SPOOPYWEEN DAY 9 SATOR!!!!

Day  9

SATOR

Not gonna lie, I only picked this because the name reminded me of ROTOR. A very fun and just what the hell am I watching film.

Also it’s just a fun title to shout randomly. But whether it’s actually good or not? We shall see.

The synopsis sounds promising and interesting.

Secluded in a desolate forest, a broken family is observed by the demon Sator, who is attempting to claim them.

So imagine the WITCH minus the goat and witches. This one could go either way. Based off the art and…one sentence synopsis. I am going to guess its minimalistic horror, maaaybe artsy. I’m going to hope not but, that is the flavor of the past 5 years for horror so. We shall see.

For now lets both rejoice and be thankful. That this film ALSO fits in the 1 hour 23 minute category. A blessing? Possibly. Only by pressing play do we find out. So with that lets just dig up the body and see what it looks like.

The Film.

If you like your films to start off with the confused elderly and floating bodies in black and white, look no further! Your time has come!

Yes our film is starting off with a mostly spoken in mostly English black and white recordings, interviewing an elderly woman as she discusses her life, while giving us a tour of her lovely home shared with a roommate. They save a lot of money by filling every nook and cranny of the house with large candles. When I say every nook and cranny, I mean every single nook on the floor, counter, and bookshelf, and all the crannies. Every last one of them.

Seriously the amount they must spend at the farmers market on these weekly has got to be insane. Or maybe the can afford it thanks to not using their electricity. #Homsteadlife I guess.

Oh I did mention floating bodies. Well it’s more just a singular. Floating body. See an unnamed house mate or, woods mate. Is dousing a body in gasoline over a large firepit, and apparently they filled the body with helium as its floating away from the evidence destroying fire, and ascending to the sky.

I shouldn’t joke, for all I know this could be a new quick prime delivery option. I mean give it a year or two and I am sure they’ll let the public know they’ve been summoning demons and working out faster otherworldly ways to send packages and combat porch pirates.

But fear not, those who fear the artsy and fartsy of film, with their monochromatic film and shrunk film size. It is but a red herring in the grand scheme of this film. As we open to a much more traditional looking film presented in glorious digital color and 4k.

What was the point of all that in the beginning? Showing us that old women can send your body flying to the sky. Otherwise cant tell you. But what I can tell you, is the colorful world of the forest is Sator country.

As made clear when we watch a hunter practicing his version of recycling by popping bottles in the forest with his loyal pupper, and listening to a radio back in his shack. Of an older lady discussing the wonder and awe that is Sator, bringing peace across the forest.

This is gonna be one of those films.

WHICH

Means I can’t really review how I’d traditionally do so. Honestly if I gave you a play by play run down it’d consister of condensing 15 minutes of random dialog and scenes and it would still read like this

Man shoots in forest, his dog barks. What is the man hunting. Man returns home, radio discusses evil demon in good light. Man looks at deer cam but nothing is there. Dog growls at man, and man dreams of fire.

Its just…when films decide to go this route, it’s less a film, more an experience. And this looks to be that SO.

What we garner in the first 20 minutes of nothing happening while not one but two men gruffly mumble out their hairy maws, and scenery changes. Is that our main man, Adam. Is living in the woods, in a lil hunting shack. What is he hunting? It aint deer. That much is made clear from the wooden call he uses to simulate the sound of his pray. Which sounds more like a shrieking banshee. Whatever it is out there he’s after. It’s illuding his cameras and upsetting him.

Meanwhile nearby in this forest. His brother, Pete checks on him to see how he’s holding up. He even checks his cameras for him and gets him to come back to ‘the main house’ with him figuring whatever is wrong with the video is because of memory card issues. So of course there is more back home at the main house.

We learn he had a father that seemed the head of this, we’ll politely call it backwoods commune. And he seemed to run things. It would seem that Adam had a falling out at the main house as he isn’t welcome to live there, or rather he chose not to, and instead lives with his pupper and hunts…whatever it is he hunts.

Meanwhile at the house is his grandmother, and two other women. Nani(the grandmother) is the woman who we saw at the beginning talking in a documentary style interview. While we also had the house of candles, floating bodies and weirdness.

Now, from what I gather. Nani is also the one we heard on the radio as well. Talking about Sator. But it wasn’t a radio it was an old tape of her talking about Sator. Which Adam is obsessed with. For reasons.

It’s worth noting. For………I don’t know what purpose. The portion filmed with Nani, and at the old house with the rest of the family. Is all filmed in black and white and small framed.

It’s like two separate films, about the same thing. Combined to one. And the one thing they all have in common, is that no one really speaks more than a sentence or two. And when they do. It’s a separate conversation from what’s going on.

Which really gives off this feeling of. How to put it.

It’s hard to describe because this is very much done in an atmospheric horror tone and not your typical horror film. So what we are being shown in black and white just. It feels less composed and more something you’d film happening in real life. At the beginning of the film, there was a dedication to ‘nani’ and I’m honestly getting the feeling from the actress that this is, honestly her as herself. Like a real family member because she’s not coming off as acting. It’s coming off very genuine as conversation versus script.

The thing with movies like this is they always leave everything to interpretation and there is rarely ever resolve. Just a lot of questions and no explanations. For all I know they could’ve wheeled her out there and had her talk about anything that was on her mind and filmed it, then put it in the movie serving as its background. Hell it could be the story itself was from her, I don’t know and I am mildly curious to find out.

Because I can confidently bet you 50 bucks the movie won’t tell us.

At any rate

We get a trip to nani’s place, pick up some beer, listen to a weird crow lady named Evie. Pick up some beer and memory cards so. Time to leave this workd of black and white film, and enter the world of wide screen film in color, with atmos surround sound.

That is something I will give this movie credit for, it deserves the credit honestly. The audio mix on this film is made the star front and center. It’s made to sound like the forest which. I can attest is a playground of odd noises meant to let your mind play with. Living out here in the woods and hearing cars, bikes, planes and military helicopters roam by at all hours, when you are outside? You have no idea sometimes what that loud revving sound is as it passes around you.

After a while you can begin to identify most of them. But never all of them. It’s a key the film is relying on to help build atmosphere and a sense of dread.

It’s a bit hard to explain how dread can come from silence but the closest I can give you, is living out where I do. The trees are hugely wild and tall. So tall that weather gets trapped here. I’ve stood outside at night and listened to raccoons skittering around, and hearing wild cats or hell possibly mountain lions pawing about and its fine, Relaxing especially with rain. But if you walk out from the house and more toward the forest, and you just hone in on your surroundings, the dead silence and how even a footstep from yourself can be deafening. It adds up and you do get a bit of a creeping in the back of your neck. Add to that the unexplained sounds, and you get a reason to go back home.

The film is using that, or trying to replicate that unease, to create tension and dread. I’m sure its worked on some, but I can also heavily see it curing others of insomnia. Especially with the. I hate to use the word unfairly but, narrative of the story.

Which speaking of.

Once Adam is back on his shack property we get our first hint of spookiness. He decides to try his luck with his Sator whistle and heads back inside. As he does, we hear the faintest reply from Sator about that sator call.

Later that night Adam is awakened by. Something, and his dog is not in a good mood. It could be Sator, it could be raccoons, it could be bigfoot at this point. So he lets his dog out the front door and waits for the dog to grab hold of whatever is out there alerting him where to go, or what most of us watching would expect, a yelp and silence.

We get neither.

Instead we get more silence. So maybe the dog decided he wanted to be back at Nani’s house because at least there he gets food on the reg, head pats and isn’t having to live out there with a demon beast thing. Wise pupper.

