The aspect that makes these liminal spaces unsettling is just that—space. The eery, the uncertainty of the next turn, the melancholy that sets in when we are left alone. Parsons’ camera rarely captures this space. Far too many close-ups, far too jittery of a camera, far too much ruckus. Far too much focus on the “mental” or “psychology” of individuals, rather than the space they govern. I’m not saying humans inhabiting the space can’t be interesting, but they can’t occupy this much of the focus. When you give this much attention to the people without examining in any substantial way how the space they inhabit was formed, you are left with this—a dry, drab, and tasteless picture. This would have fared much better if all was left unexplained, because in my opinion, all is implied in the existence of the space. I also think this would have been much better without a score, or at least a more scarce one. What of the music that comes with silence? (the sound of emptiness—vents, buzzing, breathing, etc.) What of the terror of being? This will likely be made into a franchise—something to be sold over and over again, diluted to all hell to explain a concept with greater frequency (a concept, a reality even, that simply doesn’t need to be). When all is exposed (via a script that is incredibly dry, mind you) all horror is lost. All I am left with, then, is immense boredom.
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