With every horror fan, there is that quest of finding the best horror film ever. And not the best in the pantheon of horror, but that certain film that speaks to them on a certain level. For me that horror film is Antichrist. It is on another level of horror that not many horror film can attain and a level that not many horrors fans get the pleasure of even seeing.
Antichrist stars Williem Dafoe and Charlette Gainsbourg as He and She. The film starts off with a gorgeous prologue that moves in decadent dazzling dreamlike speed as She and He have sex.Their faces become a strange and exciting mix between pain and pleasure. While they are having sex there are shots cutting in between of their child in his crib. The knock things off of tables; the child escapes from his crib. They are in ecstasy; the the window from the second floor opens. They are in their own world; their child falls out of the window and exits the world.
After this prologue ends, the film begins, with the first of three stages: Grief. She and Him escape from their lives after the death of their child. The go to a cabin in the woods called Eden. Here they begin the stage of grief. She blames herself and He tries to use his psychobabble to help her heal. There are many scenes in this section of the film where nature is taking over their lives as if it is an antibody trying to fix a wrong they committed. The same act that created their son becomes the same act that took his life. She blames herself and He lets her. She becomes destructive, and mentally destroys herself. AT the very end of this chapter the a deer locks eye contact with him. As the deer walks away, a dead baby fawn is halfway hanging out of its mother's womb.
The second and next chapter is: Pain. Nature becomes a much stronger force for them. Their cabin being pelted with acorns, engorged ticks attack His hand as he sleeps, and at the end of this sinister chapter a, He finds a fox disemboweling itself and it utters two words to him: Chaos Reigns.
The last and final chapter is: Despair. This couple were at psychological tipping points and now with the death of their child they have been completely flipped and She believes they need to be punished for their child's death. She has sex with him and then mutilates him. She knocks him unconscious and in his unconscious state she makes a hole in his leg. In this hole she put a metal rod attached to a grindstone that can only be taken off with a large wrench, which she hides. He wakes up to discover his cannot stand up with the large grindstone embedded in his leg. He escapes and she looks for him. He finds a fox hole, where a crow has been buried alive. She hears the crow, and he tries to kill the crow with a rock, but it won't die. She tries to get him out of the fox hole but cannot reach him.
There is another chapter that does not deal with the three stages of their mourning. In this chapter She mutilates herself in a scene that will make you not look at scissors the same way.
The main reason this film is on a different level from other horror films is the fact that it is truly horrifying. It does not try to use cheap scares to appease the audience nor does it try to kill off as many people for the sake of death. This film deals with the aftermath of death; mourning. It presents itself in away that is shocking yet understandable of why they are hurting each other this way. There is nothing that really scares them anymore because the one scary thing to them, losing their child, already happened and they blame themselves for it.
Antichrist does have religious allusions, but the word here is being used in a different manner. An Antichrist would mean there would have to be a Christ like figure, which there is not. This is psychological horror at its best and it will also appease the torture porn junkies out there, but this film is not for everyone. If you want a horror film that deviates from the status quo, this is the perfect film for you. I give Antichrist 5 falling children out of 5.
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