Over the course of October, I shall be watching one horror movie a day and reviewing it right here for your reading pleasure. I haven't seen any of the films I'll be watching before and you can find the full list here.
If you've been following these reviews all month, you'll know that haunted houses are an easy way to scare me if a film does it well and if not, a quick way to turn me off if it's done badly. In order to provide you with a bit of context for what I have to say about The Conjuring, I have to admit I've not been as convinced by James Wan's output as some people. His two major horror contributions to date have been solid, if not particularly exemplary. Saw was an intriguing premise made a good deal better by a killer twist and undone in subsequent sequels whilst I'm one of those people who feels that Insidious' strong build-up was undone by a batshit crazy third act. Insidious 2? Well, that was more a horror mash-up than a movie within its own right.
Now in contrast to these films, The Conjuring feels like a horror film-maker at the top of his game, spinning out and subverting cliches to produce something really quite remarkable. It's based on the true story (though how true you think it is probably depends on your levels of scepticism) of the Perron family who experienced a series of disturbances at their home and called in paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren to help. They quickly discover the house has been the location for plenty of nasty occurrences over the years and the source appears to be a witch who sacrificed herself to the Devil.
Watching this film in close proximity to Dark Skies filled me marginally with dread as I approached this viewing. Hackneyed haunted house stories are just so dull and I wasn't sure I could put up with another one. However, The Conjuring proved me wrong at every turn. The film builds the suspense slowly and carefully, establishing the family and their dynamics as well as those of the Warrens before anything spooky starts to happen. It's simple stuff really, but this early groundwork pays off because when everything does start to go south, there's an emotional bond with these characters. You understand their decisions and why they sometimes make silly ones like investigating the dodgy boarded-up cellar.
Across the Wan films mentioned here, family is a key theme. In Insidious, it's the near loss of a son that unites them against the dark spirit trying to steal him away whilst in Saw, returning to family is one character's primary motivation for doing something really horrific to himself to escape. It crops up again in The Conjuring and whilst I won't go into too many details, it's the destruction of family that is the supernatural force's biggest threat, particularly related to the actions of the parents, and it is in their homes that they find themselves under attack. The performances here are exceptionally good, especially the maternal strength of Lili Taylor and Vera Farmiga in their roles and the connections they have with Ron Livingston and Patrick Wilson portraying their respective husbands. It's these relationships that carry the emotional core of the film and everything is that bit scarier because these people are so lovely.
I've spoken before about the concept of places and how to make them seem threatening. The family home is usually seen as a place of safety, which is why haunted house or home invasion narratives are often so chilling. Wan is particularly inventive in this respect, utilising the camera to disorientate the viewer and make the house seem completely unknowable. You fly through doorways, hang upside down on ceilings and crash through walls. In some scenes, it even feels as if you're allied with the supernatural beings themselves, so obscure is your viewpoint on the proceedings. It also helps to throw you off the scent; there are moments when something is kept in focus and you are absolutely sure something's about to make you jump and then... it doesn't. Wan cuts away and continues to ramp up the tension and when that scare comes, the payoff feels that much bigger.
And it's only the second film this month to pass the 'pause and make a cup of tea' test. And if that isn't a recommendation, I don't know what is.
- Becky
You can check out the full list of Shocktober reviews so far here.
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The third episode of Fargo opens with a flashback, allowing us to see just how the frozen dead man in his underpants got into the boot of Lorne's car. It's another fine example of the cold, quiet humour that the show has developed as Lorne (Billy Bob Thornton) appears silently at the end of the row of office cubicles before dragging the man out by his tie. After the titles, we're returned to the present day as Molly Solverson (Allison Tolman) continues to look into his death whilst Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) admits to his superiors that he had Lorne in his sights that night but let him go with a warning. Meanwhile, Lorne has decided to get in on the Stavros Milos (Oliver Platt) blackmail himself as Lester (Martin Freeman) returns to work.
Over the course of the two episodes so far, various narrative threads, with parallels and crossovers between each, have been established with only figure connecting all of them. As malevolent presences go (his name alone is a suggestion of this), Lorne Malvo is a seemingly unstoppable and unpredictable one. We have yet to learn his agenda or who he is working for, if indeed he is working for anyone. The kidnap of the businessman seemed to suggest he is, but the blackmail plot offers up an alternative as it seems Lorne is working towards his own ideas there. His slow, steady torture of Stavros Milos (Oliver Platt) gets considerably worse over the course of the episode ending, quite literally, in a shower of blood. It's an icky, skin-crawlingly awful moment and one that reveals more of a picture of Lorne; his delight in torturing people is not limited to the simple mind-games he played with the Hess family, but extends to a macabre theatricality.
Lorne is also central to the investigation into Lester Nygaard, despite the police chief's continual denial of this fact. Deputy Solverson, who should soon be everyone's favourite character if she isn't already, is edging ever closer and finally establishes a connection between the two men in this episode. It brings her into contact with a parallel charact, Gus Grimly, as he drives over from Duluth to apologise for letting Lorne get away. Their dinner is pretty much an embodiment of the various aspects of Fargo; adorably sweet one minute as Gus wonders if Molly's nice and grotesque the next as Molly tells the story of flesh-bursting spider-eggs. The three actors, including Joey King as Greta, had a lovely chemistry in this scene and has made look forward to the inevitable moment in which Gus joins the investigation in Bemidji to aid in Molly's pursuit of Lester.
