Halloween Horrors: The Oscar Darlings

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS  (1991)
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Starring Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Anthony Heald
R for unspecified reasons (contains strong disturbing violent content including graphic grisly images, and for some strong sexual content and language.
SCAREmeter: 8.5/10
GOREmeter: 9/10
OVERALL: 4 out of 4 stars 

Only three films have ever won the coveted "Big Five" at the Academy Awards; the Big Five being the awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Screenplay (either Best Adapted Screenplay or Best Original Screenplay; all three Big Five winners were adaptations).  The first to do this was Frank Capra's pre-war road trip romantic comedy IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT in 1934, and the second was Milos Forman's 1975 counter-culture mental health drama ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST.  The third and most recent was about an FBI trainee who his forced to bond with an incarcerated cannibalistic psychopath in order to obtain information that may lead to the arrest of a man who's been killing women and skinning them in order to make a "woman suit."  Oh yeah.
All kidding aside though, THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is one of the great masterworks of horror, as well as cinema in general, in spite of its sensationally lurid subject matter.  It is a story that takes place within our lurid world; not all of our stories can be sweet and good-natured, nor even just a little nasty.  The spectrum of the human experience spans a wide range of the good and bad, and you cannot simply ignore the bad.  SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is a very good, great, in fact, movie about some of the worst of our world, which is what horror is about, after all.
Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is an accomplished trainee at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia, when she is tapped by the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unit to interview a total psychopath, former psychiatrist and serial killer who cannibalized his victims, Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), from his maximum security cell.  The FBI has an ulterior motive to this supposed evaluation though; Lecter is believed to have insider knowledge about the currently at-large serial killer, Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine), a man who has been dumping the bodies of heavy-set girls in rivers, with large patches of their skin removed.  What follows is a series of mind games between Lecter and Starling, who meet intermittently through the film as Lecter teasingly offers puzzles to Starling that reveal clues to the identity of Buffalo Bill.
Some people learn that it's a film about a killer who skins women, and in their disgust assume it's a misogynistic, masochistic film, which could not actually be farther from the truth.  In fact, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS is a powerful feminist story, with a capable and grounded heroine in Clarice Starling.  Sympathetic but very tough, she's a woman in the midst of a male-dominated and often misogynist work environment, forced to deflect the inappropriate advances of her colleagues and to work twice as hard to prove her worth against the established prejudices.  A frequent pitfall of films that attempt to depict feminist characters, is the 'honorary boy' system, female characters that are indistinguishable from male characters in terms of character traits and story, completely abandoning their essential femininity.  The screenplay by Ted Tally skillfully steers well clear of such foibles, and like the best female characters, Starling is a realistic, multi-layered woman, not necessarily "sexy" (although some spiteful opinions hold that "sexy" women in movies are demeaning, which is obviously ridiculous), but with distinct feminine traits that contrast with the distinct masculine traits of her colleagues (for better or worse as they are).  The fact of her womanhood is essential to what makes her so indispensable, providing her with the ability to crack through the facade of Lecter which is impenetrable to all the psycho-analysts and interrogators.  It's not a fictionalized depiction of femininity, rooted in shallow sexuality and biased falsehoods, from either side of the issue.
