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or “I grew up in San Francisco” I feel like a loving tool because I’m about to play into “the discourse” on this film (which i’m 90% sure is an intentional marketing strategy), but The Empty Man came out in October 2020 and no one gave a poo poo. Supposedly this is cause of the studio not knowing how to market it so they preceded the release with little to no marketing. Its title sounding straight out of Dlumhouse Productions probably didn’t contribute to anyone giving a poo poo, too. Anyways, given the movie’s themes and style, “underrated” and “rediscovered” horror film seems more likely to be a conscious studio “viral” advertising campaign than a genuine phenomenon (especially if said film is like 2 years old), but I’d like to submit that none of that really matters because its still a good movie. Its directed by David Prior, the guy that worked with David Fincher a lot, and its shot like a Fincher-flick which means its pretty to look at imo. Years ago on penismightier’s podcast I heard him say something about the Final Destination films being the pinnacle of slasher films because they abstract the monster/maniac into being Death itself, and well, you can’t really abstract beyond that —- unless you’re ready to embrace some Tibetan mysticism. Tbf, I don’t know much about buddhism in Tibet other than it doesn’t look like your typical Western vision of buddhism as a secular philosophy. It’s far more occultish, with demons and hells and ghosts and whatever — but still at its core is a nondualistic, vedic-ish ultimate reality (nothingness), which is sort of our villain in this film. Where my genuine appreciation for the movie comes from though is its commitment to not being “elevated horror” despite how nicely its concept could fit in that genre. Instead it embraces the genre and in its 2+ hour runtime quickly amalgamates fun horror forms into its totality. It starts as teen urban legend, quickly moves into being a slasher, then sad detective-investigating-lovecraftian-cult, and then finishes where it finishes. My favorite bits are scenes where cult members start talking like Alan Watts to the protagonist, and our guy is annoyed and repeatedly states how he grew up in San Francisco to get them to shut up. These bits distill the essence of the movie’s ultimate theme in my eyes, which I found best articulated in this https://mubi.com/notebook/posts/everything-zen-david-prior-on-the-empty-man-9701 quote:There, he wins an audience with the group’s high priest Dr. Arthur Parsons (Stephen Root in low-key Lewtonian mode), whose sonorous spiel about “the great binding nothingness of things” and ominous promise to reveal “the true face of the world” leads James—and perhaps the viewer—to tune it all out as just another metaphysical exposition dump. Except that, as the Good Doctor explains, such blasé dismissal misses the forest for the trees. Cliché alert, yes. But as Parsons asks: what are clichés but profound, collective, enduring truths decontextualized and made impotent by repetition? And if, by means of some new and sustained contemplation, these hoary old chestnuts were to be reimbued with their original potency—whether under the aegis of an ancient order, their New Age inheritors, or a maybe a mid-budget horror movie designed as a good, hard look at the proverbial abyss—well... wouldn’t that be some scary poo poo? Anyways, I feel like this movie has enough fat to deserve its own thread so I made one. Dicsuss. (Also feel free to school me about tibetan buddhism if i gave it a bad summary). Lil Mama Im Sorry fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Jan 28, 2022 |
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Jan 28, 2022 23:20
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:One of the funny things about it is it has both a very similar title and pretty much the same premise as The Bye Bye Man. Would make a fun double feature if you want to see the same basic plot done both as a genuinely good horror film and a so-bad-it’s-good horror film. Another low-budget horror comparison would be Butterfly Kisses, which is actually dope whereas I’ll never watch a movie called “The Bye Bye Man.”
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Feb 1, 2022 20:48
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MacheteZombie posted:When Lasombra is at the cabin in the woods and the Pontifex people spot him and all move in unison was so cool and spooky. His reaction was great. It’s so good cause his reaction manages to not be a Whedon-esque moment even though on paper it totally is, just solid acting and direction
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Feb 2, 2022 00:04
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