Thanatomorphose on DVD from Unearthed Films!
Unearthed Films have fast grown over recent years to become one of the dominant forces in the market of extreme film collectors. Thanatomorphose, by Eric Falardeau, has been around since 2014 on Unearthed, and it’s a beautiful piece of work. It’s one of those that is best to go in unaware, my Partner in Gore Willow Brian and I, watched the trailer a few months ago upon another Unearthed Films release and tracked it down, not knowing the synopsis or anything else.
The ominous doom-laden introduction acts like a warning of things to come, oozing morbid tone and setting the mood perfectly. Opening with a nude lady in the bathroom after doing the nasty, she is recognisable as one of those people who pass you in life as someone who has died inside. There’s little bits of life embers left, but they’re fading.
Her name is Laura, and she asks her boyfriend if he’s staying the night, already knowing the reply will be “no.” Antoine then stands on a nail, and he has a go at her about not taking care of the place. To be fair on her, after she’s treated and bound his wound up, we see her unpacking past his exit from her apartment, so she’s only just moved in.
Above her bed is a rather gruesome crack in the ceiling which she stares at.
There’s a wonderful aspect to the overall lighting, everything is dull like Laura’s mood, like her being and existence. As Willow pointed out, the important images are illuminated, albeit in a deathly light whilst shadows seem to be around the outsides always. There’s lengthy unpacking scenes whilst she wears a vacant expression, plus masturbation.
The next morning whilst she showers, she drops the soap. Picking it up, a fingernail snaps off bloodily. Neither the less she continues her routine, all throughout a bruise on her shoulder is getting deeper in colour and bigger. Friends who come over notice a bruise under her chin, Laura has no idea how it got there but that evening a friend, Julian, reveals to her his lusting and states how he sees Antoine as an oaf. After the gang leave, Antoine plays rough, then notices how cold she is. Laura states with no interest perhaps it’s because he cannot make her feel anything anymore.
“I don’t want to do this anymore. This no longer gives me pleasure. It’s all pointless. It doesn’t matter.” she states in the night about her sculpturing, her life in general. “I can’t feel it, I’ve lost the urge.” As her head moves, we see the bruise is along her chin now. Laura gets out of bed, there’s bruises on her legs, plus down one side of her stomach.
Awake again, she vomits, one arm is now covered by bruises. Laura passes out. We have many inter-cut images of death and decay then she regains consciousness, her whole body is discoloured, and the crack in the ceiling has become mouldy. “She’s a proper walking corpse.” summed up Willow. I agreed and said that someone has studied the effects of decomposition perfectly. This is a masterful slow burning stage by stage decaying body horror. As time goes by the process does speed up.
The more Laura dies, the more men takes advantage. She suffers greatly. Functions start shutting down, to the point of her bowels loosening, and her fingers snapping off (which she saves in a jar), feet leaking putrid substances, etcetera. The deeper it goes, Laura seems to become alive again, and decides to take revenge against those who has wronged her…
Thanatomorphose is truly a one person show, Kayden Rose (Amy’s in the Attic) is incredible in her role and seems to have dropped out of acting since this, not for one for trying. On one of her modelling/acting site entries she states “I am incredibly dedicated to acting and to getting it right – whether that means writhing on the ground through a pile of sticky goo, being buried under a pile of dirt, or simply suffering through below-freezing weather. I am willing to alter my appearance as necessary for a role.” (As a matter of fact, Eric himself hasn’t managed to put together a complete feature since this one, working only on short flicks. The same cannot be said for effects artist, David Scherer, his old school style has kept him in constant work).
Kayden is intense, and as she reveals in the Making of extra, she spent sometimes up to fourteen hours working in make-up. She learned to sleep whilst the putrid applications were applied. Laura is captured in a descent, first confusion, then madness, and finally direct aim. The moments she places her body parts in jars with labels, plus garbs her sculpture in chunks of her rotting flesh, are amazing touches which we liked. Thanatomorphose also shows her erotica, after she bludgeons her bloke to death, she masturbates with emotion, her body awake in ways she hasn’t felt for a long time. The whole film is powerful in its storytelling of Laura, her pain, her confusion, her anger. There’s out of focus scenes which, to me, sums up being lost and dazed.
As stated, the process speeds up towards the end, and the care which has gone into what is a study of death’s effects on the human body is simply jaw-dropping. We summed up that there’s a woman getting on with her mundane mediocre life, she gets fucked about regularly until she literally dies inside, her body follows, before fighting back – in the extras the actress herself states the same which made us whoop with glee, that shows that the movie gets itself over to the viewer perfectly.
Speaking of the extras, aside from the Making of, there’s an interview, three short films of various quality, plus the standard Unearthed trailers.
Don’t come into Thanatomorphose expecting action, nor expect fun entertainment. In fact, don’t come in with any expectations, just watch and let it absorb you like The Blob. Thanatomorphose is an absolute classic in the extreme movie archives.
Directed by: Eric Falardeau
Written by: Eric Falardeau
Produced by: Patrick Brissette, Eric Falardeau, Benoit Lemire
Cinematography by: Benoit Lemire
Editing by: Benoit Lemire
Music by: The Black Angels and more
Special Effects by: David Scherer, Remy Couture, Syl Disjonk
Cast: Kayden Rose, Davyd Touignant, Emile Beaudry, Roch-Denis Gagnon, Karine Picard
Year: 2012
Country: Canada
Language: English
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 1h 40min
Studio: Black Flag Pictures, ThanatoFilms
Distributor: Unearthed Films
DVD SPECS:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region: NTSC R1
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
– Making of
– Trailers
– Interview
– Short Films – Coming Home, La Petite Mort, Purgatory