Levine's performance as "Buffalo Bill," the alias of Jame Gumb, is often overlooked in favor of Hopkins' legendary performance, but his is also an equally complex characterization of mental abnormality.  Gumb is not a transsexual, although that didn't keep LGBT advocates from protesting the film.  Lecter is clear that Gumb's psychosis is more complicated than that, because he only thinks he is a transsexual, not through any honest gender identity issues, but through broad identity issues.  His history of abuse and emotional damage leads him to hate what he is, feeding into a simplified pseudo gender identity conflict, but of course, since he is denied by the gender reassignment clinic because of his apparent psychosis, he has set about to become a woman by his own dubious (to say the least) means.  Big and deep-voiced, with a curiously demure and uncertain demeanor, he is very unsettling, and the "Buffalo Bill dance" is justifiably infamous.
Hopkins is justifiably iconic in his role of Hannibal Lecter though, quickly dismissing the convenience of the cannibalistic killer's given name through the sheer power of his performance.  His introduction is one of the best in any film, as the boorish Dr. Chilton leads Starling down to the maximum security unit of the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.  Chilton is practically boasting about Lecter as one of the inmates, making audacious note of being Lecter's "nemesis," and showing Starling a photo of what happened to a nurse years before, bringing about the strict guidelines of interviewing Lecter.  Although we as the audience cannot see the image in the photograph, we see Starling's quiet and restrained reaction of disgust, while Chilton mentions that Lecter's pulse never got above 85, "even when he ate her tongue."  The elevator descends to the lowest floor, where the light takes on a red glow, and the walls are made of red brick.  It is a symbolic descent into Hell, and as Starling walks to the farthest cell, taunted by the inmates she passes, she finally reaches the window to Lecter's cell, where he stands neat and unassuming with his hands held behind his back like a butler awaiting a request.  For a character utterly lacking in empathy, Hopkins' Lecter is a sympathetic killer, gripping with his carefully calculating intelligence and highly selective respect that smacks of sympathy or human interest, despite all evidence to the contrary.  He represents darker areas of human desire, not necessarily of cold-blooded murder and cannibalism, but of incredible self-discipline, even if outside of social decency, and his powers of manipulation.  Lecter clearly influences the great villains of more recent movies, particularly Heath Ledger's perfect interpretation of the Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT (2008), a practically inhuman villain who is so powerfully in control, while others seem to be going about their own business, they inadvertently serve the foresight of the psychopathic genius.
Lecter and Starling make up one of the most unique "romances" ever created.  It is not sexual or even really emotional; it is a cerebral romance.  In a physical sense, they are not of worth to one another.  Lecter is far too disconnected from any human feeling to have a 'human relationship,' and as a person, he is hardly desirable to Starling, but as mental entities, they prove to be a perfect match.  As Lecter notes, "People will say we're in love."
It's not a movie for the faint of heart, obviously, with very hard-R violence and depravity, but it's greatly rewarding for viewers of strong constitution.  It's incredibly intelligent, thrilling, and even a little sweet.



