movie

The unnecessary sequel

| cgkinnett

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Major, major spoilers below.

It is rare that you will find me with a whole day to lounge on the couch with nothing to do, rare indeed. But, when it does happen, I will gladly watch crap film after crap film for as long as I can stay awake. This was exactly how my one day off a week was spent this last week. Sometimes, you’ve really got to listen to your body and sit still, damnit! So, with that being said, one of the movies I watched was the newish sequel to The Strangers which is by far one of my favorite horror films of all time. I rank it up there with Cabin in the Woods and the original Jeepers Creepers. That being said, part two was TERRIBLE.

The Strangers came out in 2008 at the height of the midnight premier craze. I distinctly remember driving home to my brand new student apartment after watching the movie. None of my roommates had moved in yet so I had this giant apartment to myself. It was really creepy! Now, this apartment was in a gated community, not in the middle of nowhere, and not on the ground floor. All of these things added up to mean that I was probably Not going to be the Strangers next victim. What the movie had done so well was keep everyone in the incredibly small cast in the same small area for the whole movie. There was no escape. And in the end, knowing that there was no way to ever identify these killers. Was this a real crime? Could the killer still be out there committing these atrocities?

The open-ended ending was perfect. We see them drive away but we don’t know if they keep on killing, if this was their first, and on and on ad infinitum. Their identities were never revealed and they remain at large which makes the conclusion perfect. It leaves you wondering but not necessarily wanting more.

What is most eerie about the stranger’s taunting of Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman in the original is that they are slow and in control. This is evident even in the way the scenes are shot, never too wide, there is always a bit of a cramped feeling – like there is no escape. Even when they are outside and running between the main house and the barn there are not too many wide shots. Additionally, they never feel unattainably unkillable, just like they have a better handle on things. They were planning mayhem after all and Tyler and Speedman’s characters were just looking to get some sleep after an emotionally taxing day. There were three of them, so the fact that one would knock on the door and another would be in the back is a totally plausible course for their actions. But they were timed realistically and never did anyone receive an incapacitating injury and then get up and further persist in their killing. Slow and deliberate.

Now, take all of that mastery of action (both in the writing and the way it was shot) and throw all of it out the window.

In the latest iteration The Strangers: Prey at Night we are taken to another remote location, this time with a family instead of a couple. Christina Hendrix and Martin Henderson play mom and dad respectively and Bailee Maddison and Lewis Pullman are the children. All of them have a pretty good chemistry and the dialogue seems natural, especially between Hendrix and Henderson. But that is where my praise ends.

The scripts were written by Bryan Bertino in both cases so I’m not sure where things start going wrong.

In Prey at Night the scene is set at an abandoned for the offseason trailer park. We begin by seeing the strangers’ killings in this park, more of what seems to be their at random killing. It is only after we gain a bit more insight that we realize that while these killings were occurring, Hendrix’s character calls and leaves a voicemail for a now dead family member, alerting the strangers of their imminent arrival.

WE’RE HERE! READY TO BE KILLED!

So, one of the aspects of the original is that we know there is going to be death, we see it in the opening of the movie, but there is not an actual murder scene until the very end. This slow build is what makes classics like Halloween so great, the building energy and anxiety felt by the audience inspired by small almost gotcha moments and chilling music. With PaN we get murder right out the gate so now we know the family is driving to their deaths.

A knock on the door of the trailer they check into prompts a question we are all familiar with, “Is Tamara home?” Nope! Bye! The porch light is unscrewed so we have the same, in the shadows, effect as in the original. Of course, after this creepy encounter, we still have the EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY thinking it is a good idea to split up. NO! STOP!

So as everyone begins traipsing across this giant trailer park, the four family members come to realize there are three masked people after them (Man in Mask, Pin-Up Girl, and Dollface). Maybe splitting up wasn’t great after all. As they all run around, the camera is consistently at a wide angle showing one of the strangers in pursuit of one of the family. This takes away the intimate feeling of them being right there and able to “getcha” as was the feeling throughout the whole entire original.

There is one exception to this when Maddison’s character dives into a tunnel on a playground in which there is a scene framed to misdirect you: Man in Mask has headlights pointed into the tunnel and out of nowhere Pin-Up appears and provides a pretty good jumpscare.

However, this leads me to my very next point. Up until the end of this scene, the chase had been between just the two of them [Man and Maddison] and then Pin-Up just appears out of the other end of the tunnel. The reason this is so irritating is that you have seven characters running willy-nilly through this park: hiding, seeking, double-digit numbers of trailers to choose from, playground, woods, clubhouse all of these different places and yet everyone is always one corner away.

IT’S IMPLAUSIBLE AND IRRITATING!!!!

At least twice, if not more, there are chase scenes that just don’t make sense because there is a queer ability of the strangers to just be there. Up until the very end when there is a car crash and a fireball engulfs both vehicles. It’s not just One shotgun shot you need to kill them, it’s Two! There becomes an unnatural persistence that by the end is just like, reaally?!

In the original movie you knew the strangers were there, hiding just out of sight. In this movie they literally pop into sight so quickly you don’t have time to breathe. The films have the exact same run times yet the pace of each of them is totally opposite. You’ve got a slow and steady demise of the main characters, stuck in one house with no escape…and then you’ve got a round-em-up chase story that doesn’t really match with the M.O. of the first.

Bertino has said that he wondered what it had been like inside the house for the Tate’s while the Manson family was murdering them. What was the victim experience as opposed to a cop piecing it together, getting it straight from the encounter? Now, just those two sentences have your mind wandering, don’t they? That is what the original feels like. Clausterphobic. No escape. No nice ending…you know the ending from go. Death. So final that we see the strangers from behind as they take their masks off and you know for certain that the end is nigh. However, one final wrongness of Prey at Night is the taking off of the masks and the way that those scenes play out.

I really hope there is not another movie in this series.

I’m done ranting now.

 

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Holiday cheer = holiday horror

| cgkinnett

 

Art-of-Krampus

Plain and simple, the belief that horror should be contained to the 31 days of October is wrong. I do enjoy the frenzy felt within the month of October; that feeling of being steeped in all things spooky all the time, for it to be deemed “more appropriate” to be interested in the macabre. As the leaves begin to change and the weather becomes a bit cooler, we relax into the beginnings of the holiday season. And it is at the very start of this period that horror movies finally get shown on tv with some regularity; finally, you won’t be suggested every other title in the world when searching for Halloweentown. I enjoy the changing of streaming services genre collections just as much as the changing of the weather. Alas, these improvements in film selection do not last. Sure, you’ll still be able to stream The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina for a while, but there won’t be any new episodes to the ten-part series until next year. The tragedy of that is quite real.

