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Psychic Medium, Donna Frasca's avatar

You did a good job reviewing the movie. I didn’t enjoy it. I just felt it was low budget, bad acting, and just too much gore. Not enough was left to the imagination, but I do give it originality for the cat sandwich that was extremely gross but ewe 🤮

elie lichtschein 👽🛹's avatar

haha yes that part definitely did not leave my mind for a while

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

That's very interesting. I thought quite a lot was left open!

Psychic Medium, Donna Frasca's avatar

Left open? They didn’t even choose the right crystal for courage. It clearly should’ve been tiger‘s eye.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

I was hoping someone with more crystal knowledge would pop up in the comments! What was the deal with citrine?

Psychic Medium, Donna Frasca's avatar

Citrine is a crystal that does represent the solar plexus, our empowerment, but there’s a crystal that is stronger than that which is tiger‘s eye. Lion – courage, all makes sense.🦁

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

That does sense. I've got both tucked away somewhere so wondered for personal reasons. Always felt drawn to citrine in a way.

Psychic Medium, Donna Frasca's avatar

It’s a beautiful crystal, a beautiful color.

Amy's avatar

absolutely love your thoughts on this movie, and your complete condemnation of Bear (i could read essays on how vile he is for hours)

would love to know your thoughts on some of the theories surrounding this movie, like Bear potentially leaving the pills out for Sandy on purpose to get sympathy?

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

Theories-wise, I didn't actually hear that specific one. How horrid. I'm not convinced I agree though, but put on the tinfoil hat and tell me more if you think it's possible!

I did see a fascinating one about the film being (unintentionally) anti-AI - how Nikki tries hard to please but just regurgitates vague nothings, her creativity being sapped away, how we seemingly see Bear use AI as a research tool, or even how Nikki makes that I want to wear your skin picture. There are some parallels.

Amy's avatar

the cat theory took me a minute to come around to but it kinda makes sense. theres no reason for the oxy to be out of the cabinet at all, let alone open and accessible to the cat (the drugs are leftover from his grandmother, theres no evidence to suggest Bear was taking them)

so the theory is that Bear intentionally left it out so that the cat would get sick or die so he can get sympathy and attention, because he sees the cat as disposable in a way. what he does to Nikki shows his entitlement, and the way he reacts when she asks him to kill her shows his potential for cruelty.

of course he's sad when Sandy dies, maybe because he was just hoping she'd get sick and he'd get to tell everyone about her scary medical emergency, maybe the consequences just became real for him.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

It would explain how weird he is about the whole thing. I can see it. Appreciate the expansion of detail - nothing more fun than theory swapping!

Amy's avatar

and obsession is so detailed that its got room for tons of theories

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

Definitely one to rewatch I think.

nicolaaaa's avatar

such an awesome read:) i super fucked with this film. I thought it was incredibly well done and had me eager for more of Barker's work! have you even watched his short films?

I personally felt a strong connection to his execution of Obsession and how he approached his short film work. really interesting:)

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

I haven't seen much else of his, no, though it might've come across my page once or twice. Really glad you enjoyed my review Nicola! And the film, more generally. It is a banger.

H. H. Duke's avatar

I really enjoyed this review, Harry! I can't believe anyone thinks Bear is not the bad guy in this.

Scratch that. Yes I can.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

Thank you, my Duke. It's disturbing isn't it.

Pablo's avatar

I think I'm gonna pass on this one....

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

Quite intensive watch, I'd say Pablo

Pablo's avatar

I do love the genre of horror but I cant deal with the really terrifying ones. It's too much trauma for my mind and I'm ok with missing out on that!

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

I respect it! Sometimes the best horror films are a good laugh and some schlocky visuals. No point putting yourself through the anguish if you're not going to get anything out of it!

luca zani's avatar
Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

Thanks Luca, I will give it a read.

Alessandro Di-Girolamo's avatar

Enjoyed your review and agree with most of your points. I think this is the most fun horror movie of the year so far but also had the biggest plot holes. The lack of police involvement at any point is fairly unbelievable.

Also do you have a master list with an order of your rankings? I think it would be fun to see the most successful films out of 23.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

The lack of police involvement is definitely pretty wild. I was a bit open to it due to the whole magic element but even so. Glad you enjoyed though!

https://hellishviews.substack.com/p/the-rankings?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3b21w8 - here are my rankings - though I've not been updating them very well lol

Alessandro Di-Girolamo's avatar

Definitely enjoyed it. Although I think the praise has been a little over the top it’s a good close to great film. But not in the realm of Get Out and Hereditary that I’ve seen comparisons to.

Thanks for sharing.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

For me I think it's as thought provoking as those, but I haven't seen Hereditary for a long time and I need to revisit it.

Alessandro Di-Girolamo's avatar

Your score is wrong for Hereditary so it’s a good chance for you to revisit and apologise for being as wrong as you are.

Hellish Views - Harry Evans's avatar

😂😂 it is a BRUTAL score. I was definitely a teenager when I watched/scored that one. Had a real thing about Aster for some reason.

Alessandro Di-Girolamo's avatar

We’ve got to get that number up, you’ve got it amongst the rank and file and it deserves better than that.

Annie crawling on the ceiling is one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had watching a film. Cultural significant off the charts, not sure about the vibes because the sister is anything but, but that’s all I can ding it on.