“Amy is hanging on by a thread. Struggling to cope with past sexual trauma and the daily aggressions of a male-dominated society, she creates grotesquely costumed alter egos that re-appropriate the male form. While giving her the sense of power she craves, acting as these characters pushes her further into a world of her own making.” -Amplify
Though the use of rape revenge as a movie plot is not groundbreaking, the trailer for Jason Banker’s Felt makes it clear that audiences will be experiencing a very different approach to the topic: think Larry Clark’s Kids meets Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. (In all fairness, the latter comparison could be merely the result of both scissor and genitalia imagery appearing in the 1:32 red-band clip.) Banker showed us in 2013’s Toad Road that some of the most disturbing horror can come from the reality of our own communities, and it looks like his newest work will bring this philosophy to the frightening reality of sexual assault and rape culture.
While a bit extreme in it’s feminist tone, the trailer hit close to home as a resident of the community recently featured in John Krakauer’s non-fiction rape expose, Missoula. I’m interested to see the ways in which Felt will blend art with such a raw subject to create a genuine horror film, particularly with regard to the fact that the star, Amy Everson, wrote the film’s story based on her own experiences. One of the most intriguing trends in genre film is the hybridization of documentary (with REAL facts – not the found-footage kind) and horror fiction. Digging Up the Marrow and Devil’s Backbone, Texas are two fairly successful recent forays into that territory, and it looks as though Felt could bring an entirely new level of artistry to this burgeoning sub-genre.
