Part of the company you keep!

Onibaba (Japanese, 1964)
Director: Kaneto Shindō

Many stories tell us to be wary of the company we keep with. Like how Amma frequently reminds us, a calf, if it moves around with piglets, will eventually join the piglets and source its daily meals from the rubbish dump. An animal, placed high in Hindu society, will ultimately do unholy things depending on the company it keeps. 

There is something special about black-and-white movies and the horror genre. It reminds me of my childhood, when my sisters and I would flock around our home 16" TV, squinting to watch RTM's Friday offering of Cerita Pontianak. Even the poor makeup of Pontianak would scare the living daylights out of my sister. She would even be scared to enter the kitchen. To make it worse, I would hide around the corner and jump suddenly in front of her, making her scream!

Onibaba is a classic Japanese movie set in the Samurai era. Times are bad. All the territories are at loggerheads; all men are out to fight, and the women have to rough it out, scavenging on whatever comes their way, stealing from travellers, catching dogs for meals and selling loots. A lady and her daughter-in-law desperately try to survive in that climate. A neighbour, who returns from war, informs them that the lady's son died, not in the war, but while stealing food. The lady blames the neighbour for the son's death. The neighbour seduces the young widow, but the lady is not very happy about it. The lady's daughter-in-law, the young widow, is secretly in love with him and has secret trysts in the dark of the night. The lady comes to know of this and tries to prevent her.

One day, as the lady follows the daughter-in-law to one of these late-night meetings, she is stopped by a mask-donning samurai at knife-point. The lady tricks the samurai by pushing him into a pit. She removes his mask and wears it to scare her daughter-in-law. It works, but the mask gets stuck to her face after getting wet in the rain. After forcefully removing the mask, the lady and her daughter-in-law discover that her face has peeled off and is disfigured. The daughter-in-law runs away scared. The lady falls into the same pit and dies.

A chilling movie. Introduces the Hannya masks, usually used in Japanese Noh theatres, typically representing a jealous female demon.

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I'm afraid of no ghost?

Diary (Tamil; 2022)
Director: Innasi Pandiyan

The story is based on an urban legend that arose in Beijing in November 1995. A local bus, no 375, left its station late one night to a remote destination. An old lady and a young man were travelling on it. Three people in traditional garb waved it down as the bus moved on. When the old lady saw these people, she started a quarrel with the young man she had come up with. She accused him of stealing her purse. Startled, the man fought back. They were both forced to get down by the bus conductor to sort it out at the local police station.

Once they were off the bus, the old lady apologised to the young man for creating a ruckus. She told him the three characters who boarded the bus had no feet, so she thought they were ghosts. She just wanted to get away from them. They both went to tell the police about their experiences, but their story was laughed off.

The next day, it was reported that the bus never reached its destination, and two days later, the bus was submerged in a reservoir. The driver, the bus conductor together, and three badly decomposed bodies were found. The level of decomposition of the bodies was not consistent with the alleged time of the accident. Nobody could give a rational explanation for these findings.

Bus No. 375

Stories like these are found in all cultures. The Chinese believe spirits roam the streets yearly during the Hungry Ghost Month in mid-August. Stories of scary ghosts, beautiful maidens, and lactating mothers luring and haunting people are abundant in every nook and corner of the world.

This Tamil movie is based on Beijing's Bus No. 375. Still, to whet the appetites of Indian viewers, the director, who also wrote the story, tries to stretch it to two hours with unrelated stories of runaway couples running from the disgruntled bride's father and his henchmen, a connection to a sub-inspector's case study, tribals performing a wedding for the runaway couple, robber's running their loot after a murder and the angle of time travel! It brings the story to the notorious Hairpin Bend no 13 in Ooty.

The plot could be clearer. Everything is rushed through towards the end. Before viewers could understand the loose ends, it was game over. 3/5.

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Our past controls the present?

Bhoothakaalam (The Past / Ghost Time, Malayalam; 2022)

Director: Rahul Sadasivan

There is a little wordplay with the title. With the prefix ’Bhooth’, one may wonder whether it is a horror movie. When one starts watching the film, one would wonder whether it is about the ghost of the past. That is what it is all about—how the ghost of the past comes haunting if it is not exorcised head-on. The ugly demonic head of the past has a self-defeating habit of repeating itself, making one go through the malady repeatedly.

