While not a true kindertrauma, more like an middle-age trauma, a trauma it was nonetheless. When I first started watching the movie Chronicle (2012), I was expecting a fun, science-fiction coming of age story. Basically, a fantasy what-if narrative, the musings of sleep-overs and camp discussions of what superheroes were the coolest, what superpower would you choose to have if you could have one and what you would do with it.
(Spoilers ahead) But as the movie progressed, the wonderment subsided and was steadily replaced by deepening layers of dread and horror as primordial fears we unearthed. As the main character Andrew slips slowly into madness and his new-found superpowers are used to enact his insanity, feelings long buried and subconsciously neglected came to fro. I placed myself into Andrew’s shoes and contemplated my greatest fear in life, that I would become mentally ill myself and hurt those around me without realizing what I was doing. The insane are often given a pass for the horrific acts they commit because their own volition isn’t there, but that doesn’t relieve the horror witnessed or experienced by the sane around them. What if I had the power to inflict such suffering without realizing what I was doing? What agony it would be to snap back into reality and realize it was your own hand that destroyed those you loved? Would I have a small window of sanity to destroy myself to protect others from my descent into madness? Would my sense of morality be enough to override a twisted, urgent desire to commit acts of evil? If I was able to snap back into reality, could I live with myself knowing I had hurt others? These are incredibly difficult questions to confront yourself with, things most people push aside and pretend like it never happens to otherwise good people who become ill through no fault of their own.
While not a true horror story in the classical sense, it was the purest form of horror to me. Personal, disturbing, abrasive, exposing fears long buried and leaving a residue of lingering dread. It was a good movie and I would recommend it to anyone who loves science-fiction as it put a new spin on an old fable. But know that the movie is much more profound in its message than it seems at first and may leave you with questions you may not want to contemplate or deal with.
-bdwilcox
Bdwilcox,
Thanks for this excellent and thoughtful traumafesssion! Would love to get more of these non-childhood cinematic traumafessions!
I totally relate to what you are describing. It reminds me of the feelings I have surrounding the mostly joked about LASERBLAST (78) a sci-fi movie about a kid who obtains an all powerful laser arm and then spirals out of control and loses himself in his new found power! Loss of control and accidentally hurting someone is one of my fears too! Especially that idea of coming to your senses later and having to live with what you’ve done. Terrifying. In fact a couple years ago I read William Goldman’s MAGIC and wanted to read more from him. I came across his book CONTROL at my local used book store but after I read the synopsis about people randomly losing “control” and killing people I decided I didn’t want to read it and be in that head space to long. On same note, I recently re-watched the excellent remake of Romero's THE CRAZIES from 2010 and that stirred up the same kinda dread!
Unk, I forgot to mention the movie Brightburn in this traumafession as it was very much in the same vein.
And Laserblast may be made fun of by a lot of people but I can honestly tell you that it affected me quite profoundly as a kid when I saw it in the drive-in. The main character's transition to a monster was a little too close to the behavior and mood swings one witnesses when at the mercy of those with addictions. While I'm sure I wasn't aware of the parallels, I'm sure my subconscious was, especially when their anger manifested itself into expressions of pure, unbridled rage that no child should witness.
Nice post BDW.
Yeah – gotta be careful about who gets the superpowers. Looking back, I'm glad that I did not find a glowing meteor or a crashed alien spacecraft when I was a teen. I did not yet have my core ethics in place and I can't imagine what kind of unpleasantness I might have unleashed. These days I like to think that I'd be a pretty great superhero, serving as a beacon of inspiration instead of a bossy tough guy. But I have a family these days and you know, who's got the time?
I actually just re-watched Chronicle last week. It was better than I remembered. They sure could have kept MBJ around longer in retrospect – he was showing some skills at that age.
Another example from the world of comics is the MiracleMan comics by Alan Moore. One of the major subplots concerns a young boy (John Bates aka Kid MiracleMan) who is given incredibly powerful abilities. When his superpowered older counterparts are incapacitated he grows into a true monster. In an infamous sequence, an adult Bates breaks free from captivity and rampages through London while the other superpowered beings are away. He levels the city and commits innumerable, graphically depicted atrocities on the helpless population. MM#16 caused a huge stink when it hit the stands and was used as an example of the evil corrupting power of comics back in the 80s.
Just checked my stuff and remembered that it was MM#15 that caused all the ruckus.