Editorials
[Editorial] Pascal Laugier’s ‘Incident in a Ghostland’ and the Salvation of Storytelling
“I wrote this book to keep from going insane.”
This article is loaded with spoilers, so turn away now if you’ve yet to see the film.
Upon its release in theaters and on digital platforms back in June, the discourse surrounding Martyrs director Pascal Laugier’s Incident in a Ghostland (now also on DVD) was largely dominated by its more problematic aspects, particularly the valid concern that it helps perpetuate some troubling stigmas; one of the film’s two killers is either a cross-dressing man or a trans woman, but it’s hard to say given it’s never really addressed. Either way, it’s the latest in a long line of horror films to demonize trans characters, presenting them as both creepy and insane.
No doubt, the film’s villains are frustratingly underdeveloped at best and quite problematic at worst, as our own Dax Ebaben pointed out in his recent review for this very site. But the flaws that are very much present in Laugier’s latest don’t derail the film entirely, as its weak points are bolstered by what ultimately amounts to be a surprisingly powerful storyline.
Underneath all of its brutality, a silver lining of hope.
Incident in a Ghostland centers on young sisters Beth (Emilia Jones) and Vera (Taylor Hickson), who move into a new house with their mother at the start of the film. It’s not long before a creepy ice cream truck pulls up outside, letting loose two sadistic killers who rampage through the home. Bravely, mom brutally dispatches them both with relative ease… or does she?
One of this year’s biggest gut punches comes courtesy of a second act twist in Incident in a Ghostland, wherein Laugier informs us that the version of events he had been showing us following the home invasion was merely a delusion inside the mind of Beth, who serves as the film’s main character. As it’s established right off the bat, Beth is obsessed with horror fiction (particularly the work of H.P. Lovecraft) and fancies herself a writer, using her scary stories to escape from her realities – in reality, she can hardly stand the sight of blood, nearly losing her mind when she has her first period. But whereas Beth had been coping with reality by conjuring up stories much scarier than anything she was actually living through, Incident in a Ghostland‘s twist informs us that what we’d been watching in the wake of the home invasion was actually a pleasant story she conjured up to escape a real nightmare. Go figure.
In her fantasy world, Beth has grown up and overcome the nightmarish events of her past, using them as the inspiration for a best-selling horror novel. She’s married. She has a happy child and a happy life. All of her dreams have come true. But in reality, things played out quite differently on that fateful night.
In reality, Beth’s mom was killed by the intruders, and Beth and her sister Vera have been chained up in the basement ever since, subjected to daily physical abuse by their mother’s killers. The man she imagined as her husband was merely an old photograph she had found in the basement. Same goes for the child she imagined having with him. None of it was real. Beth isn’t a successful writer who exorcised her real life demons by writing a hit horror novel. Rather, she’s still a child. And her nightmare is far from over.
The twist is a thoroughly devastating one, especially since Laugier had given us no indication whatsoever that Beth’s happy life was a fabrication inside her head. So when he pulls the rug out from under us, it’s a genuine shocker that delivers an emotional punch right to the gut. It’s not just a cruel twist, however, but rather a fairly brilliant representation of the film’s theme.
With Incident in a Ghostland, Laugier is clearly stressing the importance of storytelling, and the way that escaping into fiction can be one of the most effective ways to deal with whatever’s going on in our real lives. In the film, of course, it’s the most extreme of examples, with Beth being trapped in a horror movie nightmare and fantasizing that she’s living her dream life. But don’t we all cope with life’s daily struggles, both big and small, by daydreaming? By either writing our own stories or consuming the stories told by others?
How often is that escapism the only thing that’s even keeping us going?
