A psychological thriller on the dark side of religion; a macabre tale of a young woman's search for the perfect mate; and an old-fashioned ghost story told with a twist; all perfect fare for a good scare, whether it's Halloween or a dark and rainy night in July.
Frailty (2001)
Actor Bill Paxton directed Frailty, and plays a father of two young boys, who is told by God to search out and kill the sinners among them.
Written by Brent Hanley, Frailty is told mostly from the perspective of the two young boys; and Paxton, as director does a great job of establishing a certain domestic tranquility, even as the boys must work hard to stay above water.
The boys idolize their father; which is why when Paxton abruptly awakens the boys one early morning to tell them about the mission God has chosen for them to carry out, it comes as quite a shock.
What follows is a series of exquisitely framed stalk and murder scenes, the most disturbing of which involves Paxton using his oldest son as his disciple, to help lure the victims to their eternal rest.
Frailty is a rarity in the horror genre, a film that is both frightening and thought-provoking.
May (2002)
Lucky McKee’s strange and beautiful film, May, has sadly been forgotten since its initial release caused a stir at Sundance back in 2002.
Angela Bettis gives an über performance as May, a girl who may look odd to a cold, cruel world; but she has feelings, and longings, and desires.
May falls in love with the particulars of a person; like a person’s hands; eyes; nose. And when the perfect opportunity arises for May to create love from scratch, suffice it to say, she leaves nothing to chance; which come to think of it, if given the chance to build a dream lover, who wouldn’t be chomping at the bits to do so?
The Orphanage (2007)
Simon and his mother and father have just moved into an enormous and beautiful seaside estate in Spain. Mother Laura has a history with the house, as it once served as an orphanage; an orphanage in which Laura spent her childhood, The Good Shepard Orphanage.
Not long after moving in, Mother and son take a walk down to the beach and discover a very cool cave carved into the rock walls that tower over the ocean; the child dashes away from Mother deep into the dark and mysterious cavern.
Mother Laura follows her son’s voice to a shadowy corner deep inside, where she finds Simon speaking in a low, serious whisper to what appears to be, no one. Laura quizzes her son, and Simon explains that he was talking to his new friends; Simon points to a vanishing point deep within the darkness. Laura looks down and sees little footsteps leading down the narrow passage.
This is essentially the set-up to Juan Antonio Bayona’s feature film debut, The Orphanage, a smashingly spooky ghost story.
The frights are ratcheted-up a notch when Simon goes missing during a lavishly eerie birthday party; and mother and father bring in a wily band of ghost hunters, lead by Geraldine Chaplin.
And then, believe it or not, this classy, glittering, well-produced piece of Gothic cinema produced by the much-heralded Spanish film maker Guillermo del Toro, takes its cues from none other than the classless, poorly produced American cult classic Friday the 13th.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing; because The Orphanage delivers, with some truly suspenseful moments and a couple of pretty good shocks.
A couple of more artistically adventurous horror films:Don't Look Now and Haute Tension.
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