No one will take kindly to others’ advice on how one’s life should be lived. No one will be flattered when told his head should be checked. That is what it is. Individuals should take a step back, access their mental health occasionally, and take preventive measures or make amends. Be the change. Change comes with realisation and from the inside. No one can make the horse drink water. The horse must first feel thirsty. The need to change comes from within.

Viewers wonder whether it is a horror film or if there is a more prosaic explanation for all the weird happenings around the house.

Is the recently departed grandmother’s soul returning with a vengeance to express her dissatisfaction? Is the house displaying poltergeist activities? Why do tenants after tenants die in the same house? Is the mother’s overt depression or the son’s indulgence in intoxicants the culprit?

The family had gone a lot. The son lost his father at a young age. He grew up without a father figure. The mother had to struggle with her unsatisfying teaching job at a nursery and later caring for her stroke-stricken paraplegic mother.

The son carries a heavy cloud of resentment after being forced to do medicine, which he had to quit and failing to secure a job with his pharmacy degree. He smokes heavily and drinks himself drunk frequently. His relationship with his girlfriend could be much better. When funny things start happening in the house, he flips. Soon enough, even his mother sees the abnormal activities in the house.

In a very clever manner of storytelling and filmmaking, the director takes us through a roller coaster ride to keep us guessing whether the whole point of the movie is to impress the viewers on the need to treat mental illness correctly or whether there is such a thing as ghosts?!

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Only so much we can blame our genes!

Bones and All
Director : Luca Guadagnino

There is only so much we can blame our parents for our miseries. Our parents give us building blocks to start life with. That foundation sets us the footing to let us grow. We acquire some favourable traits and some not-so-pleasant ones. We do not say much when things go our way. The moment something goes against our way, we jump at our parents for transmitting that offensive gene as if they were in control of what chromosome gets transmitted and what does not. Like an old friend once told me, we must take their diseases and other chromosome-related unfavourable traits just like how we willingly accept their wealth in their will.

This bizarre romantic horror film is about an 18-year-old girl, Maren, who has to move schools and towns as she tends to eat human flesh whenever she feels love. She grows up with her single father. After her last fiasco at a sleepover party, her father had enough. He leaves her money, birth certificate, and background information about herself and bolts off. Maren goes on a road trip for self-discovery.

Maren discovers that she is adopted. She embarks on a self-discovery journey to confront her mother about her abandonment. On her journey, she encounters many people with the same cannibalistic tendencies. She finally finds her biological mother is a dangerous inmate cooped in a mental asylum.

It is a twisted tale of discovery, camaraderie and performing tasks with love, not just a chore to complete.

At the end of the day, there is only so much we can blame our heritage, genetics and upbringing. Once we reach an age of cognisance, we should be empowered to hold the bull by the horns to steer it in the desired direction. Unable to do so, at least we should adapt our bodies to protect ourselves so as not to be taken for a ride and thrown off balance. That is what we call a balancing act.

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Energies calling for help?

The Black Phone (2021)
Director: Scott Derrickson

It was in the mid-70s that innocence was lost. Before this time, life on Earth was a peaceful one. Children could wander about without fear of being abducted. Ladies could go out unaccompanied. They would not end up as tomorrow's headline. And road rage was not a thing yet and be assured that Mat Rempit would not crash into your car in the dead of night, unannounced, as you scramble back home, following all the road rules, after a long day at the office.

It used to be serial killers, looneys, and UFOs only attacked America. Well, other nations have caught up too. The world is no longer a safe place. Mad people are everywhere, in every society. It is just a question of how competent the arm of the law is in that locality. With more money at their disposal, time and manpower can be put aside for that purpose. If day-to-day living is in peril, they just have to accept victims as collateral damage of changing times.

It is said that energies with unfulfilled ambitions roam around us as spirits causing 'disturbances'. Seances commonly describe them as entities yearning to fulfil their needs, not intending to scare or cause disharmony. In short, they are asking for help. We should not lose sleep over them. The correct people with sort them out.  

