The Horror Within
It seems frightfully funny how some things can come full circle. It probably never even crossed the mind of Mrs. Honora Parker that her heartfelt Christmas present of a journal would be a key piece of evidence in her murder trial. In 1954, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, two teenaged school girls, planned out and executed a heinous murder where they brutally bludgeoned Pauline’s mother, Mrs. Parker, to a bloody death. Kiwi director Peter Jackson co-wrote and directed this historically factual retelling of Mrs. Parker’s murder for the silver screen, titled Heavenly Creatures. Along with this film showing one of the most brutal and twisted crimes of the 1950’s, it adds a twist of horror that only filmic story telling is able to tell.
This realistic reenactment combines filmic genres that in most circumstances would be seen at the opposite ends of the story telling spectrum. It successfully combined romance, fantasy, and horror. Jackson decided to use specific elements of these genres to depict the mental confusion of teenaged life. Romance is the dominate force driving Juliet and Pauline together. At the budding of their relationship they are filmed in low contrast lighting making their figures standout, and draws the attention of the scene to them together. Juliet, being the heroine of the two, is presented in a softer light making her appearance resembles a delicate porcelain doll. By showing her in this beautiful way from Pauline’s point of view gives insight to the homosexual attraction she feels for Juliet. However, with this story being set in the 1950’s little was known about adolescence and homosexuality, and what was known was considered to be too taboo for discussion. This causing parts of their ideal relationship to be played out in a world of fantasy rather than in society.
Juliet Hulme was very frank when stating that upon her death she was not going to heaven, but to a better place called the Forth World. Eventually, they used this Forth World as a realm of escape when the two felt like they were being invaded, or at times of weakness. During the course of the film, Pauline does have one sexual encounter with the opposite sex. In the twisted scene of her late night sexual escapade she sends her mind to the kingdom of Borovnia. She fantasies about dancing the night away with her idols Orson Wells and Mario Lanza. Fantasy, being a genre of escapism, draws people to experience worlds that are exciting and completely different from their own. Experiencing a world so different from the norm can be quite intoxicating for people who have a deep desire to escape their own. This worked as an advantage for Heavenly Creatures. These two girls use this escapism to detach themselves from situations they find disturbing. For Pauline, having sex with a male is most likely not the most comfortable situation, and by having her appear in Borovnia during this sequence helps present the awkwardness of expressing her sexuality.
This fantasy world depicted on screen is not complete without its violence. In many fantasy scenes, violence seems to be the driving force behind many of the girls’ actions. While in their beloved Borovnia, their life-sized clay creations carry out murders at the girls orders. Also, this presence of violence and horror is an underlying theme present throughout the film. During the opening scene, a shot sequence is rapidly edited into a pseudo travel commercial for the pristine town of Christchurch. This short sequence is loaded with horrific images, which are amplified by the filmic techniques used to capture them. The camera work during the running and confusion is hand held. This type of shot suggests uneasiness due to unstable motion, and the illusion of constant action on screen. These shots include Pauline and Juliet shrieking and running through a heavenly wooded area, covered in what appears to be blood. The sound of the screams alone are enough to cause a fearful response, because it is a type of scream that suggests pain and fear. It has a sound with a touch of horror and evil as its source. This scene sets the pace for the film, romantic at the beginning and horrific in the end. Along with hand held camera work and horrific sounds, which are common of the horror genre, there is a unsettling sense of uneasiness felt all the way to the end of the film.
Even during the scenes classified as romantic or fantasy there is a touch of horrific elements that can not be ignored. The use of canted angles to frame specific characters are used to help the audience to understand a mind and world out of balance. The scene in which Dr. Hulme presents the idea of separating the two comes into play. He is framed in a canted long shot taken from the ceiling looking down. For Juliet and Pauline, the thought of being pulled apart is unbearable. A person who might suggest such a cruelty is most likely seen as someone to shift their lives out of balance, and evil. This suggestion of evil parents works to the film’s advantage, since now the girls have a motive to remove those who stand in the way of their tight bond. Even though it is not Dr. Hulme who they decide to murder, they now have the need to dispose of a blocking force in their lives.
