Editorials
‘They Look Like People’ and the Horror of Schizophrenia [Unveiling The Mind]
Welcome to Unveiling The Mind. This bi-monthly column explores psychological horror and representations of mental illness within the genre.
Along with Dissociative Identity Disorder, Schizophrenia is another mental illness that finds itself popping up in many horror films. The disorder involves hallucinations, delusions, and other cognitive problems – which can all lead to depression, substance abuse and even push one to suicide. Yet, in horror films and thrillers, Schizophrenia can often be played up for suspense. With particular attention to hallucinations and delusions, many filmmakers have used the disorder to highlight characters spiraling into manic violence (e.g. Michael Shannon’s character in Bug). There’s a hell of a lot more to Schizophrenia of course – having the disorder is not a one way to ticket to becoming a movie villain.
They Look Like People, written and directed by Perry Blackshear and released in 2005, is a film that heavily focuses on Schizophrenia. Though it involves minimal fantastical elements, They Look Like People offers a grounded, heartbreaking view of the illness – and it makes for one of the most intriguing psychological films I’ve ever seen. Spoilers ahead.
They Look Like People follows Wyatt, a young man who believes there are demons planning an attack. The first scene shows Wyatt lying in bed; it’s late in the evening and there is only a little moonlight making its way into the room. There is a woman in the bed facing away from him. He stares at the back of her heard, watching as she rolls over. As his facial expression becomes more anxious, the camera then shifts and rests on the woman’s face; given how dark the room is, it’s impossible to see if her eyes are open or what she looks like. This opening scene establishes the sense of tension that Wyatt displays throughout the film. His belief is that the demons look like regular people at first, but that their true face is mutated and monstrous.
After this, Wyatt makes his way to meet up with an old friend named Christian. Upon connecting with one another, Christian offers for Wyatt to stay at his place. While Christian is preparing for a date, Wyatt makes his way to the building basement and tapes a knife under a table. The two eventually head out for a double date that involves Christian’s supervisor Mara. From there, They Look Like People follows the day to day life of Wyatt and Christian.
What won me over with this film was the depiction of Wyatt’s Schizophrenia. Though his beliefs and actions do help to bring about suspense and unease throughout the film, they are represented in a realistic fashion. Very little is over hyped, and instead, the audience is given a stark look at the horrors of this illness.
An element I’ve picked up in numerous films involving some sort of delusional character is the immediate cry of denial – “I’m not Schizophrenic!” or “I know the truth, you can’t tell me I’m wrong!” There’s a scene where Wyatt goes to meet up with a psychiatrist, and within their conversation, he expresses how he does not think he’s schizophrenic and how he has researched stuff online. This may not be much, but it is a different kind of denial than what the audience may be used to. Wyatt is not out right saying “I don’t have this,” instead, he’s making an effort to learn and speak to someone about his issues (even if his fears end up getting the best of him). This quality is further extended when we see Christian later confront Wyatt about the illogic behind a demonic presence and attack. Though Wyatt initially shoots down Christian for being ignorant, he eventually does realize his beliefs are not rational.
It should go without saying, but those who have Schizophrenia aren’t entirely devoid of self-awareness and reality. Though the scenes are brief, the audience does see Wyatt openly acknowledge the irrationality of his beliefs. Some may see this as a small detail, but I really thought it was significant to include. Throughout movie history, so many characters with mental illness are made to look incompetent – like they can’t tell what is real or not, or that they can’t take care of themselves. Are there disorders that do render people into that sort of state? Yes there are, but psychology is extremely far more nuanced with specific situations and brain chemistry needing to be considered. Showing that Wyatt can address this aspect of himself displays a sense of self-awareness and adds depth to his character.
Along with his consistent anxiety, the audience primarily experiences Wyatt’s Schizophrenia through his visual and auditory hallucinations. The auditory stuff takes place via random phone calls he will get late at night. A muddled voice will speak to him, talking about the looming threat to come, or how he was chosen to see the demons, or how he can’t trust anyone. There’s also a consistent ringing sound that appears throughout the film whenever his nervousness intensifies.