This film is set in 1978 when 'Happy Days' was rave and bell bottoms were sweeping the world. Many schoolchildren go missing in a Denver suburb. Finney and Gwen, children of an alcoholic single father, see their schoolmates go missing one by one. Eventually, Finney gets abducted and is kept in a basement. The basement has the bare minimum but a wall telephone. The phone is a landline, but the problem is that the line is cut. The phone still rings, and Finney manages to talk to the abducted children who are dead. Meanwhile, Gwen is having vivid dreams about the abductions.

A forgettable movie which gives the vibe of the film 'It'. 

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The suppressed memories?

Censor (2021)
Written and directed: Prano Bailey-Bond

Memory can be as much a boon or a curse to humankind. The race has progressed thus far because we can learn and put into memory what we have learnt. With that ability, we can reproduce it as and when needed. 

But then, therein lies the problem. Keeping other memories, especially the unpleasant ones and those affecting the matters of the heart, can be unsettling and counterproductive. Just for how long one wants to hold a grudge for hurt caused? Does anger have an expiry date, upon which scores are cleared dry on the slate?

That is why our mind has an in-built pruning mechanism to cut off unpleasant memories that can stunt our progress. Sadly, a small group of people do not forget or forgive. They must be the most unhappiest of the people on the planet. Perhaps, the next serial killer too!

Even at best, Man uses less than 10% of his brain connexions. Scientists are perplexed by the many dormant areas of the brain and wonder if they form part of the remnants of our reptilian brain. Will they recoil to provoke primal reactions in the wake of provocation? Like domesticated animals, are we trained to behave? Or are we inherently evil, waiting for the ripe moment to pounce and assume the goriest forms of our inner selves? Testimonials of these are apparent in court documents of our crimes. Is evil inherent, or is it a learnt experience? Can we blame literature and films for this? Is there a need for a nanny to supervise what we see and read? Do we need censorship? Is it not that Nature cruel enough? History has picturised humans as animals who would do anything for food, wealth, mate and power.

There was a time in the 80s with the sea of VHS tapes and nasty mind-numbing meaningless gory horror films. There was a call in the UK for stricter censorship of these films. The problem arose when a man mimicked a scene from one of these horror movies when he killed his wife. Enid, a diligent worker in the British Film Board of Censors, is singularly blamed for approving the film to be screened. In reality, Enid takes it upon herself as a moral guardian and is strict in controlling the element of gore in movies. In reality, the husband had never seen the movie to mimic the killing technique. He did it out of his frustration.

Enid has a dark past in her childhood. Her sister went missing when Enid and her sister, Nina, were playing at the edge of a forest. Nina was never found as information about Nina's disappearance was fuzzy as Enid could not accurately explain what happened.

While reviewing one particular film, the florid memories of her suppressed past come alive. It was about two sisters and getting lost in a jungle. Enid's interest is piqued. She suspects the movie's director had something to do with her sister's disappearance. Enid soon goes into a frenzy, assuming many things and going berserk as she puts two and two together.

This movie is said to be as exciting as 'The Blair Witch Project' when it came out, i.e. before we found out the whole footing was staged. Initially, 'The Blair Witch Project' kicked up a storm when it was marketed as lost footage of some college students searching for some spirit in a jungle. The students were missing, but their camcorder was found, and the raw footage was made into a movie. It took the living daylights off me and remained one of my best horror films.

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!--Go to www.addthis.com/dashbo

Loneliness, death and loss...

The Eternal Daughter (2022)
Director: Joanna Hogg

This is not your usual horror movie, but it has a Gothic feel to it. It is a dark, slow movie with nostalgia, old age and loneliness hanging over it like a theatre drape. 

In the formative when the rebel in us tries to surface, we tend to look at our parents as the worse examples of how parents should bring up their kids. We look at other people's parents and yearn for lost childhood. We blame them for all our not-so-fancy physical attributes and life failures. We could not wait to grow up and get the hell out of their supervision. 

Fast forward in time and space. The hard dents of life knock us back to realisation. We look at our parents through a different lens. We realise that life as adults are neither a walk in the park nor a pleasure cruise. Every corner has a brick wall to give us concussions as we rush through life's journey. 