Unfortunately I doubt that, as the morning comes and Adam is still trying to whistle for his pup. But no one answers. Naturally this means its time to visit Nani and grab more supplies. Which also means more interviews with nani and backstory about her and Sator.

Don’t hate me, I’m taking a stab at the dark based on what the film is feeding us, and her own words. But it sounds like Nani has dementia of some kind. She talks about not recognizing people, teasing about her mind going away and not being like it was. Then she’ll go on about Sator, what its like having someone watch them all the time, how they appear and watch others around them, talk to her. Make her do things some times. Then suddenly she can’t remember her grandson who she talked to the other day. It’s. Sad. My great grandfather had dementia and it was, something. When you have to have yourself introduced to someone you’d grown up being watched by, but he was the kindest soul and it never felt forced or like he doubted. It’s again hard to put down exactly, but they are there somewhere. More and more I get the feeling this stuff. Actual like handheld recorded stuff with Nani is where this came from. It just feels sort of pinned on and when you devote that much attention to it in your film, especially a film where dialog does not exist for people. That’s your narrative, albeit an interesting choice in narrative.

But it teaches us the world Nani has grown used to over the years and what this film is essentially dealing with. An entity calling itself Sator. Who appears and vanishes at will. Talks to Nani and whispers to her all the time. Watches her and anyone else in the room with her at any given time. No one can apparently see them but her. You listen to her and it sounds like a slow building infection that eventually just spread and took over. Which in the realm of reality is a bit saddening, and in the film. Is meant to tell us how this thing works, she even says at one point that eventually. Once you have suffered, that is when it will find you, and reshape you. Essentially take over.

So that’s something we get to look forward to.

The film did make me laugh though, Adam is roaming the house and comes across a shotgun, which he collects the shells for. As he’s walking down the hall, he happens across crow lady Evie. Who ask him “whats that for”, his answer is “My dog ran off”.

When you grab a gun, because your dog ran off. That is some serious dog searching you plan with a huge ass shotgun.

But that is where we are. Leaving Nani behind and yes. Back to the land of color film.

If you feel lost or I am putting you gently to sleep. Welcome to Sator.

So Adam can’t find his dog. We will just assume the dog took off running and never looked back. Maybe it found a better not insane family. Maybe it found the way to Narnia.

Otherwise it got lost trying to find clear narrative in this story. A sacrifice we shall honor, even in its futility.

I will say this though.

The movie is kinda funny. I mean it’s not supposed to be. But the way people act, as unnaturally as they do. It all just makes for an incredible Forest Safety video.

For instance.

We know Adam has a 12 gauge double barrel shotgun now as well as his rifle. Well realistically rifles. His brother keeps supplying him with beer, while he himself has a supply of moonshine in the cabin. He can’t find his dog, in a forest he believes to be the stomping grounds of an entity named Sator that has been haunting and chatting it up with his family, and himself.

One night as he is relaxing in his cabin with his unholy dirty as all sin laptop. He hears someone outside. He immediately grabs his shotgun and readies to blast anyone, or anything that dares approach his door.

Now. A normal human being. Would announce themselves as present, the old classic “Who’s out there?”, or the more rustic “Get off my land!” He does none of these things. He’s more of a shoot first worry later.

He decides to look outside, walks out a bit and, in the woods, at night. Is Evie. With a book. The two stare at each other in awkward silence as is the way of these people, and she simply tells him, she found this book and thought he’d want it.

So she walked all the way over to his place in the middle of the night with a photo album. At no time prior to his emerging from the cabin, or after. Did she attempt to introduce herself or announce herself. This man is obviously on edge and I would’ve lost it if he came out blasting and screaming.

All I am saying here, is it only takes a few seconds of your time, and life to say “Hey its me”, or “Hi Adam, It’s Evie” or you know “Don’t shoot crazy fuck, it’s just me”

ANY of those are acceptable. Either party announcing themselves is the prime first step to avoiding being either shot, or ending up in prison for having shot someone.

