Halloween 2018

The Ritual (2017)

Saw this on Netflix. A good cross between The Descent and The Blair Witch Project (though not shot in the found footage format). Four Englishmen take a hiking trip in the remote hills of Sweden to honor the tragic killing of a friend. When they elect to take a "shortcut" through the woods (as one of the characters warns, "if a shortcut was a shortcut, it wouldn't be called a shortcut, it would be called a route"), they stumble across a pagan cult worshiping some ancient beast as a God. For a while, it seems mostly like all the baggage is just what the friends bring with them into the forest, but there really is something out there, and you do eventually get a good look at it in the end (in a climax that had me quoting Princess Mononoke: "I'm going to show you how to kill a god"). The cinematography is breathtaking - the beautiful setting goes a long way in establishing an atmosphere that is genuinely instilled with fear. I recommend it.

Temple (2017)

Three Japan-o-philes visit the land of the rising sun. The girlfriend is doing her thesis on religious studies. The boyfriend (who is kind of a prick) is mostly along for the ride. The third wheel is actually the most interesting character, and the only one who can speak Japanese. They quickly and conveniently stumble upon clues leading them to what must be the most haunted temple in Japan. There's a potentially interesting story in there about six kids who went missing, and the monk who was found living in the temple, but that's not what this movie is about - that's just background fodder for a gimmicky ghost story. Unfortunately, the acting is a bit wooden, and the writing leaves something to be desired. The creature(s?) are creepy, but the nighttime chase is just too dark (and there are too many shots pointed down the barrel of a flashlight, as opposed to the other way around). There's a novelty (for me, at least) to occult symbolism being associated with oriental spiritualism (as opposed to Christianity or paganism), but the various story threads don't really line up into a logical framework beyond "ghosts are creepy, right?" in the end (which came sooner than I expected). I'd like to see this story told with more substance and less fluff.

The Devil's Candy (2015)

Now this movie has style - and I do love a movie with style. Its taste in music is so good (a heavy metal cross-section of Pantera, Slayer, Metallica, even Sunn O))) - not music I typically listen to, but great for setting the mood of a horror movie), even the "trailer" music on Netflix had me hopping over to Youtube for more. The setup is recurrent of The Amityville Horror - a nice family moves into a house with a dark past, and their lives subsequently take a dark turn - but with a strong serial killer flavor - starring an older-than-I-remember Pruitt Taylor Vince. The cold open is so captivating - a Lizzie Borden/Jim Morrison singing The End-type situation, where a man gets up in the middle of the night and plays power chords on his electric guitar to drown out the Satanic voice in his head - I was instantly sold.

The protagonist family - a metalhead slash painter, his wife, and their teenage (also metalhead) daughter - are attractive and likable, and the movie is largely free of dumb clichés. When the Satanic element begins to manifest itself through art - the father's painting, provided by the real-life artist who's worked on some of Sunn O)))'s album covers - it's glorious. Did I mention this movie has style? It's terrifying - albeit, in less of a supernatural way than one might hope (on that note, it's telling that the killer watches a lot of fire-and-brimstone televangelist preachers; it's not hard to imagine it fueling the delusions of an impaired mind - though the preacher thinks he's helping people, by preying on their fears, he's only magnifying the horrors in the world; it is the height of irony that he, himself, is among the worldly devils he warns about) - culminating in a harrowing climax, but damn, it's not often that I have this much fun watching a horror movie! It just goes to show how powerful a movie can be when it's not just trying to tell a story, but aspiring to be a work of art in its own right. It's no wonder the music and painting plays such a critical role. This is the kind of movie I'd be proud to display on my shelf. (Even Black Phillip makes a cameo!)

Apostle (2018)

At over two hours long, this movie is an epic journey, with a plot that strongly resembles The Wicker Man. Around the turn of the century (last century), a man is sent undercover in his ailing father's stead to infiltrate a goddess-worshiping island cult and rescue his kidnapped sister. The first half plays a bit like Colonia in a colonial village with a medieval sense of justice. But at the halfway point (and I suppose this is a bit of a spoiler), it takes a very dark turn, with some supernatural elements, as the cult begins to implode from within. Most of the horror is human-generated, however, and it gets pretty gruesome. It's a sleek production, with good writing, solid leads, and ace cinematography. It's undoubtedly a tense viewing experience, but if that doesn't bother you, it's very well done.

