Very minor spoilers follow.
It's interesting when you read a book and hear that there is going to be a film adaptation And then you see it and it is nothing like the way you imagined but in some bizarre way manages to surpass that original bud of expectation. This was exactly my experience with the latest Jack Ketchum adaptation, "Offspring" as directed by Andrew van den Houten.
The film features a band of characters, some good and innocent and others haunted and despicable- pitched against a family of gypsy cannibals who after some nomadic years, have returned home to play with the bones from their last encounter and find themselves some fresh meat. It is a sliver of a much larger mythology and it works! In an existential, ultra-realistic way.
One of the great things about this movie is the way it is so unlike other films within its genre. It is not as morally black and white as "The Hills Have Eyes" remake and is not as preposterous and desperate as the "Wrong Turn" series, it is very much it's own entity. And there is energy here as well. I think a lot of the impact comes through the score, or the lack thereof. It reminded me at times of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"- semi electronic and natural at the same time. However the greatest examples of the score in this film, are moments of utter, dissolute silence. The opening murder sequence is among the most chilling I have seen in some time. The directing of this film is sure-handed and deliberate. Scenes are incongruous to the genre, sequences do not build as you expect them to, rather rush at you with dangerous ferocity. Andrew van den Houten understands something that I have always suspected works best in real-horror films, if it is going to be real- and reality will lead to fear- then it must be projected in a manner that is challenging, detached of convention and almost comical. It is a complicated balance. For example: there is a sequence featuring a mother (holding a baby) and her son running through the woods. We know she is being chased, and any other filmmaker would have garnished the audience with "I'm trying to create suspense by being predictable" POV-stalker shots from the perspective of the hunter. We do not get this, instead we get and abrupt reveal bereft of flourish or "boo" music stings. The violence is depicted in a refreshing 'take it or leave it' manner. The intent is not to make the audience jump, but to shock them. Real shock is not an audience's ability to be manipulated by film convention, shock comes from a place of reality. The film is often detached as a consequence, but that allow it's subliminal messages to rise to the surface: rhetoric questions about the nature of good and innocence, violence and consequence. All of Ketchum's work is about the destruction of families- and here we meet two: one, the power of white and the other, dark. Yet in each there are qualities of the other.
Another interesting diversion from the norm is that the cannibal family talks to one another. This dialog gives brief and often scary glimpses into their lives. They speak a Gaelic tongue in New England, suggesting a larger heritage. The cannibals have names (ie: First Stolen), which lead us to conclude how they became part of the family. There is also the wonderful character known as "Cow", an insane man manacled in chains, his purpose in life to provide the women with children. It is implied that he is no longer able to do this and as a result the family is in search of future offspring, a search that has them leaving the cave and heading into town Ultimately this is a movie about sustaining race and the question as to if that race is even worth saving. Is a child corrupt because they know only violence? Or is that normal? Are values skewered by experience? It's a film about who made who and why made why. It's challenging but no more challenging than the techniques used to convey it.
I suspect that some will not like this film, may even find it flat. I think this will happen because this is not an independent film trying to be Hollywood (ie: "Wrong Turn"), nor a Hollywood film trying to be independent (ie: "The Hills Have Eyes"), it is only itself and it understands what it is and what it is trying to say without exceeding the limited budget and making use of the best they have (which is all they need). It is not a "cool" horror film (ie: "Scream") and it does not aim to hook you in with a simplistic, brand name villain (as featured in the recent "The Hills Run Red"). It is pure Ketchum: unsympathetic and brutally honest. It is strikingly independent, in code and conduct and for this it should be applauded because really, these films don't exist any more.
The performances for the most part are good (especially Pollyanna McIntosh and Erick Kastel) but don't expect all threads to meet; the film is deliberately unconventional. Don't expect a stupid movie, it's just too plain intelligent for that. Don't expect cheap scares, there is integrity wound through every plot device and act of violence. Don't expect a roller-coaster ride, expect a trip through the woods without a flashlight and knowing that at any moment someone may jump out at you. Expect a breath of fresh air in a market of predictable trash and bastardized remakes. If only all horror was as good as this.
