the girl with the dragon tattoo & the house of the devil
Well, gentle reader, it looks as if I might have just enough time to slip in one more largish post before activity around here reduces a little – I have an interview tomorrow for a perfect new assignment which should 
bring to an end my three months of seclusion. Having spent the day researching my potential new employers, what projects they are progressing and assessing exactly how I would deliver what they need to do I think it’s time for some fun – it’s time for some movies. I mentioned recently that things could potentially get darker around here, I was referring to a upcoming season at the NFT concerning the 50th anniversary of Psycho and a host of movies that are being screened around its half century pedigree, quite unrelated my last two cinema visits have been somewhat of a obfuscous complexion, dealing as they both do with violence and horror that lurks beneath the veneer of civilised society, the Swedish thriller Män Som Hatar Kvinnor and well-regarded eighties pastiche occult chiller The House Of The Devil which is enjoying a miniscule London run ahead of its DVD release.
Based on the first of Stieg Larsson’s hugely popular crime novels by The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo builds together two intersecting strands into a efficient and satisfying foreign thriller. In the first thread investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist has recently been convicted of falsifying evidence against a major industrialist and faces some jail time. Prior to his incarceration he is hired by the furtive Henrik Vagner, the patriarch 
of a powerful capitalist dynasty to investigate the disappearance and presumed death of his 16 year old niece some forty years ago. In the second thread emo-goth hacker Lisbeth Salandar – the titular girl – is reaping the consequences of a violent incident in her youth. Her new legal guardian, a truly odious figure, is blackmailing her to perform sexual acts in order to access her funds and acquire the new computer that she desperately needs to perform her job as an investigative hacker for a legal firm. Soon both Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s perspicuous activities bring them into each others orbit as they disturb the veil that cloaks the Vanger’s family reputation, unearthing a terrible family secret that places them both in lethal jeopardy….
I do enjoy my forensic thrillers, those procedurals where the plot is incrementally unearthed by detection, intuition, technology and blind chance, they can be tricky to successfully pull off and despite some minor plot 
misgivings The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo is a fine addition to the genre. Noomi Rapace is guaranteed a career from her brooding turn as the damaged Lisbeth, dare I say it if I was sixteen I suspect I’d be engaged in an enormous crush, staring wistfully out of my bedroom window whilst a Cure soundtrack thundered steadily in the background. Much of the commentary on the film has revolved around the sexual violence inherited from the source material which I haven’t read, questioning its potential feminist calamus and accusing the film of misogyny. This irritates me greatly and its the same argument that has been trotted, ad nauseum, for many years. The horrendous ordeals that Lisbeth and other women in the film suffer is not for one macro of a nanosecond ‘glorifying’ rape or even worse ‘eroticising’ sexual violence, it is grim and unbearable for a reason, to not dilute or mitigate the consequences and effects of such violence, an action I’d argue that is even more repugnant and dishonest. When Lisbeth reacts to her situation with admirable strength and bravery she is a hero just as anyone would be regardless of their sex or sexual orientation, an avenging valkyrie that should serve as an inspiration for anyone who confronts such tyrants. People who equate the presentation of events with support and tacit succour for such events get labelled into the same group as people for me as those who claim that anyone who criticises Israel for example as an anti-Semite, an illogical, irrelevant, morally bankrupt and deceitful practice that ultimately prevents progress in these areas for some partisan purpose. OK, rant over, it’s a good film, above all suggesting that when you scratch the surface of even the most liberal, civilised Western societies you will illuminate some very dark, very distressing aspects of human nature lurking in the shadows.
The House of The Devil is altogether a different beast, an eighties set Occult chiller that operates as a tender love letter to the genre period and a grimly accomplished horror movie in its own right. Sophomore Samantha, resembling a young Karen Allen has found the apartment of her dreams but there’s a catch – she’s broke and the landlord needs a $300 deposit. Scouring her college message boards (real physical 
ones, not virtual ones, remember this is the 1980’s) she alights on an opportunity advertised simply as ‘Baby$itter’ and a phone number. After speaking to the unsettling Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan) she convinces her friend Megan to drive her to the Ullman’s remote country house where despite the protestations of her friend and uncomfortable demeanour of her potential employees Samantha hesitantly agrees to spend the evening for the astronomical sum of $400. There’s just one catch as Mr. Noonan hasn’t been entirely truthful with his advert, its not babysitting, its house sitting his elderly mother whom is not specifically ill but could require some assistance should an emergency occur, after all there is a historic full eclipse of the moon scheduled for the evening….
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – anyone, anyone stupid enough to babysit for Tom Noonan deserves to die. Noonan aside if you’d put this in front of me without my previous knowledge and told me it was a recently unearthed 1984 movie that has only recently been receiving some critical attention I would have believed you – just take a look at the opening moments and credits:
Absolutely first class fun for us genre junkies, The House of The Devil is a superbly crafted piece of suspense horror. From its great set-up I want to make this clear, this is not another tongue in cheek, self-referential, knowing wink to the audience styled movie, it is a deadly serious stab at horrifying and petrifying its audience, it’s no Grindhouse or Scream clone. The film boasts a great reveal halfway through and a caprious score that bellows and roars overall the final excruciating minutes of Samantha’s ordeal, the use of old dial phones (no mobiles here!) are weaved carefully into the shocks and I’ve been trying to put my finger on just how upcoming genre director Ti West managed to evoke such an evocative sense of period away from the props, decor, cars, clothes and soundtrack – I think it comes down to the editing and camera movements. The film is much more expansive with its slow zooms and in its establishing sequences. For example in one early scene Megan And Samantha exit a car and walk up to the doorstep and ring a bell, all in one continuous mid-shot take. If that was done today then they’d cut on the car door slamming, cut as they reach the foot of the steps, cut as they get to the top of the steps from a reverse angle, cut as they step forward to depress the doorbell, cut to the finger hitting the doorbell, then cut to a medium as the door opens. A few insert face reactions shots would probably be scattered in their as well. The former approach gives the film a chance to breathe, coupled with very little extraneous dialogue and virtually no back story for any of the characters then you have a very efficient, very suspenseful slice of demonic dread. Right, that’s enough, back to the grindstone for me, I’m off to meet old St. Nick at the crossroads to see if I have any immortal treasures to barter with him to ensure my success tomorrow. If you’re available and have any spare goats or virgins hanging around then do me a favour and sacrifice them at the apex of midday to help me along, iron daggers and inverted pentagrams usually work best in March….
Minty's Menagerie 
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