Horror – Page 18 – David Peach

Thoughts on the film “Neon Demon”

With its gorgeous visuals and pulsing soundtrack, Neon Demon is a film that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry. The majority of the story felt to me like it was floating in and out of the conscious mind, with an increasing level of abstract as it went on.

What’s The Neon Demon about?

The Neon Demon follows fresh-faced, 16-year-old model Jesse, played by Elle Fanning, as she enters the harsh world of fashion modelling. We follow her from her first demo photos – featured in the poster above – to her quick rise to fame. With her sudden rise she attracts enemies within the business and even some avid admirers.

By the film’s final scenes I found myself slack-jawed, not quite believing what I was seeing; you could say it left me slightly haunted.

Bold and beautiful visuals

The fact that this film has such an easy to follow story, allowed me to get completely caught up in the rich atmospheres that the director, Nicolas Winding Refn, put together. Neon Demon felt almost like a dream for the most part. In fact even some moments that were grounded had elements of a dream / nightmare in them (the scene with the mountain lion for example). The colours throughout were so refreshing to me as well. The vibrant purples and blood reds gave my eyes a real treat with the bold shots they created.

The film reminded me quite a bit of italian giallo films – those ones that are really unsettling to watch – like “Suspiria” or “Cat O’ Nine Tails”. Just something about them isn’t quite right – some kind of horror that is sitting just beneath the film’s surface. The music only served to enforce this for me and felt somewhere between Giallo and Synthwave – a great combination.

In Closing

As with Mother! from last week, Neon Demon is another one of those films that defies an easy grouping. There are elements of horror, thriller, very black comedy and even touching on very *taboo subjects. However, those elements are woven into the fabric of the film to create a single, altogether unique viewing experience.

I was thinking about this film still days after I’d watched it. Proceed with caution and an open mind.

*(I can’t really mention the taboo subjects without giving away key events. What I can say is that they aren’t for the faint of heart.)

You’ll die if you try – Thoughts on the film IT

I will always remember the original TV mini-series of IT with fondness and nostalgia; it was the first thing I watched that scared the crap out of me. I was extremely wary, I might even say pessimistic, about the new theatrical version to come out this year. However, after deciding to give it a chance I found that I came out of the film very happy.

From what I’ve gathered, this newer version stays closer to the source material than the aforementioned TV series. This isn’t really of any importance in my enjoying of it as I’ve never read the book, but thought it was worth a mention.

I personally found the jump scares to not have too much of an effect on me. What did leave an impression on me were the relationships between the main characters – the losers club, and the absolute creepiness of Bill Skarsgård’s Pennywise.

The Losers Club

The actors and actresses playing the losers club did an awesome job and had great chemistry on screen. It was good to see the blossoming, and sometimes damaging, of their friendships before ultimately coming together for the final showdown against Pennywise.

But aside from the kids versus clown, the story also did well in telling the group’s stories as a coming-of-age tale – these aren’t just a bunch of one dimensional characters; these are fully-realised people who are all dealing with the stress and anxiety of growing up, as well as added parental pressure. Never mind the killer clown that wants them dead.

Pennywise the dancing clown

Speaking of Pennywise, Bill Skarsgård was so frickin’ awesome in this part. Even though I knew the story and knew the general series of events, he still creeped me the fuck out from the get go. His eyes that weren’t quite right; the subtle shifts from being a friendly clown to showing the expressions that betray his underlying motives; the downright terror that ensues when his real self comes to the forefront.

It was genuinely scary to just see him talking in the opening scene – the opening scene that goes further than most other popular horror films do. Even though I knew what was coming in that scene, I still found myself sitting there, anxiously awaiting the climax.

Chapter 2…

I thought it was interesting to only see the events of the group’s childhood; leaving the adulthood and final showdown to its own film entirely. I don’t think it would actually be possible to cram the whole book into one film – at least not without cutting huge chunks out.

I’m looking forward to seeing the conclusion of IT sometime in the near future, all being well with all of the same writers and creators.

American Horror Story: Cult (Episode 1 – Election Night)

American horror story is back for is 7th series this week and not a moment too soon. I really enjoyed the slight departure in last series’ Roanoke story, however it feels good to be back in the familiar horror story format along with the title sequence.

