FrightFest

One of my personal favourites of the festival, a good portrayel of the domestication of women and an ending that perfectly fits. Brilliant.

Maniacal wrote:One of my personal favourites of the festival, a good portrayel of the domestication of women and an ending that perfectly fits. Brilliant.

what do you mean exactly by domestication of women? sounds like a pretty extreme feminist term.

sorry, not criticising just want to get at what you mean exactly.

It's just the way I watched it, I compared to a lot of family roles I've seen within my own family, the alpha male who goes to work and comes home expecting tea on the table with the woman staying at home tending to the house and raising the children. That's a very simple way of looking at it though I think. Then we have Sean Bridgers character who comes across a Woman who is totally "Free" from the clutches of morals of being a woman in todays society, though she has a predatory and infantile personality she can't be controlled by a Man unless chained and shackled. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Maniacal wrote:Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

never say this dude. this is why this kind of film is important, because it promotes debate. ok i see what you are getting at although i never saw it as a film about feminism, female liberation/control etc. i guess i havent read the book and obviously the plot comes from that but i saw the film as getting at the fluidity and shifting way people act, communicate and just the way the world is generally. all clicked into place in my mind with the treatment of the dog girl by the woman

it appears im the only one who thought this was predictable, unoriginal nonsense. everything was so obvious from the start, the script was pants and every character seemed to do exactly what you expected them to do.

some nice gore at the end but it all just felt like an extended masters of horror episode.

yes i agree

My film of the festival. It's exactly the calibre of horror I want to see at Frightfest. Riveting throughout with brilliant direction and acting. Days later I haven’t stopped thinking about it.

Maniacal wrote:It's just the way I watched it, I compared to a lot of family roles I've seen within my own family, the alpha male who goes to work and comes home expecting tea on the table with the woman staying at home tending to the house and raising the children. That's a very simple way of looking at it though I think. Then we have Sean Bridgers character who comes across a Woman who is totally "Free" from the clutches of morals of being a woman in todays society, though she has a predatory and infantile personality she can't be controlled by a Man unless chained and shackled. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Maniacal, I am totally in agreement with you and don't think you are reading too much into it. For me, it was the casual violence towards his wife that upset me the most (when he slapped her for daring to disagree with him) because it's the kind of think that happens every day in millions of households across the world. He was terrified of the wild and free spirit that's inside all of women and wanted to break that spirit and control it. Even the short scene with the secretary carried a message (his comment that she smelled nice because of her perfume - i.e. masking her natural womanly scent).

I thought it was a masterful piece of film making, which as the director himself said, shows a very real and also symbolic interpretation of the horrible things that humans do to each other.

An amazing film - my second favourite of the festival and almost number 1, loved it from start to finish

My film of the festival

Just noticed that this film could be read as a sequel / companion piece to the other Jack Ketchum scripted movie Offspring. in which Pollyanna McIntosh plays the role of "woman" - part of a clan of feral cannibals.

Another highlight for me.

Very engaging and disturbing film. The character of the son who was going the way of his father was chilling.

The actress who played The Woman was excellent. Those animalistic eyes peering through the dirt of face.

Surprise that there was another person, in the barn next door. Liked the fact nothing is explained about the capture. The father character was deeply unpleasant nasty man, who deserved what was coming to him.

The little girl was really good. Also liked the open ending. Leaves you thinking what might happen the the Woman and the little girl.

I thought it was a decent little flick and Pollyanna Mcintosh was off the page awesome but the problem I had with the film as it drew to it's finish also had to do with her character. For a film making a comment on domestic abuse the fair fetched elements, for me, took away from the main story of this guy beating down and pushing his family to the brink. There would have been more weight behind it's intended impact if either the mother or daughter had finally kicked off and they'd gone down the route of violence begets violence. I get what they were trying to do and I admire it's convictions but I don't think it quite came together.

mark wrote:Just noticed that this film could be read as a sequel / companion piece to the other Jack Ketchum scripted movie Offspring.

The book is a direct sequel

First time visitor to FrightFest, first time poster.

The Woman ran away with the festival for me. More creepy and unsettling than out-and-out scary, but that's no bad thing. The dad character is a modern classic, prompting comments like 'I hope he dies a very horrible death' within minutes of his arrival on screen.

See The Woman if you haven't already. Brilliant stuff.

*** Spoilers ***

I initially found it difficult to swallow what the father does, but as the film progressed I could see why and how this happened. An excellent examination of a dysfunctional family unit with a gruelling, but absorbing, breakdown of the family and so called civilised society. I loved the ending too, although I can understand if people thought the third daughter was a bit of a cheat. Blistering, disturbing and compelling - awesome stuff! 9 / 10