"The promise of the divine is but an illusion."
"God is pain... is suffering... is betrayal."

P (2005)

The granddaughter of a witch leaves the Thai countryside to seek a living in Bangkok, where she uses her supernatural talents to navigate the sex trade - and get herself into trouble, when she loses control of her powers and a bloodthirsty monster is let loose on the city. It's fascinating to see different cultures take on particular subjects - like witchcraft - to see the similarities and differences in how they're interpreted across cultures. True to Bangkok's reputation, this is as much an erotic film as it is a horror film (and I have no complaints about that). In fact, it feels like three movies in one - a gritty, country-girl-meets-city-life coming-of-age drama gives way to a flesh-eating night stalker thriller, that eventually evolves into a Thai version of The Exorcist! Plus, it deserves an award for most captivating ending credits sequence - this film really knows how to keep the audience engaged through the credits. ;-)

Haunted (2018)

This is a short series available on Netflix - I view it as a sort of modern analog to Sightings. Six stories told in bite-size, 20-30 minute episodes, with dramatic re-enactments. Obviously, you can take "the following is a true story" with a grain of salt, but since none of these stories is designed to prove or disprove the existence of paranormal phenomena (this isn't science, this is entertainment), you might as well suspend your disbelief and take them at face value - they're certainly presented that way, told by the victims and eyewitnesses themselves in first person. Most of the tales lack a satisfying conclusion, but I think that contributes to the scariness, by leaving things hanging out there. Fair warning: you might want to watch this one with the lights on.

Here's what you can expect: in the first episode, a man is h(a)unted by a vengeful ghost, in a setup reminiscent of It Follows. The second episode is the story of the kids who grew up with a devil-worshipping serial killer father. Episode three takes a few pages from the Poltergeist playbook. Episode four is the most positive episode (relatively speaking), about a medium who awakens his gift after being contacted by three kids who died in a well. The fifth episode is your requisite alien abduction episode. And in episode six, a teenage girl's deadbeat boyfriend gifts her a stolen gravestone, so she dumps him and shacks up with the demon that's attached to it. (That description's not a fair reflection of the tone of the episode, but it's not inaccurate, and I couldn't resist describing it that way).

Discussion: it's almost more fascinating trying to think up a psychological explanation for these experiences*. I mean, assuming they're not fabricated whole cloth - obviously, I don't believe in ghosts and aliens (anymore), but I believe that these people (or, if they're actors, then others like them) have had experiences that defy conventional explanation. (To quote Scully from The X-Files, I believe that they believe - doubting their explanations isn't the same thing as denying their emotional experiences). I think it will be fascinating somewhere down the line, when we have a better grasp of how the human brain functions, to explore the physiological (and/or environmental) factors** that lead to things like hearing sounds and voices, seeing apparitions, etc. Just having had an episode of sleep paralysis once in my life, I've experienced the unbelievably realistic delusions the human mind can conjure when it's not functioning correctly, and the intense feelings (especially sheer terror) that can go along with that. Take mere suggestibility as a start. I don't believe in these things - these entities - yet thinking about them is enough to cause a palpable reaction of fear (accompanied by such physiological symptoms as goosebumps) in my mind and body. To quote The X-Files again, we have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception, yet we somehow brazenly declare that "seeing is believing".

*When some of the people in this show say things like "houses aren't haunted, people are haunted", or that spirits are "attached" to them, or when one person in a household experiences a lot of paranormal activity but others don't... this all could be interpreted as one person being "psychically open" or "empathically gifted" or some such, but it suggests to me the possibility that these could be the manifestations of an impaired mind (or an enhanced one, depending on your perspective).

