The penultimate episode in our Rise of A24 season features two psychological free falls, Denis Villeneuve's Enemy (2014) and the infamous Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976)

Special Guest: Hollywood Insider and great friend of the show, Ryan

Slipping identity is one of the better themes for existential horror, but its narrative power can easily list the story until it capsizes. There is perhaps nothing scarier than losing one's self. It is a fear so extreme and palpable, it is not spoke of often, which reflects on how on edge we have become in the age of social media. Our self identities have never been more slippery than right now, as our self image has become a kaleidoscope of algorithms, vibes, propaganda, and postmodern chicanery.

Denis Villeneuve's Enemy (2014) seems almost out of time despite being written and shot during the hyper acceleration of social media. The movie starts with a quote "Chaos is order yet undeciphered." Yet, the entire film works to obfuscate the actual connection between the doppelgangers at the center of it story. The ending is notoriously opaque as well. All of this adds up to a classic A24 style film. A film that offers a lot of vibes and questions, but doesn't dare write a thesis statement that is decipreable.

Roman Polanski's The Tenant (1976) comes from a different world than our own. Pre-internet and personal computer, The Tenant harkens back to Kafkaesque institutional paranoia and identity dissolution more commonly seen in Scandinavian film. Here the maleficent forces are clear and all around us. Small acts of coercion via social compliance begin to rewrite Trelkovsky's self-identity until he himself finally erases the last mark of his former self. It is easy to see how The Tenant has had a large influence beyond its limited social cachet. While uneven and unkempt, Polanski confidently and courageously explores his own sense of faltering self.

In our seventh episode of The Rise of A24 series, we revisit the pitch black thriller Green Room (2016) and its even even darker precedent Straw Dogs (1971).

Special Guests: David, comedian and musician from Chicago, check out his band Humdrum

Green Room is perhaps the most divisive film that splits apart your Film Trace cohosts. Chris loves this punk rock thriller, and Dan resolutely despises the film. For nearly a decade now, the two have squared off over this A24 stalwart from Jeremy Saulnier. What starts out as a sort of fun punk rock road movie quickly turns into a nazi funhouse of horrors. Grotesque violence mixes with fascist gang machinations as main characters get wiped out one by one. The film's tone is akin to a street paella: messy with lots of competing tastes and probably some deep and long lasting indigestion. Chris has always been a glutton for punishment.

Straw Dogs is somehow even more disturbing and unnerving than Green Room. Dustin Hoffman plays a little runt creative who has to contend with the rural anti-intellectualism of the English countryside. While the setup seems quite put on and rote, the final results are anything but. The tension rises throughout the film until its insane and hyper violent ending. Problematic is the starting point for this film. Where it ends up is entirely up to you as the viewer to determine.

In our sixth episode of The Rise of A24 series, we plunge into the cold dark heart of humanity with It Comes at Night (2017) and The Crazies (1973)

Special Guests: Bridget D. Brave, horror writer and horror film aficionado

I will admit. These are a couple of tough films. It Comes at Night is bleak. The Crazies is messy. They both share a common Hobbesian DNA. That is, human beings can be pretty awful to each other. A24's marketing misfire struck down It Comes at Night at the box office, and the film has not recovered from that diminished status despite being extraordinary work of cynicism by Trey Edward Shults. The film reminds me very much of the height of 1970s American horror, a collective realization that maybe we are the baddies.

George Romero's The Crazies has a totally different tone, but I think a very similar message. Romero shot this on 16mm and edited it like a 16 year-old YouTuber. It is a complete mess. But within that mess is a lot of pointed and poignant political satire that is easy to miss. The Crazies came out when the USA was still murdering women and children in Vietnam, because some WASPs felt anxious in DC. It was the height of American Immorality, and Romero saw that very clearly. The Crazies is his valiant but ultimately failed attempt to speak truth to power.

While both films are brutal in their own way, our wonderful conversation with Bridget D. Brave is quite the opposite. Three horror film nerds try to make sense of these unflinching attempts to capture the darkness, perhaps, at the core of humanity.