‘Dariuss’ Review: Extreme Horror With No Rules
“The most important questions are the unanswered ones.” Give that a moment to sink in, rid your mind of all preconceived notions of what makes a good horror film and hit play on Dariuss. This is NOT your typical scary movie. Because there is NOTHING typical about Dariuss.
Writer, director, star, and eternal artist Guerrilla Metropolitana has compiled a retrospective take on the decline of a nuclear family after the tragic loss of a daughter. Glimpses of her innocence and joy surround the young girl in the heartland of nature while the opening piano score produces beautiful sounds of purity. Then, sadness starts to slowly creep into view through darkened skies and clouds moving in. Suddenly, the film grips you by the throat and strangles you for the next 60 minutes. Heed my warning, this is merely an interpretative introduction into nightmarish despair without any sense of healing on the horizon.
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While we are given images that hit on all senses, sound is tapped hedonistically through the laughter of a baby, the moans of pleasure and pain, and a constant faucet dripping that may cause your brain to swell and implode. It’s the general psychosis settling in for a long stay, pushing the boundaries from realism to the unthinkable through generous doses of pedophilia, incest, rape, necrophilia, and cannibalistic murder.
Metropolitana wants to take you out of your comfort zone and into an extremely uncomfortable world through graphic imagery, noises that penetrate your skin like crawling bugs, and the unfamiliar territory of shock that resonates with a woman’s powerful grief from the loss of her child. Inconsolable yet provocative moments pound into the viewer as she succumbs to her anxiety, misshapen and broken.
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With a cast of few (all unnamed characters), no dialogue, and jumps between masturbatory therapy for the soul and seizure-invoking strobe lights, Dariuss shouldn’t be watched by the squeamish. In fact, it probably shouldn’t be watched by most.
The story behind this lurid tale of depravity is beyond the comprehensive descent into petrified madness, but also symbolic of the ickiness that humans may ponder but rarely share. Dariuss is taunting and unapologetic. There’s even beauty to be found within the graphic nature of the film’s terror. This is not for your enjoyment. It’s not a matter of whether you like it or not. Dariuss is a distinguishing piece of art. You either get it or you don’t.
Although tough and painful to watch, the importance of Dariuss is bearing witness to the annihilation of a family after a momentous tragedy. No rules, no restrictions. Metropolitana took his vision and planted the seed of infinite curiosity, which you will not soon forget. I may never watch it again, as thematic exploitation was met, so additional interpretation is unnecessary. However, those looking to further dissect Dariuss for further meaning may disappoint themselves. Accept this for what it is: a solid mind fuck.
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Dariuss
Summary
With ‘Dariuss’, director Guerrilla Metropolitana crafts a piece of extreme horror you won’t soon forget.
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