**In both genetics and conditioning - as reinforced by The Devil's Candy, it always seems to be those with direct exposure to religious mythology (not always in the form of devotion - sometimes it's "inflicted" upon them by others) that interpret these experiences in such archetypal ways. To provide an example of this phenomenon, a schizophrenic who hears voices or feels presences will be more likely to interpret them as ghosts or demons if he's been taught to believe in things like pure evil and the immortal soul.

Tales of Halloween (2015)

It's fun to watch scary shows and horror movies during October, but I always like it when I get a chance to watch something that captures the true essence of Halloween - costume parties and jack o' lanterns and trick 'r treaters - on the holiday itself. Especially when I don't get a chance to get out there myself (and not being a kid anymore, that kind of depends on the whims of other families). That's one of the things I like about the early Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons. That's also part of what makes the slasher classic Halloween such a perennial favorite. So I saved Tales of Halloween for October 31st - an anthology of ten (very) loosely connected stories that occur on the night of All Hallow's Eve, very much in the vein of that other, more recent, Halloween classic, Trick 'r Treat.

I'll tell you straight up that it's not as good as Trick 'r Treat, but it wasn't a bad way to spend a Halloween night, cuddled up on the couch with a bag full of candy, after all the excitement of the day has wound down. The stories are more sequential and less interwoven than they were in Trick 'r Treat - occasionally a reference to one short will be made in another, and the trick 'r treaters who feature predominantly in one story are recycled in the others. To give you an idea of what to expect, here's a...well, short description of each of the shorts:

Sweet Tooth - An urban legend about a kid who will eat all your candy (even the pieces you've already eaten) comes to life.

The Night Billy Raised Hell - An unfortunate kid learns why it's a bad idea to egg the guy's house who never gives out candy. (spoiler: it's not because he doesn't know how to enjoy the holiday).

Trick - A group of kids decide they'd rather draw blood than receive candy from a group of adults spending the holiday under the influence (spoiler: that decision is entirely justified).

The Weak and the Wicked - A bullied kid attempts to summon a Halloween demon to exact vengeance on his (rather sadistic) bullies.

Grim Grinning Ghost - A fairly straightforward exercise in suspense, expectation, redirection, and jump scares, when a woman's car breaks down and she has to walk home after listening to ghost stories at a friend's house.

Ding Dong - A rather quirky segment, featuring some kind of demon lady who really wants children, and her soft-spoken mate, as they navigate the temptation of having children delivered right to their doorstep on Halloween.

This Means War - A short that seemed more interesting in its setup than its ultimate conclusion. Basically, a tale of one-upsmanship in the realm of decorating your house for the holiday.

Friday the 31st - An over-the-top, humorous parody of Friday the 13th, involving a costumed victim, a Jason rip-off, and, believe it or not, a UFO.

The Ransom of Rusty Rex - Two desperate would-be kidnappers get a whole lot more than they bargained for when they try to take a millionaire's trick 'r treating son hostage.

Bad Seed - a killer goes on a rampage during Halloween, but it takes the novel form of a sentient (and bloodthirsty) jack o' lantern. Kind of reminded me of Halloween III (the one without Michael Myers).

And there you have it - take it or leave it. I hope you've had a haunted holiday, and if I don't see you sooner, I imagine I'll meet you back here next Halloween!

Colonia (2015)

Colonia (a.k.a. The Colony) starts out like a Chilean The Dreamers - starring the ever-effervescent Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl as globetrotting political activists and young lovers named Lena and, er, Daniel - complete with a rock and roll soundtrack (making excellent use of both Janis Joplin and Santana). But when things turn bad, and the local fascists start clamping down on revolutionaries, the movie veers into Midnight Express territory, based (in this case) on the true story of Colonia Dignidad. Lena joins an ultra-conservative religious cult which harbors facilities for the torture of political criminals in the hopes of rescuing Daniel. But once you go in, it's not easy to get out. Michael Nyqvist creates a chilling portrayal of the cultleader Paul Schäfer (not to be confused with the bandleader of the CBS orchestra), a spiritual guru intoxicated by his own ego, poignantly demonstrating the irony of a "holy man" who is nevertheless a textbook demonstration of cruelty and corruption. (Begging the question - at least in my mind - of how long we have to continue pointing out the ties between misogyny and despotism before people begin to realize that fighting and shaming our basic sexual natures (but especially that of women) is not the path to divinity). Anyway, it's a tense and suspenseful movie; I recommend it - and not just because it stars Emma Watson, either. ;-p

