Disorienting Horror

Last evening, the Project This Film Club hosted a multi-screen horror fest. In an effort to experiment with the aesthetic of disorientation, the club set up five older television sets in the basement of the Small Pink Bird house in Roseville. Each television set was connected to a seperate dvd player/vcr. After approximately half an hour of dealing with installment/viewing issues, the club decided to show the following films simultaneously:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

The Return of the Living Dead (part II)

The People Under the Stairs

Nosferatu

Evil Dead II

Initially, the experience was entirely as disorienting as had been predicted. Most commented on the difficulty of remaining focused on a particular television set for any duration. Mixed laughs and commentary made it overwhelmingly evident that the viewing experience was of a much different nature. Seemingly, most of the audience members shifted between television screens based on the amount of action/humor occurring at any particular junction. One would distractedly watch Freddy guide a mental patient to his/her grueling death (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), then switch over to see Everett Mcgill in a full leather suit annihilating the interior of a house (The People Under the Stairs).

By starting the films simultaneously, we were originally hoping to discover emerging trends. Essentially, we were under the impression that many of the more obtrusively action packed portions of each film would be syncopated. Despite random moments of odd similarity (driving scenes, people conversing), this was, most assuredly, not the case.

Overall, it became evident that this experience refused any attempts to follow the plot extensions of a single film (or, for that matter, a series of films), throughout. Although many of the audience members had previously watched select films, this experience refuted general plot progressions. The plot of any particular film became dependent; dependent on the other four films. Climatic events became entirely confused. The varying shouts and agonizing screams that would typically mark a climatic junction  were inevitably muttled by the dialogue/humor of other films. At times, the humor of another film would degrade the horror of the next. At certain junctions, the mixed screams from an adjacent television would intensify the interaction of other characters. Any attempts to treat a film indepedently were subverted by the overall experience.

The ending:

One could not help acknowledging the inherent beauty of each films ending. As the ending credits rolled over each screen, there existed an accompanying feeling of loss. The situation was ending; the collaborative film was fading from existence; the capacity for attention was slowly being restored. As the television sets flickered and faded, the slow concluding scene of Nosferatu served as a subversive tranquilizer. The conventional film viewing experience was restored just briefly as a horse galloped into the barren distance.