Welcome to Section 3, home to the near nasties, those trashy
little gems that made the DPP squirm in anticipation. This episode I have for
you a film that once again re-jigs the vampire myth as a room with an unusual
view goes up for rent. Ambiguous relationships, filthy fantasies and blood
draining weirdos all cram themselves into the abode of ill repute as we take an
ill advised stay in... The Black Room.
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| Unique and exotic.... The Black Room |
Larry is a family man, though his love life is being slowly
killed off by a lack of passion brought on by a long marriage, a mundane life
and two attention demanding kids. His solution is to spice up his sex life by
renting an exotic room out of town and bringing young women there to have sex
with then telling his wife about them, claiming they're just fantasies. He
settles for a rather unusual room known as the Black room which is rented out by Jason
who suffers from a blood disorder, and his sister Bridget. They are very accommodating
to his needs, setting the room up with wine and candles, but the cost of the
room is so much higher than Larry realises. To add to troubles, Larry's wife
has found out that the fantasies are significantly more real than she thought
and now she wants a bit of black room time. Now at risk of losing their easy
supply of blood doners Jason and Bridget have some tricks up their sleeves in
order to keep the supply running.
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| Friendly Landlords at the Black Room |
The Black Room is a slightly convoluted tale. This isn't
because its a particularly complicated story it's just that the story throws in
a couple of things that for some reason don't quite seem to gel together at
first.
Primarily there is the storyline of the cheating husband who hires the
black room and then tell his wife about his activities under the pretence of
them being nothing more than fantasies he's dreamt up....... and it works
fantastically, until she accidentally finds out the truth and pays the room a
visit herself. The other part of the story is that of the landlords of the
Black Room, Jason and Bridget, an odd couple who stretch the boundaries of a
brother/sister relationship while entertaining the visitors to the Black Room,
right before draining them of their blood. Each side of the story is fairly
nuanced particularly that of the relationship between Larry and Robin. Where it
would be very easy for the writing to take the high moral ground and entirely
vilify Larry for his behaviour, it actually takes time to explore the subject
from a surprisingly remote stance. His behaviour is of course shown as being
largely selfish and this is particularly demonstrated by his reaction to seeing
his wife in the black room later but the fact still remains that he clearly
loves his wife and family.
While on the surface his behaviour would be regarded as
destructive it seems in his case, and his wife's as well, that the acts are
actually having some beneficial effects on their lives. This is not of course
to say that it's exactly something that is advocated, it's simply part of what
is the overall picture the film is painting. The Black Room presents us with
two very different aspects of a sex life in comparison, Larry and Robins
domestic situation gives us the very mundane and any marital bliss is sabotaged
by the bratty cock blocking kids who are seriously obnoxious. The film doesn't
quite go so far as to condemn the kids specifically in any way but it sure as
hell shows the effect kids can have in a relationship. On top of this Larry and
Robin have been married a long time and familiarity has caused stagnation.
Larry's remedy for this, as extreme and morally dubious as it is, certainly
fires up the relationship to a high degree, possibly saving the marriage. If
this was the be all of the film then it may be a rather ridiculous stance to
take. This is where Jason and Bridget come in. This couple are a rather extreme
couple. Not only do they have a particularly odd relationship, devoid of sex
itself but none the less sexual in other regards, they have some rather exotic
tastes. First off there is the voyeurism. Jason takes photo's and is clearly
sexually excited by the process, particularly when it comes to seeing his
sister in action. Then of course there is the contrivance of the vampirism that
he goes through.
The vampire myth has often been equated to sexual metaphore
and here is no exception, in fact its quite overt. Jason really gets off on the
transfer of bodily fluids, as do the victims it seems. There is an undeniable
and in fact rather perverse sexual aspect to the bad guys here. Jason and
Bridgets relationship, though not sexual in the traditional sense, is very much
so terms of how they interact with each other and their reactions to
situations. They, as it turns out, are every bit as dysfunctional as those who
visit the black room. Their sexual experiences are entirely by proxy, there is
always distance. Jason gets off on the voyeuristic activity of photography, he
even takes erotic pictures of his sister and enjoys it every bit as much as he
does watching his tenants. This is just one of several incestuous traits they
display.
But as overtly sexual as they are they are also very removed
from the recognisable sexual act for the most part. When Bridget has sex with
Larry she seems to realise this but for the most part their sexual experience,
in whatever form, is removed from the physical aspects of the act. Even the
vampire acts are done at a distance with the blood being drawn from the victim
by a machine and delivered to Jason who sits a fair distance from the unwilling
donor though the reactions of both the victim and Jason are quite clearly
sexual. In a nod to the traditional vampire it's worth noting the twin pronged
device used to penetrate the neck, it's similarity to the fangs of a vampire
are rather marked.
