Spring (2014)

Love is a Monster

By Paul Birch

Spoilers ahead!

Cross Genre films are becoming more and more popular as the viewing public need something extra to keep their interest. Of course, sometimes a film will come along that transcends genre. A film that you only hear about through word of mouth. That film where someone says ‘You HAVE to see this’. So you search for it, and when you finally find it, it just blows your mind. For me this is in the top 5 of films ever made. I’ve seen around 5,000 films (at least) so a top5 spot means it must mean something to me. It’s also one of those films that I have to make everyone watch, and I’ll admit I’ll base my entire view on them as a human being based on their thoughts of this afterwards!

Directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead were little known in the industry. They’d had a small indie hit with Resolution, and through this were given a segment in one of the V/H/S anthology series, and were well on their way to bigger and better things. This is a story you’ll hear about with literally hundreds of directors though. Some go on to bigger and better (Trevorrow going from Safety not Guaranteed being the best example) and then you have all of the one hit wonders.
Justin and Aaron didn’t want this though. They had a vision. They were always horror fans, but were looking for something more. We’ll get to them more later though.

Spring is on the face of it a simple story. A love story of sorts. Evan (played to perfection by Lou Taylor Pucci) is your average working class American. We find him at a crosswords in his life. The opening shot is him at his mothers side, as she loses her fight with cancer. A distraught Evan ends up in trouble with the police after a drunken altercation and a friend suggests a well needed holiday away from his troubles is what he needs. So hungover, and running out of options at home, he ends up in Europe. Here he meets two brits who lead him on a path of booze and women as he tries to escape his demons. Now some might see these two brits as caricatures of how people behave but trust me, unfortunately they have this spot on.

Whilst with these two reprobates he meets Louise (a simply stunning performance by Nadia Hilker) and they instantly connect. So far… so so right? It’s well shot, and basing most of the film in the idyllic coastal beauty of Bari everything is stunning. There is more to this story though, there always is right? We aren’t sure as yet what is up, but we know something. 

After a night of passion Louise leaves and when they next meet they begin to learn more about each other emotionally, now that they know each other physically. One of the best scenes of the film happens over a dinner date they are having where they are exchanging personal details. Louise takes out a contact lense, showing a different eye colour. Evan has seen this before, in the old books on the area and some of the older paintings. Evan wants a picture of Louise but she does now want this, when a picture is taken it is severely out of focus as if she is not who says she is. Then she runs off. This is where we really see who she is. We have seen hints, as she is something else, but as she is accosted by a drunk who mistakes her for a prostitute, we see the fuller picture. 

The next vital scene is where Evan goes to see Louise at her house and hears struggling. Smashing the door down, he sees her mutation, she is on the floor, half monster and half beast. There is a needle next to her and this is where he has a decision to make… stay or flee. He decides, of course, to stay, and helps her return back to her normal self.

We find out the history of what she is now. This is where the film does something smart. It keeps it simple…ish. So, and this sounds silly on paper, but on film it is a delight. Louise is a 2,000 year old monster. Every 20 years she will become impregnated and use the cells in her unborn child to recreate herself as she fights back from the monster that she is. There is more to it though. Should she fall in love, her body will create a hormone that will keep these cells from being consumed, and she will become mortal. In 2000 years this has never happened though and she says she will never give up her immortality for anyone. This is a modern day fairytale. Pinocchio meets the elves from Lord of the Rings. It’s beautifully made though, with no cynicism or irony, and this is why it works. The usual genre cross-over for horror is comedy, and although this works, here it would have become farcical. Playing it straight lead you to one of the great modern romances. 

The effects are stunning and for the budget (could not find the amount but assuming it must be small) you’d believe this was a major production company in charge. It doesn’t overstretch or try to show you more than you need, and this is a major plus point for the movie. Instead, you focus on the characters, and the more you believe in them, the more you believe in everything else you are seeing.

After knowing all of this, Evan still wants to be with her, so asks to spend the last 24 hours with her. He is in love with her, and admits it freely. Louise says that she cannot control who she loves, the monster is in control. If he stays with her during the change and her body and soul is not in love with him, he will be killed.

Now we have massive spoilers. If you have seen this then you may agree or not, but if not… then stop reading this and watch the film.

So, the ending. It’s beautiful. Louise is lying with her head on Evans lap, outside. In the background a volcano gently erupts. Evan is looking down at Louise and the music is playing (the soundtrack by Jimmy Lavelle is just stunning. Gentle piano keys mixed with deep strings to omit an emotion mirrored by what you’re seeing).

