Review the last movie you watched.
Yeah, it’s an old assignment. I have been reading through them and finding ones I want to talk about. If you want to check out Blog Homework Assignments, go here.
Incident in a Ghostland
Entertainment – 8/10
Story Telling – 8/10
Film Making – 8/10
(Fred's Horror movie scale - 6/10)
Trigger Warning – for, like, … everything.
There will be Spoilers!
I have been on a quest to find a horror movie that will scare me. I don’t mean gross me out, or make me uncomfortable, or just keep me tense, but make me afraid to turn off the lights or look out the window. When I saw a post here on SG around Halloween last year for people to put the scariest movies they have ever seen, I was elated! I read the whole post through and wrote down several titles to find and watch.
One that really stood out to me was a movie recommended by @minuminula entitled “Incident in a Ghostland.” She said of it; “trust me, a film that will leave you speechless.” It went directly on my list.
Not much further down the post, I saw @missy seconding that with “the scariest movie I have ever seen. Genuinely terrifying!”, it got underlined on my list and I went about trying to find an affordable copy. IMDB categorized it as a ‘Horror,’ ‘Drama,’ and ‘Mystery.’ That’s as far as I went to figuring anything out about it. I tend to avoid previews, synopsis and anything informing me on a show prior to watching it, so I can be genuinely surprised by the show without spoilers.
I found a copy eventually and bought it, and it sat on my shelf for weeks before I was finally in the Horror movie mode. (As a Cinephile with over 2100 shows on DVD/Blu Ray, I have a lot of movies in my ‘to watch’ list). Well, that mood struck this week. If you don’t want me to spoil it for you, just stop here.
First, let me say that I thought it was a Chinese or Korean horror film about possessed dolls and ghosts and paranormal activities. It was not. Instead, it was a French-Canadian film about underage sexual assault, being held captive, torture and what the mind will do to avoid facing the reality of a horrendous situation.
Full of amazing imagery that hinted at genuine horror and supernatural occurrence which was always left undelivered and forgotten. It was intense and had scenes that will stay with me uncomfortably for a while, but it wasn’t a horror. It was terror and tension. As such, it didn’t do much for me in terms of scare.
It was fantastically acted, well shot, okay lighting and the sound was (mostly) decent. The editing was good, and the twist was delivered to excellent effect. It helped me suspend disbelief and genuinely react to the characters. I even swore out loud at a character's behavior in the early parts of the movie.
There was mild trope abuse, which made the show predictable at parts. I still didn't find it overwhelming.
I’m not going to get into the lurid details about the bad stuff, except to say that there is more than a hint that the film maker was transphobic.
I think I may start doing more regular movie reviews if that is the sort of thing people may be in to.
Thank you my friends and future friends!
@missy @penny