Or in the case of this film, shooting someone and making the next family gathering a little awkward.

It gets better though. As he invites her inside his shack and looks through the various photos in the album. He opens a beer for…himself. While offering a cup of moonshine to Evie.

For the uninitiated. Moonshine. Not the stuff you buy in the liquor store labeled moonshine. But honest homegrown backwood apple pie moonshine. That kicks like a sweet mule and you are never the same. You have reached a new level of “wow, goddamn” and flavor.

Offering someone. A full glass, of white lightning. While you yourself enjoy a beer is…well that’s a choice. And sending that person back home out into the woods is. Well that’s a Tuesday I guess.

Seriously I want to believe he offered her a mason jar of water, but no. It was established earlier, it’s moonshine.

Do we get anything from this? Not especially no.

It’s all subtle build up for what is likely, hopefully, inevitably coming. Sator.

Which does make an eventual visit to his home. He actually finds a figure. A female figure. Wearing an animal skin and elk skull. His tape player randomly turns on and we hear more about Sator, and how he shall send a messenger, how he will come to you and when he will do what Sator do.

It’s the most exciting thing we’ve had happen in 48 minutes.

Which is followed up by. A little backstory. Which shows us the family during what we will call, simpler times. When grandpa was alive. During Christmas, and how happy everyone seemed, except for Mom, who was writing down things about Sator, making recordings about Sator and always wanted to chat to you about Sator. We learn that Adam’s brother hated it and felt they should destroy all of that shit, set her right and stop what was obviously to them hurting their dad and everyone else. More so over, they were worried about Adam. Because he would also zone out and confesses to hearing voices whispering to him. Possibly Sator. Possibly mental illness.

There is…a lot of mental illness in this family. I genuinely mean that and it’s the one context not made subtle in the film.

It’s like other families out there. You have an aunt or an uncle everyone claims his crazy and needs meds but wont take them. You got another family member who isn’t far behind in the crazy, and everyone has one side of the family they label as the ‘crazy’ ones. In my family its my mothers sister and her family. On that side you have a lot of mental baggage and illness, lots of stories and things no one talks about still, and yet we all still get together, have a family gathering and Christmas and hope for no one to start a months long feud. Which my aunt has done.

She wouldn’t talk to any of us after one Thanksgiving for 4 months because not everyone tried her four cheese mac and cheese she made.

Because all of us were stuff on turkey and fixing and had no room for mac and cheese. We were disowned for 4 months. Then it was completely forgotten about and all was good. That’s family.

So here we get similar. We have laters of illness in this family. And somehow at its core. Connecting all of them, no matter what mental illness affects them or they’re dealing with. From mild to severe, they all bought into, heard about, or hear from Sator.

That in itself is an interesting story, and told more conventionally it would be a really good grounds for a horror film. Told this way it’s. Well its not inherently bad? But its also not so good. We’ll get into that after the film.

Besides, we got some action to get into.

Maybe. We are quickly approaching the last 30 minutes of the film so. Prepare yourself.

Because this is some serious, choices were made territory we are entering.

So Adam is enjoying his time alone, dogless, Evieless, and a dust ass laptop that would likely die if the processor tried loading www.hotforestchicks.com for some entertainment. Seriously that laptop was cleaner on its last leg in the pawnshop.

But all is not to be silent that night. As multiple things are checking out his place and like Beavis, or my sister, randomly picking things up saying “What we got here”, and tossing them aside. Once again he grabs his shotgun. But has no plans to use it.

It’s very confusing to both take a shotgun and its ammunition with the intent to use it and protect yourself. And everytime a case presents itself when you encounter strange unknown beings breaking into your place, you never once shoot them or announce your intent to do so. Instead he just heads off into the woods in hopes of finding, what he could’ve spied on in his home and dealt with back there. But decided the wide open forest where this thing or things hide is somehow better.

