Fantastic Fest ’18: Werewolf

After the horror came a coda of terror for these painfully young survivors. They were liberated from a concentration camp by the Russians, only to be abandoned in a remote improvised orphanage. Unfortunately, they are still threatened by demons, both external and internal, in Adrian Panek’s Werewolf (trailer here), which had its international premiere at the 2018 Fantastic Fest.

Nobody turns feral when the full moon rises in this film. These werewolves are metaphorical, referring to the beasts we keep at bay inside. However, there really is a pack of vicious dogs. They are sort of like the canines in White God, but less allegorical and really in no way supernatural.

Ranging from five-ish to the twenty-year-old Hanka, the children have been deposited in a crumbling grand manor house, under the supervision of the bereaved Jadwiga. Alas, their sardonic protector will not last long, leaving them to face the pack of snarling dogs that surrounds their new home completely on their own. The children will be prisoners within the house, forgotten by the not-so compassionate Russians. With food and water running short, they will have to start improvising. Unfortunately, there is also dissension within, stemming from Janek and Wladek’s romantic interest in Hanka and resentment over the former’s German nationality.

This is a film that could have gone perilously wrong in so many ways, but Panek always keeps it on the right side and totally on solid ground. We see the various survival strategies that have been ingrained into the children, but even when Janek is at his worst, he still very clearly remains a traumatized little boy, whom we have sympathy for.

Sonia Mietielica, Nicolas Przgoda, and Kamil Polnisiak are all quite remarkable as Hanka, Janek, and Wladek, respectively. They each portray deeply wounded characters, in mature and challenging ways, but they also handle the business of being stuck in a Cujo-like situation quite convincingly.

Technically, Werewolf is also quite an assured, well-put-together package. Cinematographer Dominik Danilczyk gives it the look of an ominous fable, while the design team (production designer Anna Wunderlich, art director Marcin Aziukiewicz) really make the mansion-turned-orphanage look like a shabby monument to faded days of glory. In many ways, it is a heartbreaking film, but it also allows for the possibility of hope—and maybe even forgiveness. Very highly recommended, Werewolf screens again Wednesday (9/26), as part of this year’s Fantastic Fest.

Fantastic Fest ’18: Piercing

This should be the last shade of grey you will ever need to see in the movies. To get rid of his murderous impulses, a new father plans to do a quickie murder out of town, but God and his intended victim laugh at his meticulous planning in Nicolas Pesce’s Piercing, which screens as a selection of this year’s Fantastic Fest.

Reed has been successfully fighting the urge to stab his newborn infant with an icepick, so good for him for being so responsible. Logically, he decides to get it all out of his system by murdering a S&M prostitute in an upscale but still seedy what-happens-here-stays-here hotel. His wife and baby seem to approve of this scheme, at least according to his highly suspect perception. As he awaits her arrival, Reed his envisioned crime in obsessive detail. However, the plan starts to when the unhinged Jackie is sent as a sub for the sub.

Technically, Jackie is still a submissive, but her thing seems to be deliberately riling up clients, so they will hurt her. She could very well be more than Reed can handle. She might also be unto him. If so, it is because it takes one to know one.

Piercing has some merit, but even though it is based on a Ryû Murakami novel, the whole premise of the loving father who is really a twisted psychopath feels really old hat by now. The assorted reversals are well played by Mia Wasikowska, but they are as predictable as the rhythm of metronome. Christopher Abbot also has such a weak presence as Reed, it is hard to believe he could overcome an infant with an icepick, let alone a full grown, potentially psychotic woman.

The scale model exterior shots and giallo homage flourishes are cool, but the film never surprises us. Instead, it leaves wondering was it really worth going through so much, just to reach this point? Still, it completely alters what mostly of us think of Wasikowska. Her performance is so electrically fierce, it nearly redeems the entire picture.

Pesce is also quite the stylist, but the voyeuristic experience he tries instills makes you feel slightly dirty for watching. Not recommended despite Pesce’ command of mood and style, Piercing screens again tomorrow night (9/24), as part of this year’s Fantastic Fest.

Fantastic Fest ’18: Luz

Normally, a crummy German police station with all the original 1970s décor would be a depressing place to visit. In this case, it will be disorienting and terrifying. Frankly, the cops and faux wood paneling are the least of this young woman’s worries. Her concerns are more demonic in nature during the strange course of Tilman Singer’s Luz (trailer here), which screens as a selection of this year’s Fantastic Fest.

The title character enters the station and starts acting oddly. All will sort of be explained, but first we cut across town to where Chilean expat Nora Vanderkurt is seducing a police head-shrinker. It seems Luz is a long-lost friend of hers going back to their boarding school days in Chile, who is now working as a cabbie in Germany. Yet, for some reason, Luz jumped out of her own moving cab to get away from Vanderkurt.

That much seems to be true, but be skeptical of everything else you see or hear. Regardless, it soon becomes apparent that Vanderkurt is acting under some sort of infernal influence. Of course, she will also bring the drunk and aroused Dr. Rossini under its control as well. That will make things interesting when Rossini is called in to examine Luz.

Initially, Rossini still seems to have it together, but when he puts Luz under hypnosis all bets are off. Suddenly, the film veers into experimental territory as Luz starts to act out scenes from her past like Marcel Marceau. Her perception blends into our perception, but perception in general goes all kablooey when the supernatural fog rolls in.

Luz is probably about as experimental as a horror movie can get while still being an effective horror movie. Clearly, Singer knows the work of Robbe-Grillet and other post-modernists, but he has also studied Halloween and The Exorcist¸ because he creates visceral tension through the use of creepy soundscapes.

It also helps to have an absolutely fearless ensemble playing the terrified characters. Luana Velis is absolutely riveting and massively freaky as Luz. Likewise, it is hard to even describe Jan Bluthardt’s performance as Rossini, freely combining low comedy and bizarro evil. Julia Riedler is also one heck of a showstopping femme fatale as Vanderkurt. Her extended seduction of Rossini goes from wtf to “holy cats, Batman” right before our eyes.

This film is bound to be divisive, but there is a there there and its scary as heck. Singer deserves a lot of credit, because he proves you can be ambitious in the horror genre and still get your scares. It keeps company with a select group of films informed by poststructuralism but still all kinds of frightening, like Tombville, Impossible Horror, and that’s about all. Very highly recommended adventurous viewers, Luz screens again this Tuesday (9/25) during Fantastic Fest (and it also plays 10/13 during the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival).