Movies
[Review] Netflix’s ‘The Platform’ Is Grotesque and Compelling Horror Satire
Editor’s Note: This TIFF review was originally published on September 12, 2019.
‘Wealth is finite’ seems to be a trend at TIFF this year, with movies like Parasite and even Knives Out having characters that, in order to achieve financial security, see themselves forced to take someone down from the metaphorical socioeconomic ladder. Galder Gaztelu-Irrutia‘s The Platform takes that concept and makes it literal, in a grotesque, thrilling, and quite funny movie about a giant vertical prison and a massive tray with enough food for all prisoners that gets sent down floor to floor, with the tray being picked clean by the time it reaches the bottom.
We first meet Goreng (Iván Massagué) as he’s waking up in a cold, gray cell lit by bright blue lights, with no decorations and a giant hole in the middle of the floor and the ceiling, connecting their cell in level 48 with the countless others in a prison they call The Pit. He is welcomed by his new cellmate Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor), who explains how things work around their new home. Every day of the month, a massive pile of food featuring every meal imaginable is lowered down from the top level to the bottom. If you’re at the top you get the feast of your life; the lower down you are, the less food you get, with the lower levels resorting to other sources of nutrition.
There is enough food for every single prisoner, but when Goreng dares suggest they portion out the food for the levels below, Trimagasi laughs at his proposition, calling him a communist. Instead, the old Trimagasi is happy eating the scraps he gets, and spitting on the rest of the food to feel powerful about his position. His reasoning being that they’d do the same to him, and every month they may have a chance to, since every survivor gets assigned a new level at random at the end of the month – no matter your behavior.
Credit should go to screenwriters David Desola and Pedro Rivera who, together with Gaztelu-Irrutia, masterfully weave exposition with world building so as to not overwhelm the audience with information, but reveal new layers of the maze little by little – usually through hilarious dialogue delivered by Eguileor. The first act of the movie is dialogue-heavy, which makes sense given the original plan to release The Platform as a stage play, but the chemistry and banter between Eguileor and Massagué is palpable, and you can’t help but wish you could stay with these two characters for longer before the story descends into chaos and bloodshed. Eguileor gives a nasty and delightful performance that is at times over-the-top supervillain, and at times a sweet and tender old man who might have dreams of becoming Hannibal Lecter. Massagué, on the other hand, carries the emotional weight of the movie on his shoulders, which he manages to do while also being able to handle the more grotesque elements of the movie as well as the little but effective action we see.
Though we mostly stay confined in one location, the production design of The Platform makes the most of its gray box set-piece. The Pit comes to life mostly through the disgusting shots of the food coming down the platform, with dirty fingers stuffing mouths with all kinds of food in extreme close-ups. The film also manages to make every level feel a bit different from the other, even if they’re literally the same set.
The Platform could have easily been another movie about how the rich suck and how we should eat them all. Instead Gaztelu-Irrutia is interested in exploring how the poor devour each other and our seemingly innate inability to be good without incentive or threat. Though it is obviously seen through the eyes of someone who believes in capitalism, the movie doesn’t necessarily try to point fingers at anyone and say that there’s only one right way to do things. What the movie is really interested in is holding a mirror in front of the audience and asking what you would do in that situation. What would you do if you found yourself in level 1 and how would you act if you were in level 200? The message isn’t what matters, the movie argues, but how you deliver your message. Will you threaten people to follow you? Or make them think it was their idea to follow you?
The Platform takes full advantage of its isolated setting and small cast to instead focus on a high concept, a tight script, and sharp dialogue that will make you laugh as often as it will make you think. This is a funny, heartfelt, at times disgusting, yet also thought-provoking sci-fi thriller that reminds of Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, but with way better food.
The Platform will be streaming on Netflix this Friday, March 20th.
The problem with filming sequels back-to-back is that, unless you can afford expensive reshoots, there’s no easy way to adjust course in between movies if fans react badly to where the story is headed. That’s why it’s important to have a complete narrative thought out well in advance lest you accidentally kill a budding franchise.
However, this isn’t always the case. Every once in a while, it seems like the cinema gods smile upon certain chaotic productions and gift moviegoers with complete franchises that feel like more than the sum of their hastily produced parts. Ted Nicolaou’s Bloodlust: Subspecies III is precisely one of these miraculous pictures, with the raw talents of the artists involved (as well as the continued support from Romania) turning the feature into an effective conclusion for a series that kind of made things up as the filmmakers went along.
That’s why I’d like to invite my fellow readers to join me on this third part of our journey through the Subspecies franchise as we look into Bloodlust and talk about how it remains a surprisingly satisfying finale to the original trilogy.