Does he finally find Sator and the Grandmas of Sator band? No. But he does find Evie tied to a tree.

Now, It’s been some time since I’ve had any dealings with folks of the mountain that drink white lightning, but it was sometimes common place to tie themselves to a tree to present themselves from wondering while liquored up.

Or Evie was placed there by Sator, or the Predator.

Never rule out the Predator.

So Adam sets his shotgun down and helps free her. Again the sound on this is spot on beautiful and super loud. We get that it’s the star of the show. And it is appreciated. Really.

So is Evie thankful to be freed from the tree? No, not especially.

Does she say this?

HAHAHAHA, of course not.

Does he speak to her? You remember this is Sator right?

Dialog is worthless, when you can just use your eyes to portray emotion.

Evie looks horrified either at Adam, or at something behind Adam. She tries to take off, which. Is understandable. Adam however would like to continue waggling his bushy bearded eyebrow at her so he grabs her by the throat and slams her into the tree. Waggling his eyes and emoting his ass off through that brow. All while choking Evie.

Thankfully he realizes this, its wrong and he stops doing it. Evie takes this chance to now run away from the man who rescued her and tried choking her out. Adam makes a choice.

See. In a normal film. Or normal world. Adam would shout back to her “WAIT! I’M SORRY! WHO DID THIS?! THERE’S SOMETHING OUT THERE!” Any and all of which would bring about the possibility of an answer. Communication is paramount, especially in panicked situations.

Or you know. You can scare someone by choking them, stop. Run away, and chase through the woods wordlessly after them. Because surely they will get that your intentions are NOT to kill them in the woods while you run after them wordlessly.

But thankfully the voice of reason sweeps Evie out of this situation.

Holy shit something swooped down and carried off Evie into the goddamn sky.

Yep. Sator and the Forest Grannies have struck, claiming innocent somewhat stable Evie. Leaving Adam to shit himself as a man would do and return to his cabin to think about what just happened. And how much he misses his dog.

Things have to start happening. Because we are yes. Officially there. The final 20 minutes of the film.

Don’t get your hopes up too high now.

This film. With how it handles its narrative, and leaving a lot unsaid. This creates sort of a problem. More an issue than a problem. Specifically to do with time. Which we will get to shortly.

We have another familiar night being setup. Adam is setting up candles around his place, lighting up every inch of it. He decides to take one last look at a photo of the forest taken by the deer cam. And what he sees is. Trees upon trees. Until he decides to lighten up the picture and whoa. Jackpot. He captured in the darkness, 4 figures. Dressed in fur and animal skulls.

Which again is. Odd. It anything I’d believe the family is a Sator cult but I doubt highly these things were what swept Evie up. If she even was in the first place. For all we know Adam could be losing his damn mind. Which would make sense.

Well seeing this, Adam decides its time to gun up and rock the cabin. He’s locked and loaded and ready to go.

That night the 4 grannies of Sator enter his cabin and just like before. They all begin to rummage through his home, admiring his Yankee candle store displays and dried flower arrangements. Does he come out blasting? No.

Does he kick open a door and say “Come get your medicine grandma” and start shooting up the place? No. He runs.

The man lets these things into his candle lit cabin, and runs like hell out into the forest, through a creek. Eventually stumbling onto a large stone opening covered in moss and vines. It’s eerily creepy and made more so by the sudden appearance of a lone torch inside the darkness of the tunnel. Perhaps it’s a dragula like Shortcut? Sadly no.

As he wonders inside he is met by a lady in a white grandma night gown, wearing fur and a skull. Behind her is the grand poohbah of the forest. A pimped out granny wearing multiple animal furs with a large antler skulled mask, and jawbones for fingers. Sitting on a throne bathed in moonlight. Pointing at Adam.

And suddenly its winter.

And we are now following Pete. In the snow. Feeding wolves, and hanging out.

