I am not going to lie. Never have I ever watched a horror film in an actual cinema mainly because I am not the most courageous kind of audience who would come in to the theater without any kind of cover or any way to pause the movie when I want to so I can stray from potential jump scares.

Nonetheless, I have noticed a recurring direction in the most recent horror movies: they are starting to become less frightening. Not that it is a negative critique, however (at least I can rest more easily), but I have seen that they are starting focus less on the technical ways of scaring people and more of the “symbolic” ways of scarring the audiences. Get Out (2017) did not have your typical frights but left the impression of that racism isn’t shown in hatred; it is also shown obsession. Hereditary (2018) did not just let something scary come out of nowhere; it lets it linger on-screen which I think is much worse. And then there’s The Endless (2017), which I frankly never found it to be horrifying at all.

Where Get Out delves into social realism while Hereditary deals with familial despondency, The Endless shows “the fear of the unknown.” Throughout the film, the audience literally could not understand what was going on, but little by little, when the clues come together, they make more sense, yet this “unknown” antagonist is not what intrigued me the most of this film. The most compelling of all was the human behavior in how we react to the unknown, and it was shown in two ways.

The first one was when Camp Arcadia decided to play a lost videotape, and it projected the two protagonists, the Smith brothers, “promoting” or misrepresenting the camp by portraying them as a radical Christian cult. It’s interesting to note as well that prior to these events, the film revealed through a news report that the two were rescued from the so-called cult. At first, the anger of Hal, the supposed key figure of the camp, does not seem justified, until as the film progressed, it was revealed that it was not a cult after all. They were a group helplessly stuck in the time loop and submit to it.  This reveals a theme of incorrect identification and the dire effects of it. Because we misrepresent people or groups, we end up castigating them when they are supposed to be helped.

The second was when Aaron admitted to Justin that he wanted to stay in Camp Arcadia despite being set in a dangerous time loop. As unreasonable at it may sound, Aaron made a compelling argument how that setting was better than living out repetitive lives in the modern world they resided in after escaping the camp. To be fair, he did have a point, as Camp Arcadia seemed like self-sustaining community with motivating activities and varying occupations. Then again, Aaron just brushed off the trade-off or the catch. Here, it reveals another feared theme of submissive adaptation to the shortcomings of one’s environment.

The saddest part of the two ideas is that, in the real-world, they somehow manifest themselves. In Europe, some mislabeled refugees as Muslim terrorists or invaders, an idea that is a product of the far-right movements. Across the world, people think that it is okay to adapt to a warming climate rather than fighting back because we passively think everything will be okay. Some of us just don’t think so.

In silent contemplation,

JoMar Fernandez a.k.a JMCthefilmystan

Despite the glitz and glam Hollywood top-grossers have filtered before our eyes when it comes to the idea of cinema, an unsaid burden placed on the shoulders of filmmakers today is to project on the silver screen the hard-to-swallow realities of the world we know. As creatives, filmmakers are challenged to repaint certain subject matter in such a way that translates well on the movie screen and the eyes of the common viewer. In 1990s, ingenue director Danny Boyle took up this challenge — and then Trainspotting was born.

Trainspotting is a 1996 black-comedy and is the second film ever made by Danny Boyle. A film adaptation from the book of the same name by Irvine Welsh, the film follows the life of Mark Renton, a heroin-addict, and his dysfunctional band of friends, as well as the shenanigans that ensue because of the fact. Throughout its duration, the film shows viewers, in a stylistic way, the world in the eyes of someone with the odds pitted against them, and draws the fine line between the hard struggle of drug addiction and the everyday life of a drug addict during even harder times.

What stands out to me when it comes to Trainspotting is how the film makes use of certain screen techniques in order set an impression of the subject matter, instead of obviously setting a specific stance regarding drugs in the writing. I especially liked its outlandish use of colors in indoor scenes (such as whenever we’re in the flat of Mother Superior). The contrasting hues and lighting contribute to the surrealist tone of the film, letting viewers experience to an extent the escapist intentions of these characters, especially in the context of substance use. This is especially poignant when contrasted with the bland, almost normal look of outdoor scenes, furthering the juxtaposition of the “real” world and the “surreal” these characters construct for themselves.