The upshot of all this is that we have two couples that are
opposite ends of the sexual spectrum. Larry and Robin are the conventional
couple with a non existent sex life. Jason and Bridget on the other hand are
the rather extreme in their sexual tastes however they too have no sex life.
The common ground is the Black Room where both parties get to indulge their
fantasies. The thing is that it's also a place where sex and its consequences
become dangerously ambiguous. For Larry and Robin its the place that at first
seems to save, then nearly destroys their marriage and lives. For Jason in
particular his sex life, in familiar, physical terms, exists only in this room
which he can only enjoy voyeuristicaly.
The penetrative and for lack of a more subtle description, the fluid
exchange for him exists in the form of his murderous acts. It's no less sexual
for him, it's as vital an act as sex is for anyone, and the
black Room is simply the common ground, a place that provides and fuels their
sexual experiences, that salvages their lives in one way or another, where the
mundane and the extreme can meet and mutually benefit to a degree but
ultimately sex and sexual behaviour of this kind becomes the all consuming
monster in whatever guise it comes in.
The Black Room is a very surprising movie. It takes on some
socially difficult positions and it's handling of the character Larry in
particular is rather fascinating. The sexual politics that are explored here
are done so with a unusual lack of judgement on the characters themselves and
while it does draw some conclusions, some of which can seem questionable, the
story does dive into the discussion with a refreshing lack of criticism of the
people involved concentrating rather than the issues themselves. The device of
having Jason being a vampire of sorts is a great example of how to use
traditional movie monsters in a thoughtful and effective fashion. The Black
Room does occasionally fall into cliché, and nearly all of the time it's
related to Jason and Bridget who come across as insanely off kilter and
overplayed. A slightly played down characterisation of these characters may
have elevated this film further, but it is all a part of the strangely surreal
world that the film puts forward and as such although I felt they were played
too large, it's not entirely out of place with the films more eccentric
elements.
What is particularly strong about the film though is how it
separates sex from love with regards to Larry's behaviour whilst also
acknowledging how important it is in a relationship as is demonstrated by the
reinvigouration of their love life by the fantasies that Larry brings
back. Robins behaviour on finding out
about Larry's cheating is rather interesting and the progression from that
point does provide a moral stand on the situation regarding the Black Room
activities, though again it's not judgemental about it.
The Black Room is overall a rather good film, it takes a very
different approach to its subject and subtext and while it could be seen as being
a bit slow it really doesn't seem to waste any time. The characters are all
rather interesting and atmosphere of the dawning horror of what's going on is
built up rather effectively. It's all rather strikingly bizarre and attention
grabbing, certainly a film that's worth catching however you can. Credit goes
to the directors for taking an interesting idea and being able to go with some
fairly juicy horror scenes without letting that element dominate over what is
an interesting story with many facets. On top of this there is are the
performances that although the bad guys can be a bit hammy from time to time it
is all round rather well done and certainly does the characters justice.
Unfortunately The Black Room doesn't have a dvd release which is a real shame
considering that this is a film that really deserves an audience.
Joking aside, this is really another time
when we can’t like Billy, and this is something that the film plays with quite
often, juggling our sympathy with Billy with the desire to see him stopped. One
minute he’s slashing up perfectly innocent folks then he’s decapitating
bullies, then he’s turning up at the orphanage, he is a killer with a very
unreliable compass and after dispatching the young couple he has one of those
desperately uncomfortable film moments where he is in the position of menacing
a young child, something that he first does when working as the store Santa. What is more interesting though is how the
other characters react to the fact that there is a killer Santa running around
and paranoia kicks in when it comes to dealing with what should be a familiar
and friendly character. Of course there is the inevitable near misses and
friendly fire which is bizarre when you think of Santa being gunned down by the
police. It’s funny in a rather dark way, the paranoia and fear that Billy has
it passed on to everyone else including the policemen, to the point that they are prepared to shoot any Santa they find....
Not all the performances are particularly strong but overall this
film doesn’t exactly suffer too badly at any point from the performances which
at worst get a bit shaky but not offensively bad. It’s thoughtfully directed, playful as well as
being in your face and bothers to give us insight into the murderous maniac for
once. I’ve never seen the sequels and frankly given what I have read and seen
of them they rather seem to divert from how this one is in many ways
particularly in their tone so maybe that’s for the best. The original is a
worthwhile film and deservedly has a loyal core of fans, and it’s an interesting and
worthy alternative to the usual Christmas movie choice for slasher fans.
