Editorials
‘Haunt’ – Escaping Literal and Metaphorical Haunted Houses in the 2019 Slasher Movie [Young Blood]
Extreme haunts aren’t for the faint of heart. Over the years, these gonzo attractions have developed a reputation for roughing up their brave visitors and subjecting them to disgusting and depraved acts. From eating cockroaches to being nailed shut in a coffin, guests are practically tortured before they can exit. Yet despite their notorious practices, an extreme haunt obviously isn’t going to kill anyone, no matter how real or dangerous everything might seem, or how far they go with a scenario. That’s of course where horror movies take over; they defy reality and fulfill the audience’s expectations. And like those that came before it, Haunt wants to make sure its patrons have a hell of a story to tell — so long as they can make it out alive.
Harper (Katie Stevens), the central character of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods’ 2019 movie Haunt, only begins to examine the effects of her traumatic upbringing after she enters an extreme haunted house on Halloween night. Until then, Harper’s main concern is her abusive boyfriend Sam (Samuel Hunt); he’s given her a black eye since they last met. Concerned roommate Bailey (Lauryn McClain) encourages Harper to end things with Sam, however it’s going to take more than one “it’s over” text message to make Sam or these constant ill feelings go away.
Before stepping foot inside the ill-fated haunt, Harper and Bailey (Lauryn McClain) meet up with friends both old and new. Harper catches the eye of Nathan (Will Brittain), whose flirtatious icebreaker takes her by surprise. “Nothing scary ever happened to you?” he asks after describing the injury that caused him to quit baseball. Like other folks who grew up in dysfunction and/or abuse, Harper instinctively lies — “I had a really great childhood” — before slightly adjusting her answer without being too forthcoming. There’s always that fear of scaring new people away before they get to really know you and see you as more than your scars.
Once inside the movie’s main venue, Harper and her pals are split up into two groups of three; one half takes the maze route marked as “safe” while the other follows the “not safe” route. Regardless of direction, each path is full of unavoidable obstacles and dangers. The antagonists — a traveling clan of themed “actors” whose grotesque faces are hidden behind masks — don’t initially interact with their guests too much, but that’s only because they’re biding their time and letting the haunt do its job first. This current batch of prey is nicked, tormented and broken down, then lulled into a sense of false security as one of the performers, The Ghost (Chaney Morrow), ingratiates himself with Harper and the others.
Many people go to extreme haunts because they want to be challenged and pushed to their limits. They want to feel unsafe in a way that horror movies and static haunted houses can’t fully satisfy. These active, elaborate and hands-on attractions are designed to pull guests out of their comfort zones. For someone like Harper, though, she left her comfort zone ages ago. She has built a few safe spaces here and there to keep herself going when life starts to get out of control and become too much to handle. Harper’s circumstances and past have naturally caused her to be more wary than others, yet it’s her life experience that makes her better prepared for what comes next. After all, she herself said she grew up in a haunted house.
Extreme haunts work by evoking intense emotions, with fear being the primary target. Hit someone with enough menacing and adrenaline-inducing stimuli in a short amount of time, while also stranding them in the dark, and they’re bound to be frightened and vulnerable. Harper is by no means alone as she succumbs to the haunt’s tactics; no one here gets out unscathed, if they even get out at all. Yet it is Harper who’s the most emotionally charged by her immediate environment. As the other characters deal with their own hellish journeys and attempts at escape, Harper eventually finds herself trapped in what looks to be a kid’s bedroom. Her hiding under the bed to evade one of the haunt’s murderous performers incidentally brings up bad memories of her childhood; she recalls witnessing her father abuse her mother from the exact same viewpoint.
From here on out, Haunt becomes a sort of fantasy for anyone who has ever felt powerless to stop the hurtful people in their life. The red killer, The Devil (Damian Maffei), thinks Harper has been weakened enough to where he can finally move in for the kill. She’s been intimidated, injured and isolated from everyone else. Just the opposite, though, Harper suddenly finds the strength to stand up for both herself and, in a way, her mother. For the remainder of the movie, Harper aggressively unpacks years of frustration, dismay and anger as she takes down her attackers, one by one.
Haunt is by and large a slasher, but the movie doesn’t forget to study its protagonist on a psychological level. Supplementing the measured violence is a backstory that neither feels exploitative nor unnatural. Giving Harper something tangible to fight, while also acknowledging what she’s been battling on the inside all her life, improves the overall story. There is more than the fundamental desire to survive a grave situation playing out here; there is a visible attempt at creating change and growth in Harper, as seen in her dreams and the movie’s conclusion.
The outcome of Haunt feels almost surreal once Harper and her fellow survivor escape their long ordeal. Shockingly there’s none of the standard open-endedness often seen in these kinds of horror movies; it’s a hard-and-fast finish that, once again, feeds into the story’s fantasy appeal. A survivor of various abuses successfully defeats her personal demons. The third act comes across as a touch too rushed and cleanly wrapped up, but to those people who hope to escape their own haunted houses, it’s surely the type of ending they can take delight in.
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.
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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