Day 12 of Halloween - The Scribbler

Jason: I chose this movie because of its placement under the “Scary Movie” list on Netflix and it is not out of place on that list. At least for the first two thirds, or even three quarters of the movie. The atmosphere that is built through Suki’s interactions with the other residents and her experiences at Juniper Tower is chilling and surreal. To think that there may actually be places like that out there in the world is scary in its own right. Just the degradation of the building and the squalid condition of the tenants’ quarters speak to the emotional state of all the girls who live there. From a psychological standpoint, the idea of DID and schizophrenia are terrifying. Seeing as this movie is based on a graphic novel, I don’t think they were going for a very realistic portrayal of these conditions but it turned out heady and mental nonetheless.

I was very much into the story for most of the movie. The interrogation and the murder investigation seemed like they were plausible enough. The story was outlandish but it was being told my a mental patient who had been electrocuting her brain, as prescribed! It could have ended up being something completely out of left field and could have played on the metaphorical possibilities of Suki’s story but it was not to be. The total shark-jump ending pulled me right out of it. It wasn’t metaphor, it wasn’t deranged ramblings of a damaged mind. Nope. She was telling the truth. The whole time. She was a superhuman. And so is everyone else. Or at least, all crazy people. I didn’t know till after it was over that it was based on a graphic novel, so I guess the ending makes sense from that angle but I just wish it has been less about superpowers and more about psychology.

Joel: Once upon a time there was almost a sequel to Freddy vs. Jason where Ash from the Evil Dead series fought the two of them. There was a treatment developed but the movie itself never got made for legal reasons. However there was a comic book based on the treatment so you could see the story if you wanted. I read the comic, but it was very clear reading it that this was always intended to be a movie. The structure and the story made it very clear that this was supposed to be told in movie form. I say all that to mention this. Watching The Scribbler all I could think was how clear it was that this was a story that should have been told in comic form. The characterizations, the story structure, the stylized atmosphere of the setting, it all seems tailor made for a graphic novel. So when I learned that it actually was based on a graphic novel after the movie was over it all made sense. (Apparently there was a credit mentioning it at the beginning of the movie but I missed that somehow.) What the movie really did is make me want to track down the graphic novel, which I suppose you can take as a positive review. It’s an interesting setup and it does some interesting things with it. (I’m not sure I can really call it a horror movie though. Not compared to some of the other things we’ve watched this series.)

Chris: Not every graphic novel needs to be turned into a movie. I’m making all the obscene gestures at this movie and Jason for picking this movie. If I were one of those idiots that used the phrase “this wasted time that I’ll never get back,” I would say that about now. Except I won’t because that’s one of the dumbest phrases overreacting jerks use and I’m not an idiot. Time isn’t reasuable regardless of what you’re wasting minutes on. Jason went on a hot streak and just fizzled at the finish line. 3-8-1.