Regarding the visuals, there are only ever two instances where the audience sees the “demons” that Wyatt is so afraid of. When looking through a box in Christian’s apartment, he comes across a photo of himself with his ex-fiancée, her eyes black and face distorted. In a conversation with Mara, her eyes go white and her mouth stretches to inhuman lengths. Another visual aspect comes in the form of the “mutations” he sees. A moment early in the film calls back to that scene of Wyatt lying in bed with the woman (who the viewer learns is his ex-fiancée). When the camera settles on her face, the sound of crackling and stretching begin to play; it’s difficult to see what is actually taking place, but one can pick out small movements of her face shifting.
On a horror level, each of these hallucinations play into the film’s overall use of tension and dread. Visually, though the distorted faces are creepy, it’s the scenes involving the mutations that come across as the most disturbing – ironically because one can’t see what is taking place. Though there are minor glimpses of the demonic looking faces, one can’t picture the exact horror and change taking place in the dark – one can’t imagine how something that appears human could just change into a monster.
They Look Like People isn’t so much a slow burn film as it is a mindful study. Whereas other films may take that set up to explore a character’s ever intensifying mania – Wyatt remains mostly calm (though he is intensely anxious). However, he does have his moments that spark a sense of physical concern. There is a scene where he unpacks a bunch of weapons he bought from a nearby hardware store; hell, he’s later shown standing on a roof top pointing a nail gun at people. Though he does not harm anyone with the nail gun, and has a moment where he contemplates killing himself, there is a moment where it is questioned whether Wyatt has harmed someone (but this is never answered).
Besides a few moments of outwardly aggression, the film’s focus is on Wyatt’s day to day paranoia. This progression can stir an anxiety within the viewer. Because of other horror films in the past, one is trained in a sense to keep an eye on an unhinged attitude – just how long will it be until he snaps? Wyatt’s condition is much more drawn out, though.
And with his cautiousness, with all his worries and illogical behavior and beliefs – one can’t help but feel bad for him. When it comes to the specific horror They Look Like People is going for, the film isn’t striving to focus on whether there’s an apocalypse or not, but more so highlighting the mental hell that Wyatt is carrying. Through its grounded approach, the film exudes a constant air of heartbreak and worry.
It is by the end of the film that the viewer finds Wyatt in his most riddled state of paranoia. On the day that the war is supposedly to kick off, Wyatt leads Christian down into the building basement, both of them dressing up in hazmat suits. By this point in the film, Christian is in a depressive state; he recently has lost his job and Mara is not interested in him. His narrative has primarily focused on his insecurities; his fear of coming off weak and his efforts to appear macho. It is only by the end of the second act that Christian becomes aware of Wyatt’s fears. Throughout the film, though there are some rough patches, their friendship becomes strong, with each finding a comfort in the other.
The fear suddenly comes upon Wyatt that Christian may be a demon. Christian calls him out on this and offers for Wyatt to tie him up (as a sign of trust). Wyatt ties Christian up and places a bag over his head. As the lights go out, Wyatt begins to hear one of the voices from an old phone call. The sounds of crackling and shifting bone are heard from under the bag, providing the assumption that Christian’s transformation is underway. But, in each step that Wyatt takes towards Christian, a realization comes over him – this is a delusion. He then stops himself, unties Christian and they both embrace.
Along with the characters, the viewers are dropped into a downright horrifying situation, left on the edge of their seat to see how far Wyatt will go. The decision to have him come to coherent senses is not only a tremendous upswing for the character and the audience, but also a brilliant display of logic and understanding found in individuals struggling with mental illness. Unlike other horror movies, They Look Like People is never trying to convince the viewer that this individual is totally mad or the bad guy – but that he needs help (and that, to some degree, knows he needs help).
They Look Like People is a phenomenal experience. Not only does it make for a superb horror film, but it also stands as an incredible display of mental illness representation. For anyone interested in learning how to write characters struggling with mental illness, this is a film to watch. They Look Like People is a type of horror that offers a grim, realistic view of horrendous mental anguish. I can’t recommend it enough. If you enjoy psychological horror or films with brilliant psychology to them, then They Look Like People is an absolute must see.
Thank you all for reading this month’s Unveiling The Mind. See you in December.
The great Ernest Dickerson turns seventy-five years old this month, so we’re looking back at his most memorable contribution to the horror genre – 1995’s Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight!
The film hit screens while the Tales from the Crypt series was winding down its run on television, and it stands apart with a story that feels a step or two removed from the franchise norm. That was the smart play, though, as the show’s stories – and those from the original EC comics – work best in short bites. The result is a film that holds up beautifully as a gory good time.
