Editorials
‘The Pool’ – Diving into the German Slasher Movie 22 Years Later
While Germany wasn’t a significant contributor during the first revival of slasher movies, its few offerings are an interesting time capsule. These movies show how the country interpreted the subgenre during its postmodern era. Of all the homegrown German efforts from the early 2000s, The Pool (also known as Swimming Pool: Der Tod feiert mit) perhaps brings up the most nostalgia despite its vanishing act over the years. Boris von Sychowski’s vaguely remembered slasher didn’t make a huge splash back then, although that wasn’t from a lack of trying.
German slasher The Pool is openly set in Prague, yet the English dialogue, the rampant Hollywood movie clichés, and the generic pop-rock soundtrack all make American audiences feel more at home. The glaring Czech architecture and various accents, however, are constant reminders that the characters themselves are far from home. The adults and authority figures are either useless or plain nonexistent in the story, effectively leaving the teens to fend for themselves. Their autonomy eventually leads to trouble, of course.
At first, The Pool is guilty of the same inflexibility as other Scream imitators; the movie closely mirrors its progenitor’s design. In the predictable opening sequence, Anna Geislerová’s character Catherine is home alone and awaiting her boyfriend’s arrival when she’s caught off guard by the machete-wielding, incognito intruder. Although she has nothing on Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker, Catherine does, at one point, brandish a shotgun. After that, though, the movie continues as expected, and Catherine’s rushed demise is undiscovered until the conclusion. Her death, however, introduces the movie’s gimmick of pools. Not the pool but rather an incidental one.
Immediately after Catherine’s murder is a series of high-spirited scenes capturing the main characters’ last day as seniors. No one actually knows Catherine and her beau are dead yet, so the students at the International High School of Prague can be forgiven as they party it up after finals. This includes a secret afterparty following the official graduation festivities. Here then enters the indoor aquapark — a part of the real-life Centrum Babylon in Liberec — that evokes memories of ‘80s slashers like The Initiation, Chopping Mall, and Hide and Go Shriek. Similar to those movies, the characters here become trapped with their killer in a single location. This aquapark is luxurious and tacky all at the same time, but the venue quickly helps to distinguish The Pool from its contemporaries.
The story wastes little time assigning character types. The perceivable protagonist is Sarah (Kristen Miller), an affable but timid American whose biggest flaw is her trusting nature. In the vein of Sidney Prescott, Sarah was traumatized at an early age. And as one might guess, Sarah’s survival depends on overcoming this problem. She’s not as stereotypically virginal as other “Final Girls” in the genre, seeing as Sarah is shown post-coitus with boyfriend Gregor (Thorsten Grasshoff), but when juxtaposed with her hypersexual and provocative best friend Carmen (Elena Uhlig), she is the more inhibited of the two. Interestingly, though, Carmen defies all time-honored conventions regarding hypersexual characters in slashers. Carmen would be condemned in another movie, whereas the writers here not only spare her, they grant her the most character development.
The Pool boasts not one but two “before they were famous” actors. The first being Isla Fisher, whose wretched character Kim crosses paths with the killer before the titular pool even comes into view. Meanwhile, her sensitive boyfriend Mike is played by a rather broguish James McAvoy. At the time, viewers probably didn’t think twice about either of these actors’ characters as they fought for their lives on screen. Watching the movie now, the retroactive recognition is overwhelming.
It feels like a wasted opportunity to not have the characters all stay in their immediate environment; the large and expensive international school shown briefly in the first act could have been a serviceable deathtrap. The invasion of safe spaces is, after all, common in the slasher subgenre. However, moving the cast from their prep school to an extravagant aquapark doesn’t mean the movie’s conversation about privilege is axed. Isla Fisher’s character, a frustrated scholarship student, spews resentment all over her boyfriend before being done in by the killer. Mike, like his friends, comes from money and not a single one of them seems to care about their final exam results. Unlike Kim, they likely wouldn’t need good grades to advance in life anyway. The audience might feel guilty for taking delight in these entitled brats’ slaughter, but it’s not as if the writers pleaded their cases all that well. Seasoned viewers are also not unfamiliar with the schadenfreude quality of slashers both old and new.
The killer doesn’t have the most intimidating disguise, but he or she does look quite fashionable. The dressed-in-all-black assailant is seen in tight leather pants, combat boots, and a long-sleeved shirt with the most severe turtleneck. To make this look “scary,” a skull mask then tops off the whole ensemble. It’s less effective than Ghostface, yet this villain is unusually chic. Despite their smart outfit, the killer doesn’t pull their punches. They do some serious damage with a machete, including brutal set-pieces on a waterslide and inside an air duct. While those in charge of the movie’s audio may have been too eager during the action scenes, the pure and audible sound of the machete — be it slashing through the air, or burying the blade in someone or some hard surface — is oddly pleasing to the ear.
