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Horrors to Watch

Part two

By KelPublished about a year ago 4 min read
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Horrors to Watch
Photo by Elti Meshau on Unsplash

As horror trends ebb and flow, reflecting the ever-changing reality from which it emerges, moments of intersection and flux become increasingly apparent. Horror that pushes the boundaries of subtext and horror that cuts to the core of our fears coexist in a chaotic landscape of dread and madness. The past few years have been a time of confinement and uncertainty, and our fears have been expressed in a variety of ways. Self-reflection has been a common theme, while spectacle has returned to the big screen. Throwbacks to simpler times have been weaponized, rather than relying on nostalgia. Horror in 2022 has been a reflection of growth in the face of pain, something it has always thrived on. Jordan Peele's blockbuster return, Ti West's ambitious double-whammy, and the showstoppers from indie voices like Chloe Okuno, Phil Tippett and Jane Schoenbrun have created a sordid assortment of horror that is as much a bag of Halloween candy as it is a snapshot of a society in transition.

A Wounded Fawn

Co-written with Nathan Faudree, Stevens' third feature as a director is a complex, captivating, and wonderfully imaginative serial killer story that is as metaphysical as it is psychosexual. Its setup may be familiar, but as the film takes a turn into what it's really about, A Wounded Fawn reveals that there is something much darker and stranger than a by-the-numbers killer-in-the-house tale at work here, and what starts as familiar quickly becomes one of the most memorable horror films of the year.

Meredith (Sarah Lind) is a museum curator who is finally starting to embrace dating again, and she believes she may have found the right guy in Bruce (Josh Ruben), a fellow art-lover who also happens to have a secluded cabin perfect for a weekend getaway in the woods. It has all the makings of a romantic re-awakening for Meredith, and she is particularly impressed when she sees the cabin and Bruce's art collection, which features a legendary Grecian bronze that may or may not be a replica. What the audience already knows that Meredith does not, though, is that Bruce is a serial killer, a man driven to maul women by a strange presence only he can see. It is clear that Meredith is falling into a trap, but as the struggle between predator and prey begins, Bruce finds that the night is going to be much more complicated than he thought.

The intimate setup of A Wounded Fawn means that much of the film unfolds in a single location, with two major characters and an assortment of strange, mythological figures who may be real and may be entirely in Bruce's addled mind. This gives Stevens the difficult task of having to maintain a sense of dynamism and visual depth over the course of a film with only a few elements to look at. He proved he can do this kind of storytelling with the Girl On The Third Floor, and his skills have clearly matured even further into the realm of expressive, endlessly unnerving psychological terror. The film is shot in 16mm, giving it a unique grain and texture that few other films in recent years have achieved. Director Stevens goes beyond the simple appeal of this aesthetic, however, with his masterful design. The color temperatures feel like something that could have easily been found in a cinema in the 1970s or on a VHS rack in the 1980s. The reds are vibrant, the faces rich with contrast, and the balance of cool and warm tones twisted to enhance the crimson hues of both the violence and the strange visions haunting Bruce throughout the film. These visions are ferocious, chilling, and endlessly evolving to great effect. Production designer Sonia Foltarz and costume designer Erik Bergrin have clearly embraced Stevens’ willingness to get weird as the night wears on and both Bruce and Meredith are wounded, struggling to make it to sunrise. From masks to animal heads to one especially strange sequence that can best be described as “metaphysical surgery,” this film will stick in your head like an urge you’d rather ignore, sending chills up your spine even after the credits roll. If you’re willing to take this dark, surreal journey and go all-in on Stevens’ descent into mythological terror, you’ll be thinking about what you just saw for weeks.

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Kel

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