THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020) Was a Movie, I Guess

Not to sound like a dick or nothing, but was it just me or did this re-imagined remake suck?

If you know me in real life, then you already know that the original black and white film from the 30’s is one of my favorite classic horror movies. Being the open-minded person that I am, it would be no surprise to hear I was really excited to see Dr. Griffin been brought back to life, especially during this climate, I mean, a crazed egotistical murderer involved in domestic abuse? Whaaaat!?

The Invisible Man (2020) trailer blew my mind, it really did. I couldn’t wait for February 28 to arrive, I couldn’t wait to see with my two own eyes all the bizarre, dark, evil, and real-life things this terrible yet fascinating character had in store for us. Plus, it was my understanding this movie was previously meant to go to Johnny Depp before he was cancelled and dropped by Universal, so I was low-key ready to re-re-imagine in my mind Depp as Dr. Griffin. (Girls get what I mean.)

So yeah, February 28 came and went and I was left frustrated with the whole thing. What went wrong? No, really, what happened? Why was I so dissatisfied with the new movie?

Was it because The Invisible Man (2020) was not truly about the Invisible Man, but about the girlfriend of the Invisible Man? Was it because said girlfriend—whose character was played superbly by a topnotch actress—left a bad taste in my mouth, like, f*cking don’t take the money, woman, you already know what you are getting into with that jerk; you’re out, you made it, you’re finally safe, what are you even doing at the jerk’s brother’s office!?

Or, just hear me out, was it because Hollywood has been cowed—slowly but surely due to the MeToo movement—into producing safe content with safe ratings that the Studio decided to show barely any domestic abuse? Heck, they hardly even discussed any domestic abuse (the trailer showed the extent of it). What I am trying to say is that if you are going to remake a classic Universal horror movie and you are not going to make the iconic villain the main character, but instead you are going to be ‘edgy’ and focus on the re-imagined MeToo girlfriend of said iconic villain, then lean in the domestic violence angle, hard. Do not be such a beta about it. Show us intimate violence, show us how terrible the bad guy is, give us a reason to feel sorry for the victim. (This movie did none of that.)

The way I see it, I did not enjoy this movie either because it was an unfortunate case of Don’t Show, Don’t Tell, or because I was expecting modern violence carried out by this limitless classic Monster. Honestly, I just wanted to see if Universal had the balls to explore the real horrors of domestic abuse.

Well, I guess I will put this 2020 movie behind me and continue loving the original 1933 version.

In Love and Fear,

—Marath

© 2016-2020

One Last Moment with Aaron Hernandez (1989-2017)

For the last couple of weeks I have been consumed by the Aaron Hernandez story.

I first remember reading about him in 2017 when the news broke all over the internet that he had killed himself in prison while serving a life sentence for first degree murder, the suicide was apparently a surprise to those following his case as it had happened just days after having been acquitted for a [different] double murder. Admittedly, I myself had not been following his case. I was not aware he was a celebrated former New England Patriots player, I was not aware that in 2015 he was found guilty of the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd, I was not aware that this very young man had sent shock waves across the football world due to his horrible actions and secret life, all I knew on that Wednesday morning of April 19, 2017 was that this seemingly relevant man had killed himself. And so I moved on with my life.

Fast forward to Thursday, January 16, 2020 when I sat on my couch for three-plus hours devouring every little minute of Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez (2020). Yes, I was shook as I so candidly admitted, but I was also upset, something bothered me deep inside and I could not shake it off. Even though the docuseries did a great job at presenting a sizable amount of facts, it did not answer the most important question – Why? Why would a person living on top of the world hide so many dark aspects of his life, scratch that, why would a person like him have those dark aspects to begin with? And, most importantly to me, why would someone who had just been given a non-guilty verdict—a second chance in life, if you will—kill himself just days after? WHY!? And so I tried to move on with my life, kind of…

During my free time over the past two weeks I have completely immersed myself on the subject. I have watched every available video, short documentary, NFL clip, locker-room interview, really, anything I could find online. I have also read pieces of archived news as well as books (I particularly recommend “Aaron Hernandez’s Killing Fields” by Dylan Howard), again, anything that could possible put me one step closer to the Why.

And I finally did. And I can finally rest.

My brain is no longer trying to desperately make sense of this human being who was so out of the norm, so extraordinary and unique that got to enjoy the biggest highs as an NFL star, yet so damaged and dangerous that at will sought to live a life rich in violence, crime, guns, and drugs. Some say he lived a double life, I say he lived four lives; that of an exceptional young athlete with a growing family of his own; that of a closeted gay (or bisexual) man; that of a drug addict; and that of a paranoid, violent, murderous gangster.

You and I only saw one of his lives and were naturally appalled by his incongruent actions. Now that I am acquainted with his other three lives, I can tell you without a single doubt that the story of Aaron Hernandez ended exactly how it was supposed to end. To me, to you, to society, to mainly the victims and to their families, the story was tragic and should have never happened. To Aaron Hernandez? There was no story, it was normal stuff, day by day, moment to moment, no consequences.

One thing I would like to make clear is that after having processed all this much information about Aaron Hernandez as a whole, I came to the realization—and I am so sorry for saying this—that it was not all his fault in its entirety. Along the way, there were many people and organizations who not only enabled his violent behavior but also covered it in order to protect the bottom line; there were many life events which, presumably, out of survival, made him be secretive; there were also his innate personality traits who some speculate might have had a bigger role than his CTE in his aggressive, impulsive, immature behavior (for a really good video about the psychology of it, go *HERE*).

