The Woman

Pollyanna McIntosh & the eyes of horror correspondent Michael Helms

My introduction to the films of Lucky McKee came by way of the chilling May, which I stumbled across in a midnight session at the Melbourne International Film Festival quite a few years back.

May is one of those films I crave – a simple, psychological horror that can say so much without bludgeoning you over the head with it, except for when blood-letting is required. So that clandestine viewing on a cold, dark Melbourne night kick-started a love affair of sorts with the McKee-style, of which I felt hadn’t been authentically propagated since May until now with the release of his most controversial film yet, The Woman.

Starring McKee muse Angela Bettis (she of the outstanding titular role in May) and the mighty Sean Bridgers (Al Swearengen’s goofball lackey in Deadwood) as the parents of an American-as-apple-pie-family, The Woman charts the unfortunate happenings when supposed civilised humans decide to tame a feral female they find in the woods near their rural home.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of watching The Woman three times – once via an inferior DVD duplicate, another on the silver screen with an audience (all waiting for something far more shocking than what was actually delivered, I must say) and another following a casual chat over martinis with the divine Ms Pollyanna – ‘The Woman’ herself.

As opposed to her on-screen huntress persona, Pollyanna proved a smiling and highly enthusiastic conversationalist – and a wee bit lily-livered when it came to horror. She said she traditionally steered clear of the genre until such parts came her way (first Headspace, 2004) and, since then, she has been pleasantly surprised by the kind of love only horror fans seem able to afford. After shooting the breeze with Pollyanna, it was only fitting to watch the film again and attend the Q&A session to reconcile this amiable ‘blonde’ with the hissing, scowling wild thing of the film. With The Woman, Pollyanna exacts quite the transformation, including a vocal tone that she believes came to her “quite naturally”.

Pollyanna 'wouldn't hurt a fly' McIntosh & Emma 'on her best behaviour' Westwood

Pollyanna was already familiar with the character in The Woman after playing her in the Andrew van den Houten-directed Offspring (2009) based on a novel by Jack Ketchum. Ketchum called upon McKee to create another film with the woman character, Van den Houten stepped into producer shoes and, consequently, this very different ‘cannibal’ film was borne, and one that walks to the beat of its own drum as a standalone feature. All reports suggest Offspring is the lesser film, and one that may douse any sympathy a viewer has for the woman character, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but something that could impact on her mystery for some.

Lucky McKee confesses to writing The Woman to be a repeat-watcher, so you could say, my obsessive viewing over the last couple of weeks could (possibly) be justified. Whatever may have been said of the film’s ending in post-screening eavesdropping, no one boasted at prematurely picking the surprise conclusion, despite a number of hints being dropped throughout the film. Viewing number two enabled me to catch those clues that had previously slipped my grasp, and then viewing number three offered even more clues. That’s how I prefer my filmed entertainment – it may appear straightforward at first, but only truly discloses its hand over time. A great example of this is George A. Romero’s forgotten masterwork, Martin (1977). First viewing, I concluded he was a vampire. Second viewing, I changed my mind. Third viewing, I’m back to thinking he’s a vampire. And so it continues.

The Woman presents thematic material that is universally uncomfortable – misogyny, physical and mental abuse, and domestic violence. Light humour acts as a counterpoint offering a little levity to the overall viewing experience; most notably through the family’s youngest daughter (Darlin) and even the excessive use of gore, which never fails to raise a titter from audiences. Why gore makes people laugh is the subject of a far lengthier appraisal.

Sean Spillane’s music is treated with great reverence and informs the film from start to finish, often with songs played in their entirety. Pollyanna received the music from Lucky before shooting commenced, which suggests how important these tracks/ditties were in moulding the atmosphere, peppering it with pathos and contemporising the setting. It is an audacious filmmaker who chooses to incorporate poetic songs into a horror film rather than Psycho-like strings, Tubular-esque bells or the kind of audio ‘stabs’ and ‘stings’ that elicit scares due to the sheer shock of their volume more than anything else.

