Editorials
‘Fran Bow’s’ Black Humor Is Not Without Heart
Written by T. Blake Braddy, @blakebraddy
The development for point-and-click adventure horror game Fran Bow began not with the first sketches of its main character or even back in August of 2012, when Natalia Figueroa and collaborator Isak Martinson – who is also her husband – came together to work on the game. It stretches back over a decade, to writer / artist Figueroa’s childhood in Chile. (She has lived in Sweden since she was 17.)
Although the game deals with weird and fantastical elements, Fran Bow is, at its center, an autobiographical experience. “It is a compilation of things that I have been through in my life, good and bad,” Figueroa said via Skype. “And it felt natural to mix it with all my fantasies from when I was a child.”
In the game, players take on the role of Fran Bow, an orphaned ten year old being held indefinitely, it seems, at a mental hospital. She has violent, recurring visions about the death of her parents, and her only wish is to get out and see both her aunt and her cat, Mr. Midnight.
The demo – available online at the KillMonday site – deals with the prologue of Fran’s pre-psychiatric ward life and her attempt to escape so that she may come to find her only living relative, an aunt named Grace.
Though the game is based loosely on Figueroa’s experiences, she admits freely that she experienced a lot of family problems and “many visits” to a mental hospital as a child. The game is a mixture of dark humor and just darkness. It is the sort of warped story – parentless child goes in search of meaning with an anthropomorphized animal – that could be the stuff of Disney, if it weren’t so caked with blood.
Indeed, one of Fran Bow’s more horrific elements are the delusions she suffers whenever she takes some form of anti-psychotic medication. They are ridiculously, unrepentantly gory, and it is in these visions that truth is revealed to Fran. The world is not a drab place filled with bored and frightened people, but a dark place, looming with spirits, monsters, and death. Violent death. The mental patients (who are the same age as Fran) are in denial, and the adults are boringly complicit in keeping them imprisoned.
But the game is not without a certain humor, either. Fran herself is acerbic and witty, which cuts the sharp edges of this otherwise depressing narrative. She is sarcastic but still avails herself of childlike indulgences, much like Figueroa herself. “That my humorous part didn’t die on the way [through childhood] is something for which I am thankful,” she said. “And also, with so much bad stuff happening, you kind of start liking laughing at dark stuff, black humor.”
To put a finer point on this, Figueroa sees Fran Bow not as a surrogate for herself but in large part how we all see our own lives. “She does really think like a 10 year old,” she says, “and one big thing for me when writing those dialogues is actually to realize when I was a child I never thought of myself as being a little girl. You are always the person you are.”
This philosophy on the ruggedness of youth is perhaps a great one, considering what is at stake for the character. Fran Bow is without parents, without direction, with only a talking cat and determination to guide her, so thinking of her in terms of being a fully-developed person is necessary, considering the utter horror of the world surrounding her. Without some combination of strength and ironic detachment, the character at the heart of the game would be overwhelmed literally and figuratively by the violence and blood surrounding her. She is the part of the world that makes sense, even when her surroundings do not, so it is important for her to be grounded.
Though the game is based on real life, interactivity is still one of the main focuses of the games. Fran Bow does not exist to further just a narrative. There are puzzles throughout the five-part experience, and Figueroa says that she and Martinson obsess over them, sometimes for days on end. “Sometimes we brainstorm and and come up with solutions, and sometimes it feels like, ‘Nah, this is rubbish,’” she said. “Until we get it and the lights go on in our heads. It’s hard to explain…Being really open to changes, [it’s] like living in a game.”
Figueroa and Martinson are lifelong creatives, but through writing plays and short films, Figueroa says that she saw something missing in her ventures: the element of interactivity. “I mainly do games because I think it is the most complex way of creating, and the gamer is the final touch,” she said. “And then also because it is super fun.”
This is the general sense that emerges from even a brief conversation with her. She is thankful to be making games, and utterly gracious for the attention the game is receiving. “We just want to hug everybody,” she said, punctuating the sentence with a smiley emoji.
In fact, to show their appreciation for all of the support for Fran Bow, KillMonday put together a game in under three days and released it for free, just in time for the holidays. Mr. Red’s Adventure in The Missing Balls is a “super hard” Christmas-themed platformer available on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. It’s a lighthearted-but-bloody affair that features permadeath, and it appears to be part of the design and aesthetic choices indicative of KillMonday games.
“We also needed some fresh air,” she added.
The story of Fran Bow and its creators can be summed up best by Figueroa herself, from a blog post released back in July, well before the Indiegogo campaign was even over: “The only thing I can be sure about this game is that, Fran Bow is not only about the horror, [it] is about life, about how a little girl will confront a huge world, that is a painful one and also a funny one…that, in a way, is pretty close to all of us.”
Their hope is to release the full version of the game July 25, 2014, which coincides with their anniversary.
Editorials
‘Immaculate’ – A Companion Watch Guide to the Religious Horror Movie and Its Cinematic Influences
The religious horror movie Immaculate, starring Sydney Sweeney and directed by Michael Mohan, wears its horror influences on its sleeves. NEON’s new horror movie is now available on Digital and PVOD, making it easier to catch up with the buzzy title. If you’ve already seen Immaculate, this companion watch guide highlights horror movies to pair with it.
Sweeney stars in Immaculate as Cecilia, a woman of devout faith who is offered a fulfilling new role at an illustrious Italian convent. Cecilia’s warm welcome to the picture-perfect Italian countryside gets derailed soon enough when she discovers she’s become pregnant and realizes the convent harbors disturbing secrets.
