senility, in the years before her death. Luckily, she never became violent. Instead, she was largely forgetful. She would often repeat phrases and became increasingly child-like as she got older. I saw the frustration and pain this caused my own mother. Which is probably why “Relic” worked a lot better for me than it did some horror fans. Yet I think this is a really effective scare film too, James utilizing familiar tools in exciting ways. And if any horror flick earns a “the terror isn’t over yet” ending, it’s this one. If “elevated horror” is destined to be the 2020’s contribution to genre history, we could do a lot worst than films like “Relic.” [8/10]

The Awakening (1980)

After watching the mummy sequence in “Tales from the Darkside: The Movie” the other day, I'm craving more tales of Egyptian horror. Unsurprisingly, mummy movies went out of vogue long ago. Stories about the shambling corpses of Egyptian royalty largely dried up after the fifties. This is probably because the mummy premise is not as mutable as vampires or werewolves. If you're making a mummy movie, you kind of have to involve Egypt. (Or the Aztecs, at the very least.) Still, there have been occasional attempts to revive the idea over the decades. Long before Universal's various big budget remakes, Warner Brothers would take a stab at the mummy movie at the start of the eighties. Another adaptation of Bram Stoker's “Jewel of the Seven Stars,” I've long been curious about “The Awakening.”

His whole life, archaeologist Matthew Corbeck has searched for evidence of Kara, an ancient queen of Egypt that was said to be so wicked, her name was stricken from history. On a trip into the Valley of the Kings, along with his pregnant wife, Corbeck thinks he's found it. As the tomb is cracked open, his wife gives birth. Eighteen years later, Corbeck and his wife are divorced and his daughter, Margaret, is a teenage girl. She requests to see her father, the two even traveling to Egypt together. Corbeck's obsession with Queen Kara grows more intense. Margaret starts to act strangely. Bizarre accidents begin to happen around them. The legend that the evil queen can be resurrected seems to be coming true. 

“The Awakening” attempts to be a “slow burn” but only manages to be slow. Though only running 100 minutes long, the film feels considerably longer. The characters leap around from country to country. Corbeck and Margaret go from England to Egypt and back without much attention. Minor characters come and go. Like a love interest for the daughter, a psychologist, or Corbeck's first wife. None make much of an impression. The best idea “The Awakening” has occurs in the first fifteen minutes. That would be when Margaret's birth coincides with Kara's tomb being opened, when her first breath occurs at the same time as the mummy is uncovered. After that, it's just a long wait for the movie to reach its inevitable conclusion... A conclusion the film seemingly goes out of its to avoid for as long as possible. 

Yes, “The Awakening” is one of those pretentious horror movies afraid of being a horror movie. There's no crawling mummy action here, I'm sad to say. Instead, “The Awakening” has ominous accidents befall people. When lifting a wall of hieroglyphs out of Kara's tomb, a worker is caught in a rope and pulled off a cliff. A man is struck by a car. A booby trap skewers a guy. Some of these scenes are rather laughable, such as when a lady looses a stare-off with vibrating cobra statue. Yet these bits of carnage – like a shard glass impaling a throat – are the only time “The Awakening” really comes to life. Considering Charleston Heston was offered “The Omen” and turned it down, one can't help but notice the similarities. “The Awakening” trades out Satan for Egypt and Damian for Kara, only managing to capture a tiny fracture of that film's disquieting power or gory bombast. That blatant cribbing is still “The Awakening's” best trick.

What's frustrating about “The Awakening” is that it didn't have to be this way. The dysfunctional relationships at the story's center had potential. At the film's beginning, Corbeck's wife is about fed up with him. She feels his obsession with Egyptology supersedes his devotion to her and their child. When he misses the birth because he's off digging, that's the final straw. There's certainly more than one suggestion that Corbeck is a bit in love with Kara. Which, once his daughter obviously becomes the reincarnation of the dead queen, brings a disquieting suggestion of incest to the proceedings. Sadly, “The Awakening” never does much with these ideas, its fucked-up emotions lingering uncomfortably under the surface. You certainly can't imagine Charlton Heston, always so dignified and saintly, playing a character that has anything but fatherly thoughts towards his daughter. 

