With Lady Pam De Graff
THE
DIVIDE (2011)
WRITTEN BY: Karl Mueller, Eron Sheean
DIRECTED BY: Xavier Gens
FEATURING: Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, Courtney B. Vance,
Ashton Holmes, Rosanna Arquette, Iván González, Michael Eklund
GENRE: NON-SUPERNATURAL HORROR, THRILLER
TAGS: rape, torture, social commentary
RATING: 8 OUT OF 10 PINTS OF BLOOD
PLOT: When a handful of people seal themselves into a fallout shelter to survive
a nuclear attack, they open a Pandora's Box of strife, decadence, and horror.
COMMENTS:
Oppressive, disturbing, and dark, The Divide draws on elements of other movies
and media from our collective memory, then takes them in a familiar yet novel
direction. In doing so, the effort furnishes a chilling commentary on timeless,
as well as specifically contemporary social values. Using the backdrop of a
nuclear holocaust, The Divide is sublimely cautionary without being preachy
about its subject, unlike movies such as the unctuous Requiem For A Dream.
In
The Divide's opening sequence, a mysterious nuclear attack besieges New York
City. We see it reflected in beautiful Eva's (Lauren German) tearful eye. The
shot is reminiscent of "Daisy," a 1964 anti-Goldwater/pro-Johnson presidential
campaign commercial. In that political ad, a little girl is picking flowers in a
meadow, only to look up to see a nuclear fireball which engulfs her. Just before
the fireball, the camera dissolves into a close-up of
her pupil.
DAISY (link)
The initial frames of The Divide also bring to mind an early 1970's Keep America Beautiful TV PSA in which the camera creeps into a close-up of actor Iron Eyes Cody's tearful orbit as he observes the egregious litter and pollution of a grim urban landscape. KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL AD (link)
With
this primary image, The Divide sets the stage for a savage social indictment
which incorporates a survey of muted references to other post-apocalyptic
stories of behavioral decadence from the past 60 years of television and cinema.
The stylishness and symbolism of its first frames end here however, as The
Divide quickly evolves into a gritty, disturbing dissection of human nature. The
saccharine artfulness of the introductory shot acquiesces to a morbid atmosphere
of loathsome apprehension and resolutely mounting dread. Nearly all of the
ensuing action takes place in the basement fallout shelter of an urban apartment
building. This makes The Divide as well suited to have been a gripping stage
play, as it is a cinematic spectacle of abject human deterioration.
And if only more stage plays had the eerie ICK! factor of The Divide. The story
only hints at science fiction abomination, with the producers opting instead to
indulge in a gloomy, unnerving "what if?" examination of the sort of real horror
which lies in latent readiness all around us.
The setup is this: the superintendent, "Mickey," (Michael Biehn) of the building
in which the main characters dwell, allows them into his cavernous, dank,
steam-punk basement apartment/fallout shelter when nuclear warheads inexplicably
drop on New York. And when I say "allows," he really doesn't have much choice as
the residents all but force themselves in.
Once
there however, the tenants' lives having been saved by Mickey's magnanimous
nature, they aren't so happy. Despite the fact that Mickey's coolheadedness and
pragmaticism, continues to keep them alive, they
decide that life is lackluster without their laptops, high speed internet, 50
inch flat-screens, Chinese carryout, climate control, water beds, and the other
vitally essential accouterments of modern urban living to which they have a
strong sense of entitlement. And it's all the Super's fault that they can't
recline in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed. Despite Mickey
doing the best he can to feed, comfort, console, counsel and accommodate the
spoiled pack of pouty party crashers, they want more.
A LOT more.
The first sign of serious trouble occurs when two self-centered GenX'ers ignore
the Super's firm mandate not to unseal the blast door and let the deadly fallout
in. They insist on leaving, even though it means death for all.
Mickey is forced to dissuade them with an ax, and from here the overall
situation inexorably degenerates. With Shadings of 28 Days Later in which
apocalypse survivors are mislead by a group of
soldiers offering sanctuary, one of the seemingly more level-headed survivors,
(Courtney B. Vance) broadcasts the address of the shelter over a hand-held CB
radio.