Another thing I would like to share that might be controversial is that, ahem, I feel bad for the guy. Yes, he was a convicted murderer serving a life sentence, but he was also a human being who did not seem to have had a fair chance at becoming a law abiding citizen. Listen, after all I read about him I can tell you with a straight face that his home, his schools, his coaches, the NFL, they all failed him. Yes, he might have been a troubled kid with alleged psychological problems, but with the love and support and understanding of his family, health providers, and teachers, he might have been able to live a normal life, unfortunately, due to his mastery in sports he was “seen” as a product rather than as a person, so when coaches had the opportunity to literally take him away from High School—six months before his senior year ended—and across the country to play college football at the University of Florida—even when Aaron could not read or write well—and start winning games for them, that’s when the proverbial bomb started ticking…

One thing that was consistent across the different sources I found was that Aaron did find a partner in prison. Kyle Kennedy and Aaron Hernandez had a strong relationship known by staff and fellow inmates. Aaron often wrote love letters to Kyle and, according to Kyle himself, they even had plans of marrying each other in the future. (When I read that, it made me so happy.) Aaron even wrote letters to Kyle’s dad which I thought was fascinating (by the way, do you remember me saying that Aaron could not read or write well? By this point, thanks to the help of Sherriff Hodgson, it was no longer an issue) because, and I am only speculating here, it sounded like the words he would have said to his own dad, the same one he was once scared of telling his truth (and yes, I read them, the letters were published). Talking about letters, Kyle never got a chance to read the suicide letter Aaron left behind for him which, of course, I find reprehensible – I hope this renewed media attention allows the person in possession of it to do the right thing, put away her pride, and acknowledge the fact that yes, Aaron was in love with someone else, a man, Kyle.

Have you read all the details about Aaron’s suicide? No? Good. That means you are not haunted by them. Let me tell you, my heart breaks for that kind of human suffering… just trying to imagine the level of emotional pain in which you must be in order to believe that no longer existing would bring you peace? I mean, that’s some deep, raw, human pain. Terrible, just terrible.

I would like to close this post by mentally addressing Aaron while I offer him a robe to cover his naked body, and a tissue to wipe off the blood from his forehead, all while I ask him to please come down and loosen the sheet from off his neck. Dear Aaron – I am sorry your story ended this way. I am sorry you did not allow for time to heal you and possibly make you a better person. You were a murderer and a criminal, but also a beloved athlete, a dad, a brother, and a partner. Even if you were a broken boy and not the man we all thought you were, you deserved a second chance, to walk away from your vicious past, to live the rest of your life in prison making a difference, being an example, a living and breathing cautionary tale of what happens when you put profitable sports before human kindness and medical treatment. Goodbye, Aaron, thank you for the ride.  

“If it is to be, it is up to me.” –Aaron Hernandez

-Marath

© 2016-2020

Sad, Lonely Times – STARFISH (2018)

There is so much I want to say about Starfish (2018) that I am feeling overwhelmed by it… please just give me a moment to gather my thoughts… here, let’s play the trailer in the meantime:

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

I watched this trailer this morning (thank you again, Mania, for your IG post) and I promised myself I would watch the film T-O-N-I-G-H-T no matter what and, I kid you not, I found myself thinking about it a few times during work and was anticipating coming home to finally get sucked into the character’s sad and lonely world.

And what a sad and lonely world it was! Starfish tells the story of Aubrey as she navigates grief due to the passing of her friend (illness), her own failed romantic relationship (cheated on her husband), and the end of the world (mysterious portal let monsters into our dimension). Even though the entire movie was saturated with symbolism, it was grounded with basic human emotions and for that reason, and that reason only, I can tell you that I fell in love with the character and her journey.

When Aubrey breaks into her late friend’s home after the funeral, she willingly isolates from the world and removes herself from reality (or does she? insert evil grin) to deal head-on with her loss and her regret. Regret is a huge ‘monster’ living inside her and she manages it with music (music! queue Sigur Ros and 65 Days of Static).

Aubrey is not different from any of us, she is a woman who made a few mistakes along the way and, due to terrible timing, she was not able to ‘be there’ for her friend when she needed her. Life moved on and what had to happen, happened. Aubrey thought of herself as a bad wife and a bad friend and carried that with her, to the point that when she was ‘confronted’ by her dead friend as to why she was pulling away from the world, she said it was because she could not forgive herself, to what her friend ‘reminded’ her that she had to do what made her happy…

[Side note: Even though there were killing alien monsters all throughout the movie they were not the focus of it, they were simply symbolic adversaries ‘guiding’ the main character in her depressive episode and in her journey towards healing. If it wasn’t for the self-reflective side of the movie, then it would have been a regular Horror movie with monsters, jump-scares, gore, etc. Just FYI.]

I have not mentioned an important element of the story –the tapes. The tapes helped Aubrey ‘get out’ of her funk by making her leave the house in order to find them all across the desolate town. You see, the tapes had special ‘messages’ about the portal hidden in the songs, but the tapes were scattered all over town by the dead friend; when Audrey ventured into the ‘apocalyptic snowstorm’ town, she dressed up with her ‘armor’ to protect herself. (Symbolism, shmbolism.)

If the presence of symbolism had not been enough at this point, the ending really knock it out of the park. Okay, before I say goodbye and leave you with the last full seven minutes of the movie which were perfect btw, I would like to say that it was so cathartic seeing a character struggle with complicated human emotions because it reminded me that no matter how lonely I might feel sometimes, there is probably someone out there who might be struggling just like me, and that, my Horror friend, is healing in itself.

In Love and Fear,

-Marath

© 2016-2019