Aside from the mummy stuff, Heston's involvement is the main reason I wanted to check out “The Awakening.” After Heston's trilogy of sci-fi dystopian flicks, I was hoping this would be the forgotten fourth part of the iconic actor's genre film experiments. Sadly, “The Awakening” isn't even up to the standards of “Soylent Green.” Heston said in the press leading up the movie's release that this was his first horror movie, clearly forgetting that “The Omega Man” was about mutated ghouls. Excluding that, and excepting a cameo in “In the Mouth of Madness,” it's also Heston's only horror movie. If Chuck didn't show much aptitude for the horror genre, neither did director Mike Newell, who has never dipped into spooky stuff since either. Which might be for the best. [5/10]

Nightmares and Dreamscapes: Autopsy Room Four

The episode of “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” – the short-lived Stephen King anthology from 2006 – that I watched last year wasn't half-bad, so here's another one. “Autopsy Room Four” begins with Howard Cottrell, Wall Street tycoon, awakening in a body bag. Even though he's taken to the morgue, he can still feel everything and still has thoughts in his heads. As the physicians prepare to perform an autopsy on Howard, he recalls the events that led him to this point. He was playing golf with some friends and was bitten by a snake, falling into a death-like paralysis. The doctors get ready to cut him open and Howard's thoughts race, trying to figure out some sort of way to tell them he's still alive.

“Autopsy Room Four” has a terrifying premise. I'm not the only person who has had nightmares about waking up dead. Yet, like the “Everything's Eventual” story that spawn it, the episode is weirdly light-hearted. The banter of the physicians is humorous, debating whether the “corpse” will wear boxers or briefs. There's an absurd quality to Howard's running commentary, as he mentally snaps at the doctors' callousness. The way Howard eventually reveals that he's alive is obviously comical as well. Richard Thomas' lead performance is okay, though the character is saddled with an unlikable personality. Cinematographer-turned-director Mikael Salomon – who, aside from disaster flick “Hard Rain,” has mostly done TV – provides largely melodramatic visuals, including some tacky slow-mo. Which also undermines the potential thrills. 

The big problem with this premise is that it would be great for a ten minute short film. Even at forty minutes, this one is stretched thin. The repeated delays in performing Howard's autopsy eventually get silly. Anytime the episode cuts away from Howard's mental-space, it feels like cheating. Yet there's not much story otherwise, so flashbacks have to be included. It's in those flashbacks, that we get extremely awkward exposition explaining Howard's job, his background as a war vet, and his apparent impotence. To further pad out the story, there's a subplot involving a romance between the two doctors. Eventually, the snake that paralyzed Howard makes it into the hospital, further removing us from the episode's primary conflict. Though it's a great idea, “Autopsy Room Four” ultimately can't sustain itself even for a  TV episode. [5/10]

Still Life (2005)

Here’s another short recommended to me by the Dissolve. “Still Life” concerns a young man on a long car ride. He’s obviously been driving a while because his eyelids are starting to droop. He chugs coffee and pops caffeine pills to stay awake. While driving through a snowy small town, almost out of gas, he hits something. Upon closer examination, he discover he struck a mannequin. He discovers the entire town is occupied with mannequins. While they seem still enough when he looks at them, the mannequins move when his back is turned. And they are pretty pissed off at him. 

“Still Life” comes to us from Canadian filmmaker Jon Knautz, who would go onto make “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer” and “GirlHouse.” Even though “Still Life” only survives as a 240p YouTube video, it still shows that Knautz has some chops. The inherent creepiness of mannequins is well utilized here. Their unmoving but judgmental gazes always stare at the protagonist. The sound design for “Still Life” is excellent, the scuffling mannequin feet always being heard, rather than seen. A musical score, largely composed of quivering strings, effectively keeps the tension building. Though we know nothing about the guy, “Still Life” still has us relating to someone strictly because they’ve stumbled into a nightmarish scenario... Which is somewhat undermined by a twist ending, which is fairly obvious in retrospect. Still, for most of its run time, this is a delightfully creepy taste of horror. [7/10]