The Horror Show
The Taking of Deborah Logan
by Adam Robitel
If we didn’t already have to fear serial killers, ghosts, killer animals, monsters, and even children, we now have something new to fear. That something is little old ladies. Not like scary- body-builder-seventy-year-olds but feeble old women suffering from Alzheimer’s. Yeah, it’s a scary disease but mostly for those with the disease and those watching their beloved family members suffer. My great grandma had it but I never had to worry about her killing me…or maybe I should have? Oh, we also have to fear snakes. That’s what The Taking of Deborah Logan is about: old ladies and snakes.
A Documentary crew gathers at the Logan household in an effort to document Deborah’s descent into Alzheimer’s. The Logan family desperately needs the grant money to stop themselves from losing the house. Deb’s disease begins to spiral out of control at an unexpected rate. She begins to self-mutilate and disappears at night. Things go quite far when Deborah attacks a crew member with a knife while accusing him of stealing her spade. After several inexplicable occurrences happen, everyone believes that something supernatural may be at work. Sarah, Deborah’s daughter, and the crew happen upon a connection to an infamous serial killer Henry Desjardins. He sacrificed girls in an old Native American ritual in order to achieve immortality. The ritual required five murders but only four ever happened, Desjardins seemingly vanished. In fact, they learn that spirits have a tendency to possess the young, the old, and the infirm. Deborah, in her weakened state, and her previous connection with the killer, made the perfect target. Desjardins isn’t going to leave without claiming his final victim.
Single-handedly, my favorite aspect of this movie is how subtly it starts. I’ll be quite honest, I entirely forgot that I was watching a horror movie. (Well, I knew in the back of my mind somewhere this was supposed to be a horror movie.) That thought kept eating away at my mind. Knowing and anticipating when something scary will happen. Until then, it genuinely seemed like it was a look into the life of a woman with Alzheimer’s. It lulled me into this false sense of security in those regards. Once the movie introduces the supernatural plot elements, it manages to do an interesting tightrope walk. The movie provides both a supernatural explanation and the real world one. However, you cease to wonder which it is when Deb starts developing snake powers. I would have honestly preferred it if it continued that way. How cool would have it been it the movie ended with both explanations equally plausible?
Despite the fact that it becomes blatantly supernatural, it still manages to be interesting. I mean, the plot itself is a tiring rehash of every other possession movie out there but it does some cool things. When the film glitches at times the film makers hide single frame images in the static. I’m the guy who will pause and un-pause the movie over and over again until I can pause it exactly on the frame. It’s cool when people do that, be it in movie or on Youtube, because it engages the viewer. It creates a subtle interaction between the viewer and the film that can’t be reproduced. Even the possessed is re-envisioned in a cool new way. Take Paranormal Activity for example, possessed chick gets superhuman strength plus an assortment of other creepy powers. Deb on the other hand, she gets poisonous snake bites, slimy skin, and the ability to swallow things whole. That’s cool, I have never seen a movie about possession with snake powers. It’s a cool spin on an over-played idea.
Another issue I encountered is that the movie is extremely predictable. They didn’t address this issue until a bit later into the movie but it was fairly obvious that Sarah was supposed to be a lesbian. I think that the creators tried a bit too hard to stereotype what a lesbian woman should look like. It may be a bit stereotypical but at least it wasn’t done in an ignorant sexist way. The ending was also fairly predictable. Details will be avoided but it’s one of those sinisterly ambiguous endings. You know what I mean, one of those “maybe this is okay but it probably isn’t” deals.
This is quite surprising: this is director Adam Robitel’s feature length directorial debut. Rarely do I enjoy directorial debuts but this one was fairly enjoyable. He’s acted in the Chillerama short I was a Teenage Werebear, both 2001 Maniacs and who could forget him in X-men as Guy on Line. I feel like the title was kind of weak, honestly. I mean it sounds too much like a horror movie. I guess the The Taking, the original title, also does. I’m not a film maker for a reason but come on why do all horror movies have to sound super ambiguous or super specific? I can say that I wasn’t expecting much of anything from this movie.
Netflix’s selection of horror flicks, especially new ones, seems to always be subpar. Once again, I swear I didn’t intend to pick a found footage movie. I’m not trying to do this all the time. It just happens that every movie that sounds somewhat interesting to me happens to be found footage. I also really liked the use of a broken switch board as a metaphor for Alzheimer’s. Sadly, the movie decides that the audience isn’t quite intelligent enough to come to that conclusion on their own, so they spell it out for us. Alright Adam, I know this is your first feature length film but give your audience some credit. We can figure things out with out you spelling them for us. In short, I was taken by The Taking of Deborah Logan.
Billy Wayne Martin, HMS
The Horror Show Menu.