We also have moved away from black and white film around Nani’s home, and are sticking with color this time. Listening as Nani is being talked too about her spirit writing. How she would let spirits speak to her and she’d write down what they said. Discussing how she did this for many years, and how even Adam’s mom did this as well, how she possibly, wanted to join these spirits. Talking to Nani about all this, is Deborah. Who it seems is once again trying to see if they can pull from Nani anymore of what some of the family believes to be true. That their mom killed Grandpa to try and join Sator and the spirits. Using him as an offering and sacrifice. But Nani says hey nani no, and that’s the end of it. As far as she recalls and still vividly does. He wondered off one night, laid in the grass and died.

We learn that, during this time jump. Pete has sought help of some kind and went in for care. Deborah tells us about him leaving to seek care and how she is going to pick him up from what I would fathom to guess as a mental hospital. We don’t see this or know exactly why he sought care(finally) but from what we can gather on our own interpretation of things. It would seem that after what happened with Evie in the forest and Adam having choked her before realizing he was hurting her. She ran off, told them all how he was acting, and when his brother went up there to find him. He was gone. Presumedly with Sator on his mother in the forest tunnel, unknown of course to the family.

Pete obviously feels bad about this, and guilt for the fact that he left his brother isolated out there in that cabin. Which inevitably drove him to the point of losing his mind and attacking someone he used to know before things went bad with the family and their mother.

I am enjoying this because it’s the clearest this films narrative has been in an hour and 15 minutes. Even if its just the last 7 minutes, just give me this moment to rejoice and enjoy what a movie usually is.

Well despite Deborah still believing Nani is lying or forgot that their mom likely did kill their dad and that it wasn’t a suicide. She can’t convince Pete of this craziness, though he is willing to accept Dementia running in their family now. Despite her wishes for him not to even try seeing his now dead crazy or just plane crazy brother in his isolated cabin. He goes out there. Driving and walking through huge snowfall to find the place.

It's almost. Almost a gotcha moment.

I say this because when his brother enters the place and looks around. He mirrors the exact things he did the first time he came into his brothers shack. Almost action for action word for word.

Well okay not word for word, but grunting a ‘hmm’ is still technically speaking. I mean it’s how we communicated until the formation of language so.

ANYWAY

He really is mimicking a lot of what he did before. Right down to finding the moonshine and sniffing it. Only this time he doesn’t drink from it. He instead makes his way as before over to the couch in the other room, He eyes the photo on the table of himself, his brother, and mom.

And just as the last time, we hear a footstep which signaled when Adam joined his brother in the room the first time. Pete looks up and, no brother.

Instead sitting in a rocking chair across from him. Is their mother. Dressed in white. Very much alive.

And behind him, dressed in long johns with a shaved head and face, is Adam. Who stabs his brother with a deer antler in the neck, in what has to be one of the better death scenes I’ve seen in a long while.

He throws his brother toward the fireplace. Pulls out the deer horn and sprays blood across the hot stone fireplace and firewood, instantly sizzling everything it touches. Shoving his brothers head into the fireplace and we watch as Pete screams and his bear catches fire. Eventually killing him.

As he dies, his body ascends to Sator and Adam and Mom gather whatever loot his body dropped.

You can see where this is going.

Back home at Nani’s Deborah waits not so happily for Pete to return so she can scold him and ask how Adam was, or if he was even alive still. We see Nani who seems all to happy seeing someone dressed in white long johns in her bedroom. I would like to assume it’s John her husband. She smiles and Deborah watches her head off to her room.

Only to wonder why she isn’t hearing Nani answer her anymore, she roams the house and finds. Nani is gone. Nowhere to be seen. Deborah grabs a lantern I haven’t used or seen since I was a kid, and heads outside into the snow.

Of course she doesn’t find Nani. Instead she finds Bald Adam, who chokes her out, she gets to see her mom as well. Who greets her by pouring gasoline over her barely coherent daughter, lighting her on fire and screaming as she burns alive, and her bro and mom walk off together. Until we see Deborah, eyes white and body ascending to the sky. Dropping her loot.