Another element that contributes to the discussion of film themes is the cinematography. specifically in the use of wide shots and shots of cameras-in-impossible-places. The wide shots help emphasize how the film is more than just the story of Renton, and instead helps us see Renton in the space he’s in and how this contributes to his attitude towards the world. Through these shots we see the bland colors of Edinburgh, and the dull look of the people and places surrounding our characters (a world they escape through the color-inducing high of Heroin). The use of fluid movement of the camera and the unique use of close-ups (such as that in the “Worst Toilet in Scotland” scene, or under the blankets in the withdrawal scene) help give an impression of viewers imposing on these characters. It gives us an opportunity to scrutinize these characters and their actions, similar to when we see strangers doing things we aren’t supposed to see. This style of filming gives the film a more self-aware touch, leaving viewers the chance to make their own value judgments regarding the characters and their motives

Overall, I appreciate how Danny Boyle (like many filmmakers in the independent scene) takes on the challenge of elevating the discussion of taboo or looked-down upon topics — in this case, to repaint what we know of this infamous “Trainspotting” generation. Obviously there is so much more to unpack from this beautifully layered film (from its use of music, to understanding the characters themselves, but I think the most important takeaway from Trainspotting is how it takes such a delicate subject matter like substance abuse and spins it to create inspire emotions like sympathy among its viewers, all the while refusing to sacrifice innovation with its cinematic elements.

Orson Welles is a cinematic genius – and I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s picked up on it. After years of his films being polished or refined by the industry, Welles produced one that was completely his own.

The sequencing is impeccable and meticulously thought out. Welles experiments with different transitions and times it perfectly with the mood and narration of the film. Notice that as you go through each scene, it doesn’t follow an “and then” narrative, but rather a “Therefore” and “but” pattern. (Film, 2017) The movement of the film doesn’t circle around one plot. It incorporates several narratives as Welles illustrates his thoughts on fakery.

Oja Kodar is a famous actress who has often worked with Welles. She assisted him in the screenwriting, and takes credit for the “walking scene.” An attractive girl is walking along the street – accompanied by live music in the film’s background -as she captivates the attention of the men around her. Normal people were unknowingly turned into actors as the camera followed the movement of Oja and her frivolous skirt, and interplayed stolen shots of men gazing at her (“Girl Watching”, it was called) This scene highlights people’s blissful ignorance of the facts.

Narrated and directed by Welles himself, he claims that during the next hour everything we’ll hear is true and based on solid facts – which is ironic given that he initially addresses the audience stating: “This is a film about trickery, fraud, and lie.” In Welles’ mind, every film after Citizen Kane had mixed authorship; All had been re-edited – inducing Welles to doubt himself as a filmmaker.

F for fake’s “real subterranean purpose was a riposte to the controversy created by Pauline Kael.” Going independent was a way for him to break out of the industry’s mold, and take full authorship for his own work.

Francois Truffant

We can’t discuss a film about fakery without the popular art forger Elmyr De Hoyr. He has sold over thousands of forgeries to high ranked museums. What makes Elmyr’s works so controversial was the inability of experts themselves to distinguish an Elmyr from a genuine original. If “art is judged through opinions, and opinions are given by experts,” who can then, therefore, claim what is Art or not when the experts themselves are fooled by Elmyr. Whether or not his works were originals, Elmyr created his own kind of masterpieces – ones of forgery.

Clifford Erving, another fake, wrote a book about Elmyr’s life of forgery. Soon thereafter, he wrote an autobiography of Howard Hughes – which turned out to be a sham. People believed it was real, so that must have meant he was pretty good at faking it. It was only later on when Howard Hughes announced that he had never met a Clifford Erving nor had any memory of the interviews transcribed in the autobiography, that people realize Erving’s piece was a sham. Now the question here is: Was a good fake or a bad fake? “Art [after all] is a lie, a lie that makes us realize the truth.”

If you were to ask Welles’ what he thought about fakes, the entire film pretty much translates it. Welles’ demonstrates the inner working of a film as he shows cuts and pieces of the film reel, himself viewing the film, and the film crew behind the scenes. He goes beyond this theory by creating a forgery of his own using the beautiful Oja as his assistant.

