Yeah, Don Coscarelli, the next Stanley Kubrick--when has this genre director ever been called a "genius"?! Grow-up, Tim. This was great, and definitely an unexpected-turn for Mr. Coscarelli and the Masters of Horror series. It's a very atypical-approach to horror, and I loved it. Selling the story as a damsel-in-distress was a genius-move by Lansdale, Stephen Romano and Don Coscarelli (who added the Angus Scrimm character). The story is pretty-straightforward: a woman smacks into an abandoned-car on a mountain curve on a highway, finding it empty with blood covering the interior. It turns-out the car was bait, and was placed there by a predatory serial-killer (called "Moonface" by one of his captives, the Scrimm character). All-the-while, we are given bits of the girl's backstory: her relationship with her survivalist-boyfriend. It's clear that he's taught her how to not only defend-herself, but to insure her survival in unexpected-situations--how to become a predator. By midpoint, we're aware she's no damsel after-all. She can kill just as easily as Moonface.
It has to be said that there was a point that I began to pity Moonface, but after seeing his crucified-victims over-and-over, that ended. But Coscarelli had me there for a moment! What makes this such good horror is that our loyalties to the characters sometimes shift, and this is sometimes unresolved. We're left feeling ambivalent. There are some freaks out there in America's deepest-corners, and the story had a ring of folklore to it, I liked this. For ages, there have been stories in the Old South of crazies in the mountains, so the story isn't that far-fetched. My maternal-Grandmother grew-up in the Ozarks, and told us of the "Mountain people" who still believed slavery was legal in 1900s America! There were even tales of cannibalism and inbreeding. It all gives the film a bit of a Texas Chiansaw Massacre flavor, with a new-addition to rural crazies in our collective-consciousness.
The boyfriend-backstory is really crucial if you want to understand this story, and until the shocking end, it resonates strongly. Of course, men made the woman's character so violent, but the film begs-the-question: is this violence already there, waiting to be activated under the right-circumstances? The story suggest yes. In one of the featurettes, however, Coscarelli seems to think the young-woman will be "normal" after all of this--I disagree. The close-shots he uses for the eye-drillings by Moonface and by the woman are IDENTICAL, which makes-it-plain that the actions are EQUAL. She has become just like Moonface. It's a minor-complaint, and it's not a contradiction within the film itself, just an aside-comment in an interview with the director.
It's OK if a director doesn't entirely-know what he has, after-all. Cronenberg is the best-example of this, and claims he doesn't entirely- understand his films during their production. Moonface could easily be seen as a distorted-version of the boyfriend in the flashbacks. He's bald, he's VERY white (the boyfriend is an Aryan Nations type), and his focus is on killing. Like the boyfriend, he is a predator to the woman-character. Even Moonface's hideout suggest a survivalist-setting. All of this leads to the surprise-ending that you have to see-to-believe, and it is a very subversive-upending of stereotypes surrounding men and women. Some have argued that woman is the strongest of the species, and I would be hard-pressed to disagree. Women are too-easily underestimated. Remember Aileen Wuronos? The film just has great atmosphere, and some excellent night-photography which is still difficult to get right. I loved the fast-cutting, and how dark the film looks. The image of Moonface is unforgettable, and will probably be remembered for some time in horror-iconography. The long-shots with the yard of crucified-victims was just incredible and chilling, and the chase-scenes are an adrenaline-boost. This is a first for Coscarelli, a film that is primarily a chase, but it works. The Scrimm character, "Buddy" is a really good comedic-relief in the heart of a horrible-situation, and he does the film proud as he usually does. Again, IDT/Anchor Bay have done a superb-job with the transfer and the extras. No complaints here whatsoever. It does what it's supposed-to.
It has to be said that there was a point that I began to pity Moonface, but after seeing his crucified-victims over-and-over, that ended. But Coscarelli had me there for a moment! What makes this such good horror is that our loyalties to the characters sometimes shift, and this is sometimes unresolved. We're left feeling ambivalent. There are some freaks out there in America's deepest-corners, and the story had a ring of folklore to it, I liked this. For ages, there have been stories in the Old South of crazies in the mountains, so the story isn't that far-fetched. My maternal-Grandmother grew-up in the Ozarks, and told us of the "Mountain people" who still believed slavery was legal in 1900s America! There were even tales of cannibalism and inbreeding. It all gives the film a bit of a Texas Chiansaw Massacre flavor, with a new-addition to rural crazies in our collective-consciousness.
The boyfriend-backstory is really crucial if you want to understand this story, and until the shocking end, it resonates strongly. Of course, men made the woman's character so violent, but the film begs-the-question: is this violence already there, waiting to be activated under the right-circumstances? The story suggest yes. In one of the featurettes, however, Coscarelli seems to think the young-woman will be "normal" after all of this--I disagree. The close-shots he uses for the eye-drillings by Moonface and by the woman are IDENTICAL, which makes-it-plain that the actions are EQUAL. She has become just like Moonface. It's a minor-complaint, and it's not a contradiction within the film itself, just an aside-comment in an interview with the director.
It's OK if a director doesn't entirely-know what he has, after-all. Cronenberg is the best-example of this, and claims he doesn't entirely- understand his films during their production. Moonface could easily be seen as a distorted-version of the boyfriend in the flashbacks. He's bald, he's VERY white (the boyfriend is an Aryan Nations type), and his focus is on killing. Like the boyfriend, he is a predator to the woman-character. Even Moonface's hideout suggest a survivalist-setting. All of this leads to the surprise-ending that you have to see-to-believe, and it is a very subversive-upending of stereotypes surrounding men and women. Some have argued that woman is the strongest of the species, and I would be hard-pressed to disagree. Women are too-easily underestimated. Remember Aileen Wuronos? The film just has great atmosphere, and some excellent night-photography which is still difficult to get right. I loved the fast-cutting, and how dark the film looks. The image of Moonface is unforgettable, and will probably be remembered for some time in horror-iconography. The long-shots with the yard of crucified-victims was just incredible and chilling, and the chase-scenes are an adrenaline-boost. This is a first for Coscarelli, a film that is primarily a chase, but it works. The Scrimm character, "Buddy" is a really good comedic-relief in the heart of a horrible-situation, and he does the film proud as he usually does. Again, IDT/Anchor Bay have done a superb-job with the transfer and the extras. No complaints here whatsoever. It does what it's supposed-to.