Finally we here a crunching sound, as if a transformation is taking place. Evan looks down and Louise is there, as herself…. Showing that she has fallen in love with him.

Now I’ve had arguments about this ending. Some people wanted the film to stop 5 seconds earlier, so as a viewer we are left to guess if she changes or not. I don’t think that would work. Films with ambiguous endings are great, I love them. Sometimes though, you want an end to the fairytale. Evan has been through a lot, Louise even more so and to see such hope in the world is what ties the film together.

What puts this film above anything else is the originality in how it is made. Making something so sincere under anyone else would have been crass. What we get is something so stunningly beautiful that you can believe that in all the evil that occurs in the world, there can always be redemption. You can take your before sunrise, or In the mood for love. For me this is where is begins and ends. Love really is a monster. It’s something to fight for, and when you meet the right person it’s something you can give up everything for. Telling it in a way so different from anything else is just the icing on the cake.

Hellraiser (1987)

By Saša Avramović

This review may contain spoilers.

Clive Barker is certainly one of the most important writers and artists working today. He cemented that position at the beginning of his career with a short story collection 'Books of Blood', issued in six volumes during 1984 and 1985. This collection is more than enough evidence of the wild imagination of the author, and quite sufficient for entry into the pantheon of immortals. A true Renaissance man, Barker writes books, directs movies, paints and designs video games.
In 1986 Barker adapted his story from the 'Books of Blood'  called 'Rawhead Rex' into the script which was made into a very weak movie (directed by George Pavlou). Unhappy with the results of the adaptation, Barker decided to write and direct a film based on his novella 'The Hellbound Heart' (issued in 1986). 'Hellraiser' was born. 

Frank (Sean Chapman) wants to go beyond the limit of sensual and spiritual pleasures by acquiring and solving a mysterious puzzle-box (the Lament Configuration), which opens a new doors of perception. What he gets is a slavery in the underworld of Cenobites, a demons who in their experiments on people are constantly crossing the border between pain and pleasure. The family of Frank's brother Larry (Anrew Robinson) will soon have to face the world which they never dreamed existed. Frank wants to escape from the depths of Cenobite SM hell. Few drops of Larry's blood spilled on the floor of the attic where Frank was torn apart by Cenobites will bring him back (in a magnificent scene of rebirth), but horribly deformed. For complete recovery he needs flesh and blood of the victims brought to him by Larry wife Julia (Clare Higgins), his former lover and partner in research of (at that time still just physical) limits of experience. Larry's daughter Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) will soon discover the secret hidden in the attic. Even greater problems arise when she solves a puzzle and Cenobites come for more flesh.
With 'Hellraiser' Barker found perfect art form for expressing his thematic preoccupations. For him there are no borders between different worlds and limits between layers of experience, seemingly distant worlds are mixed together building a new world that exist beneath the thin surface of the "normal world", a surface that sooner or later breaks and the underworld exposes itself. In Barker's work, supernatural horrors attack and consume our physical world, transforming it and forming new unbreakable unity of mutated flesh and spirit. His Sadean demons are not the "bad guys" in traditional sense of the word. He gives them space to speak and explain, he is successfully balancing on the border. 'Hellraiser' is his own "sympathy for the Devil". As the main Cenobite says, in his concise and effective reply to the question: "Who are you?" "Explorers, in the further regions of experience. Demons to some, angels to others." 

Pain and pleasure are inextricably mixed, and the flesh is a playground of inhuman forces. Those forces are represented by the Cenobites, who subject their victims to a continuous and extreme sadomasochistic experiments. Their design is completely in accordance with that: piercings, pins protruding from the head, leather suits cutting through the skin. Original creations in every sense of the word. Cenobites are the priests of new religion of flesh and spirit (the word "cenobite" comes from the Middle Ages and have direct religious conotation, meaning "the member of the monastic community"). The actors who play them are perfect in their roles: Doug Bradley plays Lead Cenobite, Grace Kirby plays Female Cenobite, Nicholas Vince plays Chattering Cenobite and Simon Bamford plays 'Butterball' Cenobite. They are the demons of human flesh, completely dedicated to their work. Using chains and hooks they are tearing apart human bodies, which is just the beginning of the process. Those extreme sadomasochistic experiments are the rituals of their faith, a faith of the seekers who solved the puzzle. The element of religious ecstasy ("Doors of plesures of heaven or hell, I didn't care which") are perfectly fused with pain and pleasure in the scene when Cenobites come back for Frank. Seconds before he is torn apart, while hooks and chains are holding him in the crucifixion pose, deforming his skin and body, he perversely licks his lips, smiles and says: "Jesus wept." and is immediately torn apart. 