Remember Oja! well, she is the key player in this deception. According to Welles, Oja turned Picasso into a “girl watcher.” The following scene was accompanied by some jazz played by Olaf (one of the characters in the film), and some tickling piano. It mixed real scenes of Oja and inserted images of Picasso. The execution was so well-done, it made the narrative even more believable – despite the factor of Picasso having no real association to Oja in the made-up story. In the narrative Welles’ created, Oja had deceived Picasso as her grandfather forged masterpieces out of his work. Interrogative of what happened, Welles’ confronts Oja of her actions and gets the truth out from her. The mood of the film then shifts as it focuses on two characters. They are both dressed in black; The camera zooms in on their faces creating an intensifying conversational piece. Oja walks away and Welles’ continues to narrate the rest of his video essay.

Like a magician, Welles had us fooled; He directed us from one subject to the next without us realizing that the entire story narrated to us was a hoax. By the end of his trick, the camera crew comes in, and the creation of his act is revealed. The lights became brighter and the other actors chimed in Welles’ direction. He did say he’d tell the truth for the hour, but alas the hour was up, and without us even keeping time. Oja was indeed her real name, and her grandfather was Hungarian however, the rest of the details in the film was manifested from imagination.

“At the very beginning, I – of all this, I did make you a promise. Remember? did promise that for one hour, I’d tell you only the truth. That hour, ladies and gentlemen, is over. For the past 17 minutes, I’ve been lying my head off. The truth, and please forgive us for it, is that we’ve been forging an art story…”

Orson Welles

I’m no film connoisseur, but it doesn’t take one to appreciate Welles’ work. Whether or not you are an avid fan of film and can break down every visual element presented, Welles will make you appreciate the narrative structure of films and its process of creation – despite plotting an illusion on us.

I forgot to mention in the previous blog post another reason why I love films of its kind. I already liked it at first viewing because of how overwhelming its elements and themes are, but the more I dug deeper and analyze them further, suddenly the movie looked better by tenfold than the last time I watched it. It was such the case when American Beauty (1999) became my favorite film of all time when I realized why it was more than just a critique of the American middle class lifestyle, as movie analysts would suggest, or when Roma (2018) best exemplified how a simple nostalgic story of a housekeeper can be made fantastic with audio-visual splendor presented by the talented director Alfonso Cuarón, and once again, my enthusiasm peaked thanks to another recent film, Sorry to Bother You (2018).

This film is extremely contemporary to today’s social-economic views, and two themes related to that became immediate (and what we could tackle for this blog post): capitalist critique and workers’ privilege. Combine them with the aspects of the magical realism genre, and you get a film whose fantasy elements are deeply rooted in a worldwide reality.

Marxism: Attacking Capitalism’s Core

Critiques against capitalism have proliferated as far back as the late 18^th century, and the most prominent was German economic philosopher Karl Marx. His general critique included the system built on the need for profit and the resulting exploitation of human labor to achieve it, and all of this is rooted in the capitalists’ conflicting balancing act with earning more wealth and maintaining the modes of production through that wealth; hence, Marx believed that the system is fragile and will eventually be protested by the proletariat, the working class.

An additional note of Marx’s philosophy to consider, though not discussed normally in academia, is how the changing modes of production other than capitalism have been maintained by so-called “superstructures” or institutions and polities that legitimize the practices of the economic systems through morality and law. Among them was religion, and Boots Riley made this apparent throughout the film with crucifixes and religious protests.

Of course, there were counterarguments made by the other side of the economic spectrum; they mention how the capitalist work culture promotes the virtues of tenacity, competence and meritocracy and consequently alleviated nations from abject poverty through their accumulated wealth from their labor, an aspect that Marx ironically concurred to an extent in “The Communist Manifesto” and that Riley was aware of in the film, shown in Steven Lift’s statement in a news interview.

“Steve Lift: We’re saving the economy. I mean, we’re saving lives!”

Still, Marx’s supporters would disagree, as these arguments glossed over the exploitation problem and expands this by saying how these diligent and hard-earning laborers are victims of their own success. It is hilariously portrayed in the movie’s TV parody of MTV’s Cribs with the WorryFree workers proudly showing off their posh bunks, and Cassius Green’s road to success. We see gradually as Cassius climbs higher and higher in the work hierarchy, he becomes more disenchanted with his fellow workers’ protests and his love interests’ protest art, illustrating one of the prices of privilege.

Then comes perhaps the most unusual element of the film that gives hints to a literary genre called magical realism.

Magic Realism

Firstly, a background on the used genre is needed. Magic realism was made popular by the likes of Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, a Colombian writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Nick Joaquin, among the most iconic writers in the Philippines. A famous example would be the short story “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” where a angel-like figure brought out the greed and selfishness of the townspeople and tourists that found him. The narrative is very reminiscent to a frightening character: the equisapiens.

