The Babadook as a metaphor for sickness

A couple of Sundays ago I went for confession with a bit of a secondary motive. For some time now, my leg has been hurting and a few other complaints began to pile on. Since I would have the father all by myself in the confessional, I thought it would not be inappropriate to ask for his prayers when the confession was over. I did so and he did agree to add me to his prayers after ascertaining the nature of my illness, that it wasn't anything life-threatening or anything. He also gave me a bit of advice: do not clash with your illness, rather make it your friend.

Later, after some reflection I saw that this mirrors the final state of affairs in the Babadook. You may not be able to get rid of it, but you can get into some sort of understanding.

In horror movies, the last surviving would-be victim, manages to fight off the menacing evil power, at least for a time, but seldom, as far as I can recall, does she stop to confront it on equal terms. In the Babadook, Amelia does so and surprisingly she isn't snuffed out as one would expect, but both accept the new state of affairs. She still doesn't like him, but that doesn't mean they can be partners. Had the book never come to her family's attention, she would still be stuck in her hopeless situation. Now, at the movie's resolution, everything has turned to the better, the  Babadook the catalyst she and her boy needed.

In Catholicism there is such a thing as redemption by suffering where one chips in, however feebly or modestly, with redemption by offering one's suffering, taking one's cross, and offering it to God. In this way, I've come to the conclusion that one indeed can become friends with one's sickness. As with the Babadook, one doesn't have to like it, but if a way out is not forthcoming, not only does one do not strengthen it by fighting it (being anxious about it), but one can reap otherworldly benefits by its acceptance. Amelia at the end of the movie intimates to Samuel that in due time he would get to see what's in the basement. Likewise for us.

The fit isn't perfect but both sickness and Babadook touch so many common points that I thought to flag them.

If you would like to know more about redemption by suffering check out episode 11  (2/18/05) of the podcast Ignition on your favorite podcast catcher.

(I use Podcast Addict)

Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows movie review

Experience often tells us that sequels are always inferior to the originals. The Blair Witch: The Book of Shadows is often highlighted as evidence and as such it is generally despised; ratings at the IMDB and other like sites readily reflect that.

However, I don't share those beliefs. I liked it when it first came out and re-watching it the other day has confirmed my conviction that, as Jeff would put it, the naysayers only say nay.

There are two things here that work against BoS: its fundamental different approach to the telling of the story and that it doesn't give any more info on what happened to Heather's group. On the first front, the radical shift places this second installment away from the first movie, which apparently was enough of a turn-off for many. The second reason is even more insidious as we bought our tickets in search for answers, but we ended up more confused than before.

However, once we accept that the mysteries will not be solved this time around and that this movie is not an extension of the first, we end up with an acceptable fun movie that, despite the factors against it, it is very respectful to the mythology set in the original. Watching it, thus, with fresh eyes there are many, many things to like.

I'll leave you with just two things to look for for the next time you watch it. The first one is the characters. Of the trilogy, the ones from The Book of Shadows are the ones that are given the most depth on the are way more interesting than even the ones from Blair Witch (2016). Despite the messing up by the producing company, we get a good share from what the director originally intended. Josh and Kim, Kim and Josh (and to some extent Erica) make this movie. The second reason to watch is the secret message Easter egg hunt named "The Secret of Esrever". There is a secret message interspersed throughout the movie and the hints are found in the DVD extras. Most of them are really, really hard, but if you are up to the challenge, you'll have lots of fun. Oh, lest I forget, there's even a bigger bonus and that's The Shadow of the Blair Witch mockumentary that ties in to this movie. I think it can be found on your regular video sites along with the Burkittsville Seven which is also a must-watch (don't know about their copyright status though). Both are a very meaty addition to the mythology that just can't be missed.

On the whole, BOS has been widely lambasted, but If this movie had come out without any previous movie to compare it to, it would have been way more successful in its appreciation.

Worth a watch this Halloween

Hoarding Stuff

We've talked previously about how material objects can distract one from one's purpose in life.  In light of this, collecting, while fun, can be quite deleterious to one's financial and moral being. If you are about to start a collection or have been on the first stages of major accumulation, these two titles might set you away from the death trap.

The first one is Alan Zweig's 2000 documentary Vinyl. In it he shows his and other's fondness for vinyl record collecting. It starts fine and all: as with other documentaries one kind of expects to get an inside view of a respectable interest. However, unintendedly it seems, it quite soon takes an uncomfortable turn. Instead of finding lovable, interesting interviewees, we get a whole lot of scary persons in one way or other. It starts with the man with the red shirt and doesn't let go. There are shut-ins, the man who hits the ceiling when the Zweig steps on his collection, the one who claims he's got every record in existence, and even Zweig himself making this one autobiographical if anything. The three freakiest moments are his dog, his disposal (and filming) of some of his old records on the street and the time he invites a female friend over to show her his records. This last one is so awkward that one feels sorry for the girl.

