Chadrick_III

I have to say I’m a bit disappointed after watching Joko Anwar’s newest film *Ghost in the Cell *as compared to that and while still being a competent enough horror film, *Impetigore *feels overly complex, relatively standard, and kind of shallow. It comes across as a pretty standard curse movie with a glimmer of good themes to latch onto, but then all of the nuance and subtlety is thrown out the window after a seemingly endless, almost unnecessary backstory is shown to us. Personally, I prefer vague horror movies that keep the explanations of whatever horror at a distance, whereas in this movie it makes it a point to explain to the audience every single detail regarding the curse. It’s not all bad though, it feels like a cleanly shot and precise movie, similar to some of the James Wan horror films it’s just not what I was expecting-I guess I wanted something a bit more over the top if the film wanted to go this route.

As tragic, over the top, and as well constructed as this movie is, it falls quite a bit short in terms themes and personability. At certain point, it feels like this movie turns into straight depression porn like some of Lars Von Trier's lesser films. The reason that comparison is so strong in my head is because this feels very dogme95 inspired with the handheld cameras and naturalistic, gritty presentation. A movie like this needs subtly, and by the fourth insert of a McDonalds logo, all the thematic subtly was gone and we were just left with impersonable tragedy porn. I just don't know if the other elements of movie complement the decision to have such a overt and nowadays stale critique of capitalism. I will say that this film in particular seems very intentional in some minor bits of composition and inclusions of certain items in the frame, so it isn't to say that this is clumsy, it just comes across that way. I'm ragging this movie so hard because it's so close to what I adore about something like *Nobody Knows* or *Dancer in the Dark*, it's just a shame it doesn't live up to the hype I created for it in my head.