Proxy Movie Download

10 / 10

Locating the proxy.
Talking to a family friend about my plans to view Horror films with an “epic” running time for the upcoming October Challenge on IMDb’s Horror board,I got told about an excellent-sounding, 2 hour (!) Horror from the Mumblecore genre that he had recently picked up on DVD,which led to me getting ready to locate the proxy.

The plot:

Walking to the bus stop after having an ultrasound scan, Esther Woodhouse is attacked by a stranger,who knocks Woodhouse out,and kills her unborn child.Waking up in hospital,Woodhouse is told that she barely survived the attack,and that she has lost the unborn child.Trying to help Woodhouse out as much as possible,the hospital arranges Woodhouse to attend a therapy group designed to support women who have lost a child.

Nervously sitting down for her first therapy meeting,Woodhouse begins talking to Melanie Michaels,who is attending the sessions after her husband and son had died in a car accident.Feeling that she is able to open up to Michaels the most in the group,Woodhouse (who apart from a lover has no friends or family) starts meeting up with Michaels outside of the group,for lunch and coffee.Walking round a department store one day,Woodhouse notices Michaels (who has not noticed Woodhouse) asking security to help her find her missing son.Secretly following Michaels,Woodhouse begins to fear that Michaels may not be all that she seems,when Michaels opens her car door,and her “dead” son walks out.

View on the film:

Keeping the The Newton Brothers expert score humming away in the background,co-writer/(along with Kevin Donner) director Zack Parker uses long,superbly held takes which allow the full unfolding horror to dig right under the viewers skin.Keeping away from featuring traditional tracking shots,Parker keeps the audience firmly connected to the characters by clearly using tracking shots aimed directly at the characters face,which allows for the horror across their faces to be fully displayed and splashed across the screen.Refusing to turn away from the most terrifying moments,Parker delicately gives each major set piece its own appearance,as Parker goes from scattering blood across the screen in an almost 3D manner,to using creaking floors and shoes to create the image of a traumatising act taking place.

Opening the film with a vicious hit,the writers skilfully rip apart every perception that the viewer initially makes on the characters,with the writers pressing down on every small, peculiar moment that the characters express,and pushing them all right to the extremist edge.Along with the gradually revealed horror,the writers also slash the film with sharp Mumblecore conversations,which create a brilliant atmosphere,that suggests that something is deeply wrong.

Entering the movie getting left on the floor for dead, Alexia Rasmussen gives a raw performance as Woodhouse,with Rasmussen showing Woodhouse’s silent grief to turn into unrelenting rage,as she begins to uncover Michaels.Joined by a wonderfully brittle Joe Swanberg,the elegant Alexa Havins gives a fantastic performance which transforms from light & airy to ruthless and sharp-toothed,as Woodhouse begins to discover the proxy.Read More