*** Mini-essay warning ***
Weapons (at the Cinema)
A classroom of children disappear in the middle of the night, leaving everyone to deal with the aftermath.
You know… I feel like we are now firmly in the ‘post-Hereditary’ era. The industry seems to be moving away from ‘raw discomfort’. Oppressive atmosphere is
out, creative storytelling and being different is
in… but there is something
else lingering in the mix too. I detect… a certain ‘aloofness’, almost as if films want to create genuine tension… but then back out with a winking smiling face saying, “no, that would be too serious… we weren’t trying that hard, really
”… possible as a fear of being criticised…? I’m not sure.
Is this sort of film really smart? Or is it too cool for school?
Anyway,
this film plays out like an anthology of overlapping short stories, not entirely dissimilar to the style of ‘Memento’ if you’ve seen that, where you see things from different perspectives and get a little bit more of the whole picture each time.
The intrigue is very strong for first two thirds - high marks for that. There’s a few menacing moments heavy on suspense, with fairly decent character building - although it’s a notable stylistic choice that there isn’t a particularly ‘likeable’ adult lead to root for. There’s some ‘everyday life’ humour too, which works well.
Eventually the film’s trajectory ‘crystallises’, with a standoff that ends up suddenly leaning hard into ‘silly’ humour, before a very abrupt and aloof ending that doesn’t seem to linger on any particular note. The journey is more satisfying than the destination, I think.
There is a constant, ongoing refrain of characters loudly remarking ‘wtf?!’ - which almost seems like an ‘in joke’ for the filmmakers by the end, in defiance of how little this is said in horror films historically.
I think this film will polarise people. The artsy horror type might say, “Bravo! This is so different and fresh!”, the ‘everyman’ will think, “Oh - well bits were good but that was strange.” Then someone in the middle like me… also a big horror fan… might think it’s more interesting as a ‘zeitgeist-piece’ than it is ‘brilliant’.
If you want an intrigue heavy film and appreciate things being different, you’ll find a lot to like. On the other hand, if you disliked ‘Longlegs’ and have a tendency to prefer ‘familiarity’ rather than films that take risky creative decisions, you might be disappointed.
7/10 - as a one and done, possibly being generous and adding half mark just for making me ponder about the genre as a whole.
P.s. I don’t dislike this ‘new wave’ direction… but, in truth, I think Final Destination: Bloodlines might be my horror pick of the year so far. That wore its heart on its sleeve…
. Imo definitely worth a go in the cinema if you can.
