Horsehead

Horsehead is a trippy movie. The style in which it is filmed can't be put into words. The way they filmed the Scottish Canal was nicely done, what they did with the Roman Catholic church was creepy and nicely done. The outside of it makes you want to go to Scotland to see it. The rest of the effects are wild and I would go into detail but it will spoil it, this is a movie you have to view for yourself because trippy and may mean different things to different people. Without any spoilers here's a rough plot outline: Jessica lives, on her own. Then she gets a phone call about her grandmother's death. She goes home for the funeral and things become wild. And you don't know what's real and what's not. 10/10 stars. Everyone needs to see this thriller. If you want to see a movie about a Horsehead God that makes no sense you should see this movie.

Many horror movies end up resembling nightmares, but few actually take on their form. Horror movies have rules; a beginning, middle, and end. Nightmares start and end without context. They dredge up symbols from our unconscious that we can’t comprehend. No other movie I’ve seen has emulated the helplessness, the paralyzing despair and confusion of a nightmare like Romain Basset’s Horsehead. Every aspect of the film departs from your expectations of the form of horror movies, and it’s a marvelous experiment. Unfortunately, jettisoning the trappings of a traditional film leaves the movie unmoored; when you watch it, you feel like you are reaching out for meaning that you don’t know is even there. So much of the movie feels ineffable and inaccessible, much like your worst nightmares. However, that’s got to be the point, and in that regard the movie is incredibly effective.The plot of Horsehead is less central to the essence of the movie than most other horror movies; ostensibly, it’s about the protagonist, Jessica, and how she battles her relationship with her mother through a series of nightmares. After the death of her estranged grandmother, Jessica ventures to her mother and stepfather’s home to pay her respects. Jessica’s relationship with her mother is at best strained. Jessica has apparently long been haunted by nightmares, and studies what the film calls the “physiopsychology of dreams,” the way our dreams and the waking world intersect. We never really get an explanation for Jessica’s character or the origin of these nightmares, and the basis of the tension between her and her mother is eventually explained, but without catharsis. But the events of the plot are much less important than the film’s themes and symbolism. Much like last year’s breakout The Babadook, Horsehead is fundamentally a movie about the relationship between mother and child, and the burdens a parent’s guilt places on an adult child. The film deals with these themes in extremely violent, sexual ways. There are some sadistic scenes involving…well, let’s call them improperly conducted abortions. This is not a comfortable film to watch. But that’s what makes Horsehead so fascinating.Horsehead kicks horror conventions to the curb, and this rejection of trope is apparent from the first scene. Horror movie tradition dictates that filmmakers show the characters in a state of normalcy before they unleash terror on them. You give the audience a baseline to understand the horror visited upon them; you hide the monster until the big reveal when all hell breaks loose. The closest Horsehead comes to normalcy is Jessica’s train ride to her parents’ place during the title sequence, but that comes after the head trip of an opener. The film establishes the red color motif immediately, showing Jessica draped in red curtains. The movie reveals the titular monster in full view, after a haunting series of quick cuts and piercing high tones as Jessica writhes in her sleep. The intro is a perfect microcosm of the movie and sets the nightmare tone: just like a dream, you’re dropped in without knowing how you got there, and all you see is horrific imagery spewed forth from your unconscious.Basset, directing his first full-length feature, displays a remarkable command of filmic techniques. Every aspect of the film contributes to its nightmarish quality. Horsehead is an incredible experiment in the use of color: Jessica’s nightmares are dominated by deep reds, which are sometimes contrasted with blue-filtered scenes to great effect. The lighting in this movie is impeccable. Even in Jessica’s waking scenes, when she’s interacting with her parents in what amounts for normalcy in Horsehead, are alternately bathed in a soothing soft yellow or a dim, tense low lighting. A particularly effective example of this is found early in the film, when Jessica, her stepfather and mother are sitting at the dinner table at Jessica and her mother tersely exchange words. The camera crops the shot close, imparting a feeling of claustrophobia; the lighting is uncomfortably dim, just enough to mirror the tension between Jessica and her mother in their reflections in the window. Basset uses color to create Jessica’s nightmare world: the deep reds and cold blues starkly contrast with the diffused golden glow of her waking life. This use of photography gives Horsehead an immediate and striking visual identity. Director of photography Vincent Viellard-Baron should be commended for his composition and use of color on display here.As effective as Horsehead is at emulating a nightmare–I think it’s one of the most effective uses of psychological horror since Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder–it’s definitely not a traditional movie. Don’t watch it if you’re looking for a “good time,” and definitely don’t watch it with anyone who isn’t ready to get strapped into a 90-minute hallucination. Also, while dropping the audience into the story essentially in medias res contributes wonderfully to the atmosphere of the film, it makes the film thematically opaque–it will take several views to piece together the sexual and familial imagery and symbolism used in the film. If you’re prepared to take on Horsehead, however, you’ll be greatly rewarded. I’m looking forward to what this crew can do next.