The X-Files - S9:E10 "Providence"

[ S9:E9 "Provenance" <<< Season 9 >>> S9:E11 "Audrey Pauley" ]

Spoiler Warning: This mythology episode picks up from last week's cliffhanger. Beware of spoilers.

The first three words spoken in this episode are "the Bible says" - so that kinda gives you an idea of what you're in for. I'm not super comfortable with all the religious symbolism, but to this episode's credit, it mostly plays toward the "aliens are God" angle that was characteristic of The Sixth Extinction mytharc. And that comes largely in the form of the UFO cult at the center of these two episodes. Now they've affixed a prophecy to William's existence, which states that he'll follow in his father's footsteps by stopping the alien invasion, unless his father is killed. Which is why the cult wants Mulder dead (so now Mulder is officially the father?), but suddenly isn't so sure he's already dead anymore (imagine that). In which case, this child is some miracle savior who will lead the alien race to victory (hang on - why, and since when do the aliens need a human messiah to lead them?). It's worth remembering that anything this cult says they believe in ought to be taken with a grain of salt. (Although, how many times has Chris Carter given us real answers in the form of dubious proclamations)?

So the cult actually wants the child alive - and, as I suspected, the man who tried to kill William in the last episode (the FBI agent who went undercover to infiltrate the cult) wanted to kill the baby to foil the cult's plans. Because, according to prophecy, letting the child live is equivalent to dooming the human race, provided Mulder is dead (is this all convoluted enough for you yet?) - not that Reyes will permit Scully to buy that party line. But even if they want the baby alive, that obviously doesn't mean Scully's just gonna let them take him. We learn a little bit more about the cult leader in this episode, in an opening sequence with some nice desert landscapes. He was a soldier in Iraq who had a vision of "angels from Heaven" (who were, of course, Super Soldiers) - "the true sons of God". This inspired him to start a cult so as to "deliver the message of the God who came before all other Gods". In other words, he's an alien sympathizer.

The episode begins with Doggett in a coma, following his accident in the last episode's cliffhanger, and A.D. Brad Follmer leading the investigation into the kidnapping of William. Scully doesn't trust him - justifiably - believing that there is a conspiracy within the FBI to wipe out everyone involved with the X-Files. There is a point at which it's hinted that Scully may be going too far in withholding evidence from the FBI because she's so invested in finding her baby, and doesn't trust anyone. But ultimately, her fears are well-founded (of course - this is The X-Files after all), although she may have some of the particulars wrong. For one thing, Skinner is inexplicably siding with the FBI this time, as if he spontaneously decided, "I've had enough of filling in Mulder's shoes, I want to be the guy with ambiguous loyalties again". On that note, A.D. Brad is shaping up to be an actual good guy, while Kersh is leaning toward the dark side once again (this is getting real hard to keep track of). The key note to take away is that there is a new threat of clear distinction - a Super Soldier within the FBI.

The whole God angle actually starts to get kinda interesting when Scully uses the artifact (before promptly losing it to her enemies) to cure the undercover FBI agent (who almost killed her son), and he reveals that the UFO cult leader was led to the discovery of the buried spacecraft (like the one in Biogenesis) by the voice of "God" (i.e., aliens), and that he believes the ship is a temple that houses the physical manifestation of God. Yeah, that sounds pretty cool to me. It takes William's proximity to get the spacecraft to activate, though, and when it goes flying up in the air, no one is left alive on the ground. Except William, that is. Which is disappointing, because I was really hoping that he'd be taken away on the ship so we wouldn't have to see him anymore.

