where the dead go to die (2012) review (no spoilers)
Dec 2, 2022 16:30:58 GMT -5
Post by loserdyke on Dec 2, 2022 16:30:58 GMT -5
content warning: all of them. this film contains animated depictions of severe violence, suicide, and sexual abuse. especially childhood sexual abuse. here is the imbd parents guide which is more detailed (spoilers)
I killed myself the other day. I killed myself and buried my body underneath the floor boards. I don't really remember where. I don't want to remember.
my personal checklist to interact with extreme depictions of violence and abuse in art (which is doubled when children are involved) is:
1) was the art made ethically?
2) does it depict the violence and abuse as tantalizing? is it meant to be horrific and disturbing or is it meant to get the creator off while pretending it's meant to be horrific and disturbing?
from where i'm standing, where the dead go to die passes my tests. this is surrealistic nightmare but it is not a careless one. it is horrific and extreme but so are the subjects it's tackling. I believe much of this is metaphorical and none of it was made to leer at pain.
the movie was created with a psychedelic and expressionistic use of 3D animation. the first of the three stories, "Tainted Milk" is so shocking that it works as a vaccine against the rest of the film's imagery. it follows Tommy and his demonic evil dog Labby who wants him to kill his unborn brother. the second story follows The Man, who is murdering people to extract a liquid from their brain as they die. this liquid, he tells us, will allow him to edit his own memories. the third story follows Ralph, a little boy who has a dead conjoined twin's face attached to his own. his parent's hate him and love the dead twin. Ralph connects with a little girl named Sophia who comes from an even more tragic home life than his own.
the film is incredibly personal. the writer, director, and animator, Jimmy ScreamerClauz left it all on the court. the dialogue, which begins stilted and odd has transformed by the the end into a more emotive style and the film includes a few impressive performances. the animation is unnerving, jerky, and nasty. the imagery is like if the Silent Hill 2 creative team was given a metric ton of LSD. the movie feels like a crayon drawing a severely traumatized child made in therapy. it's honest and sickening.
where the dead go to die is a disgusting poem about what horrific childhoods do to a person who survives their adolescence. it is about how Christianity reinforces these horrors. it's about how when someone is telling a child about the divine, their own motives are so often put above the child's well being. it's about how confusing abuse is for a child that knows nothing. it's about how traumatized people hurt each other while trying to help.
it's about when all authority figures fail a child. when one can't trust parents, or neighbors, or the divine.
i want to do a deeper analysis at some point but watching it for the first time was exhausting. i enjoyed the film despite all the parts i watched with one eye shut and wincing. this film feels desperate to be heard and i went out of my way to try and hear it and i don't regret it.