The film ends with Nani, sat beside a fur covered skull faced mom, and sat opposite them is Adam. Who all slowly turn to look at us and we fade to black.

BUT

Not before confirming something we thought earlier, as the director shows us his direct influence for this film. He actually had recorded a family member with dementia, who would talk about Sator and voices in her head. Looking at the camera at the very end, asking us if we hear voices or not either. And with that eerie music plays, the credits finish, and we can rate the movie on VUDU using their 5 star system.

The End

Well. This was an odd trip.

I didn’t hate it. I got mildly frustrated with it, because of its attempted style. But otherwise it was okay. The last few minutes don’t save it, propelling it to amazing insane. It just makes it one of those films that you find now and then, usually on old VHS, where the movie is mostly dull and not much happens. Then the ending comes along and blows you away making you ask where the hell was this?!

You get what they were going for with this, and at the same time, I don’t really feel they fully achieved what they were after. I say that because the film seemed to switch its gears a few times. Not smoothly like an automatic. But like someone driving a shift stick for the first time and grinding gears.

It wasn’t as smooth a transition as it felt it should be and usually. Well not often. But usually. You get films that do the same but in a way that sort of, melds with the rest of the picture.

I am going to have to take a moment or two and look at this online because now I am curious.

I won’t say how long I deep dived online, but well. I’m semi correct.

Apparently the director wanted to make a traditional cabin in the woods film. But then switched plans and decided Sator was the way to go in this picture.

They did in fact film a family member suffering dementia and found her out of the blue discussing of all things. A being, a guardian named Sator. Who would watch over her, protect her, talk to her, whisper things and observe her and others around her. This was his basis of the film and why they included it in the film. There are moments where we see actual film footage they took of their Nani, and her having these discussions during the course of the film. It’s a nice tribute in a way to her, and showing where this came from, lending a sense of authenticity. But along with other sections in the film. It comes off slightly like the saying. Having your cake and eating it too.

It's by no means a bad film. Really I did like it, just. A very different film than I was expecting tonight. Sure if I did this properly I’d look into the movie, find out more about it and go from there. But fuck that. This is about discovering films and talking about some films I saw that should be talked about. That being said, had I know I was going to be getting into something like this, I would’ve been a bit more prepared. And yeah writing this would’ve likely gone smoother.

Overall it’s a good film. The story is well done, the visuals while disjointed and seeming to take place in their own spectral form of time, it’s still easy to pickup what they’re laying down.

I actually enjoy the idea they present to you of mental illness and a dab of not really mass hysteria. But the idea that. Let me poke my brain to sound a bit smarter. If that’s possible.

It’s the idea of a family. Dealing with different layers of mental illness, mixed in with family trauma. And how, one persons sickness, seems to infect the minds of others and spread through the family. That virus spreading of course being the belief of Sator.

Starting with the grandmother as she descends unfortunately further into dementia and begins talking about Sator. Her spirit writings. Then the mother, beginning to believe the same while dealing with her own mental illness, and beginning to record what she found of the writings, almost like deciphering them and soon believing it enough to kill someone to ascent herself into Sators graces. Her son struck hard by this and the grief they’ve lost their mother to a mental illness(or all together lost her) and him isolating himself from the group because he was beginning to suffer the beginning stages of his own problems, which eventually consumed him. Especially upon finding their mother and now, the madness shared between them binds them, and leads to the unfortunate slaughter of their family.

That story told with the ‘is it real or is it not’ factor. It’s interesting. Its not especially something that feels like it expects you to be smart to figure it out. Your aren’t supposed to solve their puzzle so much as make your own conclusion. But the way the film tells its story, it leaves a lot of the questions, lack of detail and explanation, up to you the viewer. They  want us to fill in the blanks and pay attention to the film. Put together what they give us in little pieces, and fit them together in the overall puzzle.