Now what could possibly go wrong with that idea?
Before
long, not very helpful entities show up in really scary space suits, bearing
ghastly, long needled elephant syringes and futuristic weapons. It turns out
they aren't smiling emissaries from a post-nuclear welcome wagon, and what they
have in mind for the captive occupants is less than savory.
Delightfully macabre, The Divide is reminiscent of more mainstream Doomsday
stories, to wit: two particularly credible Twilight Zone episodes. The first,
The Monsters Are On Maple Street, is about witch-hunts and the slippery slope of
social disorder that occurs when the status quo breaks down. The second,
entitled simply The Shelter, is about the ready ease with which we drop our
civilized exteriors when resources rarefy in a survival situation.
With
these themes in mind, the Divide declines its opportunity to become an
inventively frightful sci-fi chiller in favor of exploring the more human side
of being caught in a trap. The focus shifts to the
phenomenon of the rapid social and moral decay which ensue in the absence of any
policing mechanism for obedience and order. Intriguingly, it seems the trap is
not formed so much by the confines of four walls, as by the moral degeneration
of the occupants. As Garcin apocryphally announces in Jean-Paul Sartre's end
game play, No Exit, "Hell is other people."
Several popular movies come to mind when viewing The Divide. The first is Panic
In The Year Zero (1962). Taking refuge in a cave with his wife and two children
following a nuclear war, father Harry Baldwin (Ray Milland) expresses a caveat
to his son Rick (Frankie Avalon) and other family members. "We don't know what
lies ahead of us. The unknown has always been man's greatest demoralizer. Now
maybe we can cope with this by maintaining our sense of values. By carrying out
our daily routine the same as we always have. Rick for instance, and myself,
will continue to shave every day. ... These concessions to civilization are
important. They're our link to reality. And because of them we might be less
afraid."
This concept of shaving is a way of upholding basic, decent conventions to keep
from forgetting 3000 years of civilized progress. In the absence of a greater,
external social order, could we not too easily forget the social contract and
promptly revert to the trees? This is a theme which becomes central to The
Divide's storyline.
Another
film we are reminded of as events unfold in The Divide, is Deliverance (1972).
In this backwoods thriller, four hobbyist survivalists learn that the types of
people who will actually prevail when the chips are down are those who live the
game of survival all the time -by way of a deprived subsistence in the dreadful
conditions of an unforgiving environment. In other words, there's a big
difference between playing in the dark and living there.
Where the situation in the Divide differs from that in Panic In The Year Zero is
that the values which the characters in The Divide must maintain are flawed from
the start. The Divide's refugees are amoral, self-indulgent, sexually deviant
GenerationX'ers. Any moral compass they might have ever had, was generated and
almost wholly presided over by the dregs of popular culture: sadistic video
games, unilateral, post-modern credos such as, "do it if it feels good" and "do
your own thing" (regardless of how objectionable or imposing it may be to anyone
else), and a permissive social climate in which tattoos, personal body
"modification"/mutilation, scatological behavior, deviant sex, auto-centrism,
narcissism, and instant gratification are not only considered normal, but wryly
humorous if not downright fashionable.
Akin to the outdoorsmen in Deliverance, Mickey, the building super, is logical
and well-equipped. But he's outclassed when his guests' inherent Roman mob style
brutality incipiently and inexorably creeps to the surface of their collective
dilemma, like spoiled curds in a pitcher of rancid cream. While the Deliverance
hillbillies' ability to live savagely nearly outclasses the protagonists'
technology and strategy, in The Divide, it is the refugees' decadent values and
crude standards which put Mickey at a mortal disadvantage.
Many
movies about people trapped in desperate situations focus on the aspect of human
nature by which people's individual personalities are degraded by stress and
result in a dissolution of their characters. Which is to say, when things go to
hell, they turn into real jerks.
The Divide instead observes how the participants' social mores facilitate their
appalling willingness to pull out the stops of decency. It's not us; it's
society.
