ANTICHRIST: 2009: HORROR: To say that this movie was a depraved look into the mind of director Lars von Trier is an understatement. After watching it, I was pretty disturbed by the subject matter and the overall impact. Horror movies are one thing, but this movie is seriously on another level. It will grab the deepest, darkest, most evil part of your psyche and shake it until it admits defeat.
Be scared, very scared.
The way in which Antichrist scares you is not in the typical horror movie fashion. This movie goes into uncharted territory, exploring every nook and cranny until you are left exhausted and pretty much psychologically shattered. Not only is the movie extremely graphic both sexually and with respect to gore, it also develops the horror in such a way that it seems impossible to ignore. It just has that type of an impact.
I don't think I've seen a movie like this in awhile.
Don't get me wrong, the movie was filmed exceedingly well with careful deliberation and attention to detail. It just goes into a place that most movies will not go to. Perhaps they don't go there because they don't know exactly where it is.
Antichrist is disturbing in every sense of the word.
The story involves a couple who lose a child while they are having sex. The mother of the child played by Charlotte Gainsbourg is grief stricken and is at odds with her husband, William Defoe over how to deal with the grief. Since he is a therapist, he tries to use his techniques to help her through the stages of grief. Ever didactic in his approach, he infuriates his wife although she is careful not to show too much emotions right away. That will come later.
The chemistry between the two was intense.
After traveling to a secluded cabin, "He" played by Defoe tries everything he can to cure his wife. She starts to improve but then loses it completely. Little by little, you get to see just how depraved she is and even start to find out startling developments regarding the child and his accident. Soon after, all hell breaks loose and Antichrist begins the descent into the most unholy of places ever depicted in a movie in awhile. Antichrist then becomes an exercise in depravity.
After taking a serious departure from reality, the wife becomes a grotesque monster.
There were no zombies, or vampires, or supernatural elements at play here. That is what made the movie so disturbing. It is totally conceivable that this could happen and I'm sure that the director knew this reality and focused all of his efforts on this life a magnifying glass focuses a sunbeam. It became almost unbearable. Being a fan of horror movies, I kept watching. Part of me wanted to satisfy my curiosity and see if the movie would explain it was all a dream, or "I didn't mean that, ha ha ha joke's on you", but it never did. It just left me dangling there out of breath. When the wife chases after the husband, mangled and bleeding to death, her screams of "You Bastard, Where are you?" echoed in the movie and probably will echo in my dreams. It was very disconcerting.
Watch his movie at your own risk.
The whole movie just leads up to the final chapter where the wife tortures the husband in a most graphic and terrifying way. I have never seen anything like this before and I've seen all the Saw movies and most other extremely graphic movies. That one scene makes all the scenes in Hostel trivial. Coupling graphic sex with violence and sheer depravity, Lars absolutely nails linking them together to create a movie that will not let go of your psyche. I like having nightmares, but I'm a little concerned to see what kind I get tonight. One of the reasons why the torture scene was so effective was that Lars simply displays the scene without any fanfare. It's almost nonchalant.
The whole movie is a sort of nightmare sequence.
Well, if you want to see how far this Danish director goes, watch this movie. It's definitely one of a kind. Melding symbolism and extremely eerie music into a landscape of horror, Lars delivers this disturbing piece of media. I would just make sure that you are in a good place and in a good mood, because if you go into this movie bringing in some baggage or bad emotions, Antichrist will probably put you over the edge: 83%
The Madness of Antichrist
She's waiting for you, don't disappoint her..
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