What’s most interesting about Incident in a Ghostland is that Beth ultimately ends up surviving her ordeal, and saving her sister’s life as well, not because she’s physically strong but rather because she’s armed with a weapon nobody can take away from her: the boundless imagination that sits somewhere between her ears. Beth literally imagines a better life as a means to overcome what has become the most unimaginably awful existence, and it’s because of her escape into fantasy that she gets through the hellish ordeal unbroken. Essentially, she transcends the horrors she’s subjected to, which is clearly an idea that Laugier, having previously directed Martyrs, is fascinated with. The same cannot be said for her sister, whose own nightmare is perhaps even more horrifying. With no means to escape physically or mentally, Vera has been head-on dealing with every second of trauma. And she’s clearly the worse for wear as a result.
In the end, Beth has one final “daydream” that compels her to fight back and overcome her and her sister’s tormentors. Only this time, she seems to be keenly aware that it’s merely a daydream, the sort of happy life that she needs to fight for the future possibility of. In this particular daydream, Beth is at a Christmas party and her mother is there with her. So too is her idol, H.P. Lovecraft. Played by Paul Titley in the film, Lovecraft praises Beth’s writing in what plays out like an almost divine (and highly unexpected) moment of validation in her talents, spurring her on to fight for the ability to keep on living… to keep on writing. Rather than staying at the party/in the daydream, Beth chooses to return to her reality, finally facing it head on for the very first time. After all, escapism is only healthy in moderation. In a triumphant moment that’s incredibly on the nose but satisfying all the same, Beth beats her abuser half to death with the old typewriter she uses to write her stories.
The film’s final moments are quite moving, with Beth and Vera emerging from their prison and loaded up into separate ambulances. The paramedic looking over Beth comments to her that she’s a tough girl, and that she must be into sports. But Beth’s toughness is her brains, not her brawn. “I write stories,” Beth confidently tells the paramedic, shooting down his well-intended but ultimately insulting suggestion that she must be a certain type of girl to have so bravely survived such a horrible nightmare. For the first time in her life, she’s confident about her abilities. Not because a fantasy version of a dead horror author told her she’s good at what she does, but because her talents quite literally saved her life.
Laugier never tells us what becomes of Beth when she grows up. But it seems clear that her fantasy life will eventually become reality. The film’s cruel twist is also its hopeful potential.
Aren’t all of our daydreams, if only we persist?
Editorials
‘Bloodstone: Subspecies II’ Revisited: A Bigger, Bolder Follow-Up to Full Moon’s Vampire Cult Classic
Horror sequels are a peculiar thing. In most cases, follow-ups to scary movies tend to retread the same formula with different victims and more over-the-top scares. This is because audiences tend to be more interested in the antagonists of these pictures than anything else, with even main characters becoming disposable when the time comes to produce a sequel.
That’s why some of the most memorable horror sequels are the ones that actually manage to hold onto interesting survivors from previous films while also pushing the story forward instead of having the same thing happen again to a different group of people. From Scream 2 to Dream Warriors (and arguably even The Exorcist III: Legion), there are quite a few of these innovative sequels to go around.
However, if there’s one franchise that deserves more attention when discussing bigger and better continuations that make the most of episodic filmmaking, it has to be Ted Nicolaou’s Subspecies.
The Full Moon classic spawned an indie horror icon, but bizarre sequel Bloodstone: Subspecies II is even more beloved than its predecessor.
Building a Bigger Vampire Saga
While the film itself takes place almost immediately after the events of the first movie, Bloodstone only entered production a couple of years after the release of the original as both Charles Band and Nicolaou weighed the pros and cons of returning to Romania to continue the series. In an effort to maximize efficiency, the team decided to invest in a trilogy where parts II and III, now fully written by Nicolaou, would be filmed simultaneously over the course of a single grueling shoot.
Much like the first Subspecies, Bloodstone’s low budget meant that the filmmakers once again had to cut corners and re-use as many of their resources as possible. Thankfully, the process was much easier this time around as Nicolaou, with the help of Romanian cinematographer Vlad Paunescu and his wife Oana, became more acquainted with local customs and made new friends. Shooting abroad still came with its own unique set of challenges due to a lack of translators and the occasional safety concerns, but the crew managed to make things work by filming things guerrilla-style and setting up shop in abandoned caves and real medieval ruins.