A frequent complaint about The Pool is its characters. Right away a number of actors have a language barrier to contend with, so trying to understand them can pose a challenge. More concerning, though, is how indistinguishable the characters are from one another. Whether it’s their similar clothes and hair, their cursory personalities, or simply the uninspired casting, certain characters are easily mixed up. The overstuffed cast does make the killer’s true identity less obvious, although viewers won’t be faulted if they ask “who?” once the mask finally comes off. Even their motive will lead to shrugs.
The simple and straightforward approach demonstrated here was once dismissed and taken for granted, but that unassuming execution is seen as charming and refreshing nowadays. It’s a flawed movie in many respects; the acting is all over the place, the dialogue is consistently awkward, and the plot holes start to amass. When viewed as a descendant of cheesier ‘80s slashers rather than a self-aware exercise from the meta period, though, The Pool is a great deal more enjoyable. Finding a copy isn’t easy, seeing as this movie hasn’t made its way to Blu-ray or streaming yet. Even so, those willing to take the plunge are guaranteed to have fun with The Pool.
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.
Soon after the New Hollywood generation took over the entertainment industry, they started having children. And more than any filmmakers that came before—they were terrified. Rosemary’s Baby (1968), The Exorcist (1973), The Omen (1976), Eraserhead (1977), The Brood (1979), The Shining (1980), Possession (1981), and many others all deal, at least in part, with the fears of becoming or being a parent. What if my child turns out to be a monster? is corrupted by some evil force? or turns out to be the fucking Antichrist? What if I screw them up somehow, or can’t help them, or even go insane and try to kill them? Horror has always been at its best when exploring relatable fears through extreme circumstances. A prime example of this is Larry Cohen’s 1974 monster-baby movie It’s Alive, which explores the not only the rollercoaster of emotions that any parent experiences when confronted with the difficulties of raising a child, but long-standing questions of who or what is at fault when something goes horribly wrong.
Cohen begins making his underlying points early in the film as Frank Davis (John P. Ryan) discusses the state of the world with a group of expectant fathers in a hospital waiting room. They discuss the “overabundance of lead” in foods and the environment, smog, and pesticides that only serve to produce roaches that are “bigger, stronger, and harder to kill.” Frank comments that this is “quite a world to bring a kid into.” This has long been a discussion point among people when trying to decide whether to have kids or not. I’ve had many conversations with friends who have said they feel it’s irresponsible to bring children into such a violent, broken, and dangerous world, and I certainly don’t begrudge them this. My wife and I did decide to have children but that doesn’t mean that it’s been easy.
Immediately following this scene comes It’s Alive’s most famous sequence in which Frank’s wife Lenore (Sharon Farrell) is the only person left alive in her delivery room, the doctors clawed and bitten to death by her mutant baby, which has escaped. “What does my baby look like!? What’s wrong with my baby!?” she screams as nurses wheel her frantically into a recovery room. The evening that had begun with such joy and excitement at the birth of their second child turned into a nightmare. This is tough for me to write, but on some level, I can relate to this whiplash of emotion. When my second child was born, they came about five weeks early. I’ll use the pronouns “they/them” for privacy reasons when referring to my kids. Our oldest was still very young and went to stay with my parents and we sped off to the hospital where my wife was taken into an operating room for an emergency c-section. I was able to carry our newborn into the NICU (natal intensive care unit) where I was assured that this was routine for all premature births. The nurses assured me there was nothing to worry about and the baby looked big and healthy. I headed to where my wife was taken to recover to grab a few winks assuming that everything was fine. Well, when I awoke, I headed back over to the NICU to find that my child was not where I left them. The nurse found me and told me that the baby’s lungs were underdeveloped, and they had to put them in a special room connected to oxygen tubes and wires to monitor their vitals.
It’s difficult to express the fear that overwhelmed me in those moments. Everything turned out okay, but it took a while and I’m convinced to this day that their anxiety struggles spring from these first weeks of life. As our children grew, we learned that two of the three were on the spectrum and that anxiety, depression, ADHD, and OCD were also playing a part in their lives. Parents, at least speaking for myself, can’t help but blame themselves for the struggles their children face. The “if only” questions creep in and easily overcome the voices that assure us that it really has nothing to do with us. In the film, Lenore says, “maybe it’s all the pills I’ve been taking that brought this on.” Frank muses aloud about how he used to think that Frankenstein was the monster, but when he got older realized he was the one that made the monster. The aptly named Frank is wondering if his baby’s mutation is his fault, if he created the monster that is terrorizing Los Angeles. I have made plenty of “if only” statements about myself over the years. “If only I hadn’t had to work so much, if only I had been around more when they were little.” Mothers may ask themselves, “did I have a drink, too much coffee, or a cigarette before I knew I was pregnant? Was I too stressed out during the pregnancy?” In other words, most parents can’t help but wonder if it’s all their fault.
