FELL

FELL
“…horror is …a sick mind that deceives itself…”
“…a “hangover” movie with horrific implications…”
One of my favourite Director’s Marcus Koch of legendary FX fame who brought us great titles like ROT and 100 Tears really broke the mould here.
Marcus told me there was a time he wanted a break from all the FX gore and needed a change… he recommended this one to me and sent me the DVD for review…
He must have known something…
He was right.
This is a movie that not only makes a great entry into the world of psychological horror/drama and explores the very real effects of Mental Health but it also shows the depth this Director has at his fingertips. That is frighteningly….fantastic!
You can clearly tell this one was a real hit for me.
“…This is your first time…a learning experience…”
A dishevelled Bill sits in his kitchen hugging a radio…static…sound… voices…
A scream emits from somewhere else inside the house.
He cradles the radio like a doll…
A thread to something more…
To reality?
This 2010 entry follows the harrowing story of Bill and his two friends – Derek (a friend from way back) and Jenny (his ex-girlfriend), as he struggles to come to grips with finding a dead woman in his bathtub.
Of coming to grips with his own mental illness.
Of coming to grips with…
Life.
The radio emits static and voices that relate subliminal messages to him and to the viewer.
Now this is clever and I need to dwell on a few things here…
Marcus (unwittingly perhaps), has “nailed” the effects of Mental Health issues. The feelings of wellness, of running out or coming of ones medications causing an “imbalance”, of dual diagnosis effects of alcohol, of voices in one’s head…
Of frustration…
Of fear…
Of a loss of reality…
Of loneliness…
Of despair.
I have seen it many times. The depiction here is nothing short of…
Horrifically true.
As Marcus has stated to me “Mental health scares me more than anything, I wanted to make the viewer, just as confused as Bill”… “I couldn’t imagine losing my mind, and loss of touch with reality”.
And of course he is correct. The mind is indeed a dark and foreboding place at times and we can well become our own worst enemies…
Acts are repeated…sound, to conversation, to visual. Something we heard on the radio comes to life and visions of what has occurred slowly takes shape…
Slowly tormenting both Bill and us as the viewer.
You can literally feel it and you can feel the
Frustration.
The picture becomes clearer yet remains distorted like an ill-fitting puzzle piece, like a puzzle that is missing one piece…
Bill confesses to his friends about the body, they offer help and assistance…as does his Psychiatrist whose monologue remains a constant reminder of his path towards some sort of…
Freedom?
Even this advice is distorted and don’t we see Bill taking 1-2 pills at first and then in later glimpses of the same shot, taking 5-6?
Are things back to front or right way round?
Confusion at every turn.
And just when you think you and Bill have it sorted…
You don’t.
The only constant is the radio and Bill’s lack of grip on reality.
Now seasoned viewers may well have worked it out early on, but even a few of them will be in for a surprise twist.
Fear not fellow viewers.
It matters not because even if you have worked it out, you can’t help but watch in case…
You got it wrong…and meanwhile…
You relish the confusion and the possibilities.
You live it.
Not gore filled, yet horrific in concept and yet again, this could well be…
You.
One in five people in the USA suffer from a mental health issue.
The story continues to unfold and become clearer as we learn the fate of all concerned.
Bill hugs the decomposing corpse just as he has hugged the radio…
“…just trying to find a clear channel…”
“…Fell….I have fallen for you…”
“Scratchy” Pete
Jan 2014