WorryFree owner Steve Lift eerily explained how this human-horse hybrid makes stronger and more submissive workers, even to the point of asking for Cassius if he could lead a civil rights movement for them to avoid any violent uprising against the abusive company. All of that was said with an enthusiastic tone, reflecting rather apathetic characterization of capitalists.

                To conclude, I guess the film was “Sorry to Bother [Us]” in spite of offering us rather upsetting elements on-screen.

Intrigued,

JoMar Fernandez a.k.a JMCthefilmystan

Sources used:

Marx, Karl. 1947. The German ideology, parts I & III, ed. R. Pascal, 146–200. New York: International Publishers.

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. 2007. “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” North Dakota State University, translated by Gregory Rabassa.

I saw the movie, Sorry to Bother You, as an epitome of the Capitalist mindset. We are presented with Cassius Green, a man living in his uncle’s garage and struggling to pay rent. The movie presented a unique way of how African American citizens have to adapt in order to survive in their professions. Cassius discovers the capability of the “white voice” which suddenly makes him a more skilled worker in his corporate job of telemarketing. Another scene with a subtle jab at the African American race is when Cassius was forced to rap at Steve Lift’s party. To begin, he was labeled by the stereotype that all African American people can rap and when he started rapping, the Caucasian audience only cheered when he started rhythmically chanting the “N word”. Both were powerful showing of the reality that people are still being racially discriminated in the American context. One quote that was quite prominent in the movie was “stick to the script”. I think this quote highlighted the fact that the workers had to remove any sense of morality and be extremely or even overly professional. The movie presented the dark side of the life in corporate work. It shows how a person that begins with desperation, once given a glimpse of success, starts to yearn for more and eventually becomes greedy. Cassius was surrounded by people that loved him at his lowest, but he failed to appreciate them once he was at the top. A scene I found extremely powerful, and made me no longer root for Cassius, was when he and Salvador had an altercation. Cassius says “My success is not affecting ya’ll. Keep doing what you doing and I’ll root from the sidelines.” This scene showed how some people forget their roots once they become successful and no longer care about the people that helped them get where they were. Cassius saying that he would root by the sideline is just his way of saying he wouldn’t really go out of his way to actually help them. it was amazing to see the development of Cassius as a character especially through the characters he interacts with. His original friends slowly fade away as he begins to mingle with the likes of Steve Lift and other Power callers. The movie also shows a representation of human objectification. Steve Lift’s Worryfree strategy of turning people into hybrids for the sole purpose of maximizing labor was his attempt to romanticize slavery for more profit. All in all, I found the movie as eye-opening. It made me think of how power can change someone and how dangerous the lack or abundance of it could be.

The film “F for Fake” by Orson Welles is a documentary/drama film that involves truths and lies. The film opens with Welles asserting that magicians are nothing more than just actors. The entire film address the nature of lies, deceit and fakery. The film made me question the whole what is real and what’s not. It made me think deeply and question if I know what is truly real or not. It seems to be so typical for any person to do that but that is just me thinking about the film. It made think that anyone could say something is real and we immediately believe whoever the author is or whoever said it. Made me realize that it could also be why so many people can be fooled nowadays. The story of Elmyr de Hory as a skilled forger and fooled museums showed me that anyone can fool anyone. In the moderm era today, people can be fooled as simple as being on social media or online shopping. Somebody will say this material is the real deal and when you get it (or if you do get it) it is actually just a piece of cheap material. After Welles made a point that the so called experts who should be able to differentiate the art pieces as real or fake could be fake experts. How are they so easily fooled if they are supposedly experts who should know or can simply see that something is fake. That whole point just effed up my mind. So for example, if I was an expert in the steel industry, trading and negotiating with another company, I should be able to tell if they are really selling the real deal. If I don’t, does that make me a fake expert? Or for a coach in any sport, if they are unable to bring the team together to play better, does that mean he is a fake? Yes he/she is a coach but does he/she know what they are doing? An example would be an NBA coach name Tyronn Lue who coached Lebron James in Cleveland. People were saying he didn’t know anything and Lebron was the coach so people were discrediting him and his position as a coach. Overall, the film was really deep. It had a deep meaning to it and I appreciate that. After the two rough movies for me being the “Lost Highway” and “The Endless”, the next films were something that was enjoyable. One being really emotionally and the other making me think. I rarely see films that have a deep meaning especially in terms of what is real and what is fake. It made think hard for awhile but that’s what is fun about filmslike this. They can make you debate and talk about with your friends and for me, if a film can do that to me after watching, it must have been really good.

