Larkin Seiple

Larkin Seiple
on the set of Swiss Army Man

CINEMATOGRAPHER

Swiss Army Man

Childish Gambino: This is America

Flying Lotus: Never Catch Me

Turn Down for What

I Don't Feel Alone in this World Anymore

An Oversimplification of her Beauty

"How would you FEEL."

Director: Terence Nance
Year: 2012

Alien (1979)

"This is Ripley, last survivor of the Nostrumo, signing off." 

Director: Ridley Scott
Writer(s): Dan O'Bannon, Ronald Shusett
Cinematographer: Derek Vanlint
Year: 1979

House

I'm not even sure what to quote... this thing is a RIDE.

ハウス Hausu

Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi 

Year: 1977

Hereditary

Director: Ari Aster
Cinematographer: Pawel Pogorzelski
Year: 2018

I want to discuss what maybe is a recent trend in contemporary horror films. I am definitely not a horror film aficionado so these elements are parts of just a few horror films I've recently seen, but it's still a pretty dramatic... shift?
What I noticed from Hereditary and The VVitch is that there is nothing "supernatural" happening. They are treated as simply... things that happen. The witch in The VVitch is treated with the same amount of realism as every other character. When the mother in Hereditary begs her husband to look up in the attic for the body... it is almost a built in expectation that he will not see the body, that he will come down from the attic proclaiming that "there's nothing there! You're crazy!" This is the structure to which most horror films follow. The terror comes from the loss of self, the loss of sanity. The explanation is that she IS crazy, she's SEEING these things and losing her mind.
But that doesn't happen.  It comes as kind of a shock when he comes down, clearly shaken at the sight of his wife's mother's dead body. This is real. Paimon is real, the devil is real, demons are real, this is all just happening. Nothing these characters do will change the course of events that the occultist demon worshipping grandma has set up. They're doomed, nothing turns out okay, and the demon wins.
This reminds me of The Wailing. What we are seeing is the master plot of a demon unfolding through the perspective of the sacrificial lamb. The board is set and the pieces are already moving before the main character even knows it. We follow her as she tries to unravel it, and she fails. She dies. The perspective then changes to the omnipotent force that is sort of pulling all the strings. It's a very mind bending shift to witness.




influences:

Rosemary's Baby
Don't Look Now
Nicholas rogue
The Innocence
Ugetsu
Quidon
Empire of Passion
Kerniquo
Mike Leigh
In The Bedroom
Ice Storm
Chinatown
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover

I, Tonya

"I mean, who would do that? ... to a friend?"

Director: Craig Gillespie
Cinematographer: Nicolas Karakatsanis
Writer: Steven Rogers
Year: 2017

As I'm reading about character and characterization, some things come to mind. I should watch this movie
super quick thought.... character vs characterization in THE WAILING. How the main character is definitely not a "hero" in the traditional sense. He's a cop but he's kinda a doofus. He's constantly in trouble and clearly not the best officer in his unit by far. But this makes the lengths he is willing to go to save his daughter all the more compelling and his inevitable failure all the more compelling as well because despite his efforts, which push him to reach beyond himself, he ultimately fails BECAUSE of his nature. He is not the hero he tries to be.
ANYWHO- scene in PRISONERS with Jake Gyllenhaal.
So many things are established in that opening scene. He's alone at a diner, literally the only customer there. It's pouring out, this already establishes that he's a loner. But the waitress saying "happy thanksgiving" is awesome. He doesn't have a family. He asks the waitress playful questions, he's not got many people to talk to.