Sunday, October 13, 2013

Occupant [HD]



May Be Deeper Than You Think
If you watch this with a wait and see attitude and don't expect a typical horror film , you may like it. Lots of discussion on whether there was possession or insanity. The movie definitely provides an opportunity to have a discussion about what was actually going on. I personally think it was both. He had to be a bit unhinged to start. And a lot at the end. But people don't lose it that quickly if they are starting out normal. I also think due to several things that there was possession or influence of an evil nature. This isn't a wild ride kind of movie. It is more of a deeper type of "horror" movie. One that leaves you to wonder. Watch it with friends who don't mind a more mellow movie and are ready for discussion when it ends.

What exactly happened here?
There are possible spoilers ahead, but I'm not sure it would really matter because upon finishing this film, you won't have any idea what happened anyway... When this film started, I thought it might be your run-of-the-mill supernatural events story. Boy was I wrong. There was nothing run-of-the-mill about this thing. I have no idea what really happened here. We're led to believe that maybe Danny's grandmother died because of something other than natural causes, but we're never given any indication of what that might be. She lived in this apartment for many years without the ill-effects that seem to drive her grandson mad after only a couple of days. What's up with the creepy doorman? Who is the elderly black man he finds in his apartment? What's going on with the shoes? Do all the drawings on the wall mean something? What's with the hole in the wall? Why did Danny, apparently, murder a girl after only a couple of days in the apartment? Was he just mentally weak or did he...

An Engrossing Descent into Madness
We are not sure of the source of the maddening of the young man forced to stay in his New York apartment. Are some internal propensities working themselves out in the claustrophobia of his situation? Is this a masculine version of Roman Polanski's Repulsion in which Catherine Deneuve's character succumbs to a terrifying insanity within the confines of her apartment? Or is this more like "The Exorcist" in which some outside malevolence is relentlessly attacking its target? Or is it a little of both?

The movie apparently intends to slant our interpretation in one particular way. This shows in its final scenes, but also in little clues planted along the way. What's that behind the would-be girlfriend as she stands in the middle of the room after getting something from the refrigerator? You see it in just the briefest flash.

Either way, it's true that there are aspects of this movie that make for...

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