🎬 #127 In Anticipation.
This week I’m focusing on two films that aren’t out yet, in the UK at least. So I haven’t seen them, I’m basing my feelings purely from the trailers, which are both excellent. Both are horror/thrillers, both have an independent feel, and both feel equally intense.
Happy choosing, happy future viewing
Bry
FILM ONE: LONGLEGS
2024 Dir Osgood Perkins
1 hr 41 mins
There are few variations of the trailer for Longlegs, but my personal favourite is the one above. Mainly because it feels less classically structured.
The atmosphere that bubbles up from the trailer is that of the horror that lurks in very lonely banality. Inside small town American homes, in snowy woods, in the corners of the debris of domestic life. The sickness inducing beiges of the production design, the unsettling make-up design, it all comes together to create a rich world that’s like a blend of Se7en and Silence of The Lambs. The only thing I wished they did was not have the billing of Nic Cage in the trailer, just as they didn’t bill Spacey as John Doe in any of the promotional materials of Se7en.
The trailer promises a disturbing look into the psychology of the pursuit of a killer, as well as the horrific aspects of it. Tension, dread-filled and bleak. Excited to see it.
TL;DR: Perkins’ film feels like an exciting addition to the serial-killer hunter genre.
*Available only in cinemas in the US.
Fact: Apparently Nic Cage and Osgood made the film as a tribute to their mothers. 👀
FILM TWO: IN A VIOLENT NATURE
2024 Dir Chris Nash
1 hrs 34 mins
Again like Longlegs, there are a few available trailers but this one is my favourite. The instant appeal of this for me was the visceral blend of gorgeous, peaceful nature with the horrific other. Scenes of the pure bucolic and the presence of the unstoppable force at the centre of the frame. Like a wind-up toy of murder, as omnipresent as a mountain, a mechanism as universal as time - as just as free from negotiation. The fact that it feels like a force that can not be reckoned with touches at a point deep within us all. The fact that all our lives will come to an end and there’s not much we can do about it.
It also reminded me a bit of To The White Sea - the James Dickey novel. Similar themes of a killing rampage set against the epic scale of the natural world. It feels very pure, very entertaining and a unique take on the slasher. Long, slow dread.
TL;DR: Nash’s Sundance selected feature demands a look with its blend of horror and awe-inspiring nature, not to mention its excellent title.
*Available in cinemas and for a small rental fee on Apple and Amazon in the US, not available as of yet in the UK.
Fact: Nash says that at least 70% of the film was reshot, among other things, because he wasn’t happy with the original location.