The director’s newfound contacts, coupled with the relative success of the first movie, meant that he was basically given free rein over an assortment of shooting locations usually considered off-limits for indie horror. That’s why Bloodstone features insanely ambitious lighting and effects work even during scenes shot in the middle of a bustling Bucharest. The filmmakers went so far as to project Radu’s Nosferatu-like shadows over local monuments as if he were a Romanian boogeyman, an idea that was actually encouraged by local cinephiles.
In fact, many of the more elaborate scenes here had originally been planned for the first movie before being discarded due to the lack of available resources. It was only with the support of Romanian fans and filmmakers that Bloodstone was able to give Radu a chance to be even more menacing the second time around.
Michelle’s Transformation Takes Center Stage
However, when it came to the American part of the crew, not everyone was able or willing to return for another round of Romanian adventuring. That’s why Radu’s human-loving half-brother Stefan (Michael Watson) is unceremoniously killed off at the beginning of the film while the role of Michelle had to be recast. Denice Duff took over for Laura Mae Tate, with the character now being joined by her sister, Rebecca, played by Melanie Shatner (yes, that Shatner).
In the finished film, we follow Michelle as she awakens to her new life as a vampire and discovers that Radu has murdered her lover. Struggling with grief and her newfound bloodlust, Michelle contacts her sister overseas, with Rebecca soon travelling to Romania on an ill-advised rescue mission. Meanwhile, Radu (Anders Hove) reaches out to his undead Mummy (Pamela Gordon, underneath heavy layers of impressive makeup effects) and promises to deliver her the coveted Bloodstone artifact while also making Michelle his eternal consort.
Revisiting the movie, I was impressed with how introspective this story is when compared to the original. The sequel assumes that you’re already familiar with the previously established characters, so the story wastes no time in exploring the immediate aftermath of the previous film’s events. From Michelle’s reluctant transformation into a creature of the night to Radu’s obvious mommy issues, Nicolaou is way more interested in pushing these characters into new and uncharted territory rather than recycling existing plot points.
Practical Effects and Gothic Atmosphere Still Impress
Yet, much like the first film, it’s Romania itself that makes the movie worth watching. The ruins of Castle Vladislav are even more majestic now, and visiting the moody streets of Bucharest with its surprisingly punk-rock nightlife made for a nice change of pace when compared to the original film’s quiet village setting. Once again, the abundance of interesting locations makes the movie feel much more expensive than it really is, with the filmmakers surrounding our characters with a living, breathing environment that would be impossible to recreate in a studio.
The increased freedom also allowed Nicolaou to flex his filmmaking muscles and tackle more ambitious blocking/composition in the sequel. The low budget and tropey script mean that the visuals don’t always work, but it’s consistently clear that this neo-expressionist style could only come from a passionate team attempting to pay homage to the shadowy horror classics of yesteryear. If the retro atmosphere isn’t enough for you, there’s enough practical gore here to satisfy even the most demanding of horror hounds!
Radu himself is also far more interesting now that Hove is more comfortable working alongside an international crew, with the actor having gone on record explaining that, while he spent more time drinking vodka than working while shooting the first movie, the sequel was a much more creatively satisfying experience for everyone involved. The character’s relationship with his abusive Mummy is also a highlight of the expanded mythology, especially since the practical effects that bring her to life are just as freaky now as they were back in ’93.
My only real gripe with the horror elements of the picture comes from the glaring absence of the diminutive stop-motion minions from the first film, though I guess the surprisingly entertaining addition of Professor Popescu (Michael Denish) and his archeological antics mostly make up for that.
Bloodstone: Subspecies II is obviously the middle chapter of a trilogy, with the ending feeling a lot less definitive than its predecessor as several plot threads are left to dangle in the wind, but I appreciate how the flick explores new ground while remaining faithful to nearly all the ideas that made the original such a good time. While I don’t think it’s as big of an improvement over the first movie as some fans make it out to be, Bloodstone is definitely worth revisiting if you’re a fan of old-fashioned vampire yarns.
Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion to this initial trilogy, Bloodlust: Subspecies III!
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