Art Imitates Knife

The horror genre has found new and innovative ways over the years to infiltrate our deepest fears, and to make us weary of sleep. I'm always on the lookout for these types of efforts, especially when they pertain to the arts. There are a few out there that focus on art, dance, music, drama, and fashion, so I've chosen to highlight a few here for their contributions to the cause.

5. Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)
Velvet Buzzsaw is as brutal as it is comical as it is purposely pretentious with its obnoxious, highbrow art dealer characters. The most interesting aspect of the film is the artwork of the enigmatic Vetril Dease, whose morbid, posthumous paintings begin to set the world of art ablaze. In the immediate aftermath, eccentric and oddball pieces of art come alive to torment its worshipers, perhaps for exploiting it in the first place. The death scenes are creative and campy, and one is even pretty nasty, even though the screen cuts to black before we see the bloody aftermath. It does seem to venture slightly off-track as we get closer to the end, but the climax is nonetheless satisfying, leaving the viewer to figure out the film's bigger picture. Velvet Buzzsaw is about the dire consequences of exploiting and manipulating art for our own gain.

4. The Black Gloves (2017)
The Black Gloves might speak to you if you know or appreciate the ballet "Swan Lake," or if you enjoy monochrome movies filmed in the modern day, or if you're a fan of Alfred Hitchcock. It follows Finn Gollaway, a Scottish psychologist who's become obsessed with shell shocked, former "Swan Lake" ballerina Elisa Grey, tormented by the "Swan Lake" baddie himself, Owlman. An isolated mansion, overbearing madams, constantly howling wind, black and white horror that manifests from the unsuspecting corners of the frame shape this little-known effort into something special.

3. The Devil's Candy (2015)
The Devil's Candy tackles a musician/painter in Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry), a metal head husband and father who's just moved his family into a new home. But as it turns out, the home formerly belonged to Ray Smilie, who hears demonic voices telling him to take back the house he killed his parents in, and to kidnap and murder local children, the Devil's candy. Jesse and his daughter Zoe love metal music, and possessed by his own demons, Jesse creates some pretty monstrous, morbid pieces of art himself.

2. Suspiria (2018)
Suspiria is a remake of the '70s Dario Argento original, though it really takes on a life of its own. Set during the turbulence of a post-WWII German civil war, the movie centers on an exclusive dance studio and the tight-lipped witches who run it. The witches vote in a new leader every so many years, and as they welcome in a rare new talent from the US (Dakota Johnson), they ready themselves for a change that they will not soon recover from. I haven't seen the Dario Argento original, but I can't see how it could be any better than the remake. The fact that Thom Yorke scores the movie entirely may or may not have something to do with that. Also, Tilda Swinton plays three different roles.

1. Starry Eyes (2015)
Starry Eyes focuses on the art of acting, and it's set in Tinseltown itself. Sarah Walker is a struggling actor, attending one casting call after another in search of her big break, all while working a dead end job as a waitress. When she receives a call back for all the wrong reasons, she's overwhelmed with joy, and she goes to some pretty desperate links to make her dreams come true. Starry Eyes is one of my new favorite horror films, completely original in its take on the genre. The score is also very retro 80s, and most of the terror comes in how in this particular case, at least metaphorically, art really does imitate life. It's another cautionary tale on the treatment of desperate actresses at the hands of greedy, powerful producers.