Now keep reading to see what I heard on the commentary for…
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995)
Commentator: Ernest Dickerson (director), Michael Felsher (moderator)
1. Dickerson was in post-production on Surviving the Game when he got a call from his agent saying that producer Gil Adler wanted to meet about a Tales from the Crypt feature film. It went well, so Dickerson met with Joel Silver next and secured the job.
2. The original screenplay for the film came to the producers as a spec script wholly detached from the Tales from the Crypt brand. They added the Crypt Keeper (voiced by John Kassir) bookends to make it fit.
3. Dickerson was more familiar with the original EC comic books having read them as a kid, but he had watched a few episodes of the HBO series, so he knew what the current vibe was for the project.
4. Adler directed the film’s wraparound segments, meaning Dickerson never actually got to work with the creepy puppet. “Gil and the Crypt Keeper had a great relationship,” he adds, “they worked together for years.”
5. While he was new to the Tales from the Crypt family, Dickerson had previously worked as a director of photography on the Tales from the Darkside anthology series. That show is underappreciated in my humble opinion, and I will go to bat for both it and the equally underloved Monsters.
6. A big appeal of the horror genre for Dickerson is the idea of dark mysteries that challenge our imagination. For this film, that came down to the mythology being created between the characters.
7. Five executive producers are listed in the opening credits, but Dickerson says the only two he had dealings with were Silver and Richard Donner. The other three were Walter Hill, Robert Zemeckis, and David Giler.
8. Dickerson had only ever seen Billy Zane in movies with a full head of hair, so he was surprised when Zane showed up on the first day with a bald head. “He had this case, and he opened up the case that he had all these hair pieces in, and he says, ‘So which one of these do you think I should use?’” Dickerson looked at him and suggested he just go bald for the character.
9. While the bulk of the opening exteriors were filmed in a desert just outside Los Angeles, the shot of the old church at 11:26 was created on a warehouse hangar soundstage where the film’s interiors were shot.
10. When he had read the script, Dickerson pictured the character of Jeryline (Jada Pinkett Smith) “as a little, tough lady.” He had recently seen Smith in Menace II Society, and while the producers had someone else in mind for the role, he fought to get her instead.
11. Just as Zane surprised Dickerson with his hair (or lack thereof), Smith arrived on the first day with her hair dyed platinum white. He “liked the idea” but asked her to please get it tweaked so it looked more yellowish blond. “It’s definitely a statement.”
12. He had seen Brenda Bakke in the 1989 sci-fi/action film from Japan, Gunhed, and thought she’d be great here as Cordelia. The rest of us might recognize her from Death Spa or Trucks.
13. Felsher comments that the film’s setup does a good job not telegraphing who’s going to live or die, and he uses the “nice guy” (Charles Fleischer) and “the kid” (Ryan O’Donohue) as examples. “You don’t play by those rules here,” he says, and Dickerson replies that he wanted to subvert those rules. That extends to Smith as well because she’s Black, “and usually in movies like this they’re the first folks to die.”
14. Dickerson says they had forty days of filming, “which, the way I’m used to working, was a very generous schedule.” It was budgeted at around $10 million.
15. This probably won’t surprise you, but Zane improvised the bit at 26:25 after he jumps out the window and says, “Fuck this cowboy shit! You fuckin’, hodunk Podunk, well, then, motherfuckers!”
16. In the original script, the demons that The Collector (Zane) raises from the dirt actually looked more like the people they used to be. “They were more human,” but the very smart decision was made in pre-production to make them look far more unique instead.
17. The demons are killed by shooting their eyes, but Dickerson felt there should be one more element to it. “Shoot out their eyes, you gotta duck because the souls come shooting out, and if it hits ya, boom, it can kill ya.” This is a fun touch.
18. He’s been asked more than once if these demons are where Peter Jackson got the idea for how the orcs would look in his Lord of the Rings movies. “They do look like orcs.”
19. He recalls having seen Ronny Yu’s The Bride with White Hair shortly before going to work on Demon Knight, and he hoped to bring some of that staged style into his own film. An example of that in practice is Brayker’s (William Sadler) brief flashbacks to Christ on the cross.
20. Character deaths were mostly based on the idea that “each person’s downfall was going to be predicated by their weakness.” The Collector discovers someone’s weakness and then uses it against them. Cordelia wants to be loved, Jeryline wants to travel, Uncle Willy (Dick Miller) is a horndog for both liquor and ladies, Danny loves horror comics, etc.
