Editorials
“Orange is the New Black” Goes Full Slasher
Orange is the New Black, the hit Netflix prison dramedy, just launched its fifth season last week. All thirteen episodes take place over the span of three days in the midst of a riot at the Litchfield Penitentiary. It’s a ballsy choice to allow a full season to play out over such a condensed timeline, but in this writer’s opinion, the gamble mostly pays off. The show has always traversed the peaks and valleys of quality from season to season, and sometimes the struggle can be felt within a single episode. That inconsistency is the price of the show’s fluid tone. One moment may have you on the brink of tears while the next will have you literally crying from laughter.
Spoilers for Season 5 Below.
Creator, Jenji Kohan, and co. have built a narrative as diverse as the characters that inhabit it. One particular hour of this newest season is what we’re here to discuss today. Episode 9, entitled “The Tightening”, goes full blown Halloween as a deranged corrections officer infiltrates the facility during the prisoner led takeover to seek revenge on a certain Russian cook with a mama-bear complex, Red (Kate Mulgrew). The officer in question is the “big bad” from season 4, Piscatella (Brad William Henke) who has been lured back into the prison by Red and her partner in crime this season, Blanca (Laura Gomez). While coming to the end of an accidental amphetamine binge (they thought they were taking energy vitamins), the two have been posing as another guard held hostage inside by sending texts from his phone to Piscatella.
The episode wastes no time in setting the stage for the horrors to come. We open to various lurking POV shots of the women as they walk through the dimly lit corridors of the penitentiary. Someone is watching and waiting. The music hits the kind of ominous bass notes you only find in a stalk-n-slash. As Natasha Lyonne’s Nichols walks down the hall hearing someone calling to her from a darkened broom closet, we know this won’t end well for her. She’s abruptly snatched by someone unseen and dragged in behind the slamming door. Other inmates pass by without noticing a thing.
So it has begun, Piscatella sets about snatching each and every one of the people closest to Red in scenes that put a delightful spin on many of the tropes we’ve come to expect from the horror genre. A couple sharing an intimate moment in a shower are quickly snatched up. Another couple is interrupted as one is dragged away, leaving the other confused and afraid. She calls out, “Hello? This isn’t funny!” It’s never funny, is it?
Other homages cover the likes of When A Stranger Calls, as Black Cindy (Adrienne C. Moore) answers an unnerving prank call from the resident meth-heads, Leanne and Angie (Emma Myles and Julie Lake). They ask Cindy, “Have you checked the children?” only for her to respond, “Nope. Pause. I know how that shit goes. The children are already dead, and I’m next. Cause’ that how it goes for black folk in the movies.” Only moments later she turns a corner to find the ghostly image of two girls standing still, side by side, at the end of the hall a’la The Shining. Of course, after she turns tail the opposite direction with a resounding, “Oh, hell no!” we learn it was only the duo known as Flaritza (Jackie Cruz and Diane Guerrero) practicing singing by the flaccid light of their cell phone.
Beyond the obvious nods throughout “The Tightening”, one genre convention the writers nail perfectly is the cliche of the “hysterical woman”. So often in horror films, the female lead is reduced to a blubbering mess as she becomes convinced of the peril surrounding herself and those she loves. Naturally, no one she trusts seems to believe her. They chalk it up to lack of sleep, depression, general hysteria. More often than not, the damsel is one hundred percent correct in her assertion of the danger approaching, and those who doubted her realize it only when it’s become too late. Red is our woman in peril here. She intrinsically knows that Piscatella is after her and her friends, but no one will listen to her. It’s all explained away by her crashing withdrawals from the speed binge. It’s perfect cannon fodder for a show like Orange is the New Black, a strikingly feminist series, to poke fun at one of our genre’s most tired tropes.
At the end, the fun and games of the episode come to a head once we learn Piscatella’s endgame. Of course, he hasn’t been murdering the ensemble One by one. He’s gathered the women up, bound them, and plans to force them to watch as he demeans, humiliates, and tortures Red. The worst is saved for episode 10, and it’s a difficult scene to watch that stands at odds with the lighter tone of “The Tightening”. There’s that famous OITNB tonal ping pong again. Thankfully, before we dive headlong into the real nightmare of Piscatella the Boogeyman, we’re gifted one more horror-centric zinger. Red discovers the hideout where her friends are being held hostage, rips the duct tape from Nichols’s mouth and asks “Where is he?!” Nichols replies:
“He’s off playing Jason from Friday the 13th or Jason’s mom…technically. Spoiler alert!”
Have you guys been watching the show? Were there any genre nods that I missed?
Editorials
‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel
The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.
The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.
Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.
With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).
It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.
The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.
The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.
Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.
Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.
Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.
The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.
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