The Conjuring, released 2013, was a brilliantly crafted and superior haunted house film. This genuinely scary horror boasted a number of effective gleefully spooky moments, the creepy Annabelle doll was instantly iconic and the film in general was pervaded by an unforgettable suffocating atmosphere of dread. This combined to make it an inspired and well-crafted horror from James Wan who had previously directed the equally effective, though decidedly uneven, Insidious in 2011.
Evolution. (2015)
Horror, Mystery, Art-house
What is Evolution? This bleak and intriguing art house mystery is a real enigma. The story-line is vague and hard to pin down as the events unfold in the perspective of a young boy living in a community of other boys and their “mothers”. There are no men and seemingly the boys, mothers and nurses are the only inhabitants of a whitewashed strange Mediterranean town on a windswept rocky island.
The story takes place on a lonely windswept island inhabited by boys and their less than nurturing “mothers”
The story seems from the outset to be a story of change, given the title Evolution this is not surprising, throughout the piece the boys undergo a change of lifestyle as they are sent from their idyllic but disturbingly lonely home and hospitalized in a creepy hospital inhabited by austere nurses.
Although the title “Evolution” suggests progress, this is not the case as throughout there is a sobering theme of mortality and the suggestion that the boys are on the losing side of mortality, in essence that due to some form of natural selection they are destined to die. Following the outset of the protagonist’s discovery of a child’s corpse under the sea with a star fish (a creature known for evolving at rapid rates) attached to his stomach, we see the children gain an interest in morbidity, and our protagonist in a form of paradelioa sees the image of the starfish everywhere almost as if reminding us of inevitable death, but also perhaps of the gain of other life forms from earth and the cycle of life which in itself is horrific and comforting at the same time. Strangely our protagonist’s penchant for drawing and his ability to draw things in our world which are not seemingly in the bland one he inhabits such as cats and ferris wheels seems that either he knows of the world outside his island or he has a creative aspect to his character which the others don’t. There could therefore be a theme of totalitarianism and censorship as the nurses strive to block this skill, as well as denying the boys questions.
Most of the female roles are hard and uncaring women often portrayed with dark eyes much like the masks of Modigliani paintings.
As a film it is beautifully shot, the cinematography is stunning and the sound effects are stirring. We are constantly treated with haunting lingering shots of wave shattered rocks and marine creatures such a corals and aenemes in violent swirling water. The picture created is that of a violent landscape, the coastline constantly battered and changed just like the lives of the protagonists. The constant sound of waves crashing and howling winds adds to the feeling of magnitude, the sea is obviously a symbol of the primordial soup which the characters are a part of but the deafening noise and wide rugged landscapes certainly make the characters and viewer feel small and insignificant.
The horror aspect to the story is very creepy and strange, it is up to the viewers to decide what is exactly going on. There is a slight sci-fi or lovecraftian element to the horror, (scientific experiments, fear of the unknown) whether the actions of the “mothers” and nurses are insidious or toward a greater beneficial cause is irrelevant as whatever the outcome it seems our characters the boys are on the lowest tier of the food chain.
My theory is that it is an analysis of the uncaring nature of society, mothers and nurses are supposed to be nurturing but in this screenplay the opposite seems to be the case. The world just like evolution is uncompromising brutal and isolating. People are used in society for the intangible gain of the powerful and society as a whole and in this wide sweeping world we are left feeling small and losing out in the evolutionary cycle. Or maybe I’m just overthinking it, it was also a very chilling horror mystery drawing on the fear of the unknown.
Spoiling Starfish [beware of possible spoilers] Also watch out for starfish when watching, the hystera species of starfish is known for being a hermaphrodite that can bear young whatever the sex, a trait which the nurses in the film may be trying to replicate, also the name hystera is also in the word hysterectomy an action that seemingly takes place in the film. Hence some of the imagery may be a play on words rather than symbolic of actions.
cinegasmsandbroomsticks 