So, what do you do until then? Don’t fret! There are tons of scary movies across many sub-genres that can fill in these wait-don’t-let-Halloween-end feelings now that we are deep into November.

Above I had mentioned the new Sabrina. One of the things that I loved most about these new adventures was the world that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has created. The character of Sabrina herself is rather infuriating as she has a complete disregard for the rules of magic and the years of history surrounding her family. However, the world in which these characters exist is much more well-developed. The history that we get hints of over the course of the season suggests much deeper stories for the future; touching on good vs evil, family history, and discrimination. As mentioned in previous thatendingthough posts, I do love me some good world building and it is through Satanism that we get a sense of how these witches live their lives. The route that this can take is literally limitless and I am excited to see where they take the lore they’ve begun to establish. Lastly, while I have issues with Sabrina’s development as a character, Kiernan Shipka does a charming job with the portrayal. I’m glad to see her in something that provides her with more dimension than she received through most of her tenure on Mad Men. The good news is that the series has been greenlit for season two in 2019.

What does this have to do with the black hole months of non-terror-inducing titles, you might ask? Well, that’s easy. We continue with our holidays (skipping over Thanksgiving for the moment as so many do) to Christmas, where we find another well-developed world of myth and lore but this time, instead of through religion it is through the storytelling of Krista Stadler‘s Omi in 2015’s Krampus.

The stage is set for a Christmas gathering we all know well – That side of the family is coming to stay from out of town and everyone is hiding their excitement so well. We start the tale by hearing the creepy legend of Krampus and how there is neither joy nor cheer associated with this horrific legend. Forget lumps of coal, the kids that are listed on Krampus’ naughty list are visited by the demon to punish their misdeeds and misbehaviour. The accidental summoning of the monster, after a family fight, kick-starts a truly terrifying chain of events. Adam Scott and Toni Collet are amazing in this movie and so are all of the kid actors. What I love about this film is that it succeeds so well in telling this creepy and at times downright terrifying tale while bringing in elements that are almost comical. Because of this, there are times that you feel as if you are watching something in the Beetlejuice or Gremlins (more on them in a second) vein. There is a specific scene in the attic that comes to mind. But these comical moments don’t last long and there is never not an underlying sinister aspect to any of it. The horror that creeps over you as the film progresses is paced PERFECTLY and I challenge anyone of you not to scream at those kids not to run into the blizzard in the dark! This is a truly terrifying holiday family film.

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When Jingle All the Way is all that’s playing on TNT, go find where to stream Krampus. And don’t forget to behave, damnit.

Now, let us go back to Thanksgiving for just a second. Instead of, or maybe in addition to, celebrating white men taking land that wasn’t theirs from Native people who were minding their own business, let’s take three minutes of our time to fondly remember Eli Roth’s most famous fake movie trailer. Airing in the double feature Grindhouse, the trailer for Thanksgiving is filled with as much gore as we’ve come to expect from the director. In Plymouth, MA no other holiday is as important as Thanksgiving, so when a masked murderer starts going around town killing people, it’s pandemonium! The final shot of the trailer shows people tied to their chairs at a dinner table and the centrepiece is revealed not to be a turkey but a man. Since the release of Grindhouse in 2007, fans have been asking Roth nonstop when we could potentially see a feature-length film and the good news is that he’s working on it, but as of his latest public comments last year, hasn’t gotten the story where he wants it…yet.

Here’s to waiting!

Alright, now that we’ve covered Thanksgiving, let us go back to Christmas. Classified by IMDB as a comedy with fantasy and horror elements, Gremlins and Gremlins 2 are must-watch films of the holiday season. If only Randall Peltzer had listened to Mr. Wing and left well enough alone, there would never have been any Mogwais turning into Gremlins in the first place! If Billy had listened to the rules, there would not have been that terrifying episode in the kitchen where his mom goes total badass and claims a kill. With Stripe leading the Gremlins into larger and larger terroristic catastrophes, we see just how far these creatures of mischief are willing to go. Here we are again in a story whose myth and legend have real and immediate consequences. Billy didn’t listen and now there are tiny creatures running around town causing straight havoc and taking over movie theatres!

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There are obviously many more titles that combine horror with the holidays but these are my favorites! I think it is important for horror films to display real consequences that match up to the character’s decisions and actions. In both Krampus and the Gremlin movies, we see the impact that certain choices have not just on main characters but the society around them. While the conclusions of these films are vastly different, you never know when a myth can turn into reality, so why tempt fate?

The Importance of Sound; the Magnitude of Silence

| cgkinnett

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You know the feeling you have when you leave a Fast and Furious film and the drive home is impossible to make without wanting to race someone? Or the feeling you had after leaving a Spy Kids film and pretending that your watch is really a secret communication device? You come out feeling so part of that world that your imagination just keeps going after the movie is over. Now apply that to the last horror film you saw and take away the sound and it still probably wouldn’t be half as amazing as A Quiet Place. The blinker in my car on the way home unnerved me and as I was sitting at the stop light waiting to turn, I anticipated something darting out of the dark towards me. It was in these few moments when I also realized how tightly I had been clenching my jaw.

John Krasinski has directed before in the comedy genre making A Quiet Place his terror filled debut, for which he also co-wrote the screenplay for and produced. For all of that I would like to say, “mad props, man.” This film is amazingly directed and wonderfully sound designed and suspenseful as all get out! It is becoming more and more frequent that blockbuster movies are serialized or rebooted leaving stories to become less and less original. Horror, however, continues to delve deeper into human psychology and exploring societal fears. Take the complexity of a family dynamic and add in a dystopian future in which sound is what triggers your enemy and you’ve got a roller coaster of emotional silence. It is that silence that makes this film so powerful and effective.

The Abbott family lives in a present where strange creatures have taken out the majority of the population. Due to the necessity of silence, we are not able to be given any sort of exposition so things like newspaper headlines are used for context in a fairly heavy handed but necessary manner. Very quickly we learn the consequences of this world when the rules for survival are broken. Very quickly we learn that this movie is not fucking around. American Sign Language is used to communicate throughout the film and because of this you are completely immersed in the silence within the Abbott family’s household and daily life. When the norm of this deafening silence is broken, as an audience member, you can feel the tension rise in you at breakneck speed. What is done with the sound is smartly done to match the tone of the scene. There are long stretches in which nothing comes from the theater’s speakers except ambient noise; in these moments you notice the soft whisper the wind makes in the cornstalks on the farm and the rustling of leaves in the trees. As soon as a louder sound is made though the cellos and violins are cued up and tug on your heartstrings. It is remarkable just how terrifying combining no sound with abrupt sound can be. The music that is heard during tense or emotional moments is such an integral part of the storytelling in this film. Whether it is underscoring a love filled glance between husband and wife or alerting you to an oncoming threat, the music fills the scenes fully and oftentimes quickly.