A Trilogy Planned on the Fly
Released only a year after Bloodstone found plenty of success in rental stores and mail-in VHS catalogues worldwide, 1994’s Bloodlust was produced at the same time as its predecessor in (mostly) the same locations and with the same team. This means that the movie benefited from all the same upgrades as Bloodstone, with the crew now being more experienced with the ins and outs of surviving a low-budget Romanian production and the cast really settling into their characters.
At this point, everything from location scouting to the makeup process had been streamlined, with Wayne Toth and Norman Cabrera, the main duo behind special effects, even switching out time-consuming prosthetics for latex gloves in order to speed up Anders Hove’s monstrous transformation. The titular “subspecies” demons were also once again relegated to a mere cameo appearance due to the laborious puppetry required to bring them to life.
The only real hiccup came from the fact that actress Denice Duff had replaced the first film’s Michelle (Laura Mae Tate) and was immediately expected to portray the character as both an innocent victim in part II and as a secondary villain in part III. According to behind-the-scenes interviews, the hectic production schedule that blended two different movies meant that Duff would often find herself having to alternate between two incredibly different versions of Michelle during the same shooting day – though it’s obvious that she’s having more fun with Bloodlust’s more traditionally vampiric version of her character.
In the finished film, we pick things up immediately where the previous entry left off as Rebecca (Melanie Shatner) is forced to leave her vampire sister Michelle (Duff) behind in the dungeons of Castle Vladislav due to the rising sun. This allows Mummy (Pamela Gordon) to use Michelle’s blood to revive the vicious Radu (Hove) so that he may continue his quest for the coveted Bloodstone – a magical artifact that perpetually drips the Blood of Saints.
Meanwhile, the dreamy US embassy agent Mel (Kevin Blair) agrees to help Rebecca plan a rescue mission, though they’re unaware that Radu has become infatuated with Michelle during his attempts to guide her growing bloodlust. This all culminates in a climactic confrontation meant to tie up all of the series’ loose ends in one of Full Moon Pictures’ most ambitious productions.
The Evolution of Radu
Like its predecessor, Bloodlust: Subspecies III was also warmly received by fans who argued that the series was an even bigger success than Full Moon’s other major horror franchise, Puppet Master. This praise wasn’t unanimous, however, as 1994 had seen the rise of a more modern breed of sexy vampire popularized by Anne Rice, with old-school Nosferatu like Radu being viewed as obsolete when compared to the likes of Lestat and Gary Oldman’s take on Dracula.
In a way, one might argue that Nicolaou’s film is something of a swan song for the classic vampire story, as Bloodlust combines all of the traditional elements we tend to associate with these tales into a single tragic yarn that ties a neat little bow on Radu’s story as well as the old-fashioned monster movies that he represents. The finale remains shocking despite the fact that this is the third time we see Radu get brutally killed onscreen, with the brief tease that he may one day return feeling more like a nod towards the nature of evil rather than sequel bait.
The film dabbles a bit in gothic romance and even explores the inherent power fantasy behind transforming into an immortal creature of the night, but the filmmakers never lose sight of Radu as a demonic force even when he’s willing to betray his beloved Mummy for Michelle’s sake. In fact, his twisted “love” for his fledgling makes him even creepier as we get the feeling that his passion comes from a dark and disturbing place.
Anders Hove is at his absolute best in this film, with the effects department boosting his moments of what the younger generation would call “aura farming” whenever Radu emerges from shadows like a 90s version of Count Orlok. There are even a couple of surprisingly effective jump-scares here, which is why I’d argue that Bloodlust cements Radu as one of the most memorable cinematic vampires of all time despite his humble origins.
Subspecies Saves Its Best For Last
Nicolaou and Vlad Panescu also saved the best for “last” (more on that in a bit) regarding the film’s visuals, with the cinematography and overall atmosphere of Bloodlust absolutely surpassing what we saw in the previous films. Everything feels appropriately climactic this time around (including the wonderful soundtrack that was co-composed alongside an authentic Romanian orchestra), and I appreciate how this is the fastest-paced entry in the trilogy since the film doesn’t need to waste time setting anything up.
Bloodlust still suffers from some of the same low-budget blemishes as its predecessors, but there’s so much creative passion here that no amount of wonky effects work or stilted dialogue can get in the way of appreciating the flick’s gothic grandeur. That’s why it’s not surprising that the movie’s definitive(-ish) ending would later be retconned as fans begged for more Radu.
Of course, the next entry in this series would be a different kind of vampiric endeavor altogether, with the filmmakers attempting to engage with the same trends that ultimately killed Radu and his antiquated kin. That, however, is a story for another time. For now, I’ll merely insist that Bloodlust: Subspecies III remains a highlight of Full Moon’s expansive catalogue and is definitely worth seeking out today.
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