- Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond
- Written by Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Fletcher
- Stars Niamh Algar, Michael Smiley, Nicholas burns
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes
- Link: https://amzn.to/2VNpAyP
Synopsis
We open on a crying girl in a horror film, running through the woods and screaming as she’s pulled into the grave. The viewer rewinds slowly and then complains about the decapitation scene. Enid is a film censor, and she’s very specific and thorough. The man sitting next to her compares the intestinal tug-of-war and the snipping off the end of the genitals with Shakespeare and Homer– classic tropes! She thinks some things are best left to the imagination. We see many bloody, gory scenes as the credits roll.
This takes place when videotape technology was new and changing the system. Children could rewind the gory bits and watch them over and over again, which is a major concern. “Video Nasties” are making newspaper headlines. After a hard day of watching splatter films, she walks home and checks her answering machine. She gets a message about having dinner with her parents. They show her the death certificate for Enid’s missing sister, Nina. It’s been years, but her parents need to give up the search; they’ve given up hope in finding her.
Enid goes through her old papers, and we see newspaper clippings telling about Enid’s 7-year-old sister who went missing long ago. Her job is to watch film after film of women being murdered and beaten up; it disturbs her work-partner, but Enid can deal with it all. She still has flashbacks about the night her sister vanished.
There’s a real-life murder where the man killed his wife and ate her face, and a journalist is linking this crime to the film, “Deranged,” which Enid passed a few months ago. The same thing happened in that movie. They’re possibly going to try to blame the murder on the film. The boss seems to think Enid may be letting too many films through the system.
They get in a new Frederick North film, “Don’t Go in the Church.” Enid meets Doug, the producer of the film, and he’s creepy. There are two little girls in the woods, which is eerily similar to the experience Enid really had. One sister hacks up the other with an axe, which visibly disturbs the otherwise-unflappable Enid and causes some nightmares later that evening.
The next morning, she goes looking for more information on Frederick North. She goes to a video store and looks for his older films, but some of them have been banned in her country. She can out-talk the clerk on gore films, which impresses him, so he lets her rent some of his hidden, banned films. He gives her “Asunder,” which stars Alice Lee, who resembles the maybe-not-so-dead-Nina. This also triggers some dreams.
Enid tracks down Doug and goes to his house. She recognizes parts of his house from some of his films. She asks him what Frederick North looks like, and Doug says the man is brilliant. Could Doug be North? He says this new film that they’re shooting now will probably be Alice’s last film, as she’s coming to the end of her shelf life. Doug tries to rape her, and she pushes him onto one of his awards– one of the pointy ones. Doug gurgles out the blood and dies.
She steals Frederick North’s confidential information and goes to his trailer in the woods. She meets Debbie, who explains, “I’ll be doing your makeup.” Right place, right time, right in the middle of a new shoot. This film is the sequel to the one with the two little sisters. Enid is going to plan one of the sisters, and Alice will be the other. They all wonder where Doug is, but they can’t wait for him.
She asks Frederick about Alice and the first film. He explains that it was inspired by a true story. “All of my ideas are drawn from real life,” he says. He tells her to draw on her darkest impulses for this scene. “Take control of your story,” he insists.
Soon, we see Enid playing out the role from “Don’t Go in the Church,” where she grabs the axe and goes inside. This time, the Beast Man is in there waiting for her; they embrace. The Beast Man tells her to “Let it out,” and Enid kills him as he screams, “This is not in the script!” Frederick loses his head next. Enid chases Alice out in the woods.
Alice says Enid isn’t her sister and that Enid is insane. There’s a bright white light, and the real Nina walks out of the clouds. Meanwhile, the whole shot is framed as if it’s still part of Frederick’s film, so we suspect this isn’t quite “real.” They get in the car and drive home to their parents’ house. There’s a completely, perfectly, over-the-top, you might even say, “insanely” happy ending.
Commentary
The whole censorship thing, along with the mention of Video Nasties, brings up the age-old question of whether horror movies and depictions of torture and violence are evil or necessary. Of course, we think they are, but there are plenty of people out there who don’t appreciate a good beheading. Do horror films really cause copycat killings? Probably. Would those deaths happen anyway? Probably.
The acting here is all good, but it seemed a little slow in getting started. Half of the research plot could have been removed if IMDB had been a thing in the 80s. Enid’s descent into insanity feels natural and realistic considering the situation. It’s a little slow, and a little weird, but the ending is… perfect.