This anxiety is played upon over the course of the whole film and is heightened by using true silence to underscore danger even further. One of the Abbott’s children, Regan, is deaf and occasionally we slip into her perspective and everything goes away. She experiences this catastrophe in a completely different way than the rest of the world.  Because of this, when she is supposed to be feeling anxious but is unaware you are again jerked around by this film because you have more information in that scene than she does.

Mix the importance that hearing has in this reality with a family tragedy and you’ve got a recipe for emotional misunderstandings. The people in their family are all that these characters have. Because of this is it crucial that they work together to help make life work. The relationship between father and children, man and wife, and mother and children are each well written and conveyed. Story is as important in this instance as facial expressions in conveying the tale at hand. Not only are Emily Blunt (Evelyn) and John Krasinski (Lee) great at this silent acting, the kids are too. Millicent Simmonds (Regan), Noah Jupe (Marcus), and Cade Woodward (Beau) are able to communicate fear, love, and confusion with painful clarity. The father/daughter angle always gets me in movies and this one is no different. When tragedy befalls the family Regan and Lee’s relationship becomes strained. Simmonds plays the moody teenager impeccably and you are able to see the stubbornness of youth mingle with the fear that being deaf in this world has infused her with. Blunt and Krasinski work as a good team in seeing their kids through these scary times. At one point Blunt asks, “who are we if we can’t protect them?” The lengths that parents go to to raise their children in our reality is sometimes unfathomable and so to do it in this one is even loftier. These two adults have to be 100% aware of everything all the time and mind the children at the same time. Don’t make a noise. Don’t step off the established path. Be careful. Be quiet. Imagine all of these stresses bearing down on a marriage and see the grace with which these two operate. Krasinski  is a dutiful husband and father whose sole job is now to protect his family. He is stoic and expresses an intense determination over the course of the film. There is no comedy from him in this role, he is as serious as you can get and he does it wonderfully. Blunt’s motherly role as protector of her babes is touching and the pain and struggle that plays across her face is beautiful.

The intensity of this movie is felt in sight and sound and the lack thereof. There are jump scares and silent scares; creeping dread and sudden “holy shit”. Your body goes on a journey with the Abbott’s and I don’t know how a single person will see this movie without holding their breathe and clenching their jaw. Silence is a powerful tool and to place a whole premise on the notion of having to be as quiet as possible in a film is a welcome tool utilized by Krasinski in getting tension and emotion across to an audience.

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With all that being said, I hope your theater is a quiet place and I would like to take this moment to encourage you to be mindful of what you are eating if viewing at a Drafthouse type theater. Don’t order something crunchy and be like the guy sitting next to me chomping loudly at tense moments. Just. Don’t. Do. It.

The terrors of Netflix

| cgkinnett

Over the last couple of weeks I have spent a serious amount of time watching new and new-ish horror films with the Netflix brand stamped across the title’s thumbnail. With a seemingly endless network of films, and more constantly being suggested to you, I began to wonder how much of this content was actually worth watching. As viewers we don’t really have the ability to have insight into the performance of Netflix titles like you do with TV’s Nielsen ratings and the movie’s with their box office. Because of this, viewers must rely on the 97% match for “what you might like” offered up by Netflix’s algorithms.

Some of these suggestions are great. But some of them are really not. In addition to the titles that the program suggests to you “because you watched x” there is also the option to see what is Trending on Netflix. Sometimes I wonder, however, how much of what is trending is trending because Netflix wants it to trend? For example, the films that I will be detailing below are a mixture of those that I searched on my own or had recommended to me by friends along with those that Netflix suggested or said were trending. One of the trending ones in particular was my least favorite of all the titles I watched.

To start things off, I tried watching the new installment in the Jeepers Creepers series. When I first heard that there was not only going to be a new film but two new films I was filled mostly with hesitation. Why bring new life to something that was so well done the first time and still well done the second? Leave that tale be, I say. The fist two are incredibly creepy films that didn’t need any follow up. Sure, the way that the second film ends leaves it open for a follow up…or maybe it was just a creepy cliffhanger that should’ve been left hanging. Jeepers Creepers 3 is supposed to take place after the events of the first and before the second. However, very quickly into the movie, events occur which mess with the original narrative’s timeline. We know at the end of one, the Creeper goes back to his lair to skin Darry. So it does not make sense when he shows up very quickly into 3. Also, his truck can all of a sudden drive and defend itself? There are a bunch of little things to knit pick minutes in to the film. Additionally, the dialogue is TERRIBLE. Three’s premise is that the surviving cops and a task force of “Creeper hunters” band together to stop the monster. There is also a subplot in which the Creeper is believed to be heading somewhere specific to retrieve a body part that was stolen from it during it’s last spree. How do we know about this plot? Gaylen Brandon’s son was killed by the Creeper but not before he buried a piece of it on his family’s farm…his ghost or some schizophrenic vision is what illuminates her to the Creeper’s return.  Full disclosure, I maybe made it 45 minutes in to the 100 minute run time.

If you’re a fan of the first two, don’t bother with this new addition in Jeepers Creepers 3. 

Next on the docket was The Ritual which was suggested to me by a coworker who shares my taste in film. Holy cow what a well done film! We are with a group of friends who have recently suffered a loss of one of their own. Every year they go on holiday together in Sweden and this one looks like its shaping out to be the last one. Their friendships are devolving after the traumatic event which led to their friend’s death. After paying tribute to the fallen comrade, the group decides to cut through a giant forest to get back to the city/hotel where they’re staying. This short cut will save them time as one of them is injured and the rest are exhausted. WHEN HAS A SHORT CUT THROUGH THE WOODS EVER BEEN A GOOD IDEA?!?! However, without them going into said woods, there would be no movie because that is where all the terrifying action takes place. When it becomes clear that they are not going to make it back by nightfall, the group serendipitously stumbles upon a creepy Baba Yaga type cabin which they deem a perfectly  suitable place to spend the night. This even after they discover a strange human shaped statue praying at an alter in the upstairs of the cabin. Unsurprisingly, none of them sleeps well and things definitely go bump in the night. As the film progresses we are given shadowy glimpses of a creature which seems to be hunting them. This holding back of the big bad makes their experience all the more scary. It never comes in to plain sight and frequently you are left questioning whether something just happened or if it was all in the character’s mind. The lore we learn about this creature of the forest is very interesting and ancient and by the end of the film you are as horrified about what has happened as any reasonable person should be. The Ritual is a very well done film with mad props to the monster and also to the ending.