At one point in the film, Frank goes to the elementary school where his baby has been sighted and is escorted through the halls by police. He overhears someone comment about “screwed up genes,” which brings about age-old questions of nature vs. nurture. Despite the voices around him from doctors and detectives that say, “we know this isn’t your fault,” Frank can’t help but think it is, and that the people who try to tell him it isn’t really think it’s his fault too. There is no doubt that there is a hereditary element to the kinds of mental illness struggles that my children and I deal with. But, and it’s a bit but, good parenting goes a long way in helping children deal with these struggles. Kids need to know they’re not alone, a good parent can provide that, perhaps especially parents that can relate to the same kinds of struggles. The question of nature vs. nurture will likely never be entirely answered but I think there’s more than a good chance that “both/and” is the case. Around the midpoint of the film, Frank agrees to disown the child and sign it over for medical experimentation if caught or killed. Lenore and the older son Chris (Daniel Holzman) seek to nurture and teach the baby, feeling that it is not a monster, but a member of the family.
It’s Alive takes these ideas to an even greater degree in the fact that the Davis Baby really is a monster, a mutant with claws and fangs that murders and eats people. The late ’60s and early ’70s also saw the rise in mass murderers and serial killers which heightened the nature vs. nurture debate. Obviously, these people were not literal monsters but human beings that came from human parents, but something had gone horribly wrong. Often the upbringing of these killers clearly led in part to their antisocial behavior, but this isn’t always the case. It’s Alive asks “what if a ‘monster’ comes from a good home?” In this case is it society, environmental factors, or is it the lead, smog, and pesticides? It is almost impossible to know, but the ending of the film underscores an uncomfortable truth—even monsters have parents.
As the film enters its third act, Frank joins the hunt for his child through the Los Angeles sewers and into the L.A. River. He is armed with a rifle and ready to kill on sight, having divorced himself from any relationship to the child. Then Frank finds his baby crying in the sewers and his fatherly instincts take over. With tears in his eyes, he speaks words of comfort and wraps his son in his coat. He holds him close, pats and rocks him, and whispers that everything is going to be okay. People often wonder how the parents of those who perform heinous acts can sit in court, shed tears, and defend them. I think it’s a complex issue. I’m sure that these parents know that their child has done something evil, but that doesn’t change the fact that they are still their baby. Your child is a piece of yourself formed into a whole new human being. Disowning them would be like cutting off a limb, no matter what they may have done. It doesn’t erase an evil act, far from it, but I can understand the pain of a parent in that situation. I think It’s Alive does an exceptional job placing its audience in that situation.
Despite the serious issues and ideas being examined in the film, It’s Alive is far from a dour affair. At heart, it is still a monster movie and filled with a sense of fun and a great deal of pitch-black humor. In one of its more memorable moments, a milkman is sucked into the rear compartment of his truck as red blood mingles with the white milk from smashed bottles leaking out the back of the truck and streaming down the street. Just after Frank agrees to join the hunt for his baby, the film cuts to the back of an ice cream truck with the words “STOP CHILDREN” emblazoned on it. It’s a movie filled with great kills, a mutant baby—created by make-up effects master Rick Baker early in his career, and plenty of action—and all in a PG rated movie! I’m telling you, the ’70s were wild. It just also happens to have some thoughtful ideas behind it as well.
Which was Larry Cohen’s specialty. Cohen made all kinds of movies, but his most enduring have been his horror films and all of them tackle the social issues and fears of the time they were made. God Told Me To (1976), Q: The Winged Serpent (1982), and The Stuff (1985) are all great examples of his socially aware, low-budget, exploitation filmmaking with a brain and It’s Alive certainly fits right in with that group. Cohen would go on to write and direct two sequels, It Lives Again (aka It’s Alive 2) in 1978 and It’s Alive III: Island of the Alive in 1987 and is credited as a co-writer on the 2008 remake. All these films explore the ideas of parental responsibility in light of the various concerns of the times they were made including abortion rights and AIDS.
Fifty years after It’s Alive was initially released, it has only become more relevant in the ensuing years. Fears surrounding parenthood have been with us since the beginning of time but as the years pass the reasons for these fears only seem to become more and more profound. In today’s world the conversation of the fathers in the waiting room could be expanded to hormones and genetic modifications in food, terrorism, climate change, school and other mass shootings, and other threats that were unknown or at least less of a concern fifty years ago. Perhaps the fearmongering conspiracy theories about chemtrails and vaccines would be mentioned as well, though in a more satirical fashion, as fears some expectant parents encounter while endlessly doomscrolling Facebook or Twitter. Speaking for myself, despite the struggles, the fears, and the sadness that sometimes comes with having children, it’s been worth it. The joys ultimately outweigh all of that, but I understand the terror too. Becoming a parent is no easy choice, nor should it be. But as I look back, I can say that I’m glad we made the choice we did.
I wonder if Frank and Lenore can say the same thing.
‘Infested’ Review – One of the Best Spiders Attack Horror Movies in Years
Dev Patel’s ‘Monkey Man’ Is Now Available to Watch at Home!
Five Underseen Vampire Horror Movies to Stream This Week
‘Stream’ – Horror Movie from the Team Behind ‘Terrifier’ Sets August Theatrical Release
Limited Edition ‘Creature from the Black Lagoon’ Monster High Doll Releasing This Week!
You must be logged in to post a comment.