As Above, So Below (2014)

Well this fits nicely next to Verónica, because writer/director John Erick Dowdle also directed Quarantine, the American remake of [Rec]. It all ties in!

Maybe because it was actually filmed in the Paris catacombs, or that there are some genuine moments of "oh fuuuck", or that I was reminded that it follows Dante's Inferno... and maybe all three, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this the second time around.

This found footage flick follows a group as they break into the intensely claustrophobic catacombs that lie beneath Paris. They're searching, we're shown in annoying scenes of exposition/set-up, for a mysterious ancient stone and possibly treasure, too. Lead character Scarlett (Perdita Weeks) is a tomb-raider style daredevil daughter of some old bloke who discovered the secrets of alchemy. Or something. I dunno, it's not really that important.

On their underground adventures, Scarlett and her accumulated crew (including Ben Feldman, "Ginsberg" from Mad Men) find both the desired stone and loot, but in the process, they also encounter cults, violent apparitions of their past, and maybe even Satan himself.

Honestly, the plot is kind of secondary to what Dowdle is trying to achieve (down) here. 

Rather than do the decent thing of just losing their minds with fright after the first cave-in, the group continues on as they become repeatedly trapped and blocked in their passage through the catacombs; journeying deeper, further, squeezing through tiny tunnels and dropping down bottomless-looking pits.

For an atheist, I do still find religious/blasphemous-tinged horror pretty unnerving when done correctly (just ask Baskin) and so as the weary travellers realised they may be descending into Hell, I definitely found it an unnerving experience. The imposing darkness and impossibly labyrinthine routes they take don't help to un-jangle the nerves, either.

❝According to mythology, that's the inscription over the gates of hell.❞

 − Scarlett.

As the group thins, we learn more about what this system of caves really represent, and how the remaining individuals might escape. The aspect of the narrative with the mystical stone is absurd, but at least it allows for some more scares.

Two impressive set pieces have always stuck in my mind from this film, even when I initially wasn't convinced of its merits. The burning car deep underground, and the manhole cover scene at the film's end. For all the irritation I felt at Scarlett & Co. at times, the inventiveness and audacity to conceive of and execute both of these ideas is something I must tip my hat to. 

As Above, So Below is an effective, imaginatively claustrophobic nightmare punctuated by solid scares. It must have played brilliantly in a cinema environment.

Ignore the earnest jabbering at the beginning and stick with it, it's streaming on Netflix now.

Raw (2016)

We're looking at my favourite so far this October. I really loved Raw. Tell me, what's not to love about an awkward, coming-of-age drama with some cannibalism thrown in?

Justine (Garance Marillier) is following in family footsteps by attending a prestigious veterinary university. Her parents met there, and her older sister Alexia (Ella Rumpf) already goes there. Justine's got a lot to live up to; but for this quiet, "average" (her word) girl, that doesn't initially appear to be too much of a problem. 

That is, until "rush week" gets underway, where Justine and her fellow rookies are put through some fairly intense initiation ceremonies. She's nervous but doesn't falter, not until there's one involving eating raw meat. All of her family are strict vegetarians, she says, she can't do it. But under threat of being outcast this early on in her student career and with pressure from Alexia, she caves.

At first, her only reaction is a really nasty skin allergy that appears almost overnight. She visits the nurse who diagnoses it - and then lights a cigarette right there in the examination room, gotta love the French! - and gives Justine some cream.

But the sense of something being off... of feeling itchy and not right deep down in her skin doesn't go away. And gradually, tiny moment built wonderfully upon tiny moment, Justine starts to realise with growing fascination and horror, just what it is she's yearning for.

WHERE do I start with this? It looks beautiful.

Everything looks beautiful. And it has big wide shots with nothing happening in them for a couple of beats, until a little car or a little person appears on the edge or the horizon. This is something, for some reason, I absolutely adore in films - and even replicate in my own photography, a lot of the time.