You should most assuredly watch this movie.

Next up: The Hallow. This title has been recommended to me by Netflix many times and I have always skipped over it…not really sure why. I am glad I did finally watch it however because it was a really interesting movie. They took old Irish fae lore and tied it in with present science and deforestation. A family moves to a small town in Northern Ireland where the husband has been assigned to examine the trees and surrounding wildlife in an area that is set to be leveled. At first, the warnings from neighbors are ignored and brushed aside. Oh you silly country folk, believing in your fairy tales is the general vibe we get from Adam and Clare as they settle into their new home. However, very quickly, they realize that these warnings really should have been taken seriously especially because there is a baby present! At least for the baby’s sake take precaution, I beg of you! It is almost as though Adam and Clare have never listened to an episode of the Lore podcast. Fae are known to cause mischief and are also known for baby swapping a la leaving you a changeling that looks like your babe but isn’t. Putting aside their ignorance of folk lore, the two main characters (there are really only a couple of characters) try to defend their home and themselves. The Hallow is a tale of what happens when you disrespect culture and history. The fae creatures are interestingly constructed and eerie in the same sense that the original Evil Dead had a creepy woods. One look is all you need to know it is haunted. How they make out in the end is well constructed if not predictable. However, despite the film’s predictability, it is still a compelling man vs. nature story.

If you’re looking for something haunting, this is it.

After The Hallow I dove into Netflix’s new adaptation of The Mist. This is another one that I was hesitant about. While I have not read the book I do adore the film which came out in 2007. A decade later, I did not believe that there needed to be another version of the story. I mean, all you have to do is say, “that ending though!” (no pun intended) to sum up the grace of that film. That being said, I became addicted to this show. There is something to be said for books (especially horror and thriller titles) being made in to series as opposed to films.  With the extended medium of a show, the writers and creators are able to have so much more space to develop stories and cultivate real, human encounters. I wouldn’t say this should be the new norm, however, it certainly does help with exposition and character bonds. The show was able to deal with some interesting issues that I don’t think would have been able to be appropriately conveyed in the span of one film. Because of this, we get to know the characters on the show a little more deeply. Nature and it’s self-correcting course is a big theme as is religion and judgement. In this iteration, however, we also deal with rape and a girl’s inability to remember what exactly happened to her the day before the mist started. Because of this, several of our narrators are unreliable, causing even more intrigue. While this aspect certainly adds to the suspense, there is a lot of victim blaming and slut shaming regarding two of the female leads which made me incredibly uncomfortable. Aside from that, the primary makeup of the story is the same: a mist rolls in to town, people are trapped where they are when it comes (in this case a mall and a church provide the primary settings), and a family is separated. Alex and Eve Copeland are stuck in the mall while Kevin tries everything in his power to reach them. Risking going into the mist himself, Kevin is able to assemble a ragtag band of fellows whose aim is to get to the mall. Alternitavely, their neighbor, Mrs. Raven is stuck in the church with a bunch of believers. It is interesting to me that this iteration took more of a natural selection take as opposed to a god is judging us take (made so well known in 2007 by Marcia Gay Harden). There is also, as before, a mysterious military base to which is alluded several times. Do they have something to do with this? Are they going to come save the townspeople? As the season ends, we have just as many questions as we did to start with only a couple of answers having been gleaned along the way. While the writing and story structure is sometimes lacking, I think that is made up for in the intrigue created by Stephen King with the original concept. We shall see what season two brings.

A nice show to binge during a rainy day.

Finally and most recently in my horror viewing I watched Veronica. Many of you will have heard about this title from Twitter in conjuncture with swears of it being the absolute most terrifying movie ever. To those I say, calm the eff down. While Veronica is a beautifully well done movie and maintains its 90’s style impeccably, it is more thoughtful than horrific. Veronica and two of her friends use a ouija board to reach out to her deceased father during an eclipse. Does she reach her dead parent? Nope! But something else slips out of the ether instead and follows her home where it terrorizes Veronica and her younger siblings. This film is largely made up of child actors and they are so on point with their reactions and facial expressions. While there are a couple of truly spooky moments, I was much more captivated by the children and the setting than with the story. The lighting, music, and acting are so on par…plus its a Mexican film and because of this we get more of the show don’t tell evident in most horror and lacking in American produced films. Unlike movies of it’s kind (Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Conjuring, and Insidious), Veronica doesn’t have the parent calling for help, Veronica tries to deal with this on her own, creating tragedy and suspense all at the same time. I can understand why it scared people. There is a particular scene in which the thing that is haunting Veronica appears after a wardrobe door is closed (classic move) and begins a slow walk towards her. That was creepy af. There is another scene in which Veronica sees through a window something that is happening in the other side of the house (think wrap around building like when Maggie Grace’s character can see the kidnappers in Taken) and because we have such an affinity with her young siblings, we as the viewer are as freaked out as she is!

If you scare easily, watch Veronica with a friend. If you don’t scare easily, watch it by yourself with the lights off! Either way, you should watch Veronica because of it’s haunting effect.

Taking all of this in to account, I would say that I gravitate towards horror films that are made in or set in foreign countries. While this is something that I already knew about myself, it seems to be proven as somewhat of an informer in what will be a better film. There are creepy crawlies much more terrifying in other countries. I think this is because America is still so relatively new. For example, the creature that haunts the forest in The Ritual is thought to be centuries old and the fae in Ireland are just as ancient.

There are so many films and series on Netflix that this exercise could be kept up for years and a viewer would still not be able to watch them all. That being said, these films are a good place to start. Next on my list is Re:Mind which is a Japanese horror series set at a dinner table. Eleven high school aged girls have a secret and they are trapped at said table, which carries upon it torture traps and devices, until they can piece together why. It seems equal parts Saw and Memento.

What are you excited to watch? Let me know in the comments below!

Annihilation

| cgkinnett

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To annihilate something is to obliterate it; to cause something to cease existing. Such a finite word, such a fine word, don’t you think? The complete destruction of a thing. There is a menacing beauty in the complete erasure of a noun. This menacing beauty is captured in the enchanting work of Alex Garland (Ex Machina) in the newly released Annihilation. Adapted from the book of the same name, Annihilation is told to us in a disorienting non linear fashion. Lena’s husband has been gone for a year, Lena is in a clean room being interrogated and unable to remember things clearly, Lena explores a secret zone of national park that has been closed down due to the effects of a meteor. There is much that Lena (Natalie Portman) doesn’t know and the switching between time lines non chronologically makes for a perplexity on par with subject matter that is the cause for everything in Annihilation. The way that this movie and everything in it is shot makes for a dazzling and terrifying and smart film.

