Review of 'Antichrist'

About once every two years, a movie comes along and makes some noise in the film curcuit that upsets, confuses, and gets the stigma "controversial". While they usually wind up being cinematic bores that had no bearing on making any sense, Lars Von Trier's Antichrist is no exception.

When Antichrist premiered at Cannes last month, it made several people leave in disgust, Roger Ebert gave it a negative but thoughtful review, and most people that watched it, pretty much said the same thing: It doesn't leave you when you walk out of theater. That part they got right.

I had the chance to catch Antichrist last night. I have never seen a Lars Von Trier film before, so I didn't know what to expect. I have seen a LOT of horror films. I'm a fan of the "video-nasties" (films from the 70's that focused on woman exploitation and sheer delight in close-up gruesomeness, re; They Call Her One Eye, Cannibal Holocaust, I Spit On Your Grave) and have seen my fair share of brutal psychological thrillers. While Antichrist, in the end, didn't leave me scarred or even feeling like I needed a shower afterwards, it DID stay with me.

The story of Antichrist sounds simple: a married couple lost their young son in freak accident while they are making love, and the husband, who is a therapist, decides that a vacation in the woods would be ideal to heal their grieving. the film starts off slow, REAL slow. The opening sequence is just short of an operatic music video that shows what happens to lead the couple to their current state, and it is very hard to sit through. The pace of the prologue is excruciatingly slow. It then takes another 45 minutes or so for the couple to actually get to the woods.

When they arrive, the film picks up. The couple (Spiderman's William Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourgh), who go unnamed by they way, the are simply referred to as "He" and "She", slowly start to degrade in mental stability due to some evil force in the woods.

Now this all sounds textbook, but when the "action" kicks in, you simply cannot take your eyes off the screen. The movie does more than push boundaries. It takes every healthy couples fears and shoves them into over-drive.

This movie is seriously not for everyone. It takes a strong gut to watch it all the way through. It features full-on penetration, a graphic female masturbating scene, genital mutilation, and an ejaculation shot that is so disturbing, healthy males will have problems getting it out of their heads. But that's the point of movie. Von Trier takes the horror genre and really stuffs it down the category's throat. Nothing here is shot for the sake of shock; it is all relevant to the plot, which is what makes it so brilliant. There are about a hundred different genres in this movie, and they all get twisted into a new form. Romance to sadomasochism, horror to terrifying gore, thriller to psychotic madness, it goes on. This may have been the most brilliant movie I have ever seen. It contains some of the striking visuals I have ever seen. Some shots are so extraordinary that I actually found myself wanting to rewind it just to see them again.

Now, for those of you who want to see it just to see what all the fuss is about, make damn sure there are no kids around, I don't care how liberal you might be. Antichrist is absolutely unapologetic and unflinching in it's visuals. I really liked this movie, my only complaints are that I cannot figure why it was called Antichrist, as there is very few references to God and Satan, it focuses more on the Salem Witch Trials and black magic, and the pacing could have been picked up just a hair.

I hope most of my friends get a chance to see this movie, and I cannot wait for their thoughts on it. Just remember to have a very open mind when you see it.