Through the annals of
literature and film, dark humor - and black comedies in particular – have been
hard to pigeonhole as they often tread a fine line around many genres. In
literature, a book like Needful Things
could certainly be construed as a black comedy – yet the novel contains a
myriad of nightmarish scenes that to call it anything less than a horror
novel would be a disservice to the book overall. In the movie medium (where the
term gallows humor is applied more
liberally), the permission slip to laugh at morbidity is accomplished through outings
such as the original Evil Dead
trilogy. More often than not, however, it is the small independent film where
this particular sub-genre burns brightest.
Although containing
elements of comedy and satire, Excision stands
out as one of the darkest films I’ve encountered in years ... a Donnie Darko for the new decade.
A disturbed and colorless
high-school student Pauline (AnnaLynne
Mcord) has ambitions for a career in medicine (surgery in particular).
Loathed by her idealistic peers, she sits awkwardly at the center of a modern
family headed by eccentric and overbearing mother Phyllis (Tracie Lords), a dying sister with
cystic fibrosis, and a father who panders to the whims of his wife. While
having features hinting at beauty, Pauline struts around with a simian gait
espousing crude insights and able quips that ultimately isolate her from
everyone. With a penchant for vivid dreams involving necrophilia, surgical
procedures, and vivisection – Pauline is the very definition of misfit. Being a
nonconformist aside, Pauline is still at the mercy of all teenage compulsions
... including the urge to lose her virginity. And so - after selecting a
popular girl’s boyfriend to fulfill the function – she sets about a clinical seduction eventually leading to a macabre union seldom seen in film.
Though slow at times, Excision is still layered with enough
subtext, oddball camera angles, and small cameos to make the experience
uniquely atypical. There is Pauline’s math teacher (played tongue-in-cheek by
veteran Malcolm McDowell); there is
her archetypal teenage neighbor across the street who incessantly skips rope.
But it’s the relationship with her mother that remains the crux of the
narrative. Here, Tracie Lords has given us the performance of her mainstream
career, eliciting sympathy and scoundrel in equal measure. Before, I compared
this film somewhat to Donnie Darko; although no supernatural elements are involved, a viewer will still see vague
parallels in the domestic dinner conversations of Pauline’s family ... snippets
of dialogue that underscore the notion of pent up anxiety ready to implode
under the thin veneer of plastic suburbia. More reminiscent, perhaps, are the
themes and tones explored in both American
Beauty and the original Carrie.
Excision
is the first feature film from writer/director Richard Bates – and here has crafted a gem in all the ways that count: snappy dialogue,
original performances, tight direction, and biting social satire. The path to
gore is tread subtly at first ... but there are enough disturbing visuals
overall to place this firmly in a particular horror category not easy
to define. But be warned: bleakness and nihilism take center stage, so leave your optimism at the door.