The dazzling:

The Shimmer is a biosphere like dome that is slowly expanding and enveloping the lands around a lighthouse which was hit by a meteor. The teams that go in to the Shimmer don’t return so no one has been able to gauge what goes on inside. We journey with an all female team of scientists to see what is on the other side. Three years have transpired since the initial impact and in that time the life inside the Shimmer has had time to grow and thrive in a beautifully alien way. Every shot of the environment inside somehow contains a rainbow whether in light or in flora and fauna. The scenery is at times scary and yet beautiful at the same time. There is a scene in a drained swimming pool that shows death and life intertwined so organically and you sit there thinking about how breathtaking what you are looking at is…and then you remind yourself what you are looking at…and its terrifying.

The terrifying:

The amount of times I realized that I was holding my breath was pretty high by the end of this film. “The monster” is so thoroughly portrayed and yet still unable to be understood. Crocodiles, bears, each other, and on and on…the tricks that this film play on your mind are never ending. One thing that I loved was that you would start to feel comfortable as an audience member, thinking that there was a definite genre path that a scene was taking and then all of a sudden something totally different would happen (again with the disorienting) and you would be left speechless or scared. Garland does not over explain Anything. This is one of the most well paced part one films that I feel like I’ve seen in a while. By the end we are left with as many questions as we had in the beginning, if not more. The enigma that is the Shimmer is so appropriately otherworldly and as we are taken deeper and deeper in we see an endless amount of possibilities that revolve around the very make up of life on Earth. Biology and DNA are used to explain terrifying sights, psychology is used to explain the terrifying behavior of humans under extreme circumstances, nature is used to show us how terrifying our lack of understanding is. All of these elements combined with the twisty turny track of the film are able to terrify while giving us a story that is so smart.

The smart:

As mentioned above, the pacing of this movie and the amount of information we are given is phenomenal. There was not a lot of clunky exposition and at times you just have to accept that there are some things you might not know. In my head throughout the film I kept thinking things like, “ya but what about…x…” and then the story would be moving on and you would just have to wonder about it. I think that that adds fuel to the terrifying aspect to the film too. In addition to the plot of the story, the way in which Garland directs and shows us the story is so thoughtful. There is a scene that is shot with the visual focus on the other side of a water glass. The image is distorted by the water. Tiny things like this are peppered throughout the whole of Annihilation tying in the theme of disorientation in every way possible. But what is good writing and amazing visuals without a great cast rounding things out? The expedition team that we follow is made of five women who are strong and smart and not led by any men. While the number of characters in the film as a whole is pretty small, only like three of them are men. The women carry and lead this film in a wonderfully strong way. They are smart and refreshing and pass the Bechdel test with flying colors.

There is so much more I want to say about Annihilation however I don’t know how to go further without giving any major spoilers and this is a film that really needs to be seen and not spoiled. I’ve heard that the book is pretty different from the film. I’ve definitely added the trilogy to my reading list (you can read more about the Southern Reach Trilogy here). Do yourself a favor: see this movie.

World building whimsy

| cgkinnett

The best part of getting lost in a world (be it through a book or a film) is that anything can happen. Certain storytellers have the ability to submerge their audience in world’s that can be very similar to ours or very, very different. It is not just that full characters are created or that the story line is well thought out and planned, it is that every aspect of the world is notably considered and taken into accordance within the story’s unfolding. A writer who is able to convey the mores of a culture which they’ve created or enhanced without shoving it down your throat via clunky exposition is a talented one indeed. This is most evident of series in that there is so much more time for customs to be laid out and histories to be relayed. Tolkien took up volumes with the detailed history of a whole land as did Paolini. Lewis built his world volume by volume which allowed for a slow expansion and understanding of the world in which Narnia existed. I think this is why The Magician’s Nephew has always been my favorite. This world building is something that I am noticing more and more as I tear through the Game of Thrones saga (I’m currently in book three) and also something I noticed recently while watching the latest installment of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean films. I realize I may lose some of you there. What?! The Pirates movies are being thought of in the same breath as GoT?! Hear me out, lovelies.

When considering a fully realized world, we are able to recognize geography and history yes but there is something else that is also important. The rules of the reality of this alternate-verse are very important to establish so that the author knows what is and isn’t possible and so does the viewer/reader. Rules within a world establish these parameters so that characters experience events with logical outcomes, so that there is a reason when crazy events happen, and so on. What got me thinking about the importance of this was watching the latest (and hopefully last (although through my research I see it won’t be the last)) installment of the Pirates movies.

Over the course of the five films that make up this series there are many things that happen that in our reality would not be possible. From the very beginning of the first movie we are let known that curses and magic are real. This is evident even from the title: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Thus begins our education into this world. We are taken in to a time that existed (early to mid 1700’s) and a place that is real (the Caribbean) however the reality is altered from ours. Having Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) as our primary guide through the events of the first film, we learn as he does about the lives of pirates. To start, Turner is pretty landlocked in his life and does not know much about pirate culture. It is only once his love Elizabeth Swann (Kierra Knightly) is abducted by pirates does he get pulled in to the mysteries of the sea. We see with Will that curses are not to be trifled with and that they are indeed very real. Once out at sea, we learn that most of the terrifying tales told by sailors have some sort of basis in the sea’s reality. Monstrous creatures of lore like the Kraken do exist and the boogiemen of your dreams like Davy Jones are real and perfectly able to getcha! As we adventure along with Turner and Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) we almost become used to the fact that, yeah, of course they’re encountering monsters. Because of this I feel we almost become jaded in a sense through to the latest installment in which our leading lady Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) is thrust into the mystical world that revolves around Jack Sparrow. There is a point when Carina finally sees something supernatural. She screams and runs out of the water and up the shore shouting that ghosts are real. An appropriate reaction, honestly.

This moment is what really got me paying attention to the world within these films. Because of this moment I realized how prevalent these mystical adventures are in the lives of our leading men and I realized something else too: they all take place far out at sea. We are along for the ride with these men seeing pirate royalty convene for a summit; witnessing undead men, monkeys, and sharks; boarding ships that have been sunk for hundreds of years. These things are very real in this world however there is a whole population who is unawares of their existence. This is a part of the rules of this world. Creatures whose presence cannot be explained shock those who are not used to them (which is again, appropriate). Even when a character becomes used to these things and is part of the pirate life there are still instances where one of them will see something and have wtf moment.

