Treevenge Review
There are two kinds of set pieces in horror movies from what I’ve seen. The first, when it can be pulled off, is when a horror movie finds a way to make darkly inspired visual poetry in a way that maintains its genre yet still finds a way to branch out into others so as to make sure taking us out of our comfort zones has its rewards. Examples include the following: when Samara is about to take her victim at the end of The Ring, The scene when we first hear Host of Seraphim in The Mist, The battle between the yakuza and the predator in Predators, the deer scene from Annihilation, The elevator scene from The Cabin in The Woods, The “It is time to listen” scene from Crimes of the Future, or, most notably, the chainsaw fight in Mandy. The second, unfortunately, is when a horror movie (at its worst) potentially becomes unwatchable to the point it either turns into the obvious splatter genre (if not the overused term from overly sadistic movies from the early 2000s that has, and deserves, the same initials as "toilet paper") or it’s the kind of movie that’s too notorious to even be worth naming. To put it plainly these are the kind of scenes which only horror movies are able to get away with easily yet can come at the price of our goodwill for the sake of truly horrifying us. The most notable example, in recent memory, (or at least in mine) of one surprisingly pulled off well is obviously the sacrifice scene from Dr. Sleep. However, at least during their run, scenes like Shaun’s goodbye to his mother in Shaun of the dead, the dog transformation scene from The Thing (1982), the slice scene from Slither, or even the Blob attacking from 1988’s the Blob, if not the pie scene from Killer Klowns from Outer Space, count as scenes where horror movies are set to got to extremes in order to justify their genre. And, of course, the mere mention of 90s horror movies like Se7en, The Sixth Sense, or even Audition, doesn’t need explaining (let alone other movies that would be inspired by that aesthetic like that same The Mist or 2007’s Sweeney Todd). This is, however, where making a horror movie gets tricky. On one hand you don’t want to look like the generic horror movie that relies on jump scares or any other overused gimmick from the decade you’re in. You just don’t want to traumatize you audience, if not scar them for life, to the point you’re catalogued for trying something new. I suppose this is why Treevenge clocks in at only 16 minutes: the fact it doesn’t even aim to be original, as its opening theme is just a reworking of Cannibal Holocaust’s, is director Jason Eisener going as far as using corn syrup to color the flag he’s waving. Many people don’t know how before he made Treevenge Mr. Eisener collaborated on a trailer for Rodriguez’s/Tarantino’s Grindhouse double feature experience titled “Hobo with a shotgun” (the latter which he would ultimately make into a feature length film). Although this movie was more shocking then than it is now (like the set pieces I previously pointed out) it was also an example of walking that thin, subjective line between taking the right kind of risk and exploring that secluded abyss of controversy from which many seldom return. Or to be more specific this was just Jason Eisener pulling that water bucket over door prank. The difference being he also began playing a recording of someone saying “They’re all gonna laugh at you!” once you found out what he used for water..