If you consider the background of the stories from a certain angle, H.P. Lovecraft wrote science fiction rather than horror. The creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos, including Cthulhu himself were alien beings of unimaginable power, rather than gods or demons. The unknowable, and indifferently hostile cosmos behind his monsters is what ultimately created the bleak, existential horror of the stories, and as mankind uncovered the secrets of nature through science (because Lovecraft treated magic and science interchangeably), it unleashed forces beyond our control, and worse, often brought attention to us to predatory beings from beyond.
And that brings us to Intersect (2020). This is a very odd film. The opening scene takes place in the aftermath of .... something. The camera spins through a dizzyingly weird landscape of shadowy darkness and tendrils of blackness, as it zooms in on Dr Ryan Winrich (Jason Spisak) cradling the mortally wounded Dr Caitlin Webb (Leeann Dearing) and the two share a moment.
Then we flash back to a few hours earlier, as the two lounge in bed together an discuss their relationship, and the project they are working on together. This is the first sign of the very odd narrative structure of this film. It is, in essence, told backwards, with pieces of it unfolding as you learn each step prior to the immediate one you re experiencing. In this first instance, we see Winrich discovers that someone has brought a bomb into the lab where he has been building a time machine at Miskatonic University. When he realizes Caitlin is in the lab, he races there and crosses the police line and heads to the lab.
THEN, the film flashes further back, and we see the initial perfection of the Time Machine with input from a THIRD member of their team, Dr Nate Beaumont (Abe Ruthless).
What unfolds is not exactly Lovecraftian at first. We see the three friends as inseparable throughout their lives, under the tutelage of kindly professor Bill Marshall. As each earlier segment unfolds, we learn more details. Unlike most traditional horror films, as you go along, MORE characters are added. We see the romance develop in reverse, from culmination of their story to their first meeting. We know ahead of time that their Bill has passed away, and then see the actual event later in the film.
Its a difficult film to really understand because of this structure. For example, when we see the apparent death of Nate, in a drunkenly ill-advised test of the Time Machine, we can't really relate to it, although it obviously impacts Ryan and Caitlin deeply. Because we don't know their shared history yet... But we see it unfold through the rest of the film. Its only at the end that you understand what they have lost. This formula is repeated several times over the course of the movie. I have mixed feelings about its effectiveness, but it does leave you feeling a bit unsettled, which I suppose is sort of the point.
The initial scene seemed oddly out of place and confusing. What exactly was that weird black spiral? You see it is obviously connected to the "portal" which opens in their time travel experiments, but that seems to be about it.... at first. One very odd thing you see is a point when, as teenagers, Ryan and Caitlin are walking and turn down an alley, and see these odd, semi-organic looking pods sitting, inexplicably, in the alley ahead of them. They regard them silently for a few moments, and then casually suggest walking a different way, NEVER ADDRESSING THEM. This is a baffling moment, but its explained in a flash back further still, that this is NOT the first time they have encountered them.
In fact, young Ryan encounters the pods, and their disturbing, spindly, monstrous occupants for the first time, mere moments before he meets Bill Marshall for the first time. Nor is it, apparently, the first time Bill has encountered them. Bill assures him that they are harmless, and just watch.
Also you learn about a childhood bully of theirs, who, in the future, becomes a religious fanatic. You learn the final fate of Nate, who locates Ryan in his childhood with tragic results. He warns Ryan about 'The Watchers' before Ryan has any clue about them, implying that they are the ones manipulating him into the creation of the Time Machine. This is also where we start seeing a stronger Lovecraftian influence. A Weird, patient menace from somewhere outside of the known universe, manipulating our world for their own ends.
In the final scenes, we jump back to Ryan entering the lab to save Caitlin from the bomber in their midst, and we see the way the opening scene came about. However...
However, AFTER that scene things become more confusing, as Ryan enters the portal himself, and .... ends up in a forest, where he finds the gift box Caitlin gave him as a child sitting inexplicably on a log. When he opens it there is simply a handwritten note inside saying 'Remember'... Ryan screams in anguish and seems to ... dissolve into black mist and finds himself in the portal again traveling.... somewhere? Some when? The entire ending is ambiguous. We see that the Watchers were coming though the portal before his initial jump. So... what happened to them? There was a point made earlier about the energy requirements needed to keep a time portal open for more than a few seconds.... so.... how is the portal remaining open now?