Pirates image

Another saga that I am currently immersed in is that of A Song of Ice and Fire. With five books published and seven total promised, George R. R. Martin has created a whole universe with its own precedence and standards. The history of Westeros and the surrounding lands extends for thousands of years and with one continent and many island countries, the make up of these lands is vast. In fact, there is so much history to cover that in addition to the primary novels that make up the saga ASoIaF, there are also several novellas that give us further knowledge of different times within this world that we come to know so well. Because there are many houses and each of them have their own pasts (in  addition to a global history of wars and times of peace) there is an endless amount of possibilities for characters we already know and for those whom we have not met. But again, it is not the characters that make the rules of the world.

Much like our world and that of the world in Pirates, there are laws of reality that must be followed. Due to the fact that there are many different cultures that we are encountering, there are several different realms in which people exist. Those who live in the far North have very different lives than those who live in the far South and very different again from those who are Dothraki or Lyseni. While there are many different realms there still is only one reality within which everyone operates. It is established within the prologue of the very first book that otherworldly magic exists but is not wholly understood by persons at large.

Something interesting that Martin has done in this land is to establish that there are old gods, ancient myths that revolve around the First Men; new gods, known as the seven; and a Lord of Light, who is very mysterious [and seems somewhat cultish]. I find this compelling as it is a small similarity to our own world in which many different religions and schools of thought exist. Because of this, we are able to see very quickly that the many different regions of this land operate under different beliefs. Most often the new gods are mentioned. Those who worship in this manner visit the Sept to pray to one god who is represented by seven faces seen as the Mother, Maiden, Warrior, Father, Crone, Stranger, and Smith. Each of these are prayed to for different reasons: to keep a son safe in battle, to keep a woman safe during childbirth, etc. Then there are the old gods, worshiped in the North by the first men and by some who live still. There is a magic in this belief; a connectivity to the forest and all its creatures. The wierwood trees in the forests and in the godswoods of castles and forts create a conduit of sorts for these gods to see through and be prayed to. Lastly, there is the Lord of Light, who is said to show his true believers the way if they stare into the flames of fires. The character Melisandre is who [largely] leads us through our knowledge of this particular religion and because it is not widely known or practiced in Westeros, many men distrust this vein of thought and see it as witchcraft. That last bit is interesting. The fact that the Lord of Light’s followers are mistrusted because of their “devil worship” or “sorcery” draws attention to the fact that magic is not something that is trusted in this land. The gods of old seemed to posses some magic but their times are long gone and there doesn’t seem to be any magic left in the world. That is, until dragons are born and a crippled boy becomes the keeper of knowledge past and present.

Aside from religion, there are other aspects of the world of Westeros that are outlined to establish the world. In battle, men die (whereas as pointed out above in the Pirates world, ghosts exist). There is a hierarchy that exists by which the land is governed. Despite the fact that there is a very large scale war going on for the Iron Throne, there is a system in place: lords, wardens, etc. Culture is explored through songs sung by bards and tales told around the campfire. It is fascinating to me how deep and rich the history of this land is.

GoT image

Getting lost in a world that is not our own is part of what makes reading and watching movies so compelling. We are able to escape our lives for a span of pages/the run time of a film and truly be somewhere else. The greatest storytellers create fully realized settings to further allow for this escape and totally submerse their audiences. While it might be easy to create a tale, coming up with the entire world is what makes the escape successful. Whether it is building the world from scratch (example: Lord of the Rings) or slightly altering our reality to make it their own (example: Inception), an author who takes the time to think out all aspects of their world is a skilled one indeed.

Atonement – 2007

| cgkinnett

There was nothing on Netflix starring Audrey Hepburn that I haven’t already seen so I googled, “classics to watch on Netflix, current” and a list was summoned from the depths of the interweb. There were some good horror movies on said list that I definitely intend to go back and watch however that was not where my head was at. Scrolling down, I found what I was looking for: Atonement. Released in 2007, the film was adapted from the novel of the same name, published six years earlier by Ian McEwan. It met everything in my mental checklist: not set in the present, an amazing cast, and not a straightforward-spoon-fed romance. Holy shit lovelies, what a movie. What a journey.

Atonement tells the tale of what happens when a little lie turns into a bigger lie and the impact that has on those in the line of fire. What we learn first hand is that what you say matters and that even if you think you are a reliable narrator, you might not be. That doubt that you feel eats at you through life, through war, through death. Atonement tells us that there is no statute of limitations on taking responsibility for your actions.

We enter the lives of the Tallis family in 1935. Briony (Saoirse Ronan) is a young child shown from the start to have an active imagination. The film opens with her finishing a play she has been working on to be performed upon her brother’s visit home; younger cousins staying with the family are her unwilling actors. Having grown bored, said cousins exit Briony’s room. This is where the intrigue begins. Gazing out the window, Briony witnesses an encounter down in the yard, however, not having heard anything that passes between the two people involved, she is only able to infer in her youthful and fanciful brain what it was that occurred. Cut to the same scene, rewound, and told from the perspective of Cecelia Tallis (Keria Knightly) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy). It is not an argument but instead an awkward encounter between two people who are unable and afraid to admit to their feelings for each other. Passion of a different kind from a different perspective.

Later that day, we are with Robbie as he writes several drafts of a letter to Cecelia; he is attempting to organize his thoughts. Finally satisfied, he puts paper in envelope and off he goes to deliver it. Spying Briony on the road, he asks her to run ahead and hand it off for him. It is only after she is gone from view that he realizes his terrible mistake, the wrong piece of paper had been sealed within. Of course, Briony rips open the envelope and reads the words that Robbie never intended for anyone to see. From this she links the “argument” she witnessed earlier and jumps to a horrible conclusion. There is too much adultness going on for her little mind to handle and she begins to form a very wrong sense of what is going on. We are privy to the fact that Robbie lets Cecelia know of this mistake, we are privy to their professions of love for each other, we are privy to the truth that alludes Briony.

Dinner is a brief and uncomfortable affair interrupted by the realization that the two youngest cousins have run away. The party breaks up to cover the estate’s grounds looking for them. It is during this search that Briony bears witness to the third act of the day that she does not understand and which overwhelms her. A character is molested and Briony witnesses the attacker running off without, as far as we can tell, clearly seeing his face. Again, conclusions are jumped to and when interviewed by the police she points fingers in the only direction she can think to point them. Robbie is wrongly accused of rape. However, due to his low station and Briony’s telling of events, Robbie’s protestations are not believed and he is thrown in prison.

Several years have passed as the next scene opens and we are in the middle of WWII in the heart of Germany. Robbie was given a choice, continue serving in jail or go out and serve for the country. Imagine being forced to war based on the lies of someone who just didn’t understand. It is here that we are brought to see the severe consequences of Briony’s actions and how they are impacting everyone in her life. Her sister has stopped talking to her; their childhood friend is fighting in the war; and she has foregone a classical education, seemingly fearing and cautious of the misery brought upon her by her imagination.

