Exploring the intoxicating mystery of two of the world’s most notorious houses of fright
Sharply moving up in the ranks in the world of horror film festivals, Buried Alive 2017 unleashed its wave of scares and chills through a collection of the genre’s new voices, each with their own perspective on some aspect in the world of horror. In the midst of the bloodshed, jump scares, and array of other horrific staples one would expect to find, this year’s Buried Alive fest managed to venture outside the realm of dark make believe for a pair of documentary features which dealt with both the unreal and the slightly surreal. The first, Foolish Mortals: A Haunted Mansion Documentary, explores the history and intense fandom surrounding “The Haunted Mansion,” the classic Disneyland attraction, while Borley Rectory looks at the legacy of the famed Victorian mansion in Essex which would eventually come to be known as the most haunted house in England. While low on the fright level, the two docs offer up a look into a pair of spooky manors, both with endless amounts of darkness and mystery that continue to intoxicate.
Foolish Mortals: A Haunted Mansion Documentary
In Foolish Mortals, director James H. Carter II takes an in-depth and inside look at the deep and intense level of fandom surrounding “The Haunted Mansion.” The Disneyland attraction has been a staple of the park since the late 1960s, entertaining and enthralling countless fans with its macabre designs and its intricately made characters. Foolish Mortals explores the history of “The Haunted Mansion,” from its inception to the various changing faces it has taken on. Beyond that, the film gets to know a collection of devotees who live and breathe everything “Haunted Mansion,” from the collecting of memorabilia to a desire to be a literal part of the attraction.
Doubtless there have been many who have looked upon Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” attraction as nothing more than a diverting highlight in the famed park, as well as a below-par Eddie Murphy movie. Yet Foolish Mortals manages to go beyond the traditional image of a fun amusement park ride to trace its conception and changing meaning through the years. Interviews with original designer Rolly Crump and Imagineer Jason Surrell look at the inspiration behind the mansion, while further digging unveils the individual tales surrounding many of the attraction’s figures. Besides being a documentary about the history of a theme park ride, Foolish Mortals also serves as a loving portrait of the mansion’s many fans, whose devotion to the attraction ranges from tattoos to the decor of their homes and even the theme of some of their weddings. The amount of fandom attached to the mansion is vastly underestimated, as far as I was concerned. Yet the documentary gives them their time in the spotlight as devotees of “The Haunted Mansion” are shown to run professional “Haunted Mansion” websites and create actual art inspired by the ride as they speak honestly about the joy the mansion has given them over the years. Foolish Mortals does struggle a bit in the way it tries to seamlessly switch back and forth between its two sides, particularly in charting the mansion’s timeline. Yet when both aspects are as interesting as they are here, it doesn’t matter much. Equal parts a tale of fandom as well as a tribute to one of the most beloved amusement park attractions in the world, Foolish Mortals is a thoroughly fun and touching ride to take.
Borley Rectory
Director Ashley Thorpe uses rotoscope and digital animation to tell the story of Borley Rectory, a stately manor in the heart of Essex, England. Borley Rectory stands out among other entries of its kind thanks to a favoring of eerie visuals over the traditional talking heads method to tell this supposedly true story. Using actors and effects to mix narrative with fact, Borley Rectory provides a unique re-telling of the mysterious haunting which took place there in the 1920, leading to the structure being dubbed as the most haunted house in the entire country.
No one can call the concept and overall intent of Borley Rectory uninteresting or lacking in inspiration. The fact of the matter is that Thorpe has found one of the most unique of ways to tell his story. What could have been a standard documentary featuring “experts” and countless vintage photographs chronicling the events in question, the film uses real actors in its efforts to inform and revisit the legacy of the ghostly estate. There’s something of an abstract, free-flowing attitude to the recreating of events. At times it seems that such little structure has been attached to the sequences involving the actors, that the moments tend to come off as a form of kabuki theater. The result is somewhat laughable, if not enjoyable. Making up for this is Borley Rectory’s genius blending of digitization and rotoscope, a combination which gives the film it’s own distinct look and feel. The film’s visuals are so clearly their own, creating a world completely vivid, it becomes almost possible to feel the chill in the night air. If there’s a flaw in the concept, it’s that two such unconventional, yet powerful, methods of telling a story tend to work against Borley Rectory at times, even overshadowing it on occasion. Yet when all the elements combine, the result is a captivating and beautiful haunted house tale that just so happens to be true.
Regardless of the execution and manner in which the filmmakers chose to tell these specific stories, both entries are clearly in love with their subjects. Going further, both Foolish Mortals and Borley Rectory are enamored with the mysteriousness and the dark intrigue surrounding both haunted houses as well as those who have been touched by them. The two films are as night and day as can be in terms of approach, visuals, and overall effectiveness when it comes to the end products. Yet there’s no denying the passion behind both of them and their efforts to provide an insight into two opposite, distinct and little-known sides of the horror world.