The Woman is a queen among pop horror movies, joining a family of modern marvels that includes Teeth, Ginger Snaps and even Todd Solondz’s Happiness. More please.

The Woman is in cinemas (Australia) from 18th August 2011 

A Truly Horrible Panel: The Photo Evidence

To say something was ‘truly horrible’ when referring to a panel discussion on ‘Afraid Of Everything: Has Horror Gone Too Far?’ is a good thing – and in the case of such an event taking place at the Melbourne International Film Festival recently, it was horrible beyond words.

Given the opportunity to faff about film, the dedicated panel of five – incorporating yours truly, Rachael Cotra from Hello Darkness Film Festival, Neil Foley from Monster Pictures, Lee Gambin from Fangoria, filmmaker and feature panelist Ti West (The House of The Devil, The Innkeepers), and moderator-with-the-mostest Guy Davis – largely refrained from talking over each other to come up with the answer: ‘No, horror has not gone too far.’

For those of you who couldn’t make it, this is what we looked like:

Guy gesticulates (far left). We are awestruck by his dominating presence – (l to r) Neil Foley, Lee Gambin, Emma Westwood, Rachael Cotra, Ti West

Neil 'so waddya want' Foley, Lee Gambin & Emma Westwood

Ti West tells it as it is

Emma 'now listen' Westwood

The family shot – (l to r) Rachael, Ti, Emma, Neil, Lee, Linda and Guy

Afraid Of Everything: Has Horror Gone Too Far?

'A Serbian Film'... ARGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

A slavish barometer of social paranoia, the horror movie genre has a tendency to tap into certain trends dependent on what tweaks the public fancy – or, more appropriately, rattles the public consciousness.

When the Cold War was at its height, ‘nuclear threat’ horror, in the form of chemically mutated monsters, dominated B-movie output and sent teens jumping into the laps of their sweethearts in drive-ins the world over. In this climate of international terrorism, the menace from within – zombies – continues to lumber and dominate. Who is the enemy? It could be any one of us.

Horror has a duty to remain… horrible; to undergo transformation with every seismic shift in world consciousness and push boundaries, so in effect, horror never really goes too far. Venturing where no one else is game to venture is the responsibility the horror genre shoulders. It’s not necessarily the gross-out factor that is important here; it’s whether a particular film is encouraging you to think and move beyond your comfort zone.

At this point, I should come clean with some wares I have to peddle: I’ll be taking part in a panel on Monday 25th July as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival’s Talking Pictures Express series, where Rachael Cotra from Hello Darkness Film Festival, Neil Foley from Monster Pictures, Lee Gambin from Fangoria, Guy Davis and myself will be discussing this very subject, ‘Afraid of Everything: Has Horror Gone Too Far?’ Filmmaker Ti West (The House of The Devil, The Innkeepers) will also be offering his insider perspective on horror, although interestingly, his own films sit somewhere outside the current zeitgeist.

One film that is sure to come up in our discussion is the malign A Serbian Film, which still struggles in half-release limbo across the world, having been severely censored, as well as being the centre of legal controversy with the head of the Sitges Film Festival facing criminal charges in child pornography for screening the film. (Let me just say, despite the repugnant nature of the content, this accusation of child pornography is totally ludicrous).

I watched a screener of A Serbian Film almost one year ago and have hesitated in writing a blog post about it, for no apparent reason, except this movie kinda makes you want to run far, far away from it – it is the film that cannot be unwatched. A Serbian Film portrays a former pornstar-turned-family-man who is lured back into the trade with a pay cheque too good to be confused. The hitch? He can’t see the script; he just has to turn up to the set everyday and do as he is told.

Filmmaker Srdjan Spasojevic defends his work as being a commentary on the horrific war crimes of his country’s recent history, but A Serbian Film really does straddle the boundaries of acceptability. Has horror gone too far? I suggest you come along to the panel, hear what everyone has to say and maybe even pipe up with your own thoughts on the subject. Opinionated ‘so-and-so’s are welcome.

John Waters (Uncut)

Do you know this man?

As they say in the classics, this is an oldie but a goodie – an interview I conducted with American filmmaker/provocateur John Waters upon the release of his then latest movie, A Dirty Shame.