Can you imagine if The X-Files had continued on for years after the ninth season, instead of being cancelled? They could have stretched out the back-and-forth possibilities of William's significance for years into the future! It would have been terrible. I wish the coming revival would just ignore the fact that the William thing ever happened, and rewind back to the pre-movie Mulder & Scully days. Alas... To wrap things up, Doggett magically wakes from his coma (after Reyes prays at an altar, and Scully cries over his bedside, with zero of the audience investment this show used to have when main characters spent whole episodes in hospital beds - sigh), claiming that he's hearing voices from God now, too. Fantastic. And he's the skeptic! I'll still say this is the best set of mythology episodes this season, but that's still not saying very much. And lord, am I getting exhausted, but this 200-day nonstop marathon is almost over. The end is in sight.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: You see a task force in there? I see a whitewash.

Langly: Access denied? Yeah, we'll see about that.

A.D. Brad: I've known you a long time, but this just seems, uh...a little traditional for you.
Reyes: Maybe when you're lost, you knock at the door with the porch light on.

(And that's a trick the church uses to lure vulnerable people in).

Cult Leader: If you wanna see the boy, you'll bring me the head of Fox Mulder.

(Wow, talk about an ultimatum).

The X-Files - S8:E7 "Via Negativa"

[ S8:E6 "Redrum" <<< Season 8 >>> S8:E8 "Surekill" ]

I am positively dumbfounded. But in the best possible way. It's enough to say that I never could have predicted that I'd like the Robert Patrick episodes as much as I have so far, but to like an episode that puts even Scully on the sidelines in order to focus on Agent Doggett (and a little more of Skinner than we usually get to see) as much as I enjoyed this one? Preposterous! And yet, there it is. Written by Frank Spotnitz (who rarely goes solo, and even rarer on a non-mythology episode - I think the only previous examples are Our Town and Detour), and directed by Tony Wharmby, this episode manages to construct an even more effectively Lynchian atmosphere than Field Trip did, with haunting and surreal dream sequences.

Getting herself out of the way through the majority of the episode, Scully checks herself into a hospital, recalling the period during which she was sick in the latter part of season 4 (especially Zero Sum, in which she didn't appear at all). Doggett (who may just be starting to get wind of Scully's big secret, revealed in the last moment of Requiem), then is left, along with Skinner, to investigate the mysterious deaths of two agents staking out a religious cult. The cultleader is a creepy guy who has allegedly reached a higher plane (preacher, keep on preachin') by walking "Via Negativa" - the path of darkness - and who bears a literal third-eye (which is one of those things that, superficially, could be considered cheesy, but that I honestly think is kind of awesome). Although it begs the question of why, if he has found God, he's going around killing people...

Anyway, his modus operandi apparently involves death by nightmare, drawing comparisons to Freddy Krueger, as well as previous episodes The Walk, and Sleepless. The latter is probably a more apt comparison (and not only because it's a better episode), as it involves government experiments. While that may not specifically be the case here, The Lone Gunmen (formally introducing themselves to Agent Doggett in this episode), reference MKUltra, a real world experiment in which the CIA attempted to effect mind control via the use of LSD. Everybody knows that acid makes you hallucinate, but imagine doping yourself up to the point that you can give other people hallucinations! Here's a tip, though: it's not a good idea to put a guy who can kill through dreams into a coma...

This episode further presses the dynamic introduced in the two-part season opener, in which Skinner decided to embrace the paranormal, with Doggett now being held liable for it under Kersh's command. The episode also hints at another personal connection Doggett has with a fellow agent, emphasizing that - unlike Mulder, the outcast - he is a real inside man. I know that Kersh most likely put him on the X-Files to discredit his reputation, but I wonder if his involvement could actually bring some legitimacy to the X-Files. Yet, here, Doggett actually begins to question his own skepticism, as he becomes lost inside the psychic hallucinations of this week's freak. (I'm kinda relieved he's not as bull-headed as Scully was. Unlike her, he seems to be of the "seeing is believing" persuasion). Robert Patrick's kept his character pretty straight so far, but in this episode we get to see Agent Doggett experience real uncertainty and fear. And it's as thrilling as witnessing Scully's range of emotions for the first time in Beyond The Sea. If I didn't know better (and I don't, really), I'd say that The X-Files has just caught its second wind.

