Going from the Toronto International Film Festival to the genre-driven Fantastic Fest in Austin is funny for few reasons related to cultural whiplash, but it’s also interesting to track which horror films appealed to both Canadian and Texan programmers. This year’s FF includes “River,” “Kick On,” and two of the films in this dispatch, both standouts from either fest. The third is a Midnight Madness with its own unique personality that would have fit perfectly fine in Austin as well. The truth is that all three are worth a look when they escape this endless fest circuit, especially the first one.
Paolo Strippoli’s “The Spiral” actually has been to most of the major Fall fests, including playing at Venice and Telluride, a rare quadruple hit in just the last few weeks. It’s not common for any film, much less a horror one, to do the Italy/Colorado/Canada run, but “The Spiral” is not an average horror flick. It’s easy to see how it worked for these very different programs due to its blend of arthouse filmmaking, almost-biblical horror storytelling, and phenomenal performances. This is refined, riveting stuff, even if it runs a little long in its midsection. It recovers for a riveting climax in which Strippoli and co-writer Salvatore de Chirico tie their themes together, reminding us of a classic theme of horror fiction for generations: Be careful what you wish for.
“The Spiral” is a modern Faustian or Monkey’s Paw tale that starts with Anna (Jasmine Trinca) arriving at her daughter’s door. Alice (Romana Maggiora Vergano) doesn’t seem too happy to see her, but she has a story that she has to finally tell about the kind of family secret that would make the devil laugh. What seems at first to be just another story of gorgeous, wealthy socialites quickly becomes something else entirely when a young Alice has her leg mauled by a dog. In the hospital, praying that her child gets to keep her limb, Anna meets a mysterious stranger played perfectly by Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. She offers her a deal: Save one child’s leg but give the other child a life of torment as an obese child. Imagine having to make the choice between which child will suffer, and which suffering could be more easily overcome.
Anna takes the deal and begins a journey in which her wicked benefactor will keep returning to her offering a way out of her current predicament that only creates another one. “The Spiral” is a cascade of increasingly impossible choices, and Trinca is truly remarkable at selling the emotional cost that comes with each of these decisions. Working with Strippoli, they embed parental guilt into the fabric of this tale that Faust would have admired. Of course, most people aren’t making deals with the devil to protect one child over another, but every parent can relate to questioning if their choices were the right ones. Strippoli takes that concept to devilish extremes in a gorgeous, riveting piece of work that I can’t wait to see garner wider appreciation.
There won’t be “wide” appreciation for Samjad’s “Half,” but those who dig this kind of gory chaos will flip for it. This Malayalam-language road flick opens with a crawl about vampire blood, but it’s kind of a fake-out. Sure, the leads are undead, but there’s not really any lore or bloodsucking here: The only reason it matters that they’re creatures of the night is that it’s almost impossible to kill them. In a sense, “Half” is kind of like a vengeance thriller like “I Spit on Your Grave” mixed with “From Dusk Til Dawn” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.” Yes, it’s as chaotic as that sounds, and it’s a kind of chaos that can be alternately mesmerizing and numbing. It’s the kind of project where one truly appreciates the insanity of it all without quite being able to recommend it to those who aren’t primed for this kind of bonkers filmmaking.
“Half” lays its cards on the table early with the brutal slaying of a family by what looks like road warriors who won’t let anyone pass through their region. When twins Ethan (Ranjith Sajeev) and Ivy (Aishwarya Raj) happen into this deadly stretch of land, the thieves who run it grab them, torture, mutilate, and murder them. This is the kind of film wherein one of the bad guys literally urinates on Ivy’s silent heroine, which feels like it happens mostly so what unfolds in the second half of the film feels like something these monsters have coming to them. Of course, Ethan and Ivy aren’t killable, so they pop up and hunt down their new enemies, doing unimaginably violent things to enact justice.
And I do mean unimaginably. One of the first thieves that they find has his arm ripped off just short of his elbow, and then Ethan shoves the stump into his mouth and through the back of his head. People are boiled alive at an alarming rate, but it’s all done with a remarkable amount of impressive makeup work and tight fight choreography from Very Tri Yulisman of “The Raid 2”. “Half” is a film that’s never meant to be taken all that seriously, but its brutality is something that will be an instant turn-off for some people. This critic who’s a bit tired of the “Terrifier”-ying of horror never found it offensive, admiring the chaos of it all and the undeniable craftsmanship with which its captured.
Finally, there’s the admirably goofy “Anchors Aweigh,” a heavily stylized comedy in the vein of Tim Robinson or Nathan Fielder, which whom writer/director/star Matthew Barats has worked on “The Rehearsal.” Barats has made a film that’s kind of like a personal essay, a comedy inspired by a breakup that rattled his reality. Even at 70-ish minutes, it feels a bit like a short film that never quite figured out how to work as a feature, but it’s the kind of goofy project that could easily find a fan base, and an interesting announcement of a new talent.
Barats narrates “Anchors Aweigh,” detailing the story of how a breakup sent him spiraling through questions about his past and purpose. He ends up living on a boat, watching people take off to more interesting and more interesting lives on the planes that take off above the harbor. After going through old VHS tapes of his youth, he discovers something horrifying: He’s been in stasis, waiting for something interesting to happen, for years. He feels stuck in life now, but maybe he’s always bee stuck in life?
Given how much he narrates a personal story, Barats’ sense of humor will truly be the determining factor as to if this works for viewers. If you laugh at lines like “I didn’t know the difference between the words ass and dick until the sixth grade” then you’re in for a ride. And to be fair, there’s a bit more going on here than just experimental comedy weirdness. It’s not the expression of a rising comedian; it’s a personal investigation and even maybe a bit of therapy. Very few directors would dare make their first movie about how they don’t have a lot of vision or ambition. That alone makes “Anchors Aweigh” kid of special.