While much water has passed under the bridge since speaking with Waters, this interview remains close to my heart as one of my favourite career moments and, therefore, I feel, deserves immortalisation as content in this blog. I am somewhat of a Waters groupie, which made the prospect of speaking with him a nerve-wracking experience – not so much out of fear of the man, but fear of the man not living up to expectation. I can say, with great relief, John Waters is not only a consummate professional, but also an utter gentleman and a very forthcoming interviewee. I’m sure his experiences speaking with media are inching into the thousands, yet the enthusiastic responses he threw my way were as fresh as the morning dew. What a guy.

The feature story written from this interview may be downloaded at my freelance writing website (‘Inpress’ under the ‘Media’ tab). What you are reading here is the unedited transcript of the full interview presented in Q&A form, from which I pulled quotes for the feature story.

Long live John Waters!

Dogtooth

This party rocks

Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece

I’d rushed from a dead of winter screening of Bong Joon-ho’s Mother at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2009 to see Dogtooth. In fact, I missed the last 15 minutes of Mother, which was building to a rather climactic climax, so Dogtooth was coming from behind the proverbial eight-ball (grumble, grumble). I was even speculating as to why I’d scheduled this funny little Greek film into my tight program of viewing as the trailer was anything but enticing, more cryptic I’d call it, and there was a good chance this could have been a (ahem) dog.

But the cinematic gods were smiling on me.

Dogtooth starts with stilted acting, stubborn camerawork and a frustratingly pondering pace. I wouldn’t usually call this a good start – and the alarm bells of ‘arthouse wank’ were chiming ‘ding dong’ in my head – but somehow, and with the most magnificent precision, filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos doesn’t put a foot wrong in terms of taking what I’d usually consider a negative and turning it into a tight mood package that is every bit as engaging on a visual level as it is in terms of story.

A Greek couple keeps their teenage children captive in a walled family compound. Never having seen anything beyond their garden, the nameless progeny speak in a vocabulary crafted by the parents in which ‘zombies’ are yellow flowers, a ‘pussy’ is a keyboard and so forth. They spout ‘facts’ from approved medical textbooks and video tutorials, and believe airplanes flying overhead are the size of toys occasionally falling from the sky into their backyard to be collected as trophies. All seems (kind of) OK in this sedated utopia until the father introduces an outsider into the household as a sexual vessel for their son. Trouble.

Everything is so considered in Dogtooth, there’s hardly a superfluous word, action or moment, as it leads to an ultimate conclusion in which you can see each element slotting together like a hundred-piece puzzle – even the choice of the title ‘Dogtooth’ could not have been more appropriate. But this is not the greatest achievement of the film: The fact that director Lanthimos creates something so compelling that is equally as hilarious as it is horrifying is a sight to behold; a tenuous balancing act that could have toppled clumsily to one side, but – no, no – he walks that emotional tightrope like Philippe Petit. On the second viewing, I added the father character to my ‘scariest villains of the silver screen’ list – a cinematic Josef Fritzl.

We don’t know why these tyrannical adults have treated their offspring in such a manner. We don’t know how they came to orchestrate this world, and we don’t know anything about their upbringing, background, motivation, etc, etc. Maybe that’s why the father is so scary – we know so little about him, except that he’s a tightly wound ball of control that threatens to uncoil at any second, along the lines of Ben Kingsley’s Don Logan in Sexy Beast. Given a commercial Hollywood makeover, I’m positive the parent’s unexplained back-story would become central to the plot, which makes it even more interesting to note the recent Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Dogtooth is anything but commercial or Oscar-friendly. Such a nomination has almost restored my faith in the Academy.

There were times while watching Dogtooth that I wanted to leap from my chair and adjust the awkward framing that continuously cut off heads. I also felt the itch to push forward the action, or lack thereof – particularly during the unsexy sex scenes only rivalled in unsexiness by those of Pablo Larrain’s exceedingly uncomfortable Tony Manero. But, when it comes down to it, I wouldn’t change a thing about this delicious Greek cinematic souvlaki. It’s entertaining, it’s challenging, it’s got a sensational dance sequence and it’s even got fantastic original poster art (check it out on IMDB).

