(April 23, 2021 at 11:07 am)Angrboda Wrote: I've seen Being J.M., The Cell, and The Ring. I'm not sure that I'd group those films together, but if you like that element, you'd be advised to check out Japanese horror cinema. A lot of it leans in that direction. The Ring 2002 is an American remake, and the American remake sticks pretty closely to the original. My sister gave me the Ringu trilogy for Christmas one year, and I didn't find a lot of difference between the two.
Yes, I have some difficulty knowing how to categorize this feeling I am trying to describe. To be fair, Being John Malkovich is on the lighter side of that surrealist feeling and not quite unsettling or disturbing the way the others are. But I suppose there is also an element to this where I want to know more. Like, after the film is over, I have questions about lore and feel like I want to read a book about it, or hear more of the story that was underneath everything. Like, I want to read that book that Dr. Lester had about the process of what the portal is/how it works. Or, I want to understand more about the architecture of our internal selves and how things are manifested, like from The Cell. Or, I want to know what is inside Samara that makes her do the things she did while alive and what that internal entity/power wants.
In the end, I am describing a desire that I don't actually want. Because I've seen The Ring 2 and I have seen both the Japanese versions of Ring and Ring 2(they have a lot of sequels in the franchise but I stopped there) and I was disappointed by the sequels while enjoying the first films for both. And I agree, they are very similar.
However, I think I like that feeling of "why" a very mysterious and slightly macabre wonder.
