Chaos Reigns! I caught Antichrist [Kurt's Review] at the only screen it is publicly playing in New York, The IFC Center on 6th ave. The midnight screening that had shown the night before was a complete sell out and the matinee films for the following day were quickly filling up. Notices were posted up around the box office, on the theater’s exterior as well as inside our waiting room for warning of the extreme gore and violence, alongside it was a “wimp’s guide to surviving Von Trier’s ‘Antichrist.’” The steps were simple, the 63 minute mark and the 85 minute mark are your cues to leave- included were film stills and lines of dialog for scenes that you should watch for to begin packing your bags in order to make it to the exit in time.
Did they post this at everyone’s theater?
As we filed into the 50-something-seat theater, and the rustling of bags and umbrellas let up, I caught a number of wrist watch alarms and cell phone alarms being set- people selecting their ring tone and vibrating patterns for their big escape. Sure enough, on my return from the bathroom at the 55-minute mark, it was only a scene or two before the high-pitched beeping and hum of pocket-alarms broke everyone’s focus. We lost three older ladies and a young guy, not to mention the woman who left immediately after the death of the child.
To say the least, I was dazzled by the film. The movie expresses the basic fears of all women: loss of child, difficulty to deal with pleasure, loss or abandonment from partner, inhibition/exhibition and overall a stunning study of this woman (Gainsbourg)’s decent into Hysteria. However…Horror flick? I don’t think so.
Antichrist/Amelia Box Office Review:
“Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist” finally got a chance to disturb the American moviegoing audience this weekend, and while it managed consistent sell-outs in New York City (where it had taken in a fantastic $26,000 from one screen by Saturday night), its overall six-market debut fell somewhat below expectations. According to estimates provided by Rentrak today, the IFC Films release – starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg as a disturbed couple (to put it mildly) working out some issues at a cabin in the woods – grossed $73,500 from its six screens, averaging $12,500. For a challenging and foreign-made film that’s certainly not for everyone, that’s not a bad number. However, ever since its Cannes debut this past May, the film has been the source of considerable debate and discussion, and one might have figured there would be more curiosity in its U.S. theatrical release”
Across the board, Paranormal Activity sweeps this weekend’s big ticket sales. This weekend alone raking in $21,104,070
Wait, the IFC Center is only 50 something seats? That seems awful small!
it was tiny! I was left to sit dead center in the front. They have some larger screening rooms, we were just stuck with the small one. I caught Breillat’s ‘The Last Mistress’ there last year in a much larger space.
Glad you covered the review! I’ve been reading too many reviews on this flick. I just wanted to keep my opinion damn short and sweet. I really enjoyed it, I was pleasantly surprised! It had the same effect on my that Jesper Ganslandt’s ‘The Ape’ did at the TIFF this year- haunting and deeply emotional.
all around Gorgeous looking film (Antichrist).
The movie expresses the basic fears of all women:
However…Horror flick? I don’t think so.
I’m still trying to figure out how both of these statements could be true.
If anyone thinks $12.5 is a bad per screen then they badly overestimated Von Trier’s box office pull.
“If anyone thinks $12.5 is a bad per screen then they badly overestimated Von Trier’s box office pull.”
-Hey, I agree. It’s been a hot ticket in NYC ever since the midnight show, selling out everyday. I would in no way call that “bad”.
I guess it’s a horror film in the way Polanski’s Repulsion is a horror flick. “an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting”, but even Repulsion is written up more often as a Drama-Thriller or Psychological Thriller than a horror film.
The horror being in the mind of the protagonist. Plays like more of a Psychological Thriller to me, with some haunting chills and splashes of gore. Excellent film about a fraying relationship after such a tragedy.
Matt, for the record…
Fizz = Good
Fizzle = Bad.
I DO think it is definitely a horror film, but you’re right Laura; it’s psychological horror. Yeah there’re a couple of splattery moments but for the most part this movie hinges on its ability to give the audience some psychological trauma – mostly stemming from Gainsbourg’s awesome performance, but also fantastic visual and aural cues. Those fucking acorns still haunt my nightly senses!
For a film that is a hundred odd minutes that plays as just “eerie” until the violence 65 minutes in I just didn’t find it all that horrific. Sad, cruel, lustful, anxious, meditative, yes, but it certainly defies the horror mold.
Von Trier had his actors watch Liliana Cavani’s ‘The Night Porter’ to prepare for their roles, and I really thought the sexual appetite and bodily need for pleasure drew a slew of similarities between the films.
I found more horror in their constant power struggle, both become either master or slave to one another.
The rotten imagery of nature, the disemboweling fox, the still-born deer, the dead or dying animals — all brought me right back to the decomposing rabbit dinner plate in Repulsion.
Psychological Thriller, it’s missing some elements of mystery to really deserve this. But Dafoe attempting to uncover his wife’s fears in a series of investigative talks, making the pyramid, collecting the hints of evidence in her stories… even until she brings the autopsy report to HIS attention, that document is INCREDIBLY mysterious…
There’s a definite unease throughout the entire film and a grievous tension lacquered over every frame…if it is a horror film then it is a blunt and vengeful horror accrued; the lump sum of a series of horrific events. It is the cold knot of dread which pervades as the characters redeem the psychic consequences of what they have allowed to happen. And the dirt and leaves and acorns of their rural retreat, the forest creatures, all exact acute, biblical reprisal. They are prisoners of their grief, and the impossibility of escape is what leads to their/her insanity.
I’ll settle for psychological horror.
is this coming out in Toronto? I’ve regained what little courage I got.