The film “Kimi no Na wa” (“Your Name”) by Makoto Shinkai was an absolutely needed film for me. After the past two films, I was able to relax and actually enjoy the film. I heard from everybody that this film will make you emotional or maybe even cry. Well, they were definitely right about that. I didn’t cry but I got emotional and to put it in a more casual way, I felt the feels. Really big feels. When Taki and Mitsuha were switching bodies, it was one of the most hilarious scenes that just made me want to face palm myself. Other scenes that made me laugh was when they would feel each other’s genitals or chest (for Taki as Mitsuha). It made me wonder what if I switched bodies with a girl and the next couple of scenes of Taki writing all over Mitsuha’s arms and notebooks is what I would do if that happened to me. It was scenes like this that made the movie so enjoyable. The visuals and soundtracks of the film was one of the best that I have seen from an anime movie. With the scene of Taki and Mitsuha meeting on the mountain, that was the scene that started the emotional ride for me. When Mitsuha disappeared, I felt so sad for Taki but I thought to myself at least he wrote his name on her hand. When I saw that he wrote “I love you”, it actually made me very emotional. I was hoping that Mitsuha would make it out alive but I didn’t expect anything. After the explotion, I thought it was over and that she didn’t survive but after a few years, when Taki is looking for a job, the girl who he kept passing by made me think that Mitsuha made it. Afterwards, they finally meet after looking for each other after they saw each other in different trains. It was my first time watching the film and I was really happy that Mitsuha survived and they finally found each other. I really needed a movie like this. After watching “The Endless” and “Lost Highway” I don’t know if I would have survived another film like that. “Kimi no Na wa” is absolutely my favorite film out of all the films we have watched. The whole animation, visual effects and the soundtracks just put the film to a whole new level. I can see why so manh people loved the movie and every aspect of the film made each scene have an impact to the main plot. I hope to have another movie like this in the future. I used to watch a lot of anime before, but not as much now. I think the fact that I have an appreciation of anime made me love this film even more. But regardless if you watch anime or not, I believe that anyone will fall in love with this movie. Yes, this is film is that good.

For the film “Lost Highway” by David Lynch is a mystery/thriller movie that I am just not fond off. In general, I am one of those people who just cannot deal with any mystery, thriller, horror or any creepy or scary movies. I will be the first to say that I am probably the most cowardly person anyone will meet in terms of watching any film like “Lost Highway”. So, by saying that, I didn’t really like the movie just because I am not fond of these types of movies. However, in terms of its story/plot, it was actually pretty good. The scenes with the “Dick Laurent is dead” and the whole mystery man and filming and chasing Fred was just too much for me. I had a hard time composing myself after the film because I was trying to calm my mind saying it was just a movie. But here is the thing about how I feel when people that these our just films. Some of these films are based on a true story. Either that or they got inspiration maybe from experience or a story they heard from someone. Any film, book or any form of literature that involves these types of things are things that I don’t mess around with. I wouldn’t know how to feel if all of a sudden people just kept mocking it then all of a sudden bad things start to happen to them. I guess it could just be me being very scared and cowardly but that’s just my point of view. I would have to commend the movie in terms of it being a mystery/thriller movie. It really delivered with the plot and even if there were people dying here and there, it was still how I think a mystery/thriller movie should be. Yes I was extremely bothered but I still tried my best to pay attention to it. These movies is my main weakness in which I am unable to fully watch the film because I just couldn’t bring myself to look at the screen. I easily get jump scared, startled and would even panic because I don’t know what is going to happen next. And I think that is the key to a great mystery/thriller movie. To be able to keep things unexpected at the right time and place is what makes a film like “Lost Highway” a decent film. Maybe not a decent film in my eyes since I was totally scared but decent for the other viewers who aren’t as scared as me. And besides, after watching “The Endless” by Justin Benson and and Aaron Moorhead, I think that constant state of panic or stress from watching those types of films carried over to “Lost Highway” therefore I was even more terrified of watching back to back films of the same genre. However, even with my limited time watching it, it was still sort of decent. Aside from the creepy calls and murders and chase scenes etc, it kept me on my toes for the rest of the day but not in a bad way. More like an adrenaline rush.