There is of course more to the story than the events I have just outlined. However, in an effort to avoid spoilers, I won’t say any more on the direct plot points of the tale. Instead I would like to touch on the importance of truth and the viewer/reader’s ability to rely upon the narrator. The whole truth and nothing but the truth is a hard thing to muster. Whose truth is it? Yours might be different than mine, does that mean that one of us is wholly wrong? Is truth subjective or objective? How do you know if something you think is true, actually is true? These are all important questions and not all are easily answered. Briony spends the rest of her life trying to make up for (atone for) her grievous mistake. If we had spent the whole movie viewing events from just Briony’s perspective, we would have no reason to think of her as anything but a reliable narrator. Although due to the fact that we also see things from Cecelia’s and Robbie’s perspectives, we know that our primary narrator is not fully knowledgeable about things to which she states with confidence and selfassuredness. We go through the rest of the film seeing the butterfly effect of one lie. We, along with Cecelia, are unable to tell if anything Briony says is “just the truth, no rhymes. No embellishments. No adjectives.”

In addition to the beautiful unfolding of the plot of this movie, the sound design is breathtaking. The film won an Oscar for best original score and rightly so. There is more to it though than just the music which is a mixture of compelling classical tunes relying heavily upon the piano and one or two note themes and the ambient sounds of everyday life. The twitter of birds in a wide open field. The hum of a plane far overhead. Most importantly and keenly throughout the film, the tap tap of a typewriter. This specific sound sets the tone in many scenes, either speeding up or slowing down to highlight the pace of the moment. Never before have I felt more aware of character’s surrounding due so heavily to the sense of sound. Hearing what they hear in a moment of otherwise silence pulls you farther in to the scene with them.

There is a scene on the beach of Normandy which is one long shot and the sounds that you hear as you follow Robbie and his fellows through the ravaged shore draw you so directly in: the shooting of horses that they can’t take with them, the cry of men and the silence of men, the songs being sung in loud chorus to comfort each other and get through to the next light of day. I realized by the end of the panning that I had been holding my breathe because I was feeling the same sense of hopelessness and dismay that had overcome those on screen. In addition to setting the emotional toll for the scenes, the music was also set nicely to match up with the changing of shots so that the pace your eyes kept was the same as the pace your ears kept.

The storytelling found within this movie is absolutely captivating. From the amazing cast to the heart-wrenching tale, Atonement is a movie that should surely be added to your must watch list. Be prepared to watch it though, not only is it heavy on the mind, it is also heavy on the run time clocking in at just over two hours. It is worth it my friends, oh is it worth it.

Penny Dreadful – Showtime

| cgkinnett

published penny dreadfuls

Gothic literature is a beautiful thing. So easily identifiable and so filled with hidden meanings, psychological and supernatural intrigue, and lessons to be learned. My undergraduate degree is in English Literature and I took more than one class on specifically Gothic Lit. My most frequently recalled example of the genre is The Yellow Wallpaper published in 1892 by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Not only is the story itself a trip but it is also a work published by an American, proving that the genre is not solely ruled by the Europeans. Gothic literature has a rich history that spread across many countries in the mid to late 1800’s. Classic conventions of the genre include horror/supernatural elements, death, and the macabre. It often times includes a female protagonist who is dealing with some sort of psychological disorder. Many female writers of the time used the genre to have their voices and perspectives heard on issues that would otherwise be swept under the rug. There is typically a setting in these stories that takes on more characteristics than just a normal scene. Embodying histories and feelings and usually certain architectural elements, these settings become as much characters as the people within the stories. The literary scene in the 1800’s was booming with tales of the supernatural. From Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (1818) to Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey (1890) there was no need to look far for tales of monsters who walk among us. In these times, printing and publishing were very expensive and so stories were often serialized and published in magazines on a weekly or monthly basis. The stories would be eagerly anticipated and provide a brief escape from the world around them. In addition to these works, there were also shorter works published for pennies and made available to even the poorest of the poor. These penny works became known as penny dreadfuls for the gruesome and dreadful tales depicted within. Beginning in the 1830’s, penny dreadful tales included reprintings of classic Gothic literature such as The Castle of Otranto as well as new pieces of horror like Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. 

Fast forward to the new millennium and people are still enraptured by tales with these dark and classic elements. Enter Showtime with their series Penny Dreadful. For three seasons we are taken through a classic Gothic tale all the while pulling in more and more of the characters that were made so famous in the 19th century.

Penny Dreadful cast

While this tale is being spun, we are introduced to Ethan Chandler (Josh Harnett), Ser Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), and Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) as our three main characters. While these people individually are not part of the established canons of the tales from which the show draws, they make up the central ring of the spider’s web. Malcolm Murray’s daughter was Mina, a name that should sound more familiar to you. Mina has been missing for some time now and Vanessa, in the first season, begins getting these visions and feelings that Mina is trying to reach out to her. Thus begins the supernatural quest in this Gothic tale. Ethan Chandler becomes their gun for hire as Ser Malcolm and Vanessa begin to explore what is happening to Vanessa. Together, the three of them delve deep into psychic connections, seances, and the biggest quagmire of them all: the fight between good and evil. As our guides become more entrenched in this world, it is clear that they will be unable to unearth truth and answers by themselves. When Vanessa becomes fully possessed and in need of medical attention, the good doctor is called for. Enter Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadway). As the realization of other worldliness enters, so does the famous hunter Van Helsing (David Warner). The spider’s web broadens and so too does our scope of the supernatural in London. Between demonic fits, Vanessa is a part of high-ish society in London and one of her social circles brings her close to a beautiful and charming man. Dorian Grey (Reeve Carney) does not get much interaction with the other characters in the beginning aside from Vanessa however in the latter part of the series his immortality is matched by that of another character’s and the tragedy that unfolds in that story line is heart wrenching.

Witches appear, a wolf man is present, and a darkness is descending on London.

