Antichrist.

I was told about Antichrist and from what I heard about it (animal torture) I did not want to watch it, it just did not appeal to me. But when I saw that it was on Film4’s Extreme Season something intrigued me about it, something horrific, like the thoughts that made you want to and go and see The Human Centipede. Antichrist ‘A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.’ is directed by Lars von Trier who apparently was depressed during the entire filming of this and who planned for Antichrist to be a full on horror film but seemed to have got lost along the way. You know you’re in for a ride when after every ad break it warns you that ‘this is an adult only film, with violence, genital mutilation and very strong sex’ or something like that. And this was at about 20 to midnight, way after the watershed…

Even the poster is.....awkward...

Antichrist is definitely an adult only film. The opening is a slow motion, black and white, scene with William Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg having sex in just about every part of the house, including a very close up shot that could be in any porn movie, while their child wonders across the house to an open window, and falls out. This is a shocking opening, with the porn and the close up shots and the child falling and then seeing him hit the ground below, all in slow motion and black and white to a classical score. Even though the film starts off with this strange but rather shocking beginning, I didn’t think it was that bad (bad as in gore, violence, not as in whether it was good or bad), people had told me not to watch it as it was that bad but I really did not think it was that bad overall. Definitely could have done without all the sex and masturbation, I did not enjoy those scenes at all, they were just awkward and I was worried that someone could see through the window when I was watching it. I was expecting a much more disturbing, gruesome, graphic (in the violence department anyway, the sex couldn’t have got much more graphic) film, unless it was but I didn’t understand it. Where there is gore though, it is graphic, especially the famous mutilation scene, that scene leaves nothing to the imagination at all. Definitely for people with strong stomach and with strong hearts, no faint hearted people should watch this. I wanted She to just put on some pants, and to stop getting naked.

This review is not going to be as long as the rest as I don’t really not what to say about this film, I don’t really understand it to be honest. I was watching it kinda of trying to work out what it all meant but then by the end of it, I had absolutely no idea. With the deers, and the talking foxes and the extra people in the sex scene and at the end and just basically it all. I just have no idea, I Googled it and yet I’m still lost, it just doesn’t all make sense to me, so I’m sorry if you came here expecting a deep review, I’m not good at these type of ‘deep’ movies, no idea. I like controversal as they make people talk but this is just strange. There were some good parts like some scenes were shot very well, the end scene especially but I just didn’t enjoy this. It just seemed like two very disturbed, depressed people in a cabin, especially the woman, named She, he was named He, She just seemed to be loosing it completely. I didn’t really like this as I didn’t understand it, at all, too strange for me. Sorry…