To hell and back
Tonight, feeling a little down (mostly due to the prospect of not seeing Michele tomorrow), I decided that what I really needed to watch was a good horror movie. So I went out and rented two that have been on my "to-watch" list for a while. The first is The Exorcist, which I have not yet watched. The second, and I risk ridicule from my more cultured acquaintances for admitting this, is Hellraiser: Inferno.
Normally, H:I is the sort of movie I scoff at in Blockbuster and wonder exactly who rents this sort of film. I loathe "splatter" horror films and consider them one miniscule step above romance novels in the grand hierarchy of the Arts. However, some months ago I happened upon a Hollywood Jesus review of the H:I that included this quote:
It's a shame, really; Inferno is, in some ways, too smart, sensitive and spiritual for the audience it's broadly aimed at, and in many ways too hard-core and powerful for the audience that would, in the safe light of day, argue many of its uncomfortable points about obsession, morality, 'goodness,' and---let's just say it, shall we?---damnation. With a few key cuts (one or two 'red' scenes, and some general profanity), Inferno would be an ideal, high-caliber, weapons-grade substitute to most of those milquetoast Rapture-scare films many churchgoers saw in the basement of their local parish on Thursday night; sometimes, the best way to put the desire for Heaven into someone truly is to simply scare the Hell out of them.
How fascinating is that? Very, at least to me. It reminds me of Flannery O'Conner's stated desire to write stories so hopeless and depraved that readers would be left gasping for God and scrabbling desperately for the saving grace offered by Christ. So I rented H:I and watched it this evening. And I concur completely with the Hollywood Jesus review, which I encourage you to read. It's not a great film by any means; as a piece of art, it has a few moments of greatness and just as many moments of mediocrity. The "ick" factor is very high (higher than the HJ review implies), and I don't really recommend that you watch it. But it unabashedly does what it sets out to do. The closing scene, in which the protagonist comes to grips with his selfish life choices and their consequences, is brilliant. H:I has an extremely moral spiritual message, and by golly, you've learned it by the end of the film.
Spiritual insight in the strangest places, eh?