The ending scene is by far the most difficult and horrific scene to endure in the entire film. Not only did Jackson decided to reenact the scene as accurately as possible, he decided to use the very trail in New Zealand where the actual murder took place. The entire walk through the woods resembles a prisoners final walk down death row. Once again the camera work is hand held leaving an unsettling feeling of anticipation for the murder to take place. Once Mrs. Walker bends over, Pauline’s attack to the back of the skull leaves her mother screaming is pure agony. At this moment, their fantasy world of murder becomes real, and is the point where the two genres collide. Juliet and Pauline have been fantasizing about being able to commit murder, and at this point they turn fantasy into a bittersweet reality. After the first blow to Mrs. Parker, the pace of the beating becomes faster and faster paralleling the film’s editing. Quick cuts are used to link short shots, which jumps from the three points of view of the murder. Out of all three of the POV angles, Mrs. Parker’s has to be the most horrific. Everything thing in her vision is presented in shades of red, which directly resembles blood, and is swarming to her eyes while blinding her vision. With red being a deathly color it adds to the intensity of the scene, making it even harder to watch. Jackson’s decision to use rapid editing, choppy cinematography, and horrific sound works at showing a world of horror as real life on screen. Bringing a world of fantasy to life as horror for to girls who share romance is a big risk to take on screen. Jackson makes this job look simple by pulling themes from each genre to express disturbed minds, which successfully expresses girls who are just plain stark raving mad.
I intended this piece to be written for an audience who has already seen the film. This caused me to go back and cut out a lot of plot summary that at second reading seemed redundant or insignificant to the rest of the review. I found this difficult, because it seems that I write in some type of sequence that links a bunch of my writing through out the entire review. For example, I would write something on the first page that I refer to again later in the review. Once I read the beginning again I found that some material was really unnecessary and ended up deleting it. Then I had to go back to the other area where the material reappears and change that too. However, I think that it strengthens the review as a whole. I just hate doing it.
It seemed a lot harder to actually start this paper than to get going on it after the first page. I have a feeling that I was thinking too hard about how to write it that when it came to actually doing it writing was very hard. Once I found a good rhythm it became more natural, and I ended up going in a direction that I never planed in going. Since I am still new at the review writing process I am not sure at the strength of the review’s argument. It appears to be more of an analytical essay to me with the breaking down of scenes into different pieces. I do think that analyzing scenes is necessary to give a good review though. I guess I just can’t find a proper balance of the analysis and review at this point in the semester.
This realistic reenactment combines filmic genres that in most circumstances would be seen at the opposite ends of the story telling spectrum. It successfully combined romance, fantasy, and horror. Jackson decided to use specific elements of these genres to depict the mental confusion of teenaged life. Romance is the dominate force driving Juliet and Pauline together. At the budding of their relationship they are filmed in low contrast lighting making their figures standout, and draws the attention of the scene to them together. Juliet, being the heroine of the two, is presented in a softer light making her appearance resembles a delicate porcelain doll. By showing her in this beautiful way from Pauline’s point of view gives insight to the homosexual attraction she feels for Juliet. However, with this story being set in the 1950’s little was known about adolescence and homosexuality, and what was known was considered to be too taboo for discussion. This causing parts of their ideal relationship to be played out in a world of fantasy rather than in society.
Juliet Hulme was very frank when stating that upon her death she was not going to heaven, but to a better place called the Forth World. Eventually, they used this Forth World as a realm of escape when the two felt like they were being invaded, or at times of weakness. During the course of the film, Pauline does have one sexual encounter with the opposite sex. In the twisted scene of her late night sexual escapade she sends her mind to the kingdom of Borovnia. She fantasies about dancing the night away with her idols Orson Wells and Mario Lanza. Fantasy, being a genre of escapism, draws people to experience worlds that are exciting and completely different from their own. Experiencing a world so different from the norm can be quite intoxicating for people who have a deep desire to escape their own. This worked as an advantage for Heavenly Creatures. These two girls use this escapism to detach themselves from situations they find disturbing. For Pauline, having sex with a male is most likely not the most comfortable situation, and by having her appear in Borovnia during this sequence helps present the awkwardness of expressing her sexuality.
