The Tale (2018): written and directed by Jennifer Fox; starring Laura Dern (Jennifer), Elizabeth Debicki (Mrs. G.), Jason Ritter (Bill), John Heard (Bill - Present Day), Ellen Burstyn (Nettie), Frances Conroy (Mrs. G. - Present Day), Common (Martin), and Isabelle Nelisse (Jennifer - Age 13):
Harrowing tale of childhood sexual abuse based on writer-director Jennifer Fox's own experiences. The cast is excellent, especially Isabelle Nelisse and Laura Dern as Jennifer Fox at 13 and in the present day, respectively. The movie also deftly wields Jason Ritter's essential likeability to good effect in his role as a predatory track coach.
The movie takes a different path than normal in its exploration of memory. In the present day, Jennifer hasn't repressed her memories -- she's reformulated them into something she can live with. Her mother's discovery of an essay about the "relationship" she had with the track coach and a riding coach forces the memory box open, however, to be reevaluated by Jennifer in the present.
The result is clever and thoughtful, as Jennifer interrogates her 13-year-old self while also having to re-evaluate her interpretation of the events. Those around her also have to deal with these memories as the memories themselves "change." Ellen Burstyn is sympathetic and confused and guilt-ridden as Jennifer's mother. Other participants don't want to admit knowledge of what was going on, much less guilt. Recommended.
Holes for Faces (2013) by Ramsey Campbell, containing the following stories:
"Passing Through Peacehaven" (2011) "Peep" (2007)
"Getting It Wrong" (2011)
"The Room Beyond" (2011)
"Holes for Faces" (2013)
"The Rounds" (2010)
"The Decorations" (2005)
"The Address" (2012)
"Recently Used" (2011)
"Chucky Comes to Liverpool" (2010)
"With the Angels" (2010)
"Behind the Doors" (2013)
"Holding the Light" (2011)
"The Long Way" (2008)
Excellent collection of horror stories from the 21st century, with the venerable Ramsey Campbell -- first published in the early 1960's by Arkham House -- demonstrating that he's still a master of both terror and poignance. Many of these stories deal with the effects of childhood trauma as remembered and re-experienced by an adult. Sometimes the antagonist is a supernatural menace, though in many of the stories, the problem could actually be a delusion. Throughout the stories, Campbell's often near-hallucinatory descriptions of people, things, and events keep the level of unease high.
The stories also deal with children facing supernatural and non-supernatural terrors, perhaps none more acutely than the increasingly confused 13-year-old protagonist of "Chucky Comes to Liverpool." Here, his mother's involvement in a community campaign against horror movies -- and her obsessive 'protection' of him from all evil media influences -- causes major psychological problems. It's a fine story that works even better if one has read Campbell's essays on some of the censorship 'debates' he attended during various English campaigns against horror movies, including those focused on the Chucky movies..
The effects of old age are the focus of several stories, sometimes aggravated by those recurring childhood traumas, sometimes twinned with a separate character facing new childhood trauma. There are parents inflicting psychological traumas on their children. And there are trains and train stations. Seriously.
Sometimes the train is the problem, sometimes the station, sometimes both... and sometimes not being able to find a train station leads one into dire supernatural peril. Given the focus on (as the back cover says) "Youth and age," the emphasis on trains and train stations, on arrivals and departures, seems only natural. There may be non-human and formerly human monsters throughout the collection, but they're mostly seen only in vague half-glimpses of terrible import. Their occasional complete manifestations, when they come, can be shocking, but it's the reactions of the various characters to the supernatural, or the seeming supernatural, that makes the stories so strong. We may not all meet ghosts, but we all know guilt and fear and regret. Or a hatred of Physical Education classes. Highly recommended.