Woof, woof (good dog).

Dogtooth releases on DVD (Madman Entertainment, Australia), 16th February 2011

Black Swan

Take a bow

Dir. Darren Aronofsky, USA

Since WordPress summarised my 2010 blog as, I quote, “on fire”, I probably should jump boots and all into 2011 on a mighty cinematic note, if I must say so myself.

Black Swan... Ah, Black Swan… How you have restored my faith in cinema. The temperature of the American movie industry has been somewhat tepid over the last 12 months, so to attend a New Year’s Eve screening of Black Swan was a thrilling experience, one to be appropriately capped off with a champagne salute and fireworks.

2010′s ‘Swan’ song opens with confidence and doesn’t let up for the next 108 minutes (tight and tidy). It feels as though everything Aronofsky created beforehand is merely a study for what powerfully comes together in the form of Black Swan. Despite the highfalutin ballet world, there are distinct similarities to The Wrestler (which won’t be discussed for fear of spoiling the plot) and the trippy hallucinogenic qualities of Ellen Barkin’s downfall in Requiem for a Dream (but with brakes applied). Imagine if Repulsion-era Roman Polanksi gave birth to David Cronenberg’s ‘body horror’ love child and you’re getting close to this test tube baby. The smattering of horror moments had me praying to the cinema god that Aronofsky will turn his gaze to the horror genre at some stage.

If Natalie Portman never plays another role, she can die a happy woman. Her embodiment of the fragile Nina Sayers is everything the tour-de-force cliché represents. Aronofsky wedges that camera firmly in her face and doesn’t let up, even in the most intimate of circumstances or when she’s whirling around the dancefloor in a heady spin. Hers is a character of extremes – fragile, but saddled with such steely determination she is willing to push herself to the brink to play the much-coveted White Swan/Black Swan in the ballet Swan Lake.

The narrative is very straightforward – simple perfection. As her artistic director (played by Vincent Cassel) asks, you can perform the White Swan, but can you perform her evil twin, the Black Swan? And that’s the basis of the whole film. Flying across extremes, it shows the contrasts of a world in which nothing is suffice except perfection. Her body is painfully thin, but she performs with massive physical potential. She has scored the role of a lifetime, yet she is intensely unhappy. She is often called “sweet”, but she has a fire in her belly that will consume her entire being, as well as that of the competition.

Portman is not the only actor making this film so brilliant. She keeps good company with the likes of Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey and TV’s That ’70s Show Mila Kunis who is formidable as Lily. However, they are merely moons in Portman’s orbit. I confess, I have a soft spot for dance films (The Red Shoes… ah!) and also psychological thrillers that can visually represent the inner workings of a person’s mind. But Black Swan is more than that. Yes, in case you haven’t gathered, it’s perfect.

Black Swan is in cinemas (Australia) from 20th January 2011

2010 In Review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 4,100 times in 2010. That’s about 10 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 32 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 106 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 12mb. That’s about 2 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was June 15th with 106 views. The most popular post that day was Grand Hotel (1931-1932).

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were emmawestwood.net, facebook.com, theoscarjourney.com, stumbleupon.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for martyrs film, pascal laugier, martyrs movie, the phantom of the opera, and dream home movie.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Grand Hotel (1931-1932) June 2010

2

Pascal Laugier (Uncut) August 2010
4 comments

3

Horror is Not A Dirty Word July 2010

4

MIFFing: Dream Home, Life During Wartime, Teenage Paparazzo August 2010

5

Ten of the Best Monster Movies October 2010
2 comments

Stanley – A Tribute

The stare of genius

The plan was to write a tribute to my cat, but the pain of losing my furry companion of the last 15 years is still a little too sharp. Instead, I’m paying tribute to him in a rather roundabout way – through this article I penned for Inpress Magazine around 10 years ago. Those who read to the bottom will see how it all comes together.

