{"id":6513,"date":"2019-04-19T01:53:05","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T01:53:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/?p=6513"},"modified":"2019-04-19T22:05:19","modified_gmt":"2019-04-19T22:05:19","slug":"hagazussa-review-three-reasons-to-see-it-in-theaters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/hagazussa-review\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Hagazussa&#8217; Review: Three Reasons To See It In Theaters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">You won\u2019t recognize the name of Austrian filmmaker\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Lukas\u00a0Feigelfeld, but mark my words, commit it to memory. His beguiling debut\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/hagazussa\/255519\"><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa<\/span><\/i><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0is drawn from a witch\u2019s brew of old-world social isolation, pagan folklore whispered throughout\u00a0Feigelfeld\u2019s\u00a0childhood, and horror in a time when civilization was rooted in blind ritualistic or religious faith. These practices may be archaic, but cinematic lenses crave experiences of the past, present, and future.\u00a0Feigelfeld\u2019s\u00a0confidence in lingering shot selections exposes Mother Nature for all her imposition, which calls back to a rural period aesthetic intertwined with evil fantasies.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T1-gcr_RTqY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On a remote plot of land lives\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Albrun\u00a0(Aleksandra\u00a0Cwen<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">), who tends to goats and raises her child away from gawking locals.\u00a0Albrun\u2019s\u00a0mother, rest her soul, had passed some time ago ago during a bedridden bout of \u201csickness.\u201d Mutter (Claudia Martini) was unwell, covered in lesions, but also starting to show signs of abnormal behavior. Now, years later,\u00a0Albrun\u00a0is thought to be of impure soul given the unknown and unexplained events of her past. Not the life she asked for, but one that drives her into a paranoid state of fear nonetheless.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">will be released in a limited capacity on April 19th, but if you\u2019re lucky enough to find a showing at a theater near you, get your slow-burn horror on!\u00a0Feigelfeld\u2019s\u00a0unwavering direction assures\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">one of 2019\u2019s can\u2019t-miss horror movies.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"auto\">1. Living In The Old World Was Scary Enough<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">For a critic who cornerstones his horror tastes on\u00a0midnighter\u00a0exploitation and macabre comedies, I\u2019m starting to find that culturally-driven witch hunts might be my jam? There aren\u2019t a slew of recent examples, but everything I appreciated about Robert Eggers\u2019\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Witch<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0translates into equal adoration of\u00a0Feigelfeld\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Puritanical village isolation of 15th century Europe is a horror story in its own right. Supernatural curses and cloven satanic imagery distort an already hazy reality as medieval colonies adapt hivemind thinking due to a lack of outside influence. Who needs monsters when you\u2019ll fear anything considered \u201cdifferent\u201d by virtue of blasphemy?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">German folklore oozes from production design that&#8217;s impoverished and walled inside woodland seclusion. Insect chirps score quiet nights, and crunchy footsteps through iced-over snowfall provide ambient noise but also stoke paranoia.\u00a0Albrun\u00a0faces heightened sensations of fear as she must care for her child, and any threats need to be acted on proactively versus reactively. It\u2019s an aesthetic creepiness that doesn\u2019t always benefit filmmakers, but as with\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Emma Tammi<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Wind<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">,\u00a0Feigelfeld\u00a0turns daily life into an unpopulated test of solitary wits. It&#8217;s all accented here by religious temples lined with human skulls and townsfolk who live to punish heathenistic \u201csinners,\u201d along with punctuative sound design such as the cracking of stiff joints as Mutter twists her neck while sitting atop her bed (read: extremely unsettling).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"auto\">2. Existence Of The Supernatural Is All In Our Mind&#8230; Or Is It?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">When you recall and read about Salem\u2019s witch trials, the question of just cause and being able to prove a woman\u2019s dark sorcery becomes the scariest distortion of fact. Judges were executing based on fear alone (watch\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">ParaNorman<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">), and that same kind of fight against sacrilegious hedonism is what defines\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Feigelfeld\u00a0imparts the curiosities and boogeymen of his childhood by keeping\u00a0Albrun\u2019s\u00a0arc shrouded in cursed ambiguity, leaving our perceptions in a state of undecided flux over true satanic influences or self-inflicted madness. Can an emotionally stunted woman retain her sanity when shunned by newfound \u201cfriend\u201d\u00a0Swinda\u00a0(<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Tanja\u00a0Petrovsky), or convicted of heresy by a local priest, or treated as a living stigma?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">On the other hand,\u00a0Feigelfeld\u00a0does everything in his power to make us believe something wicked this way comes.\u00a0Albrun\u2019s\u00a0relationship with her black horned goat &#8211; a symbolic representation of Lucifer\u2019s grasp &#8211; only becomes odder and more suspect as she lusts for the animal\u2019s milk. When she wanders into the surrounding forest, lost in nature, visions of Mutter and other forces of inhumanity add to the assurance that something is not right. I\u2019ll do no disservice by spoiling the third act, but you better believe\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">takes full advantage of psychological disturbances in a way that staggeringly distorts reality. Maybe townsfolk had every right to question the ancient magic\u00a0Albrun\u00a0may or may not have been exploring given fears of nature-based spirits of the woods &#8211; then again, maybe not.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span data-contrast=\"auto\">3. Horror Can Be Beautiful<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Cinematographer\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Mariel\u00a0Baqueiro\u00a0does so much with so little in\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Gloomy earth tones represent wintry mountain landscapes and dense forest pathways, and as previously mentioned, the camera moves at a methodically sluggish pace.\u00a0Feigelfeld\u00a0bubbles a cauldron of dread over the lowest of flames, but\u00a0Baqueiro\u00a0frames every shot with such artistic integrity that pacing never drags its feet. Horror movies can be beautiful, and this is one that deserves to be seen on the biggest screen thanks to the rich attention infused into each and every doomed picturesque view.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There are images seared into my head days after watching\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa.<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0Shots such as\u00a0Albrun\u00a0standing in front of a cave\u2019s blackened entrance, stricken paralyzed by the complete silence around her (and memories of her mother).\u00a0Albrun\u00a0wading deeper into a pond\u2019s murky waters between twisted tree branches. As body collectors drag corpses to be burned,\u00a0Albrun\u00a0follows while the camera fixates behind her falling in line with the rotting procession. All these moments live so vividly on screen despite action dialed to the lowest speed, but don\u2019t fret &#8211; psychosis eventually takes hold of both\u00a0Albrun\u00a0and\u00a0Baqueiro\u2019s\u00a0worldview. Such is the intoxicating trance\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Hagazussa\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">uses to keep viewers engaged in a damned folktale-driven nightmare with title cards that mark each chapter (e.g., \u201cHorn\u201d), breathtaking to behold and devastating to watch unfold.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:276}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You won\u2019t recognize the name of Austrian filmmaker\u00a0Lukas\u00a0Feigelfeld, but mark my words, commit it to memory. His beguiling debut\u00a0Hagazussa\u00a0is drawn from a witch\u2019s brew of old-world social isolation, pagan folklore whispered throughout\u00a0Feigelfeld\u2019s\u00a0childhood, and horror in a time when civilization was rooted in blind ritualistic or religious faith. These practices may be archaic, but cinematic lenses [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":6515,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,52],"tags":[40,37],"class_list":["post-6513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horror","category-review","tag-featuredpage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6513"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6516,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions\/6516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}