‘eROTik’ and ‘Cannibal’: Seeing Through The Eyes of Deranged Killers [New Queer Extremity]
John Patterson
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This column has allowed me to cover a great deal of interesting films, and this month is no exception. This week we will be looking at another double feature, which is one of my favorite ways to watch movies. A finely sequenced double feature allows the viewer to play ideas from one film off the other, and the thematic and textual proximity of these two films makes for very compelling viewing. Today I’m looking at eROTIK and Cannibal. Both films follow the crimes of killers. But their difference in formal techniques highlights the process and viewpoint of the killers themselves.
Why these two films? Both of the killers are openly queer. But the films never castigate their queer desires. Instead, they focus on the strange desires the two hold: necrophilia and cannibalism. This acceptance of their queerness while taking a deep look at their violent fantasies is very interesting since most films would imply that their queerness somehow leads to these acts. However, these films make the point to divorce these two concepts from each other. Because of this, we can focus on how the films reflect their killer’s minds through formal choices.
eROTik: Loneliness, Control, and Immortality
eROTik is a 2018 extreme horror film directed by Domiziano Cristopharo. The film dives into the life of a killer and necrophile. The killer himself is loosely based on Jeffrey Dahmer. But certain elements are changed and some aspects are heightened in order to create a more compelling film. The film has a hazy, dream-like quality throughout that emphasizes the break from reality experienced by our ‘protagonist’ who is simply named “Madman.”
I’d like to start by looking at the lighting choices within eROTik. Cristopharo chooses to bathe a lot of the scenes in blue or green lighting. This isn’t done to the extent of horror legends such as Bava. But it is noticeable in the way that it colors the sequences and pulls the experience out of reality. This makes sense because we watch the movie essentially from the viewpoint of the killer, who has a tenuous grip on his sanity. That fact is also accented by the lights casting severe shadows in several setups, including a sequence where the Madman dances while his shadow does a different dance against the wall. This all works together to accentuate the dreamy atmosphere of the film,
The mise-en-scene also reflects the mindset of the killer. The rooms are sparsely decorated with lots of empty space within the frame. This empty space shows the loneliness of the Madman, who kills in order to keep his lovers around forever. The only times we see physical closeness is either when the Madman is sleeping with a live man or a corpse. These sequences fill the frame, showing how the Madman is lost in the moment and fulfilling his desires. All we are privy to is the bodies and their movement, which breaks the feeling of emptiness presented by the normal mise-en-scene.
Because the Madman is attempting to keep his lovers around forever, his main focus is on control. He doesn’t kill slowly. Instead, he quickly does the deed and then gets to work on the body itself. This includes castration and decapitation, as well as preparing one corpse in a similar way to the preparation of a mummy. During these sequences, the entirety of the body is shown on camera, usually downplaying the work of the killer while highlighting the actual physicality of the corpse. This again portrays a desire for control even over the gaze of the audience who are being made to look at the whole body and the deeds being committed. This only shifts during the “sex” scenes where the close-ups emphasize how the Madman is lost in his desires.
This need for forever lovers and complete control is also seen in the Madman’s obsession with ancient Egyptian culture. He is trying to resurrect these men and make them immortal, which we know isn’t possible. Eventually, he gets a necrotic infection in his penis and testicles that leads to his death. After his death we see the Madman walking naked through a river, clean and whole. This is the immortality that he sought, but not in the way he attempted to attain it. This brings us back to the ideas of immortality and control, imparting a more metaphysical aspect to this killer’s view of life, death, and desire.
Cannibal: Physicality, Hunger, and Desire
While eROTik showed us distance and loneliness, Cannibal pulls in close to focus on the tactile aspects of a killer. The film was released in 2006 and is directed by Marian Dora. The plot follows the real-life crimes of Armin Meiwes. The film doesn’t refer to the names of the killer or the victim. Instead, it refers to them as The Man and The Flesh. Cannibal is definitely sensationalist because it was made only a handful of years after the actual crimes. Yet the film has a certain morbid beauty to it.
The Man is different from the Madman in that he focuses on the very real experience of consuming another man. Comparatively, the lighting is also much more natural than in the previous film. The sun filters down and adds warmth to the scenes that are shot outside. Shadows and flickering light add a strange, doomed romanticism to the interactions between The Man and The Flesh before it grows violent. The color palette is earthy but with moments of brightness that feel like life flashing across the screen before being subsumed by the inevitable darkness.
The mise-en-scene, likewise, is much different. The outdoor scenes are sunny and show everyday life going about as normal. When the Man and the Flesh are outside, they are surrounded by waving grass; it’s almost idyllic. Inside, the rooms are cramped and crowded, closing the distance between the two and keeping them close at all times. This pulls even closer during the sex scenes, where the camera shows close-ups of various body parts and the touch from The Man to the Flesh. This is reminiscent of the pig slaughtering instructional videos The Man is shown watching earlier. But now he is dividing the Flesh into cuts in his mind as they have sex.
This is further shown in the violent scenes. When The Man attempts to castrate The Flesh with his teeth, the camera is pulled in as close as possible. When he finally manages to kill his victim, the realistic aspect of the kill is highlighted by the corpse voiding its bowels while he drags it to the slaughter room. The final cut to the throat and subsequent butchering mirrors the pig slaughter we saw earlier almost exactly. Where there was a metaphysical component to the deaths and deeds in eROTik, the violence and desire of The Man in Cannibal are purely physical. This causes the film to have a tactile and physical feeling that is supported by all the previously mentioned formal techniques.
The climax of the film actually occurs afterward, when The Man sets a lavish table and begins to consume The Flesh. The music swells to operatic heights as The Man rolls his eyes and moans in pleasure. He has finally achieved his goal by consuming his victim, and only the physical reaction to devouring the body matters. In a way, he also completely controls and possesses the Flesh, since it now resides within him.
It should go without saying that both of eROTik and Cannibal are difficult watches, but they reward the viewer by providing all-encompassing experiences. We are able to inhabit the mindset and viewpoint of these characters, for better or worse. The power of horror is that it allows the viewer to connect with either terrifying or disturbing images and sequences while also reflecting on our own selves. It is what makes the genre so fascinating and these films so compelling.
As always, stay safe and take care of yourself. I’ll see you all next month!
Categorized:Editorials New Queer Extremity News
