Ghosts and Clones and Killers, Oh My!
by Rose Finlay

Horror, as an oft-derided genre, is not often present at prestigious film festivals. In 2023, there were two horror films in the Berlinale Special and one in the Panorama sections. As it is so rare to see so many examples in the more mainstream parts of the festival, the three films have been highlighted below.

PERPETRATOR Jennifer Reeder, USA, France 2023

Jonny (Kiah McKirnen) has been doing what she can to get by, which sometimes means being on the wrong end of the law. When her father sends her to go live with her Aunt Hilde (Alicia Silverstone), she finds herself at a precipice. Her school has bizarrely intense active-shooter drills and also a problem with girls being abducted. After Hilde bakes Jonny a special cake for her birthday, she begins a radical transformation that she doesn’t understand. Despite her physical changes, Jonny takes it upon herself to try and find the abductor.

If that description seems a bit all-over-the-place, then know that the reality of PERPETRATOR is much more confused and bizarre. Part low-fi body horror, part feminist thriller, it never really reaches any form of cohesion in plot or ideology. The acting is so purposefully affected that it makes every scene feel oddly out of sync with reality. It is a film of incongruity, sometimes satirically funny, other times a gory bloodbath of over-the-top symbolism, the result is something weird, confusing, and dissatisfying. The stylistic schlocky charm is typical of Jennifer Reeder, but PERPETRATOR never seems to truly find its footing, despite some interesting artistic choices.

INFINITY POOL Brandon Cronenberg, Canada, Croatia, Hungary 2022

James (Alexander Skarsgård), a failed writer, and his wife Em (Cleopatra Coleman), the wealthy daughter of a publisher, are on the island of Li Tolqa to enjoy an all-inclusive resort vacation. When James meets Gabi (Mia Goth) and Alban (Jalil Lespert), fans of his failed book, he is excited for some change and the two couples escape the resort to go on an unauthorized excursion on the island. The only problem is that Li Tolqa has some rather brutal laws where any form of violence is met with a death sentence. When an accident occurs, James is drawn into the dark subculture of hedonism that exists amongst certain tourists at the resort and things quickly get out of hand.

INFINITY POOL is one of those types of horror movies that is almost hilariously over-the-top. There are drug-fueled orgies, explicit deaths, casual violence, and everything in between. All of this is used to highlight how the wealthy tend to use their money to get away with crimes and how by doing so they quickly descend into a kind of inhumanity where they are bound by no ethics or laws. Now, whether this point needed to be made with extended psychedelic orgy scenes and brutality which culminate in Alexander Skarsgård suckling blood off of someone’s breast is, I suppose, a matter of personal taste. Some will undoubtedly revel in the craziness of INFINITY POOL while others see it as an example of unsubtle schlock. Regardless, one thing is abundantly true, this is a film that you aren’t likely to forget anytime soon, whether you want to or not.

TALK TO ME Danny Philippou, Michael Philippou, Australia 2022

There are mysterious events afoot amongst a community of teenagers in Australia. An embalmed hand with the ability to connect the living with the dead has been making the rounds in the party scene. Mia (Sophie Wilde), an outsider who has been living with her friend Jade’s (Alexandra Jensen) family, is particularly intrigued as she lost her beloved mother. But dealing with spirits quickly gets out of hand and the teens find themselves in a frightening and deadly scenario of possession.

While from the perspective of an adult, it seems pretty clear that everyone should avoid trying to be possessed by creepy spirits, it seems rather on point that a bunch of a silly teenagers would peer pressure each other into such a position. The brutal stabbing and suicide in the opening minutes of TALK TO ME set the tone for the rest of the film, a tense and disturbing walk through both physical and psychological hauntings. While the premise is rather in line with other films tackling hauntings and possessions, the quick pace and acting does a good job of covering the sins of a weakly plotted script. While TALK TO ME is certainly not going receive any accolades, it is a solid film which has enough shocks and gore to leave a lasting impression.