21. Dickerson says that plenty of genre classics were in the back of his head while making the film, including Assault on Precinct 13, Alien, Aliens, and more.
22. Cordelia is possessed into a demonic form, and Dickerson’s idea for how she’d look was originally a bit different. “Since Cordelia was a prostitute, I thought that her mouth should actually be a vertical slit that was in her stomach… which would open up with teeth and a tongue.” It was nixed, he says, when “the wife of one of the producers read that and said ‘no way you’re putting that in the movie.’”
23. The key makes an appearance in the followup, Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood, but it wasn’t originally meant to. Apparently, early test audiences expected it to be a more connected sequel to Demon Knight, so the filmmakers added it in to appease them. This is where I go on record saying that Bordello of Blood is a fun time. Can’t touch Demon Knight, obviously, but it’s more entertaining than its reputation suggests.
24. They had to film Uncle Willy’s bar scene “dream” twice, once with the women topless and once with them in bikinis, to have versions for both theaters and television broadcast. “Dick’s a pro.” (To be fair, Dickerson says this in regard to Miller having to endure the makeup application, but the sentiment fits both situations, so…)
25. Dickerson says he’s “always amazed at the love that people show this film,” and adds that fans bring it up to him incredibly often. This is great to hear, as we should always be telling artists how much their work means to us while they’re still alive and able to hear it.
26. Zane also suggested the gag at 1:08:21 with the sponge coming out of his mouth. The beat reminds Dickerson to praise the actor even more, adding that he was an “ally” to the director when “bad ideas” came down from the studio suits.
27. He didn’t get any pushback on killing little Danny. He did insist on one added element, though, as he wanted to immediately follow the boy exploding in the air with a shot of his bloody and torn sneaker hitting the ground below. “And the sneaker had to be a hightop.”
28. Dickerson says there’s “something kinky sexy about” Smith being covered in blood, and then the two commentators go quiet for almost two minutes out of respect for the scene. It’s a good opportunity to reflect on how Dickerson had previously mentioned Alien and Aliens as films being in the back of his head during filming, and how two scenes here reflect that – Jeryline stripping down to her underwear for the final confrontation feels like a nod to Ridley Scott’s film, while an earlier scene with Irene (CCH Pounder) and Dep. Bob (Gary Farmer) realizing they’re surrounded and choosing to blow themselves up alongside some of the demons is something of a callback to the air vent sacrifice in James Cameron’s film.
29. Asked about the film’s critical reception at the time of release, Dickerson says it received good reviews from horror-loving critics and then talks about the importance of horror in general. “Horror has always been a great way of putting out ideas, of talking about some of the things that affect us as people. Some of the best horror, like the best science fiction, talks about what it’s like to be human. Some of the best horror gets very political.”
30. The original ending would have featured The Collector showing “his true self, which is a demon made of fire.” They spent a lot of time trying to make it work, but it was “extremely difficult… back in the day of analog effects.” It was rewritten into the faceoff between him and Jeryline featuring the dancing, the crotch fire, Zane’s attempts at saying “love,” and his eventual demise from her bloody spit.
31. They both agree that a direct sequel to Demon Knight could be a lot of fun, but Dickerson says he’s unaware of any talk on the possibility.
32. Dickerson was super excited about this new Scream Factory Blu-ray in 2015, and he mentions that before its release, he had imported a Blu-ray from Germany presumably to enjoy the film in HD. He’s just like us! (Or am I the only one here who’s imported a German Blu-ray of the much maligned werewolf flick Big Bad Wolf…)
Quotes Without Context
“I was so happy to get Dick Miller for this movie.”
“There was a time when guys used to put ketchup on everything.”
“I’m a big student of Hitchcock, and the best way to make a moment of horror work is to lull the audience into a false sense of security.”
“A villain should always be the most interesting person in a movie.”
“They were a really great bunch of performers who were performing on these little leg-extension stilts wearing a diaper that had a radio-controlled tail that was being manipulated by a special effects tech right out of the frame.”
“It’s hard to direct air; it doesn’t do what you want.”
“The only censorship problem came from the producer’s wife, who didn’t want the vagina dentalis [sic] in the movie.”
“One of the executives wanted to know why the devil didn’t try to have sex with Jada.”
“It always starts with the script.”
Keep up with more horror commentary breakdowns here.
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