Memorable quotes:

Doggett: This is damn weird.
Skinner: It gets weirder.

Doggett: If I'm workin' this case, I'd appreciate a heads-up before you tell the deputy director any more science-fiction stories.

Scully: I appreciate your discretion.
Doggett: Yeah, well, it's easy to be discreet when you don't know what's going on.

Kersh: It's over, Agent Doggett. I don't need every 'i' dotted or every 't' crossed to know that we've got our man.

(I'd expect this kind of unprofessionalism from the local P.D., but the Deputy Director of the FBI? More proof that this man is not good news).

Doggett: Last night, I dreamt Tipet was inside my house, holding an axe. I thought I woke up this morning. I thought I was awake, but...but then...
Skinner: What do you want me to do, pinch you?

(It's pretty thrilling to see the unshakeable pillar that is Agent Doggett moved almost to tears out of a combination of fear and confusion. And never has "go home and get some rest" ever sounded more like a death sentence).

Doggett: You just saved my life, Agent Scully.
Scully: I just woke you up, Agent Doggett.

The X-Files - S6:E15 "Arcadia"

[ S6:E14 "Monday" <<< Season 6 >>> S6:E16 "Alpha" ]

Recalling the more mythology-oriented suburban monster attack in The Beginning, this episode takes place in a secure, planned community in San Diego. Of course, any perfect Leave It To Beaver neighborhood has to be hiding some dark secret. That's what Mulder and Scully have been assigned to investigate, by going undercover as a married couple (shippers take note!). The community is downright obsessive-compulsive about punishing rule infractions, and maintaining conformity - to the point that some kind of evil trash monster (which looks really cool, what little we get to see of it) never fails to be summoned to terminate habitual rule-breakers. The episode cleverly gives us all an opportunity to try out the "Mulder-Scully Romance" on a non-committal, trial basis, and - expectedly - it doesn't feel quite right to have them treating each other as lovers rather than professional co-workers (Mulder seems to enjoy making the most of the ruse, but Scully isn't having any of it) - although shippers may disagree with me on that. In sum, despite the attention paid to Mulder and Scully's relationship, which is very characteristic of season 6, this is a pretty solid, fun monster-of-the-week episode.

Memorable quotes:

Scully: A.D. Skinner, in assigning us this case, thought a fruitful approach to the investigation would be if we went undercover, posing as prospective home buyers, as this planned community would seem to hide a dark - possibly murderous - conspiracy of silence.
Mulder: You wanna make that honeymoon video now?

Mulder: This isn't an X-File.
Scully: Sure it is - it's unexplained. What do you want? Aliens? Tractor beams?
Mulder: Wow. Admit it, you just wanna play house.

Win: Did you use the dolphin-safe tuna this time?
Cami: Dolphin-safe all the way, honey.
Win: We always use the dolphin-safe.
Mulder: You gotta love those dolphins. Although, they're pretty tasty, too.

Mulder: Every community has its dark underbelly, don't you think?
Win: We don't have any underbelly. As far as I'm concerned, this community's the American dream.

The X-Files - S4:E5 "The Field Where I Died"

[ S4:E4 "Unruhe" <<< Season 4 >>> S4:E6 "Sanguinarium" ]

I hate to say it, but The Field Where I Died is a rare misstep for the series. To begin with, the opener is not terribly captivating. David Duchovny's monologue is nigh inscrutable, and the tragic romance feel just doesn't sit right for an episode of The X-Files. The music is pretty throughout, but it's all quite overly melodramatic. Honestly, watching David Duchovny cry in extreme closeup for what seems like several minutes straight just isn't that entertaining. I'm secure enough to admit that "the Duchov" is a handsome man, but to quote Rainn Wilson from the movie Super, people look stupid when they cry. And unfortunately, the whole past lives theme isn't enough to get me going.