It's interesting when you read a book and hear that there is going to be a film adaptation And then you see it and it is nothing like the way you imagined but in some bizarre way manages to surpass that original bud of expectation. This was exactly my experience with the latest Jack Ketchum adaptation, "Offspring" as directed by Andrew van den Houten.
The film features a band of characters, some good and innocent and others haunted and despicable- pitched against a family of gypsy cannibals who after some nomadic years, have returned home to play with the bones from their last encounter and find themselves some fresh meat. It is a sliver of a much larger mythology and it works! In an existential, ultra-realistic way.
One of the great things about this movie is the way it is so unlike other films within its genre. It is not as morally black and white as "The Hills Have Eyes" remake and is not as preposterous and desperate as the "Wrong Turn" series, it is very much it's own entity. And there is energy here as well. I think a lot of the impact comes through the score, or the lack thereof. It reminded me at times of the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"- semi electronic and natural at the same time. However the greatest examples of the score in this film, are moments of utter, dissolute silence. The opening murder sequence is among the most chilling I have seen in some time. The directing of this film is sure-handed and deliberate. Scenes are incongruous to the genre, sequences do not build as you expect them to, rather rush at you with dangerous ferocity. Andrew van den Houten understands something that I have always suspected works best in real-horror films, if it is going to be real- and reality will lead to fear- then it must be projected in a manner that is challenging, detached of convention and almost comical. It is a complicated balance. For example: there is a sequence featuring a mother (holding a baby) and her son running through the woods. We know she is being chased, and any other filmmaker would have garnished the audience with "I'm trying to create suspense by being predictable" POV-stalker shots from the perspective of the hunter. We do not get this, instead we get and abrupt reveal bereft of flourish or "boo" music stings. The violence is depicted in a refreshing 'take it or leave it' manner. The intent is not to make the audience jump, but to shock them. Real shock is not an audience's ability to be manipulated by film convention, shock comes from a place of reality. The film is often detached as a consequence, but that allow it's subliminal messages to rise to the surface: rhetoric questions about the nature of good and innocence, violence and consequence. All of Ketchum's work is about the destruction of families- and here we meet two: one, the power of white and the other, dark. Yet in each there are qualities of the other.
Another interesting diversion from the norm is that the cannibal family talks to one another. This dialog gives brief and often scary glimpses into their lives. They speak a Gaelic tongue in New England, suggesting a larger heritage. The cannibals have names (ie: First Stolen), which lead us to conclude how they became part of the family. There is also the wonderful character known as "Cow", an insane man manacled in chains, his purpose in life to provide the women with children. It is implied that he is no longer able to do this and as a result the family is in search of future offspring, a search that has them leaving the cave and heading into town Ultimately this is a movie about sustaining race and the question as to if that race is even worth saving. Is a child corrupt because they know only violence? Or is that normal? Are values skewered by experience? It's a film about who made who and why made why. It's challenging but no more challenging than the techniques used to convey it.
I suspect that some will not like this film, may even find it flat. I think this will happen because this is not an independent film trying to be Hollywood (ie: "Wrong Turn"), nor a Hollywood film trying to be independent (ie: "The Hills Have Eyes"), it is only itself and it understands what it is and what it is trying to say without exceeding the limited budget and making use of the best they have (which is all they need). It is not a "cool" horror film (ie: "Scream") and it does not aim to hook you in with a simplistic, brand name villain (as featured in the recent "The Hills Run Red"). It is pure Ketchum: unsympathetic and brutally honest. It is strikingly independent, in code and conduct and for this it should be applauded because really, these films don't exist any more.
The performances for the most part are good (especially Pollyanna McIntosh and Erick Kastel) but don't expect all threads to meet; the film is deliberately unconventional. Don't expect a stupid movie, it's just too plain intelligent for that. Don't expect cheap scares, there is integrity wound through every plot device and act of violence. Don't expect a roller-coaster ride, expect a trip through the woods without a flashlight and knowing that at any moment someone may jump out at you. Expect a breath of fresh air in a market of predictable trash and bastardized remakes. If only all horror was as good as this.