Only now we see a new kind of horror

Election Night

Sarah Paulson in American Horror Story Cult

We open the story on Election night in the United States – the actual election night we witnessed last year with the election of Donald Trump. This event sets the story off for the two principal characters: Evan Peters’ Kai Anderson, and Sarah Paulson’s Ally Mayfair-Richards.

Both American Horror Story veterans, Paulson and Peters portray their characters brilliantly as always. Paulson plays one of two women in a same sex marriage with a son, whilst Peters plays a hard line Trump supporter who couldn’t be more excited that Trump got into power.

Clowns Everywhere

The result of the election causes Ally (Paulson) to relapse into phobias that she had since conquered – the most notable of these being her fear of clowns. Not only have the series creators took inspiration from the clown sightings of late last year, but they have also brought back an old favourite: Twisty the Clown from series 4 (Freak Show). Although Twisty does only get shown through the visualization of a comic that Ally and her partner’s son is reading, I really hope he somehow makes it in the flesh.

Twisty the Clown from American Horror Story

A new type of horror

American Horror Story has always been known for its graphic display of violence, in all its forms. However, for me the real horror in this episode wasn’t necessarily from the clown gang, or the butchering of a young couple by Twisty, but in the actions and attitudes of people. To be precise, people who now feel authorised to take negative actions against those they consider to be outsiders.

Another aspect of the horror, and the one that really got under my skin, was when Ally’s new babysitter, who also has a personal connection to Kai, shows her son graphic images of real deaths on the “Dark web”. Essentially explaining to him that it’s good for him to watch it in order to build up his immune system to it. This girl, played by Billie Lourd in her first AHS role, is completely sick in the head: A perfect fit for the show.

In Closing

I have good feelings for this series and love the nucleus of the story idea. There have always been elements from our own world in American Horror Story, however, this is the closest the show has felt to being right on our doorstep.

This could be one of the only good things to come as a result of Trump in power.

I got Sam killed in Until Dawn. I’m devastated.

Until Dawn – First Impressions

Within the breathtaking landscape of the snowy mountains at night, a young couple play at snowball fighting. The pair are obviously an item and the soundtrack playing enforces the innocence and playfulness of youth.

All would be fine and dandy if it wasn’t for the impending doom that leans over all of the characters. Until Dawn has immediately drawn me in, and although the whole game thus far has a shade of terror about it, I find it hard to pull myself away.

A game of choices

Until Dawn is a game all about choices – your choices to be precise. Each decision you make throughout the game affects all future outcomes and new decisions to make. Even the little remarks made by a particular character seemed to be as a direct result of my actions as a separate character earlier.

Most choices seem to have a risky option and a safe option. I’ll admit I have been taking the safe options quite a bit, if only for the well being of the characters. However, I have started throwing some curve ball responses in just to see what happens.

Starting as you mean to go on

The opening of Until Dawn gave me a good taste of how the game is played and the sorts of choices I would need to make as the player. These opening scenes had just enough suspense to keep me wanted to know more. Whilst not laying on too much horror, so as to risk topping out at the start.

In between the main storyline I am placed in a therapy session and asked about my thoughts when given certain items. A creepy photo of a small farm; a scrapbook of ever-increasingly scary imagery (then asked to pick which images scare me more). I can’t help but feel that even these decisions, seemingly outside of the game’s main thread, will later affect how this game is played out.

Character Introductions

I really liked how the character introductions were handled. Each character is freeze-framed on, displaying their name and some of their character traits. As each new person was introduced it became obvious that a complicated web of love and relationships was unfolding.

I’ve already forgot some of the characters’ names but to be fair there are eight of them. I have faith that within a short amount of time I will have each character’s face and name committed to memory.

Must be fate

A friend of mine recommended this game to me, but it wasn’t on my list of immediate games to play. Then when I joined the Playstation Plus membership, and discovered it was one of their free games on offer, I knew it was fate. Now whenever I come to play a game after dark, Until Dawn is the one I play.

I’m really looking forward to the story unfolding and seeing where my decisions take my new friends.