From Will Bates’ gothic score to the filming locations and even shot compositions, Immaculate owes a lot to its cinematic influences. Mohan pulls from more than just religious horror, though. While Immaculate pays tribute to the classics, the horror movie surprises for the way it leans so heavily into Italian horror and New French Extremity. Let’s dig into many of the film’s most prominent horror influences with a companion watch guide.
Warning: Immaculate spoilers ahead.
Rosemary’s Baby
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The mother of all pregnancy horror movies introduces Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an eager-to-please housewife who’s supportive of her husband, Guy, and thrilled he landed them a spot in the coveted Bramford apartment building. Guy proposes a romantic evening, which gives way to a hallucinogenic nightmare scenario that leaves Rosemary confused and pregnant. Rosemary’s suspicions and paranoia mount as she’s gaslit by everyone around her, all attempting to distract her from her deeply abnormal pregnancy. While Cecilia follows a similar emotional journey to Rosemary, from the confusion over her baby’s conception to being gaslit by those who claim to have her best interests in mind, Immaculate inverts the iconic final frame of Rosemary’s Baby to great effect.
The Exorcist
William Friedkin’s horror classic shook audiences to their core upon release in the ’70s, largely for its shocking imagery. A grim battle over faith is waged between demon Pazuzu and priests Damien Karras (Jason Miller) and Lankester Merrin (Max von Sydow). The battleground happens to be a 12-year-old, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), whose possessed form commits blasphemy often, including violently masturbating with a crucifix. Yet Friedkin captures the horrifying events with stunning cinematography; the emotional complexity and shot composition lend elegance to a film that counterbalances the horror. That balance between transgressive imagery and artful form permeates Immaculate as well.
Suspiria
Jessica Harper stars as Suzy Bannion, an American newcomer at a prestigious dance academy in Germany who uncovers a supernatural conspiracy amid a series of grisly murders. It’s a dance academy so disciplined in its art form that its students and faculty live their full time, spending nearly every waking hour there, including built-in meals and scheduled bedtimes. Like Suzy Bannion, Cecilia is a novitiate committed to learning her chosen trade, so much so that she travels to a foreign country to continue her training. Also, like Suzy, Cecilia quickly realizes the pristine façade of her new setting belies sinister secrets that mean her harm.
What Have You Done to Solange?
This 1972 Italian horror film follows a college professor who gets embroiled in a bizarre series of murders when his mistress, a student, witnesses one taking place. The professor starts his own investigation to discover what happened to the young woman, Solange. Sex, murder, and religion course through this Giallo’s veins, which features I Spit on Your Grave’s Camille Keaton as Solange. Immaculate director Michael Mohan revealed to The Wrap that he emulated director Massimo Dallamano’s techniques, particularly in a key scene that sees Cecilia alone in a crowded room of male superiors, all interrogating her on her immaculate status.
The Red Queen Kills Seven Times
In this Giallo, two sisters inherit their family’s castle that’s also cursed. When a dark-haired, red-robed woman begins killing people around them, the sisters begin to wonder if the castle’s mysterious curse has resurfaced. Director Emilio Miraglia infuses his Giallo with vibrant style, with the titular Red Queen instantly eye-catching in design. While the killer’s design and use of red no doubt played an influential role in some of Immaculate’s nightmare imagery, its biggest inspiration in Mohan’s film is its score. Immaculate pays tribute to The Red Queen Kills Seven Times through specific music cues.
The Vanishing
Rex’s life is irrevocably changed when the love of his life is abducted from a rest stop. Three years later, he begins receiving letters from his girlfriend’s abductor. Director George Sluizer infuses his simple premise with bone-chilling dread and psychological terror as the kidnapper toys with Red. It builds to a harrowing finale you won’t forget; and neither did Mohan, who cited The Vanishing as an influence on Immaculate. Likely for its surprise closing moments, but mostly for the way Sluizer filmed from inside a coffin.
The Other Hell
This nunsploitation film begins where Immaculate ends: in the catacombs of a convent that leads to an underground laboratory. The Other Hell sees a priest investigating the seemingly paranormal activity surrounding the convent as possessed nuns get violent toward others. But is this a case of the Devil or simply nuns run amok? Immaculate opts to ground its horrors in reality, where The Other Hell leans into the supernatural, but the surprise lab setting beneath the holy grounds evokes the same sense of blasphemous shock.
Inside
During Immaculate‘s freakout climax, Cecilia sets the underground lab on fire with Father Sal Tedeschi (Álvaro Morte) locked inside. He manages to escape, though badly burned, and chases Cecilia through the catacombs. When Father Tedeschi catches Cecilia, he attempts to cut her baby out of her womb, and the stark imagery instantly calls Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s seminal French horror movie to mind. Like Tedeschi, Inside’s La Femme (Béatrice Dalle) will stop at nothing to get the baby, badly burned and all.
Burial Ground
At first glance, this Italian zombie movie bears little resemblance to Immaculate. The plot sees an eclectic group forced to band together against a wave of undead, offering no shortage of zombie gore and wild character quirks. What connects them is the setting; both employed the Villa Parisi as a filming location. The Villa Parisi happens to be a prominent filming spot for Italian horror; also pair the new horror movie with Mario Bava’s A Bay of Blood or Blood for Dracula for additional boundary-pushing horror titles shot at the Villa Parisi.
The Devils
The Devils was always intended to be incendiary. Horror, at its most depraved and sadistic, tends to make casual viewers uncomfortable. Ken Russell’s 1971 epic takes it to a whole new squeamish level with its nightmarish visuals steeped in some historical accuracy. There are the horror classics, like The Exorcist, and there are definitive transgressive horror cult classics. The Devils falls squarely in the latter, and Russell’s fearlessness in exploring taboos and wielding unholy imagery inspired Mohan’s approach to the escalating horror in Immaculate.
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