The other one is Frost's book Stuff.  In it he describes various cases of hoarding and tries to make sense psychologically of it and come up with treatments which result various degrees of success. There's the perennial goat-paths, the woman who collects pets, the one who cannot stop treating herself with clothes, the man who collects literal junk, the brothers who've got the money to accumulate actual treasures and descriptions some forced clean-outs. Irene, from the first chapter is quite charming. Definitely worth reading if you know someone with this problem.

Now, if you ever feel like beginning large-scale collecting, watch and read these two and they might scare you enough to make you desist from your project before you harm your family and loved ones.

Blair Witch (2016) review

In the 2016 movie  Blair Witch, Heather's brother, James, decides to find out what really happened to his sister and find closure as his friend Lisa puts it. As it turns out, not only he, but us the fans, who have waited for years to make sense of the ending of the original movie, now have a chance to do so. With the release of this new one we get more data, albeit still fragmentary, to piece together a clearer picture.

Stepping back a bit, this new installment retakes many of the elements of the original film and rehashes them, but in a less successful fashion as many other are left out. For one, the formula is now known to the viewer and the sense of being lost is less effective this time around which also makes the film rushed. The bewilderment of Heather, Mike and Josh at being lost is palpable in the original, but altogether different this time.

Another gripe that I have with the movie is the abuse of cheap scares. You know those. It is when out of nowhere someone or something jumps at the onscreen character and hence to the viewer. One cannot but react, alright, but I think it's better to keep  at a minimum and go for more sophisticated stuff. Now that I've brought this up, I'd mention the Paranormal Activity series as another big offender in this respect.

However, there are many things to like. The witch's still good with messing with technology and pulls out some new tricks from under her shawl. The mythology is furthered on a couple of instances. There's now another plausible reason for Mike's behavior in the original and we get to see more of the house and that corner from the basement. And, what makes the movie, are just a couple of seconds which show what we really wanted to see all these years. The events from the Book of Shadows are not alluded at all.

By itself, Blair Witch pales in comparison to the original, but as a follow-up, it does work. So I give my stamp of approval for those who have watched the first one. For the rest save this one for later.

For the fans

For the rest

How the Purge button works

In The Cabin in the Woods movie the need for the Facility to have a purge button is unexplained. Given the ultimate consequences of its use, what is its logic?

(If you haven't seen this one before, you're doing yourself a disservice by not watching the real movie first. Go get it!)

Basing my opinion on that of an anonymous contributor to the Cabin wiki and what one can see on the theatrical release, I think that the elevator lobby was not meant to pour out the army of nightmares. The area can be described as a capital letter 'T' with the vertical line having the elevator doors with the guard booth at its bottom. On either side of the horizontal we have two exit doors  one leading to Administration  (the one towards the giant snake slithered away) and one to Engineering (from where the two security squads came from). Both these doors, along with that of the guard area look entirely unsuited to hold off anything, so one can safely assume that the Purge was not intended to be directed towards this lobby, but somewhere else, only resulting in what we saw in the movie to malfunction, quite possibly due to Marty's tampering with the wires to make the cubes run backwards. Or maybe to an oversight, for once Dana's and Marty's cube was located, it was directed to the lobby area for their retrieval, but so were the rest. This would also explain the small interval between activation and release.

So what for?

The Purge, judging by its name, was meant to get rid of everything on one go. Possibly, the creatures were not immortal in the sense in that they had an 'expiration' date and had to be renewed from time to time. Possibly then the current batch of creatures might get all tainted at once from 'something' as to make them unsuitable for the Ritual making it necessary to vacate their quarters  offseason for a new batch of nightmares (bred? captured?) from the Facility's departments (Zoology a top candidate). The elevator lobby would be then the loading area and quite sensibly the the Purge button would be there and not in the main control room, which monitored the Ritual proper.

So where to?

Maybe a safe disposal place within the Facility where the creatures could be controlled and dealt with. Or as the  anonymous contributor said, to the surface. Maybe there, they would turn on themselves saving the trouble to exterminate each one, or they would just die off by themselves (daylight? their expiration date?) . Releasing them all to ensure the Ritual's completion seems like an overkill, but maybe still an option.