HORROR reviewed in The Hacker's Source: Gateway to Independent Horror

If Dante Tomaselli never makes another movie again, he'll be forever remembered as a footnote in modern horror history with his new film HORROR. Tomaselli crafts a work that lives up to its title through an unrelentingly intense atmosphere, created by striking visuals harvested from the German expressionists, and a story that's as nightmarishly chaotic as it is ecliptically cohesive. HORROR presents two intertwined stories held together by a common character, but neither adhere to the same timeline or structure even when the events appear simultaneous, and characters move back and forth throughout. The movie quickly takes on a nightmare-like logic, but never cheats the audience by breaking the rules.

To describe the plot with any specifics would be to present a hodgepodge of genre staples ranging from zombies, to Satanists, to hallucinating teens, and would likely turn off any perspective viewer. One needs to understand that while Tomaselli might rely on genre cliches to establish his images, he never allows the story to be dictated by them. He could have presented any of a number of different pictures to the viewers and it wouldn't have mattered, they serve only to distract and confuse the audience, putting them in the same state of mind as the film's characters, who also question the events surrounding them.



Tomaselli pushes viewers so far as to question the very reality of the events he presents. With the intensity of landmark 1970's cinema, he combines 21st century progressive narrative where events are allowed to fold back on one another, and in some cases, take place both before and after other specific events.

Occurrences can either be interpreted as drug-induced hallucinations or hypnotic suggestions unfolding before either of the two protagonists: Luck - a recent drug rehabilitation escapee, or Grace - the possible daughter of cultists who keep her constantly sedated. Or perhaps everything unfolds just as it is presented, in an early David Lynch-ian way. Either answer is acceptable, and all will most likely fuel fanboy debates for years to come.

Dante Tomaselli's HORROR is a film that reaffirms my faith in a genre that has been seriously lacking any standout independently produced content within recent years. In a day when core essentials of intelligence and fright are replaced by formulaic slashers, freaks, and geeks, HORROR comes along to raise holy hell and scare the piss out you every step of the way.

--Allen Richards




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