That this was written and directed by a woman (Julia Ducournau) comes as no surprise. Justine and Alexia are interesting, human, flawed, and beautiful characters. They bicker like sisters do, but they make up quickly like sisters do. Alexia tries to guide Justine and open up her worldview, but also protect her at the same time. It's such a lovely, real relationship.

Including a blackly comic home waxing scene.

Much of Raw's dark comedy comes from the bond between these two, and it's the subtle moments of humour, along with a fantastic performance from Marillier, that coat the plot in a warmth you aren't expecting.

Additionally, can I get three cheers for the normalisation of female body hair, please!

This would make a great companion for Teeth for a double bill, I think (and both are on US Netflix now, at time of writing!). With its depiction of a young woman discovering herself, both in a normal sense, ie: being of Justine's age where she's suddenly thrust into this un-parented world of boys and parties - and this playing out alongside the more extreme, fantastical changes the young woman is noticing in her body, too.

A shy, weird, late-bloomer who's simultaneously terrified of her urges and wanting desperately to indulge them. Justine even fucks her roommate to try and calm the storm boiling inside her. It doesn't work.

It never gets old when female sexuality is represented as well as this in horror. There's so much power in it and it's a monumental task to try and understand that power. Adding something gruesome on top of an already pretty fucking scary time is just the cherry on top of the sundae.

Cannot recommend this one enough.

Bonus: It has one of my favourite Blood Red Shoes songs on the soundtrack, as well as some pretty amazing other stuff to check out.

They Came Back / The Returned / Les Revenants (2004).

As someone who has relatively recently lost a loved one, the idea of this film resonated deeply with me.

The plot (and that of the TV show adaptation, which I'm still in two minds about watching) deals with a well trodden genre idea: the dead coming back to life. But here, it's not in a conventionally horrific way. This is all very civilised - which makes it that much more creepy, if you ask me.

The recently risen calmly stroll out of the cemetery in their pastel clothes.

It was the questions Les Revenants raised with me that I found interesting. Would you want a dead relative back, really? It's easy to jump to a "yes" response, but what about the small-print? What if they come back and they are "broken" in some way?

I was reminded of the Buffy episode Forever, where Dawn tries to bring her mum back from the dead with black magic. We never see Joyce reanimated, but the viewer is led to believe that it would be more of a zombie-Joyce than the lovely Summers matriarch we grew to love. Eventually Dawn realises this thing would not be the same as having her mother back, and breaks the spell before it appears.

So what if you could have your loved one back and they were nearly normal? Good enough? But what if they came back suddenly, without warning, after you have learned to live with your loss?

Of course you want not to have had a close relative die at all, but the "returned" here aren't jumping back to a time pre-death; this plot deals with them coming back after their demise (natural or not), after their families have grieved and gone some way to reconcile and move on. And these aren't violent zombies, they are recognisable enough as their old selves, and yet they aren't the same as before. Something is... off. They seem detached from the world. The town eventually decides to almost class them as a type of "disabled" citizen, as even though they can function in society to a degree, they can't carry out some roles. They have the knowledge they died with, however they cannot seem to learn and grow from that.

So how much do you want them back? Would you want that person returned to you, even if they weren't quite as before, as you remember and love them? How much is too much to put up with, for merely having them in your life again? It's a heartbreaking and terrifying series of questions. 

Two of the characters in this film are a married couple whose young son was tragically killed. When he returns, they deal in different ways with absorbing him back into their lives, especially once his behaviour starts to become increasingly (more) odd. His life was cut short and this is another chance - but at what cost?

For such an interesting premise, executed in the main with a very eerie and atmospheric build, the ending to this film ultimately fell flat for me. It was a bit of a Lost situation: I don't know what I expected, but I was still disappointed! However I would recommend this to anyone in the mood for a very still, thought-provoking film.

Anyone seen the TV show? Thoughts, comments on it? Does it explore what I have touched upon above, and more? I always thought a victim of murder would be an interesting returnee, too.