While filmmaker Stanley Kubrick rubbed a few people the wrong way over the course of his glorious career, I’ve taken much pleasure from his cinematic caché, which is why I originally chose to pen this piece to coincide with a documentary release called Stanley Kubrick – A Life in Pictures, made by his brother-in-law, which I believe played at MIFF circa 2000.

Looking back on an article I had written a number of years ago is something of a shudder-inducing experience. If you’re wondering, yes, I would have written it differently. However, upon the death of my faithful friend, digging up this relic from the past in all it shades of ‘Emma as a writer back then’ and refraining from doing a refresher rewrite, seemed the appropriate thing to do.

R.I.P Stanley

And Now for Something Completely Different… Tooth Filing

Me, respectfully dressed in traditional Balinese garb

With this next blog update, I take a break from pontificating about film and turn my attention to something completely different…

Anyone familiar with my personal proclivities will know I have a love for Bali as both a place for writing and recreation. That’s one of the great things about being a writer – as long as you’re armed with a laptop and Internet connection, you can pretty much work anywhere in the world (bar the occasional tropical storm, which renders Bali’s satellite services useless).

Earlier this year, I had the honour of being invited to a tooth filing ceremony in Bali (‘Potong Gigi”), one of the common rites of passage for young Balinese yet something that remains largely unheard of in the Western world. Luckily for me, I was in the right place at the right time. AND, I was equipped with a camera at the ready. Read my words, look at the colourful photos and, hopefully, learn something about a unique and beautiful cultural ritual that remains preserved amid the ravages of 21st century tourism.

 

SMILE!

A Potong Gigi Ceremony in Bali

One thing to note about the Balinese: Their beautiful teeth. Sure, this is a generalisation, but in general, one of the greatest allures of Bali is being flashed one of those white, straight-teethed grins that spreads from one side of the face to the other.

As a rite of passage, teeth in Bali play a very important role. Every Balinese, usually before they get married and enter the realm of adulthood, will have a ceremony performed by a holy man/priest known as ‘Potong Gigi’ in Bahasa Indonesian (or ‘Mapandes’ in High Balinese, ‘Matatah’ in Common Balinese). Translated into English, this is a ‘tooth-filing’ ceremony; such a term causing Westerners to clutch at their molars with phantom nerve pain. However, the literal translation is even more distressing – tooth cutting. Ouch.

We Are What We Are

Let's marinate on this for awhile...

dir. Jorge Michel Grau, Mexico

If a film catches my fancy, I avoid reading reviews and watching interviews until after I have seen it. The method behind such madness is to harness the thrill of the unexpected, which is increasingly difficult to accomplish in this ‘information now’ generation. Having premiered in Melbourne recently at Hello Darkness, We Are What We Are (Somos Lo Que Hay) is one such film I hoped to savour a morsel at a time.

Keeping this in mind, I couldn’t help but assume the story was about zombies. Such has been the effect of the current horror zeitgeist on my psyche, the ambling character of the opening suggested only one thing: the undead. But no – this film is about a family of Mexican cannibals who, having lost their patriarch, must now reconsider the family hierarchy and learn to fend for themselves. As normal and as sentient as they may look – albeit a little high-strung – each member of this family is a monster in their own right, but with discerning taste (‘whores’ are off the menu).

Dressed up within the arthouse clichés of a ‘foreign’ film, We Are What We Are consists of a number of tense domestic moments where passions run wild and tempers fray. Hardly a smile is cracked (plenty of bones, though). Most intriguing is the panic-stricken mother of the clan, who slams full-throttle into emotional over-drive at the drop of a hat. She acts as a (kind of) narrator, imparting information about her family’s unique situation just as I wanted it: a morsel at a time.

Amid the incestuous and homosexual under/overtones, lashings of sibling rivalry and notable austerity of its main characters, the film gradually increases pace to a climactic end. Accomplished? Yes, it is, especially in light of this being the debut feature of its writer-director. A film to recommend? I want to, but there’s something holding me back. And I can’t quite put my finger on it. While We Are What We Are is a horror movie that breaks from its genre straight-jacket, I still wanted more… I’m just not sure of what.