The House that Jack Built - 2018

I remember when I worked at the independent theater we got the movie Dogville directed by Lars Von Trier.  Although I did not see it, this was my introduction to him as a director.  Later, I found Antichrist on a list of "disturbing films" and watched it.  I don't really remember my thoughts on it.

I gave Melancholia a shot, didn't like it, and I also thought about watching Nymphomaniac but I never got around to it.  But given that I heard about The House that Jack Built (THTJB) and I heard it was horror, I was killin' time at the video rental store, saw it on the new release shelf, and picked up a copy.  Fuck it, eh?  How bad could it be?

I put it on with zero expectation and the movie reminded me of why I happen to think, though often under-utilized, forgotten about, and given a bad reputation, horror can truly be as expressive a genre as anything else worth appraisal.

We hear some voices talking in the beginning and the tale unfolds.  It is the story of Jack, played by Matt Dillon.  Jack is a serial killer and intelligent, interesting person.  This film is not the story of a serial killer though, it is the story of an artist, and it is a story of the pain of being human, the pain of creation, and the pain of what we all do when we are forced to live through this world and this existence.  It just so happens he is also a sadistic killer.

And I do not mean to say he is not vicious, and I do not mean to say the film doesn't focus on the killings.  Through a thorough examination of five (actually more than five, but whatever) incidents in which he killed someone, we see the portrait painted of a strange, withdrawn, though charismatic and likable man.  He has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and his relationship to himself is surprisingly detailed and tender.  He knows himself, for better or worse, and he understands us better than we do ourselves.

The gruesomeness and the sense of tension is the first thing I noticed.  With such a wildly unpredictable main character, there are several moments where I felt a profound sense of dread and doom for Jack and the people he'd interact with.  The movie also goes through lengths to establish his chaotic and dysfunctional nature.  We see the childhood version of him, for example, in a display of the psychotic beginnings of killing and showing the "way he has always been".

I knew the ending would be divisive from early on, as I realized that we took a step into weird territory via the narration, which happens between Jack and (I thought at first) god.  Towards the end, he meets this godlike character, and the movie takes a weird arthouse bizarre introspective turn.  It wasn't the best nor the strongest end to be honest, and it does feel like the director must've wanted to show Jack was in fact not a good person who would not come to a good end.  In a way it feels a bit tacked on, sort of like they wanted to have a redeeming factor to the film.  Eh.

Amazing that even from a perspective such as mine, someone who "has seen it all" there are still new, interesting, and unique horror films that manage to inspire, upset, and disturb as well as they always have.  Four stars.