The ability of the writers to bring all of these characters from different Londons into the same time and place is really well done. With three seasons to complete their tale, the overarching plot is well paced and there are not really any loose ends by the time it wraps. What I loved most by the end is that you as the viewer are so clearly able to see that this is a tale of tragedy for everyone involved. There is love and there is death and everything that comes between. Part of what makes the tales of love so great is that they are not all strictly between one man and one woman as a conventional love story might portray. For example, Vanessa is not related by blood to Ser Malcolm however he loves her like a daughter and is supremely concerned with her well-being. Dr. Frankenstein shows a deeply reckless and morbid sense of love for his creations (of which there are ultimately three). His love is not responsible or ethical yet it is deep and honest and earnest. Frankenstein’s moral journey through the three seasons plays out without the knowledge of the three main characters and so his evolution is largely just between him and his creations. Vanessa’s love for and belief in Christ is a very important thread in this web as it allows for the entry point into our story of the war between God and the Devil. Dorian Grey’s love for himself and all things beautiful brings into the story questions of being comfortable with and loving yourself. He is alone even when in the midst of a crowd and there is a woman who enters who helps him relearn this lesson and realize the importance of self. Lily (Billie Piper), the woman I just mentioned, is an amazing and breath taking character. Her strength and will inspire women around her, who she draws in like the spider I keep referencing. She comes to us in season one as a whore, lowly and taken advantage of, and by the time she is reborn and brought back in to the world with a strike of lightening, you are able to see the layers and layers of trauma that haunted her in her past and shape who she is in the present.

Then there is death. Lots of it. Dracula, the Wolf Man, Frankenstein’s monsters, they are all in the city at the same time and woe is the human who gets in their way. The vampire feels no remorse for his kills. He is above humans and views them as pawns and food. However, the other two monsters I mention are creatures with deep awareness of and remorse for the kills they chalk up. One of them is unaware of his monster as the wolf takes over the human, blotting out the humanity which guides the man and letting in the animal instincts which make him a wolf. As we get deeper into the lore and backstory of the wolf and how he came to be, elements of American Indian histories are included and explained. This to me was very interesting as it was such a sharp deviation from the Victorian lore that had been the backbone of the story thus far. Frankenstein’s monster (Rory Kinnear) names himself John Clare after the poet and is a beautiful soul of a soulless creature. His journey is largely apart from the main tale as Dorian Grey’s is. We know nothing at the start of his tale of this man’s past. Who he was and how he had died is as much a mystery to us as it is to him. John Clare does some killing of his own out of rage and necessity of certain situations. Through his rage he learns that this ability to “turn in to a monster” really scares him. He looks enough the part, he doesn’t want to play it too. Deep down, he is a gentle soul who likes to read and loves poetry. We are able to see the hurt he feels when people are scared of him, the pain he feels when someone reels at the sight of his face. He is a walking tragedy in and of himself.

Penny Dreadful is one of those shows that seemed aware of it’s time frame and conscious of the arcs of each character. Thus, the story is a complete one with a defined beginning, middle, and end. A beautiful tale which breaks down how well we know ourselves, how we care for those around us, and how events in our lives effect those around us. Vanessa Ives’s awareness of everyone in this universe (she is the only character who has verbal interactions with every single other character) is a way for us all to see the chain reactions our actions have on those around us; she is the female protagonist with the psychological issues after all. The light and dark pull felt throughout the show is a constant reminder of the forces of good and evil at work within us all. Additionally, there are metaphors out the wazoo in this series, such as many scenes being shot in mirrors, the allusions to spirit animals, and the divine at work through humans. All of these elements make it a very successful telling of many Gothics we are already familiar with. What an amazing show, you guys. A definite must watch.

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press

| cgkinnett

nobody-speak-trials-of-the-free-press-F71891

Hey there, lovelies! As reported last week, SXSW was in full swing and my Film badge was being put to full use. Now that the festival is over and I’ve had time to reflect on everything I saw over the course of the week, I realized that what I watched more than anything else was documentaries. There were so many of them and on such a wide range of topics. Out of all that I saw, I think that the most interesting and the most relevant by far was Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press. Award winning investigative documentarian Brian Knappenberger, known for The Internet’s Own Boy and We Are Legion helmed the project. The thumbnail photo for Nobody Speaks shows Hulk Hogan who is, admittedly, not someone whom I would want to watch a documentary about. However, do not let this deter you for there is something much bigger about this film and what it represents for the free press in our country.

In 2012 Gawker Media published a sex tape of Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) and Heather Clem. Apparently, Clem’s husband likes to film her with other men and watch it back. To each their own, ya know. Anyway, upon the posting of this video, Hogan sued Gawker for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional harm, among other things. The back and forth shown through court clips and interviews with Gawker editors shows how crazy this case was. In the end, Hogan ended up winning and was awarded $31 million which was roughly $100 million less than what the jury had come back with. Gawker did not have this kind of money and filed for bankruptcy last year.

What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, as the story unfolds, we learn that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped fund the case against Gawker. The site had published several unflattering stories about Thiel over the years and he had built up a grudge against the media outlet. He poured millions of dollars into Hogan’s defense allegedly without Hogan knowing who he was or why he was doing it. What is utterly terrifying about this is that there was a man who had a grudge against a digital print outlet, who used his resources to his advantage, and took a step into the legal world that until now no one else had done. This opens up the opportunity for other private citizens and/or corporations to do the same, meaning that if there is a magazine, newspaper, any sort of periodical that prints something that someone doesn’t like there is now precedent for them to take it upon themselves to facilitate a take down.

In addition to the Bollea v. Gawker case, Nobody Speaks also shines a light on the purchasing of one of Nevada’s most notable newspapers, the Las Vegas Review Journal, by the Adelson family. While you might not know the name off hand, the Adelsons are big in the gaming world and are apparently quite corrupt and shady (shocker, I know). The reporters and staff of LVRJ were told that their paper had been bought but not by whom. Good idea…try to hide something from a whole newspaper staff. The reporters start digging and soon unearth the truth of their acquisition. Penning an expose on the matter, they go to print without a green light and then many of them resign, principles and ethics still intact.

What brings these two storylines together, you ask? Apparently there is a connection between Thiel and the Adelson family: they both make huge contributions to the Republican party and most recently, Donald Trump. The significance of this is that Trump is very publicly against mainstream media and honest reporting of any kind and these two stories are instances where men saw an opportunity to influence/shut down a media organization whose ideals they didn’t agree with. While there is enough material for both of these stories to stand on their own, for they are both majorly important, they are tied together with what seemed like a hasty Trump through line. I say hasty because there was video of rallies and press conferences that are incredibly recent. Like since he’s been in office recent.

Towards the end of the film we begin seeing, through still images and voiced over short video clips, the ties that all of these men have with each other. This sort of made the ultimate message about how things lead back to Trump. I think the doc could have been a lot stronger if they had stuck to highlighting these terrifying cases and how they can potentially effect our future. This is my only complaint.

Netflix has reportedly purchased the film however when you search the title you’re not able to click on the result. I don’t know if that just means it is not yet available or what. Whatever the case, you should find a way to watch this documentary. It is incredibly important and impatiently relevant.