 THE EXORCIST  (1973)
Directed by William Friedkin
Starring Ellen Burstyn, Linda Blair, Jason Miller, Max Von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb
R for strong language and disturbing images [Extended Cut]
SCAREmeter: 5.5/10
GOREmeter: 6.5/10
OVERALL: 3 out of 4 stars

THE EXORCIST is easily one of the most important films in the entire pantheon of the cinematic horror genre.  It is the crown jewel of the New Hollywood era within its genre, and brought horror into artistic respectability even further than Roman Polanski's ROSEMARY'S BABY had four years earlier.  It was nominated for a staggering 10 Academy Awards, tying it that year with THE STING (which won Best Picture) for most nominations that year, and it's nomination for Best Picture was the first ever for a horror film, although it wouldn't be for another 17 years until one would win (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS); it won the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay for William Blatty (adapting his own novel, on which the film was based) and for Best Sound Mixing.  Entertainment Weekly, Movies.com and an AMC audience poll all ranked it as the "Scariest Film of All Time"; when adjusted for inflation it is the 9th highest-grossing movie ever made, and in 2010 it was selected by the National Film Registry for preservation for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."  It is one of the most controversial movies ever made thanks to its strong "blasphemous" imagery and extreme profanity, most of it involving a child, played by 14-year old Linda Blair, who received death threats for her participation in the film, prompting the film studio to provide her with private security for six months following the film's release.  THE EXORCIST is a rare and extreme example of a film's popularity, academic reception and historical significance have all intertwined in a resounding positivity.  I think it's pretty good, myself.
The story is an account of one Regan MacNeil (Blair), a precocious 12-year old girl who becomes possessed through a Ouija board by a malevolent demon.  To the horror of her mother, Chris (Ellen Burstyn), the once-innocent child has severely violent and profane tantrums, convulsing wildly and contorting her body unnaturally.  The doctors are unable to help, seemingly convinced that it's the result of brain lesion, but to their bewilderment, the tests come back negative, and all their earthly knowledge is without effect.  Without other alternatives and at the reluctant suggestion of doctors who believe it may have a beneficial psychological effect, Chris seeks an exorcism from the Catholic Church, despite her and Regan's absence of religious beliefs.  Chris meets with Father Damien Karras (Jason Miller), a young priest whose faith has diminished following the death of his sickly mother, and though Karras has doubts at first, he is convinced to help the MacNeils.  Together with a senior priest, Father Lankester Merin (Max Von Sydow), with experience in exorcising evil spirits, Karras attempts to free Regan from her possession and in the process, perhaps redeem himself for God.
For all the hype, I don't believe THE EXORCIST is an especially scary film; I tend to think of it less as a horror film, and more of as a classic good vs. evil melodrama.  The depictions of evil are certainly in overdrive though, which I guess is what makes it a "horror movie," and there are a few scary moments.  But the film hasn't aged very gracefully, and what was once the most shocking, disturbing material put to celluloid is now the stuff of comedies.  It's hard at times not to guffaw at a child saying ridiculously profane and vulgar things, and it's so serious that it just makes it a little bit funnier, which is a shame, when you think of the level at which this film was able to affect audiences in its prime.
Probably the most infamous, shocking and controversial scene in the film though does maintain some of its power to disturb, in which the possessed Regan stabs herself in the crotch repeatedly with a crucifix while shouting obscenities.  It's not frightening, but it is very disturbing.
Blair's performance is extraordinary though, especially for such a young actress, beginning as a cherubic child asking for a horse for her birthday, before delving into dark areas of performance that would make more seasoned actors squirm.  Blair was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, but was beaten by the youngest-ever Academy Award-winner in a competitive category, Tatum O'Neal for PAPER MOON (but which was a far easier role by all appearances).
For a movie so famous for its horrific and blasphemous imagery, as well as the most famous projectile vomiting of any film ever, THE EXORCIST is disappointingly low-key.  That's not to say that it ought not to be played seriously, but that at times, especially prior to the exorcism part of the film, it feels cool and disconnected.  As emotional a story as Father Karras' character's is, he's not really very interesting, and neither is Father Merrin for that matter.

"What an excellent day for an exorcism."

In a contemporary sense, it isn't quite as clear how significant THE EXORCIST really is; you have to look at it in the timeline of horror cinema, as well as cinema in general.  It also introduced the exorcism concept into cultural knowledge in a way that it hadn't been before, for better or worse on the part of the Catholic Church.  It is probably the most religious of major horror movies, although Friedkin was a professed atheist and clashed regularly with writer Blatty's script, insisting that he wouldn't make a commercial for the church.  Ironically, as arguably the most religious major success of the New Hollywood movement, which was largely boosted by the new freedoms of content now allowed by the less-restrictive MPAA rating system (replacing the unpopular Production Code of 1930), it was also arguably the most powerful example of the new mainstream of 'shock cinema,' and proved it to be highly lucrative when the film became the highest-grossing movie of all time, a title it held for two years before JAWS smashed records in 1975, and likewise proved the monetary value associated with shock value.  It received an R rating in the rating system's fifth year, while the MPAA still grappled with questions over what would necessitate the strongest rating, 'X', which was already being targeted as an unacceptable rating by some organizations.  THE EXORCIST's rating would become a point of consternation for many of the following years, but today, it doesn't match the explicit levels of many of today's R-rated comedies, like this year's THIS IS THE END, in which there was an extended parody of THE EXORCIST.
It isn't the scariest film of all time, not by far, but it is a landmark in the pantheon of cinema.