Audience Member
Horror can take many forms. It can be the unstoppable for the man slashing out in the night with sharp claws all the more reality-based serial killer routinely snuffs out human life with less remorse swatting a mosquito. While these are types of proven effective in all conceivable forms of entertainment, there is yet another source of terror that all humanity is subject to, the monsters that arise from the dark recesses of our own minds. In psychological terms, the mine is divided into three components. The intellect of the superego, the normal functionality of the ego and the uncontrolled primitive remnant called the id. This is the source of our nightmares, of the things that go bump in the night. It is also the name of the latest movie I've received for review. This is the directorial premier of Thommy Hutson, and by the looks of this freshman opus we looking at a filmmaker incredible potential in the near future. After some of blockbuster action films in the traditional autumnal television season premieres is a refreshing change to watch a movie that is powerful in its simplicity. It is the type of movie that could very easily be made into a stage play. It reminds me of some of the experimental plays by late wife and I used to enjoy in the convoluted streets of Greenwich Village. There is undeniable intensity about this film that derives from a tightly written script brought to life by some amazingly intense performances. This story is told without the artificial affects special effects used to create a proper scary mood of the horror film, or the genre prerequisite, gallons of fake blood and animal entrails. This film is absolutely terrifying because the source of the horror is not dependent upon any external influences, either supernatural or real; the fear loses out of those dark recesses of your mind like lava from a crack in the earth.
It is been a number of years since Meredith Lane (Amanda Wyss) has been called a pretty young woman. Meredith is constantly reminded of those days by the photographs and other high school memorabilia that adorn her bedroom. He is surrounded by team pendants and photographs of the great love of high school, Ted (Malcolm Matthews). Meredith has not retreated from the days in high school for many decades, at least not in the emotional or psychological fashion. There is a reason why she had retreated to the one point of time frozen in emotional, amber. I life in the present is miserable, a life of drudgery. She is little more than an indentured servant serving her invalid father (Patrick Peduto). Just one look at him reveals how far away from humanity he has descended. His bolding pate festooned small strands of unkempt gray hair and his body blanched white with no signs of muscle tone whatsoever. He is usually seen shouting his daughter's name with surprising volume considering his condition. Father is unable to do. Even the simplest tasks such as holding a glass of water to his lips are beyond his abilities. Watching him, ordering his daughter around the viewer receives a distinct impression that such mundane tasks are beyond his abilities but he is so riddled with malicious sloth that he refuses to try. Our first view of Meredith, she is applying lipstick, a test so mundane that few women even consider doing it. Of all the notices this light touch of color on her face and immediately calls her a whore, a slut that gives it up for any boy. He orders her to remove it and Meredith meekly complies.
Meredith is shown going through the inescapable drudgery of her life, a routine that stretches out his unchanging from day to day. The only other person she has contact with besides her father is Tricia (Jamye Grant), a young woman who delivers food to the household every morning. Tricia makes every attempt to be friendly with the familiarity derived from over a year of morning deliveries. Meredith is desperate for human contact outside of her father and her personality has been so deconstructed by the constant belittling of the shell of a man, that Meredith can barely view herself as possessing any humanity whatsoever. Some may view the situation is tragic, a dysfunctional family. Like so many others. The term horror may not immediately come to mind, but there is no doubt that this is a horror movie. Meredith is in the state of constant fear no less intense than the Freddy Krueger was reclining in sofa in the living room. Supernatural monsters and even very real serial killers may inflict severe amount of pain but in a relatively short time, the victim retreat into the dark relief of death. For Meredith, there is no such escape. The last thing she hears be forced going to sleep of the bitterly insulting screams of her father. The next morning she is awakened by the start of a new day of verbal abuse and demands.
In the traditional horror film most of the story is derived from the escalating terror of the antagonist. However, for Meredith, no escalation is required. The constant, unceasing abuse by her father ablates her personality with the slow but steady action of the river carving out a canyon over eons of time. It is been many years since Meredith had a moment free of her father's constant demands and debasing taunts. Her only respite can be found in the occasional daydream of a prom night. She was a pretty girl with her makeup and hair done for that special night. Her red dress was mild by prom standards but for Meredith it was the most elaborate and beautiful down imaginable. At the end of the evening, she brought head back home to her bedroom for an evening of passion. During a private moment while Meredith reclines in a bubble bath, she recalled that evening while trying to re-create the experience of arousal on her own. Just before her climax is achieved the all-too-familiar screams of her father shatters the moment.
In any story that has to be some catalytic moment, something that sparks the change, propelling the narrative forward. For Meredith became the form of a phone call. The seven reinforcement of how Meredith's life is frozen in the past can be seen by the old-fashioned phone affixed to the wall just off the kitchen. Unexpectedly, it rings an occurrence that not happened in a very long time. She answers it. And much to her shock the voice on the other end of the phone is Ted, a voice from her past and the actualization of her fantasies. He tells her that he is passing through town and was thinking about her. He was very surprised and after 28 years of phone numbers still worked. He asked Meredith if she would like to go to dinner. Ted can hear father shouting in the background and assumes that the husband. Before Meredith is forced and the conversation she gets Ted number and promises to call him back. That glimmer of hope begins to burn like an amber deep within her. While she is beating her father, thoughts of release from her servitude encroach upon her consciousness. Finally, the need to have her own life overwhelms her. Ford crystallizes in her mind, a reunion with Ted but not be possible that the father around.
The strength of this film is in the performances, particularly that of Ms. Wyss. She is no stranger to horror films, but it has been a considerable amount of time she was the troubled teen and one of the early 'Nightmare on Elm Street' sequels. She demonstrates an incredible ability to bring the audience deep within the mind of this very troubled woman. In the many close-up shots you can see the remnants of a once beautiful face that is been eroded by a lifetime of vicious hardship. The lines around her mouth that is not been formed into a small for decades, with the possible exception of the rare moment, but she could laugh at her favorite television show. Even that moment is room by her father demanding she stopped watching in order to perform some meaningless task. In any horror film it is necessary for the audience to be able to identify with the victim. Few of us will ever be found in a curved summer camp hunted by a masked monster or even being stalked by a cruel serial killer. The frightening reality is that we are subject to attacks from our own mind, and fears manifested from deeply buried horrors that lurk just believe our consciousness. This is a situation we cannot easily dismiss as being impossible as every human being has some covert anxiety or shameful event that we desperate to keep has deep down in our psyche as possible.
All practical purposes this is a one-woman show exquisitely performed by Amanda Wyss . The characters of her father, Tricia, and later on Ted and his wife (Karen Leabo) are relegated to basically props or perhaps MacGuffins, important within the context of the story, but secondary to the audience. The only thing that matters are watching has one-woman is tormented to the point that a personality is rendered into shreds. All long time she defined herself by refusing to mentally move on from the past, but now with Ted's phone call past and present are about to collide. I was mesmerized. I watch as his talented actress pulled me into the disintegrating personality of this woman. The terror that mounts in my mind is a sympathetic reaction to what I am watching. The film is paste much slower than most horror fans or accustomed to. This is absolutely necessary, considering that the entire story pivots around merit is disjointed personality. This film is not for somebody who holds the opinion that horror movies are epitomized by movies such as 'Saw' or 'Hostel'. That portion of the fan base will be disappointed and I doubt that the filmmaker holds even an iota of care about such a loss in viewership. This movie was crafted for people who can understand and appreciate the story derived from inner torment and a deeply dysfunctional family structure. I found myself we watching this film is to experience again how it immerses you in the mind of the woman whose life has been eroded by her mean-spirited father.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/18/23
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