And then you have the multiple personality disorder thing. I'll admit, having a person's past lives manifest as multiple personalities is clever, and Kristen Cloke really dives into her role in this episode. But I have a hard time getting into the whole multiple personalities deceit. And it's the focus of the episode, when they could have spent that 40 minutes exploring the cult, the cultleader's charisma (they did a good job casting Michael Massee in that role, but there was too little of him), and what led the cultmembers to join, instead of just leaving the cult as a stereotype of the inscrutable other.

Oh, did I mention there was a cult in this episode? Not occult, just the normal brainwashing kind. Mulder and Scully join a raid, and then rush to find enough evidence to convict the cultleader before he gets off and has a chance to influence the entire cult to kill themselves. It's interesting to see Mulder and Scully involved in normal FBI business every now and then - the aside about the cultleader being alleged to have paranormal abilities was honestly unnecessary - instead of their usual following strained leads on unsolved (and often unsolvable) cases. Alas, that the episode didn't focus more on this than all that reincarnation nonsense. I don't disparage the series for choosing to experiment with its formula - it's critical for keeping the show fresh - but sometimes those experiments fail.

Memorable quotes:

Skinner: It's my understanding that multiple personalities are rare.
Scully: They're extremely rare. In fact, many in the psychiatric community do not believe that dissociative identity disorder exists.

(At least they're putting that out there).

Vernon Ephesian: Behold, I am alive for evermore.

(Or, at least the next sixty seconds or so).

The X-Files - S1:E14 "Gender Bender"

[ S1:E13 "Beyond The Sea" <<< Season 1 >>> S1:E15 "Lazarus" ]

A sexually preoccupied killer with the apparent ability to change sex at will starts picking off targets at a dance club, and Mulder traces the culprit back to an Amish-like religious cult in the woods of Massachusetts (which recalls for me M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, although that was released more than ten years later). After an episode like Beyond The Sea, it looks like we're in for another string of monster-of-the-week episodes. Still, every time I sit down to watch an episode that I'm not super-excited about, I'm always impressed with how absorbed I get into it. That's just how good this show is. This episode also features Nicholas Lea in a throwaway role, who will return to the series in a different (and much more important) role later on.

Memorable quotes:

Mulder: This guy's a walking aphrodisiac. He's the ultimate sex magnet.
Scully: He or she? You've got victims of both sexes. Both a man and a woman on the hotel security monitor.
Mulder: I know. That is a puzzle.
Scully: So what is our profile of the killer? Indeterminate height, weight, sex; unarmed, but extremely attractive.

Scully: I don't understand, how can they just disappear? They have no means of transportation.
Mulder: No earthly means of transportation.

Sound of My Voice (2011)

I had no idea what to expect from this movie when I hit play, and it turned out that I was totally unprepared for it. Although I can't imagine anything that could prepare you for it. My best guess was that it was a horror. It was thoroughly unsettling, but to call it a "horror" doesn't quite do it justice. It is a piece of art. And, like the best and most effective horrors, instead of violence, it relies on mystery, to keep the viewer guessing. Right from the start, it succeeds in creating that truly terrifying atmosphere where you feel like you can't trust the director, and you don't know where the movie is going to end up, and you just don't feel safe.

On its own, this is a devastating technique, but it fits perfectly with the theme of the movie - a documentarian couple's undercover infiltration of a cult centered around an impossibly beautiful woman who claims to be from the future (a startlingly effective Brit Marling). Filmed mainly from the perspective of the infiltrators (but not in the first person, a la found footage), you feel intrinsically vulnerable, because you honestly don't know what the cult is capable of. Even when it fails to do anything obviously evil, you still can't trust it, especially when you see the effects it has on its members. Yet, at the same time, it is strangely captivating, and you're never quite sure what's true and what's a lie. Without relying on any disbelief-suspending tricks, you witness how this cult manages to seduce people (audience included), even as it fails to provide hard evidence to prove its unbelievable claims. It's devastating. And a haunting piece of cinema.