One man’s happiness is another man’s horror
4 films that prove everyone’s life is a different genre
Not everyone looks at the same situation the same way. These movies take that to the extreme. WARNING: Be prepared for spoilers in today’s post. Also, be prepared for some tonal whiplash. I need to balance out the real-life horror with some good, goofy fun.
1. He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not
The happy: Is that Audrey Tatou? The adorable quirky romance queen? Aww, what is she doing up there? Is she buying her boyfriend a pink flower? Yes, yes she is. And if you’ve never seen this movie, stop reading because that’s all you need to know. Wanna-be Amelie is a hopeless romantic who’s trying her darndest to be cute and spunky so her boyfriend will appreciate her more. Nothing freaky happens at the exact halfway point of the film. I swear.
The horror: Spoiler alert: I lied. At the halfway mark, we rewind and watch the film again from the boyfriend’s point of view. And he has no freaking clue who she is. Turns out, she’s a dangerous psycho stalker with an apparently real medical condition called Erotomania in which people are convinced that they have a romantic connection with a complete stranger. The quirky romcom then becomes a terrifying horror movie where the call is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE, and it’s freakin’ Amelie trying to smooch a bro.
Watch the trailer. ★★★★★
2. Lovelace
The happy: Look at those two up there. What a cute couple. If you like Boogie Nights and Grrl Power, you’ll love (the first half of) Lovelace. We see the same rebellious girl presented in the pages of her autobiography Inside Linda Lovelace, bucking all the stereotypes and negative connotations, hobnobbing with celebrities, becoming a star and leading the sexual revolution.
The horror: At the midpoint, once again, things get creepy. Not ‘horror movie’ creepy, but ‘real life’ creepy. Without contradicting anything we saw the first time around, we see what happened before and after all of those scenes, when she wasn’t able to put on her brave face. This is the Linda Lovelace from her OTHER autobiography, Ordeal, about how she was abused and forced into sexual slavery, forced to sign off on faux-autobiographies her abusive husband and a ghost writer concocted, and eventually escaped to become an anti-porn crusader.
Watch the trailer here. ★★★☆☆
3. Tucker and Dale vs Evil
The horror: Okay, this is taking too dark a turn. Let’s move to some comedy. I promise this time, even the horror part is good, cheesy fun. We don’t need half a movie to get the horror across, either. With a few quick POV swaps, we get that the group of teens in this movie are living the lot of any slasher flick you’ve ever seen.
The happy: But at first they’re not. The dangerous redneck murderers are socially awkward dudes on vacation who try to seem cool, but unfortunately do it while smiling, laughing, and holding a sickle. Unfortunately, the teenagers are so prejudiced against flannel and hunting caps that in the process of trying to run away and/or defend themselves, they end up goring themselves and others, leading Tucker and Dale to think they’re under attack by an insane suicide squad.
Remember the first half of Shaun of The Dead, where no one knew they were in a horror movie? Tucker and Dale are in the same situation, except that they’re supposedly the killers.
Watch the trailer here. ★★★★☆
Okay, enough goofy redneck comedy to calm the mood. Time to get serious.
4. The Act of Killing
The happy: In this documentary a group of old men are given the chance to make a movie about the ‘good old days’ and relive the proudest moments of their lives. They pick out their own costumes, design their own sets, wrangle their own actors, and we’re able to see the world through their eyes. And in their eyes, the world is a musical. Or a fantasy. Or a western. Or a film noir. These are men who grew up watching movies, and their entire view of the world is colored by those magical experiences.
The horror: Oh, by the way, these men are mass murderers. And for them, the ‘good old days’ were when they committed genocide, war crimes, and unspeakable atrocities. Unfortunately, their side won and they have never had to face up to their crimes. Oh, and often the actors they choose to play their victims are the actual family members of the real people they killed. It’s very hard to watch, but near the end, you see the reason for it. When the men watch their film, watch their own actions as an outside observer for the first time, the enormity of what they’ve done hits them for the first time in their lives. You get to see, unstaged and in real time, the moment a man realizes he is a monster.
Watch the trailer here. ★★★☆☆
Written by Ryan Estrada.
Read more about obscure, international, and independent movies that are new to you every Friday at Unseen Screen. Also available on Tumblr.