Okay, turning off the smart part with a poke in the ear.

For me the real star of the film is as mentioned before the audio mix. I’m a huge fan of good audio in a movie and especially soundtracks. The soundtrack while minimal wasn’t the star. The reliance on nature simply existing and amplifying the natural sounds was what sold this movie and a lot of its moments. Every little twig snap. Boot step sounding like a stomp. The rustling of the trees. All of it.

Especially, a scene I really enjoyed the sound design on, the point where we found Evie tied to a tree. When Adam is brushing her hair aside to get a look at her face. That microphone is root deep in her scalp to the point lifting her hair sounds like someone in a film taking down a centuries old spiderweb. Just that faint tairing of material sound. Having that just for her hair being moved out of the way. It was creepy. It gave a nice effect to the scene and just made the whole thing look and feel eerie. It was a great touch and they did this throughout. Not in an art film way where it becomes deafening or takes away from everything else, or distracts you. God no.

It worked in a way that really felt like. As I said it built tension and unease using those sounds, while nothing was actually happening(so to speak), and then once things began appearing and happening. That loud silence I guess you’d call it, is broken and now we have the sounds of terrifying things actually present and happening.

It creates a nice shift in the films mood and helps to deliver scares. I’d almost goes as far as to compare it to Jaws. How we were told through music when the shark was going to attack. When it wasn’t the shark and when it was. By playing that signature theme. At first its subtle and by the time we reach the end, during the entire battle with the crew of the Orca hunting it down. That theme is mixed and played throughout the action music.

The same can be said here of the sound and how it slowly escalated until the terror arrived.

Which the more I think about. Also would explain the transition at the very end to actual horror film.

And I don’t say that insultingly either. I just mean in comparison to what it was trying to be and evolved into toward the end. The end still works, don’t get me wrong. But it still felt a little off beat from the rest. Especially the black and white at the end.

As for the cast and crew? I think they did well. All around yeah. It also appears they’ve all worked with each other a few times and are somewhat at the start of their careers together or mid journey. Michael Daniel(Pete) and Gabriel Nicholson(Adam) both worked previously with the writer/director Jordan Graham on another project of his. Funny enough you might notice a bit of a leap in their work there together on this film. And that’s because this film took over(or just about) seven years to make. For one, that’s a true independent dream there, and kudos on them for following it through. Second, that puts them in league with two other films I love. Evil Dead and Cannibal The Musical. All made based off asking favors of friends to shoot on weekends, and filming in locations they owned. This also helps explain a bit of the time jumps that happen in the film.

While this may not be a film for everyone. I still think it has a little something for everyone. Sure it’ll help some of us sleep. For a film coming in and an hour and 23 minutes. It managed to both feel very long, and also slow, while jumping around and getting your attention. It’s a balancing act that works I think for most of us, if you give it a chance, and will disappoint people who went in expecting a monster movie.

Like I said I was expecting something else when I started the film based on the synopsis. Once I started it, and understood the assignment? I switched gears and got into it. So yeah not everyone will. But they shouldn’t write it off.

It works both as it was intended and filmed, and I feel would work if retold as a more traditional forward horror. As it is now, it stands in that foggy area between Antichrist and The Witch. Which is both praise, and an odd concept to imagine. But here we are.

Absolutely I recommend it, but with caution. Long as you know what you are getting into, you’ll have a good time, Least I think so.

Pluss and I did hide this fact until the end. The ending of the film did give us one good thing.

THE DOG MADE IT!!!

Yes, the dog made it, Sator loves dogs, so do crazy people. All hail the dog of survival.

So until tomorrow. If you live out in a cabin in the woods and hear something large growling and stomping outside your door? Maybe consider announcing yourself, then shooting. Instead of emoting with your face as hard as you can in hopes that whatever is on the other side can feel what message you are trying to convey to it. GOODNIGHT!