Seems like everyone is doing it these days, but I’ve started my own Movie Analysis channel on YouTube. My question is, who are your favorite video essayists? What type of subject matter do you follow and what interests you?
So far I’ve done two on how the movies stumbled (YellowBrickRoad and Daybreakers, but are ultimately worth your while), and I just finished one on The Ninth Gate, which talks about how it was streamlined from El Club Dumas, thankfully eliminating the penultimate chapter’s twist, and how the most Satanic of the characters (Vargas and Kessler) are the most interesting and empathetic characters you find in the film.
As for inspirations, I really have glommed onto Every Frame a Painting (of course), Brows Held High, Super Eyepatch Wolf, Lindsey Ellis, and The Royal Ocean Film Society.
Interesting choice for analysis. May I ask what drew you to this particular movie as a subject for one of your initial videos?
I saw it and thought it was just kind of a bland throwaway horror flick. I was frankly a bit puzzled as to how it won “Best Movie” at the NYC Horror Festival.
I absolutely love the use of sound. At its heart, it’s an existential horror. The character’s are revealed through the psychological analysis that Walter provides, then the music comes in and breaks them down.
Another thing that caught my attention was the absolutely dreadful ending. Up until the last 8 minutes, I thought they did a great job. Resolved all conflicts and had the team torn apart by some unknowable force. As far as I was concerned, the movie didn’t need to explain what happened, just that the forest tore them apart. Then they try to explain it. When I cut off the movie before the “Go home” of the walkie-talkie monologue, we’re good. It’s a powerful movie.
The reason I chose it as a first, is that it’s a smaller movie that, on average, the reviews on YouTube were about 1,000 views. That way I could feel out my style, without worrying about getting a big copyright claim (though it’s still possible). If I hit 1,000 views on this smaller movie, I’d be over the moon.