The film “The Endless” by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead is a sci-fi/thriller movie which I was not prepared for. I remember when the film began with that tape being played on the tv, I immediately searched online what genre the film was and it turned out to be a sci-fi/thriller. It would have been okay if it was just sci-fi but unfortunately for me, it was also a thriller. I am not a big fan of thriller thus the reason why I didn’t like it as much compared to others. I remember that scene with the huge monster creature below the lake and I thought that it was just some random shape that the lake had but I then realized it look like a giant creature and with the toolbox and tape that was found, I started to get a little more tense. With the following scenes with Hal and and Justin, I got even more tense with the whole discussion about cult leaders and the entire camp. It’s reasons like these I am not a fan of these types of movies. Scenes like that already causes me to get tense and nervous. If there were a lot of scenes of jump scares, blood, murders etc I don’t know if I would survive the next two hours in class. As someone who is easily afraid, I still try to watch and analyze the films. Even if I know I’ll be really terrified at many points of the film, I believe it is what makes these types of movies likeable to people. However, the plot will always play a factor. Personally, I felt the film“Unfriended” by Levan Gabriadze was even scarier than this and “Unfriended” was not the most terrifying movie that people have seen. Yes, even low rated horror, thriller, mystery filmsscare the hell out of me. I am in constant stress everytime I watch a movie of that genre but I still try to appreciate them giving the film some positive points. Overall, “The Endless” was still a decent film to say the least. Even if I would look away at times and try to block out what the actors were saying, I think the plot itself was quite unique with the whole camp cult type of thing. I don’t remember seeing any movie of that genre have that plot (yes I have watched a few films of that genre since I was dragged by my friends) which is why I say it is unique. It wasn’t all blood, religious type of ghosts or spirits trying to haunt you or some lady coming out of a tv so it was sort of a nice change of pace even if I was still terrified. I don’t think this will be a movie that I will want to watch twice but I am still some what glad that I got to see the film. It was a challenge to keep watching at times or pay attention to what was going on but at least I tried.

Lost Highway didn’t scare me, but I think it is one of the best scary movies I have watched. The movie simply had constant suspense surrounding every single scene. The uncertainty I had was usually caused by both my expectations and the overall atmosphere of the movie. most scenes were built to make your heart beat rapidly because you would simply feel like something was about to happen and it was amusing when you reach the point that there was actually nothing that was going to happen. One of my favorite scenes was when Fred was in the bathroom and Renee was calling for him by the hallway. The hallway was pitch black and the tension that was built by the fact that there was a possibility of someone being in their house, made me nervous of what was going to happen next. It wasn’t a quick scene either, the suspense merely increased as Renee lingered by the dark hallway. Another scene similar to this would be when Alice was “pointing a gun” at Pete. At that moment I thought Alice had turned at Pete and was ready to take all the money for herself. There was no dialogue in this scene and similar to the scene of Renee, the moment lingered. The suspense simply goes away once Alice speaks and we realize that she wanted to hand Pete the gun. The movie also had a lot of foreshadowing elements that made the movie suspenseful. Considering that the sequencing of the movie was a bit all over the place, there were a lot of bits of random events. An example of this would be the exploding warehouse. We would see it a lot throughout the movie, but we really had no idea of what it could be. The moment we finally see the warehouse as part of the story, the suspense of it exploding was evident. Going into that scene, we know that it would explode but we don’t have knowledge on why or how it would explode. To say the least, the movie was really constructed to make you feel scared and not just spook you for a split-second. I mean the only jumpscare we get from the movie was when Fred wakes up to the mystery man’s face in Renee’s body. Considering this was a bit early in the film, it made me expect more of it even though I eventually found out it was the single one. I think that also somehow added to the overall tension I felt throughout the movie. The movie did have surprising scenes like when Fred suddenly transformed into Pete in the jail cell and when we see Alice for the first time, who looks exactly like Renee but blonde. The scene of the mystery man was quite odd as well because I thought Fred wouldn’t actually get the chance to interact with him. Based on my previous knowledge on horror movies, the weird looking characters which were there to scare you would usually disappear after a few seconds, but for this instance, the mystery man conversed with Fred. It confused me to the point that I actually found it funny. Overall, I really enjoyed the way the movie made me feel an amount of suspense that every horror movie should have without bombarding me with extremely loud sound effects and creatures with reversible limbs.