A Horrifying Resolution

THIS NEW YEAR I made a resolution. It wasn’t any of those just-like-that promises I make in January every year, invariably botching them up by the end of the month. No ‘will exercise regularly’, ‘will stop eating carbs’, ‘will read more books and watch less porn’ vows this year, I thought. It was time to do something hatke.

I’ll watch a lot of horror films, I pledged (I can see that smirk on your face, but I’d rather ignore it) after much musing. For a movie buff like me this was a resolution I’d love to abide by throughout the year. And what proved to be the icing on the cake was the phrase ‘horror films’. Watching horror flicks in a dark empty room, getting goose bumps even at the slightest squeak of the door — voilà!

So I watched. Films after films — ranging from terrific to terrible. Some scared the hell out of me, others way too bland. Of them, here’s a quick look at the frightening five.

The Orphanage (Dir: Juan Antonio Bayona / Spanish)

Guillermo Del Toro opened the peephole, but it was Bayona who sucked me into the world of Spanish horror cinema, thanks to his spine-chilling horror thriller. The story revolves around Laura (Belén Rueda) who returns to her childhood home — an orphanage — with the plan of renovating the now-dilapidated house into a home for disabled children. But reaching there her son Simón starts making imaginary friends. Things turn worse when Simón mysteriously disappears one day. Determined to bring her son back, Laura now enters her son’s eerie world, unravelling haunting secrets of the past. No ghastly monsters, no digital tricks, the film convincingly creates a sinister atmosphere without descending to cheap horror. Watch out for the pre-climax scene where Laura initiates a game she used to play in her childhood in order to contact the ghost children. It’s bloody scary! The Orphanage is what a critic has rightly said, ‘a movie about children made very much for adults.’

The Others (Dir: Alejandro Amenábar / English)

A horror masterpiece, The Others treads a rather difficult path between supernatural and psychological. Living in a darkened old country mansion with her two photosensitive children, Grace (Nicole Kidman) waits for her husband to return from war. Everything seems peaceful, until she hires three mysterious servants at the house. Soon strange events start occurring and Grace becomes convinced that her home is haunted. Grace begins to wonder if there’s something much more in the house that’s beyond the realm of human understanding. Relying entirely on psychological horror, the film gets creepier as it goes along and finally comes to what I call ‘the baap of twist-ending’ climax. It completely takes you by surprise, making you question who to believe and who to fear. Kudos to Amenábar for dissolving the boundaries between real and surreal.

A Tale of Two Sisters (Dir: Kim Ji-woon / Korean)

Asian horror films have a distinct charm of their own, often more horrifying than their western counterparts. From the very first frame they create a sense of dread and slowly build up tension, thereby luring the viewer into their dark and gruesome world. There’s always the fear of evil lurking behind, making its ‘presence’ felt even in the movement of the curtains, which is psychologically more disturbing, sinister and hair-raising than the western zombies and monsters. A Tale of Two Sisters is one such gem. Su-Mi, getting released from a mental institution, returns home with her timid sister Su-Yeong to stay with their emotionally-absent father and cruel stepmother. But once there, terrifying events start happening in the house. The plot is a complex one, but doesn’t get tedious even once, thanks to the taut screenplay. The riveting climax where the actual ‘monster’ is revealed comes across as a jolt, making you gasp for breath.

Audition (Dir: Takashi Miike / Japanese)

What if your dream date turns out to be your worst nightmare? Watch Audition and I bet you’ll give up dating altogether! Lonely widower Aoyama, encouraged by his son and a producer-friend, decides to hold a fake audition for a non-existent film in order to find himself a bride. He becomes fascinated by a sweet, charming young woman Asami who seems to be the perfect choice. But as Aoyama delves deeper into Asami’s world, we discover that there’s just something not right about his ‘dream girl’. Notorious for his depictions of graphic violence, Miike starts building up the tension right from the beginning, culminating in a blood-curdling finale that’s one of the scariest climaxes I’ve ever seen. He successfully shatters the stereotypical notion that horror films must contain supernatural elements. Like many other Asian Horrors, this one too explores the psychological facet of horror. A warning for those who haven’t watched Audition yet: if you are a faint-hearted, watch the film at your own risk. You’re sure to get goose bumps when you hear Asami saying, ‘Kiri, kiri, kiri, kiri, kiri...’

Dark Water (Dir: Walter Salles / English)

I was disappointed with Dark Water initially. The film, almost devoid of any ‘close-your-eyes-in-fear-and-scream’ moment, scored pretty low on my scare-meter. It just wasn’t that spooky. But on second thoughts I realised Dark Water goes much beyond than just a ‘horror film’ in the traditional sense of the term. It’s actually more of a drama set in a haunted house. Salles stresses as much on the fear, anguish and paranoia of the characters as he does on the horror quotient. Separated from her husband, Dahlia (Jennifer Connelly) move into a rundown apartment with her daughter Cecilia. Soon after, mysterious occurrences start taking place. There’s a constant drip of dark water from the ceiling of her daughter’s bedroom. There are noises coming from the apartment above hers, although it appears to be vacant. Cecilia makes an imaginary friend called Natasha. As Dahlia decides to investigate further dark secrets from the past are unravelled. Laced with brilliant performance by Connelly, the film turns out to be — as critics say — a ghost story with an emotionally haunting echo.