There are some intriguing ideas here. The acting was surprisingly good and the production values were excellent for such a low budget film. There is a surprise cameo with Richard Dawkins, of all people, voicing the computer in the lab. However, the film is difficult to follow. Its ambitious in its approach, but I think most people will be turned off by the backwards storytelling. The Lovecraftian elements are minimal, and for the longest time, I wondered why they would set the film in the iconic Miskatonic University if they were not going to delve into the weirder side of Lovecraft's fiction. But, like most of Lovecraft's stories, the idea that literally everyone in the the film, from Ryan and his team, to his mentor Bill Marshall, to childhood bully Abner Rosen were manipulated by forces from outside the universe to the end we see them all come to.
It didn't exactly land home, thought I can appreciate the effort.
Other films this week:
Burn, Witch, Burn (1962) - Apparently also known as "Night of the Eagle" this is a loose screen adaptation of Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife. This is a lesser known film about witchcraft, but really not a bad little film. Its tightly crafted, and the scene toward the end where the main character is pursued by a gigantic stone eagle is rather interesting. This film tries to capture the magic of Night of the Demon, but doesn't quite make it. But it has a similar atmosphere, and is certainly worth a look at if you're a fan of either Fritz Leiber or movies about Witchcraft.
The Blackout (2019) - This Russian film is a curious mixture of Science Fiction, Post-Apocalypse, Zombies, and Alien Invasion. The basic idea is that an event takes place, and the entire world seems to fall into a blackout except for a small area of Eastern Europe. Anyone who ventures outside the area does not return. The movie follows a military expedition out of the area, and the meaning of the Blackout. It is surprisingly philosophical, but also, incredibly bleak.
Gamera Vs Jiger (1970) - A childhood favorite, watching it with adult eyes lays plain all its many flaws. This was the 6th of the Gamera films, and the costumes were starting to look a little rough. Daiei Films evidently didn't have the budget of rival studio Toho. It is shockingly gross in one scene, where a scientist shows a film to some reporters to illustrate what he believes has happened to Gamera, and shows them a video of the dissection of an elephant infested with parasitic worms. There are some surprisingly funny moments in the film, such as the father wearily identifying his daughter's crush in spite of her denial. This is one of the infamous entries where small children prove to me more effective than either the military or scientific community. The children in question steal a minisub and use it to sneak inside Gamera's body to locate the parasite growing in it. They receive a warning about traveling into his stomach where they will be dissolved by the digestive acids. Nice children's fare here!
Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021) - I am not a basketball fan (and in fact I find it the most boring, pointless sport in the world next to golf), but as a Clevelander, I am legally bound by municipal ordinance to watch and report on any media involving LeBron James, so.... I watched this. The original Space Jam was a fun Looney Tunes romp, and this one tries to recapture the magic of it. It doesn't quite succeed for a few reason... First and foremost is LeBron James doesn't quite have the same charisma as Michael Jordan. Secondly though, the Looney Tunes themselves seem almost sidelined through the course of the film. Things play out exactly as you expect. There are no real surprises here. The humor misses more often than it hits.... And yet, it isn't all bad. Don Cheadle makes for an entertaining, if predictable villain. Cameos by real actors or sports personalities are minimal, but there are a LOT of cameos of other Warner Brothers properties in the background, making it a fun movie to watch whats going on behind the main action. Everything from King Kong to DC Superheroes to Harry Potter are represented. Naturally, the villains all seem to congregate behind the "evil" team's bench, and there is something funny about seeing Agent Smith from the Matrix cheering on the team next to Voldemort and The Mask (who, seemed a little out of place). Meanwhile King Kong, The Iron Giant, and Superman are cheering of the Looney Tunes team. And while the BIG stakes are the game are supposedly that the Looney Tunes will be erased from existence, its thrown in as such an afterthought, that it hardly seems consequential. The higher stakes of the game are more personal and actually provide a genuine heart to the movie, and that is that it brings Lebron James and his son together. And really... those are better stakes. It lacks the charm of the original Space Jam, and it doesn't even reach the heights of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, but its not a bad all-ages film to waste a couple hours on.
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