We look at our parents and see that the springiness of youth and headiness of being young has passed them by. We try to recreate the happy moments of the era that we all shared. We fail to realise that our minds only preserve the pleasant ones. Stirring nostalgic memories is like opening the proverbial Pandora's Box. Intertwined within its webs are a dark forgotten, painful cache of bitter moments, death and pain. Invoking one evokes another spontaneously. 

We look at our parents, and for a moment, it hit us. They are no spring chickens anymore. They are old. With old age comes the question of mortality. Are you ready to let them go? If there were a time when we hated the sight of their shadow, we now want to know all about them. We long to understand how they steered adulthood in one piece. The same journey that they had traversed was easier than we did many years ago. Why is it so complicated now?

We see their old photos. Hold behold, we see our images as adults as carbon copies of theirs. Have we grown to morph as spitting images of them, and their present appearances will be the prototype of our old age? A scary thought! And our demeanour and mannerism, is that why they say the apple does not fall far from the tree?

This movie is a melancholic one. It tells about the life of a middle-aged filmmaker who decided to spend time with her elderly mother in a hotel that was the mother's childhood home. There is a suspicion that their whole hotel stay could be a fragment of the filmmaker's imagination. The hotel is deserted and dark. Nobody other tenants are seen, save for the receptionist and a caretaker. Slowly we realise that both mother and daughter are painfully not different from each other. Each feels irritated and sometimes empathises with the other. Incidentally, both characters are acted by the same actor. This film's recurring themes are loneliness, loss of relationships, and fear of death.

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Dracula in the 21st century!

Dracula (2020)

Miniseries (Season1, Ep 1-3)

Bram Stoker was a business manager at Lyceum Theatre where he used to write short stories to supplement his income. The book 'Dracula' (Son of a Dragon) is by no means a pioneer work. Stories of that genre had been around since the 1880s. His book came out in 1897, but it was not a bestseller. In fact, in the last years of his life, Bram was so immersed in poverty that he had to live on charity. For sustenance, his widow had to auction off his notes of the novel for a little over £2. Then came an authorised silent German movie 'Nosferatu' based on the story. Stoker's widow sued the film company, after which this book gained popularity.

'The year without a summer', 1816, is often attributed to the genesis of the science fiction genre and Mary Shelley for writing "Frankenstein' when Lake Geneva froze over in summer, one of the party in Shelley's group, John Polidori, started writing a short story named 'Vampyres'.

My lecturers told me that Count Dracula's condition could be a dramatised narration of a sufferer of a real medical condition - acute intermittent porphyria. In a variant of this disease, the inflicted person, through genetic means, suffers from photosensitivity and chronic anaemia from rupturing of blood cell walls. Hence, Dracula has an eversion to sunlight and has suck on his victim's blood to stay alive. Garlic could be an agent that could trigger hemolysis.

Others propose that Dracula could have been inflicted with rabies or pellagra (Niacin, B3 deficiency). Folklore or medical condition, words get altered as it goes from ear to ear, and it gets magnified or exaggerated.

The legend of Dracula and vampires have been told and retold many times over. Naturally, to capture the fancy of the viewers (or readers), it has been altered and spiced up. In this particular offering, the name of the characters are mostly maintained, and the basic plot is kept, the storytellers had decided to bring the Count to the present-day when Demetre (his ship that was travelling to England burned down. Dracula was preserved in his Transylvania soil infused coffin on the ocean floor, only to be 'brought to life' by scientists 123 years later.

Professor Abraham Von Helsing, the nemesis of Dracula in the original story is now a Catholic Nun, Agatha Von Helsing, and in spirit as her granddaughter, a scientist.

An interesting offering. It is exciting to see how the story is twisted around to give it the compelling feel, yet centred around the same theme and infusing present-day environment to it.

(P.S. Dracula's fear of the Cross has nothing to do with the divine qualities of the Cross. It is the strong reflection of light upon it and the constant hint of death to the Count. The crucifixion is a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus to mankind, continually reminding him of his failure to be in the frontline of the battlefield as it was in his family tradition.)

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