Another important religious element of the film is the portrait of the demonic. Barker shows the figure of the Devil (not necessary a Christian one) in five shapes through the film. The first and obvious one are the Cenobites, the priests-surgeons of the new religion. The second one is the figure of the Tramp (another synonym for the Devil in mythology and literature), shown in one scene in a pet shop while eating the crickets from his hand. At the end of the film he transforms into the dragon-like creature, The Guardian of the Lament Configuration who takes the puzzle-box from the fire and flies away with it. In the last scene he is presented as the salesman of the puzzle, asking the next candidate: "What's your pleasure, sir?" The fifth one is the creature that visually resembles the cross between scorpion and worm. Its anatomy is fittingly inverted, the sting and the head exchanging places. All five incarnations are part of the same religion, the religion of the seekers and the curious ones. 

In the world of 'Hellraiser', people who are looking for new sources of satisfaction (and thus knowledge) are getting much more from what they initially wanted. But although Cenobites clearly say that their task is exploring the further limits of experience and winning a new landscapes of knowledge, even though Frank at one point says that Cenobites brought him the experience beyond every border in the form inextricably mixed pain with pleasure, still their experiments have the form of punishment. In a way, it becomes a punishment for those who want to explore new worlds.
Here Barker makes direct link between sensual pleasures and desires with the forbidden, some would even say with a sin. The angle from which that element is viwed is far from the traditional (Christian) perspective, but have its roots deeply in Christianity. In Christianity, the body is directly connected with forbidden desires and sin, which Barker uses to create his own mythology that exist beyond good and evil, which connects him with Marquis de Sade. In his mythology, the punishment for curiosity and desires has no form of Christian punishment in the eternal torments of hell. In Cenobite SM hell pain and pleasure are inseparable from each other and brought to such extremes that even the people like Frank did not count on that.
Julia is the woman who neglects her marriage, relationship with her husband and stepdaughter because of the desire for Frank. This craving for new sensual experiences is a major factor in the decision to help him bringing his victims. By living with Larry, she repressed her desire for Frank, and when she had the opportunity to renew the relationship, she will do it, no matter what the obstacles are. In this sense, the film exposes the dark family secrets and the consequences that arise when instincts come to the surface.

Before this film, Barker directed only two (solid) experimental short films ('Salome' and 'Forbidden') but with 'Hellraiser' he proved to be a true master. The film is drenched in a dark atmosphere, it combines intriguing ideas, physical horror, gothic iconography and the excellent acting into one highly original film. Makeup effects (designed by Bob Keen) are excellent and give another level of quality to the film. The budget for 'Hellraiser' was extremely low (about one million US dollars). Most of the film was shot on single house location, which Barker used to the maximum (although the filming in the house partially restricted movement of the camera), turning it into gothic torture chamber. 

My only serious objection goes to very end of the film, which at times looks like it was done in a hurry. Which is actually true, at the end very little money was left and everything was actually filmed quickly, including the weak animation effects. With regard to the budget, it can be said that the Barker achieved most of what he wanted in the film, but still we are left wondering how it would all look with improved effects at the end of the film. Also, the other problem arises from the scenes when Kirsty sends Cenobites back to their hell by solving the puzzle backwards. That element is not in sync with the rest of the film, it breaks the established rule - Cenobites are the ones who are bringing in new members. But because of the other enormous qualities, that element is not that much problematic for the construction of the film. Especially because nothing is final at the end, the doors are still opened for new seekers and new pleasures. 

The acting is on very high level, Clare Higgins and Doug Bradley are the best of the group, although everybody gave their maximum. Music by Christopher Young ('Hellbound: Hellraiser II', 'The Dark Half') is another element important for the success of the film. The original version of the music was composed by industrial band Coil, but it was rejected by the studio, and issued on their album The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser. Young's very dark, beautiful, and elegant orchestral compositions are effectivelly fused with the visuals, pervading the events with the sounds from the Cenobite hell.
'Hellraiser' became a modern classic and his strength, intensity and strong conviction in presenting both visceral and intellectual elements, his refusal to draw any borders remained an inspiration to future filmmakers and a guide for achieving their goals. No limits!