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The NIGHTSTREAM ’21 festival was a blast this year; we saw a few terrifying features that were a huge hit from the festival. Besides that, we watched some live streams and participated in various other activities during the festival. This time around, we will be discussing the features we caught: Um Fio De Baba Escarlate and Hellbender.
Um Fio De Baba Escarlate (‘Name Above Title’) (( 2020; Carlos Conceição ))
Um Fio De Baba Escarlate (translated: Name Above Title) is an extraordinarily moving film in which there is no dialogue. The lack of dialogue completely surprised me, yet it was still able to carry the viewer along with this wild story.
Conceição, Carlos. Um Fio De Baba Escarlate. 2021. NIGHTSTREAM 2021. 
Conceição, Carlos. Um Fio De Baba Escarlate. 2021. NIGHTSTREAM 2021.
According to the premise of Um Fio De Baba Escarlate, a serial killer in Lisbon leads a quiet life. However, after being shaken up by an unusual event, he becomes a social media sensation. It is not only the absurdity of the plot but also the acting and overall filmmaking that make this horror film so spectacular.
The Filmmaking Of Conceição‘s Um Fio De Baba Escarlate
The filmmaking compensates for a great deal of what cannot be said due to the absence of dialogue. One example of this type of terrifying filmmaking is when a wide shot of the serial killer is used to depict him sucking blood from the hair of the person he just killed. By adopting the pillarbox aspect ratio (( Wikipedia Contributors. “Pillarbox.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 22, 2021. )), one is reminded of the German Expressionist horror film directed by F. W. Murnau (( “F.W. Murnau | German Director | Britannica.” In Encyclopædia Britannica, 2021. )), Nosferatu (1922), rather than a hyperpostmodern or postmodern approach to silent horror. If the vibrant color palette were not so splendid, it could easily be mistaken for one of the classics.
The modernized concept of silent horror allows an exploration of non-diegetic sounds and their relationship to the scenes portrayed. It is the use of non-diegetic or diegetic sound that creates the sensation of horror and fright. Since dialogue, which is a heavy aspect of cinema, is absolute, every other aspect of the mise-en-scene is brought to the forefront more than before. Um Fio De Baba Escarlate is absolutely revolting in its portrayal of Candide’s murders, but the art-house horror aesthetic elevates it above what is merely a serial killer sucking blood from someone’s hair or murdering these women.
It is true that he is attractive, that he is stealthy, but when you combine these characteristics with social media, it creates a unique premise that is both entertaining and intriguing. As soon as a serial killer is able to branch out into a widely publicized and scrutinized domain, things change. Candide is no longer able to remain hidden. Um Fio De Baba Escarlate gives an understanding of this serial killer, who he is, and where he comes from, as well as how he came to love someone who had just committed suicide. The focus of the film, while doing so many unique things for horror or cinema in general, is the zeitgeist.
What has come before is well documented. I believe Nicholas Ray’s In A Lonely Place was one of the elegiac odes in a car sequence. Also, they are reminiscent of Hitchcock and his famed driving sequences. This hyperpostmodern experience drives the entire film, and it is delightful to view. This film does not follow a conventional structure of beginning, middle, and end, a concept that makes it a unique and refreshing experience to take away from NIGHTSTREAM. In the absence of NIGHTSTREAM, I do not know whether this movie would have been on my radar, so I am very grateful to have been able to attend this event. We count this as one of the highlights of the festival for 2021.
Hellbender (( 2021; Toby Poser, John Adams, Zelda Adams ))
From now on, I will be screaming “Hellbender” with a metal accent. It is so engaging that it surprised me what an enjoyable movie it is. Folk-horror films are not something that I watch very often. Due to my limited exposure to that genre, I am not familiar with it as well as most other watchers.
The modern versions are difficult to compare, but this was a lot of fun for someone unfamiliar with the film style. Initially, it was somewhat perplexing. It was very intense editing, but after it began to find its footing, I fell in love with the slow-moving build of the film. This intense editing adds to the overall experience of Hellbender, and I grew to really enjoy it — more on that later.
The Delight That Is Hellbender
Izzy is protected from the outside world by her mother, whose routine consists of chores and jam sessions with her mother and daughter rock band. As Izzy gets older and begins to feel freer, she meets friends and neighbors, and her interactions with them lead her down a dark path that her mother had attempted to protect her from. The wide shot captures a wonderfully endearing moment when Izzy and her mother are seated on the steps. Izzy’s relationship with her mother is gradually developed, so much that you begin to enjoy it. (Both as it is and this weird Hellbender dynamic they have as well.) The close yet wide shot of the two in the snow is one that I will cherish for a long time to come; it is lovely and heartwarming.
I found some profound dialogue in the film that I will remember for a long time: “It’s not a gift, Izzy.” “Then why was it given?” It describes this very gothic horror yet folk element that I appreciated over time. Throughout Hellbender, the themes of family, dark magic, Hell, and nightmares are explored. Each of these builds on the other, but there are two things that I love about Hellbender: the score as well as the juxtaposition of quick montage/images reminiscent of German Expressionist films (( Wikipedia Contributors. “German Expressionism (Cinema).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, October 10, 2021. )). It must be said that the music is the most memorable aspect of the film; the mini rock concerts are such a cool way to integrate horror and music. That was a very enjoyable experience outside of Hellbender‘s actual plot. Likewise, the juxtaposing montages/images are so fast and so full of imagery that they work in connection with the music and the mise-en-scène. Those elements are what made Hellbender shine.
In Hellbender, both Izzy (Zelda Adams) and her mother (Toby Poser) play exceptional roles, regardless of whether they are playing themselves or other versions of their characters. Hellbender is a tremendous amount of fun, and I am looking forward to seeing where the filmmakers and everyone involved go with it in the future. A truly awesome and unique horror find on NIGHTSTREAM.