Out all of the disparate moments in this week's episode, it is probably Lester's that resonate the most. His arc over the course of the season so far has been one slow descent into guilt-ridden nervousness and he begins the episode in much the same way. He returns to work and is immediately faced with having to deliver insurance papers to the Hess family. Easily one of the funniest scenes of the episode, Lester is faced with Mrs Hess' legs as she not only demands to know when she gets her money, but propositions him for good measure. The nerves continue as he deals with the cut on his hand, a festering reminder of his guilt that is clearly infecting him both literally and metaphorically. Shortly after his meeting with Numbers and Wrench and then another with Molly in which he fails to convince anyone that he's a good lier, Lester looks ready to snap.
And snap he does, but not necessarily in a way we were expecting. Lester's narrative in this episode ends with him firing off a massive gun with his brother, a look of manic delight etched across his face. Lester may have invoked our sympathies in the first episode up until beating his wife to death with a hammer, but his path ever since has been a descent to the dark side, prompted by his relationship with Lorne. However, Lester is clearly not as good as Lorne at this career criminal thing and it's going to end badly, that much is all but confirmed now. What will be interesting is just who Lester takes down with him in the process.
Despite only one dog-related death, this episode of Fargo manages to be its bloodiest yet. Conversely, it also happens to be its sweetest. Watching Lorne weave through the people of Bemidji and set a large majority of them up for a fall is fast becoming compulsive and all the more compelling given we don't know why he is doing it.
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of the previous episode, The Rooster Prince, here.
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Set as a ten episode limited series, Fargo opens in Bemidji, Minnesota, with a car accident involving the mysterious Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton) and a man in his underwear trapped in the boot, who later freezes to death attempting to run away whilst Lorne wanders into town. The Bemidji police begin to investigate with Chief Thurman (Shawn Doyle) and Deputy Molly Solverson (Allison Tollman) taking the lead. Meanwhile, Lester Nygaard (Martin Freeman) is dealing with his nagging wife Pearl (Kelly Holden Bashar) and the school bully, Sam Hess (Kevin O'Grady) returning to punch him in the face. However, a chance meeting with Lorne in the hospital waiting room sets off a chain of events which Lester had only begun to fantasise about.
The Coen Brothers' 1996 film Fargo is widely regarded as one of their masterpieces, a dark blend of murder, Minnesota and Marge Gunderson, Frances McDormand's heavily pregnant heroine. When a TV series based on the film was announced, it was met with equal parts quiet optimism and cynicism. Part of an ongoing trend of seeing films adapted into television series, of which Bates' Motel and Hannibal are the most popular examples, it was easy to dismiss Fargo as merely riding the wave and using the name of a beloved property to draw in viewers. Thankfully, however, the first episode manages to allay some of those fears with a deliciously dark opening episode.
There are still plenty of ties to the Coen Brothers' original film, but Noah Hawley's screenplay uses it as more of a framework to reference and gain ideas from. Like the film, the action doesn't actually take place in Fargo; it operates as a sort of dark place on the horizon where bad people come from. Similar plot points are in play (the sadsack insurance salesman getting in with criminals, a car crash to investigate etc.) as well as characters clearly using their cinematic counterparts for inspiration, but neither feel ripped off or stolen from the film, but rather operate as homages. There's even a Big Lebowski nod in there for the eagle-eyed Coens fan.
The real strength in Hawley's screenplay lies in his ability to capture the tone of the film and the Coen Brothers' ear for whipsmart dialogue. The Bemidji police offer up a lot of laughs, particularly Bill Odenkirk's squeamish Deputy Oswalt, a man who can't face a crime scene for fear of losing his wife's spaghetti dinner. Then there is Billy Bob Thornton's Lorne, a disarmingly calm man with a penchant for knowing the rules of the motel before paying for a room there (his conversation with the concierge is a highlight). He acts as a sort of evil Puck figure, manipulating situations and people for his own ends, taking it upon himself to help Lester out with his Sam Hess problem and messing around with the family for fun.
However, Lorne also functions as the episode's line between black humour and outright malevolence. Thornton's calm performance is immediately sinister and his reactions to things around him are wonderfully deadpan. It's a scene towards the end of the episode in which this is showcased brilliantly; it's a face off between Lorne and Duluth police officer Gus Grimly (Colin Hanks) that is a masterclass in tension-building because it is impossible to interpret the scene's direction. With Lorne around, the tone shifts from outright comedy to suspense quickly and dangerously, offering an unpredictability that never quite lets the audience settle.
The casting of Martin Freeman as Lester Nygaard also proves to be a masterstroke. The bewildered expression has been so perfected by Freeman across his career that he really ought to trademark it, but here it is replaced with one of despair. Utterly downtrodden by his life and family, Lester is the kind of man you root for in these situations, willing him to stand up and take action against those who would demean him. Which, of course, Lester does, but not quite in the way you want him to. The moment he takes a hammer to his wife's head (in such a cheery, slapstick fashion) is the big shock of the episode, another point at which you go from laughter to shock to nervous laughter so fast it makes your head spin like the Nygaard's washing machine.
With a body count that's already alarmingly high, Fargo has set the tone for its upcoming instalments quickly and effectively.. It's a dark, bizarre delight that also happens to be riotously funny and I can't wait to see where Hawley takes it next.
- Becky
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