Summary
What happens when a pair of competitive cellists go at it for cello supremacy? A lot more body horror then you initially expected, that’s for sure.
Buttonface says..
A friend of mine that’s a pop culture nerd like me, but with a non-horror focus, tried The Perfection and thought I’d like it. He said it was messed up. I was thinking that, being the non-horror fan that he is, that it will be mildly messed up. It was super messed up! I guess he knows my tastes better than I thought he did.
Starting out, I was pleasantly surprised by the slow pace. I like a movie that’s confident enough to start out moody and atmospheric; It makes me realize that I have to actually invested myself. Like anything else, there are many types of horror flicks, and many ways to look at them. The “Slow Burn Horror Film” is an art unto itself. The ability to slowly raise tension at just the right to keep a horror fan interested is its own brag-worthy skill.
Good film-making is not something that all horror films need to have, but it’s nice to watch a horror film every once in a while that has great dialogue. When was the last time you forgot you were watching a horror flick due to being wrapped up in the dialogue? I found myself just quietly watching relationships and forgetting that this movie was going to be “messed up”.
The movie is based around cellists at a conservatory. Which sounds like a lot of pompous jackassery, but as an artsy-fartsy guy myself, I’ve been in some of these situations and they have it down pretty good.
Moving on.
So there I am, having my tension raised and I don’t even notice it until one of the girls starts to get sick. Okay, here we go.
I realize their relationship is just starting and the one girl doesn’t want to mom the other, but that other chick is like literally dying and needs to go to the doctor. I’m the sort of person that finds the old “Holy Shit I can’t hold it! I’m going to shit on the bus!” routine hilarious, but in this case, I found it to be quite horrifically memorizing. I image that I was slack-jawed and staring as this scene played out.
I didn’t know I was going into body horror. Its something I normally try to avoid, although they tend to be really well acted. When she puked up bugs I started to think I knew what I was in for. But, it about faces and turns into a psychological thriller straight from the nineties.
Then it morphs again into a 70s revenge horror.
That’s about all I’m willing to give away plot-wise. I will throw in that it payed homage to some great horror.
The directing and soundtrack definitely had elements of Alfred Hitchcock meets Japanese Horror. The story itself reminded me of some of my most favorite “weird ones” from over the years such as Society, The Naked Lunch, and Boxing Helena.
In the end, this flick was good. A pleasant surprise.