In other words, our Western culture has bottomed out. It's become a powder keg
and people need just a little push to go back to war paint, spear chucking,
cannibalism, and running amok, hooting and snarling while clutching the severed
heads of their bosses and neighbors as their office furniture and briefcases
blaze on a pyre in the background
The Divide is about how the drive to survive rapidly degenerates into the
despotic exploitation of absolute power once the accessories for survival are
secured. The movie is not horror for the whole family. The viewing impression is
intense and heavy. The film's visual footprint is darkly foreboding, depressing,
and claustrophobic. While not a splatter fest of gore and airborne intestines,
The Divide is violent and cruel.
The action includes torture, rape, the chopping of rotting bodies, and liberal
amounts of feces in motion. Yet, despite the distastefulness of the spectacle
which unfolds, we find ourselves mesmerized by an aberrant fascination with the
sort of oozing depths to which humanity can slough, and how readily it can slink
there. While little of the abasement in the film is gratuitously explicit, The
Divide manages to provide a nauseating, squeamish experience that makes one
yearn for a hot shower and a concerted reexamination of one's own belief system
and scruples.
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Note: Below I genre classify Enter Nowhere as an occult
film. The word, "occult" has come to be synonymous with "Satanism." It should be
acknowledged however, that the term actually describes hidden or secret
"knowledge" beyond the range of that which can be understood by use of the
scientific method (i.e. occult assertions are untestable.) Occult phenomenon
include the paranormal, the supernatural, magic, spiritualism, alchemy, ESP,
divination, etc, in other words, the metaphysical, or the "science" of that
which cannot be quantified or measured, as opposed to academic, or natural
sciences.
ENTER
NOWHERE (2011)
WRITTEN BY: Shawn Christensen, Jason Dolan
DIRECTED BY: Jack Heller
FEATURING: Scott Eastwood, Katherine Waterston, Shaun Sipos. Christopher Denham,
Leigh Lezark, Jesse Perez
GENRE: OCCULT PUZZLER, HORROR
TAGS: mystery, thriller
RATING: 10 out of 10 pints of blood
PLOT: In an isolated cabin, four stranger's fates depend upon whether or not
they can solve a bizarre, unnatural conundrum.
COMMENTS:
Once again, Lion's Gate has saved the day by picking up a high quality,
independent effort for mainstream distribution. This time, it's a small budget
film shot on Long Island with Sarah Paxton, Scott Eastwood, and Katherine
Waterston. The solid performances and clever plot fully warrant Lion's Gate's
backing.
When
three strangers with wildly varying backgrounds find themselves stranded at a
shanty in the woods, they assume that each others presence is coincidental. But
as a series of disturbing evens unfolds, it gradually becomes apparent that
there is some sort of morbid, horrifying design to the situation. Worse, the
travelers can't seem to leave or even agree on basic facts. Journeying in
circles, unable to find geographic landmarks twice in a row, and enduring
extremes in weather and temperature, the trio is running out of food, water,
time, and ideas for extracting themselves from their predicament. Until a fourth
participant discovers the cabin, that is, and he has an agenda that is at best,
unsavory.
While
enter nowhere is a psychological thriller which takes place in one location with
a focus on dialogue over action, it's tense and engrossing. The cabin and the
surrounding woods are creepy, ala The Evil Dead, and the plot steadily mounts a
foreboding aura of dread and inevitable doom.The fun of puzzlers such as Enter
Nowhere is trying to figure out what's happening, and we do so in real time,
along with the central characters who don't know anything more than we do about
the situation.
I
know what you're thinking. Enter Nowhere is another Saw, or maybe one of endless
variations on An Occurrence at Owl Creek bridge, ala Jacob's Ladder, or Dead And
Buried. Wrong! Every time you think you've figured out the riddle and solution,
Enter Nowhere contorts and twists, heading off in an unexpected direction. The
story is fresh and completely unpredictable.
Enter
Nowhere was shot on a small budget, but is professionally filmed and edited,
with solid acting. It is a modest budget production, but not a low budget movie.
Enter Nowhere is one of the most cleverly constructed puzzlers I've seen yet,
and it not only held my attention, but had me tearing the threads out of my seat
cushion in nervousness and consternation.
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Creature Feature © D. Dyszel
2012
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