This fantasy world depicted on screen is not complete without its violence. In many fantasy scenes, violence seems to be the driving force behind many of the girls’ actions. While in their beloved Borovnia, their life-sized clay creations carry out murders at the girls orders. Also, this presence of violence and horror is an underlying theme present throughout the film. During the opening scene, a shot sequence is rapidly edited into a pseudo travel commercial for the pristine town of Christchurch. This short sequence is loaded with horrific images, which are amplified by the filmic techniques used to capture them. The camera work during the running and confusion is hand held. This type of shot suggests uneasiness due to unstable motion, and the illusion of constant action on screen. These shots include Pauline and Juliet shrieking and running through a heavenly wooded area, covered in what appears to be blood. The sound of the screams alone are enough to cause a fearful response, because it is a type of scream that suggests pain and fear. It has a sound with a touch of horror and evil as its source. This scene sets the pace for the film, romantic at the beginning and horrific in the end. Along with hand held camera work and horrific sounds, which are common of the horror genre, there is a unsettling sense of uneasiness felt all the way to the end of the film.
Even during the scenes classified as romantic or fantasy there is a touch of horrific elements that can not be ignored. The use of canted angles to frame specific characters are used to help the audience to understand a mind and world out of balance. The scene in which Dr. Hulme presents the idea of separating the two comes into play. He is framed in a canted long shot taken from the ceiling looking down. For Juliet and Pauline, the thought of being pulled apart is unbearable. A person who might suggest such a cruelty is most likely seen as someone to shift their lives out of balance, and evil. This suggestion of evil parents works to the film’s advantage, since now the girls have a motive to remove those who stand in the way of their tight bond. Even though it is not Dr. Hulme who they decide to murder, they now have the need to dispose of a blocking force in their lives.
The ending scene is by far the most difficult and horrific scene to endure in the entire film. Not only did Jackson decided to reenact the scene as accurately as possible, he decided to use the very trail in New Zealand where the actual murder took place. The entire walk through the woods resembles a prisoners final walk down death row. Once again the camera work is hand held leaving an unsettling feeling of anticipation for the murder to take place. Once Mrs. Walker bends over, Pauline’s attack to the back of the skull leaves her mother screaming is pure agony. At this moment, their fantasy world of murder becomes real, and is the point where the two genres collide. Juliet and Pauline have been fantasizing about being able to commit murder, and at this point they turn fantasy into a bittersweet reality. After the first blow to Mrs. Parker, the pace of the beating becomes faster and faster paralleling the film’s editing. Quick cuts are used to link short shots, which jumps from the three points of view of the murder. Out of all three of the POV angles, Mrs. Parker’s has to be the most horrific. Everything thing in her vision is presented in shades of red, which directly resembles blood, and is swarming to her eyes while blinding her vision. With red being a deathly color it adds to the intensity of the scene, making it even harder to watch. Jackson’s decision to use rapid editing, choppy cinematography, and horrific sound works at showing a world of horror as real life on screen. Bringing a world of fantasy to life as horror for to girls who share romance is a big risk to take on screen. Jackson makes this job look simple by pulling themes from each genre to express disturbed minds, which successfully expresses girls who are just plain stark raving mad.
I intended this piece to be written for an audience who has already seen the film. This caused me to go back and cut out a lot of plot summary that at second reading seemed redundant or insignificant to the rest of the review. I found this difficult, because it seems that I write in some type of sequence that links a bunch of my writing through out the entire review. For example, I would write something on the first page that I refer to again later in the review. Once I read the beginning again I found that some material was really unnecessary and ended up deleting it. Then I had to go back to the other area where the material reappears and change that too. However, I think that it strengthens the review as a whole. I just hate doing it.
It seemed a lot harder to actually start this paper than to get going on it after the first page. I have a feeling that I was thinking too hard about how to write it that when it came to actually doing it writing was very hard. Once I found a good rhythm it became more natural, and I ended up going in a direction that I never planed in going. Since I am still new at the review writing process I am not sure at the strength of the review’s argument. It appears to be more of an analytical essay to me with the breaking down of scenes into different pieces. I do think that analyzing scenes is necessary to give a good review though. I guess I just can’t find a proper balance of the analysis and review at this point in the semester.
posted by Jessica B. at
2:56 PM
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