The poster art made me think I would be getting something else... less gory, more thoughtful with a younger, more innocent protagonist, but I put my disappointment aside. The only good things about the movie are: 1. Some magnificent visuals which are unfortunately completely ruined by terrible choppy editing. 2. The mother's performance which was incredible. She plays a much younger, pregnant woman throughout most of the film (cuz, you know, dreams) which should have been ridiculous, but she was so good it really worked. At another time she makes out with her young daughter (dreams) and she was chilling, sexy and creepy all at once in that scene. 3. The theme of mother/daughter hate is fascinating and almost never explored in film, unfortunately this film stinks. The worst parts are: 1. Ms. Lilly-Fleur's performance. She ruined the movie, just vacuous, emotionless, awful. Clearly hired for her looks. 2. The plot is stupid and boring and leaves us with questions probably because the answers are unintelligible or they didn't bother to come up with any. What could have happened in the church that the priest (whatever he's called) would be so ashamed of? What was with the very odd grandfather and his very odd religion? If the grandfather was so dominating and evil how did his daughter so easily get away from him, raise her child alone, and still inherit from him? Who was the protagonist's real father? Could she really have grandparents that old-- looked like the picture of them was taken in the Edwardian era? We find out later that the protagonist is pregnant but... so what? That fact its promptly ignored. 3. The script. If there wasn't so much repetitive junk to the script the movie would have been 30-40 mins long at most and would have been better. 4. The editing, of course.

Vorab Lieferung, Versand und Verpackung wie immer top.Zum Film selbst:Wie schon in der Überschrift erwähnt, hat mich der Film sehr stark an "Der Tod weint rote Tränen" (welch furchtbarer Titel) erinnert. Da ich genau diesen Film schon sehr genial fand, liegt es natürlich nahe dass auch Horsehead zu einem meiner Favoriten zählt.Horsehead ist kein Film für den Mainstream.Es ist ein typischer Fall von Love-it or Hate-it.Wer nach einem Standard-Horrorfilm sucht bei dem er lediglich die Augen aufhalten muss ist hier definitiv falsch. Horsehead ist ein Film mit Story; zum mitdenken; nur Bilder anschauen funktioniert hier einfach nicht. Ja, der Film ist zeitweise anstrengend, aber genau das macht (zumindest für mich) einen wirklich guten Film aus. Wenn ich nur dumm in den Fernseher schauen möchte ohne mein Hirn zu benutzen schau ich nachmittags RTL ;)Horsehead enthält (im Gegensatz zu den Filmen die ich sonst schaue) wenig Gewalt und blutige Szenen. Die wenigen die enthalten sind waren für mich eher Nebensache, da der Film eindeutig mit der Story punktet. Die vielen, schnell wechselnden Bilder haben durchaus eine verstörende Wirkung.Horsehead ist ein Film auf den man sich voll einlassen muss. Und man sollte eine Vorliebe für genau solche Filme haben.

Jessica und ihre Alpträume bilden die Rahmenhandlung, die mit einer fiktiv-konstruierten Familiengeschichte in Verbindung gebracht wird. Das Ganze ist weder schlüssig, noch überzeugend, verschiedenste Klischees werden bedient: ein abstruses Pferd mit Krallen, ein Wolf, hier und da ein wenig Blut, etwas "Gruselstimmung" mit "Gruselmusik" verfeinert, minimale Andeutungen und Metaphern, die eine z.T. erotische Stimmung suggerieren soll.Anklänge aus den verschiedensten Schubladen entnommen, wurden zusammengefügt, bzw. aneinander gestückelt. Aus keiner der Schubladen hat man jedoch alles herausgenommen, lediglich überall etwas an der Oberfläche gekratzt. Das war's und mehr auch nicht. Man wollte offenbar einem Trend folgen und auch einmal einen Film zum Thema machen, es mangelte allerdings an Tatkraft, Wagnis und Einfallsreichtum. Schade!

Enter into the dreams of a young girl and discover a dark world... this horror film transpires originality and visual awe. A gem that world cinema distributors still have to discover...

ein gut gemachter Film