THE WITCH IS THE WINNER

My poll 62 ended with seven votes. Thanks very much to everyone who participated in it. Here is the result:

I LOVE THESE FEEL-BAD FILMS. WHICH FILMS DO YOU LIKE?

1.THE WITCH (2009, Alwa Ritsila + Phatamon Chitachinda, Thailand)
It got 4 votes, or 57 %.

2.DEATH IN THE LAND OF ENCANTOS (2007, Lav Diaz, Philippines)
+MY MINE (ความในใจ) (2009, Woratouch Wattanagune, Thailand)
Each of them got 3 votes, or 42 %.

4.BLIND PIG WHO WANTS TO FLY (2008, Edwin, Indonesia)
+LITTLE LIFE (2009, Rungkarn Kaewsuwan, Thai animation)
+SEDUCTION LULLABY (2009, Napat Treepalawisetkun, Thailand)
+THE UNINVITED (2003, Lee Su-yeon, South Korea)
Each of them got 2 votes, or 28 %.

8.THE CRUEL EMBRACE (1987, Marion Hansel, Belgium)
+HORSEMEN (2009, Jonas Akerlund, USA)
+PLAYING THE VICTIM (2006, Kirill Serebrennikov, Russia)
+SOUND AND FURY (1988, Jean-Claude Brisseau, France)
+YUE (VICTIMS) (1987, Chana Kraprayun, Thailand)
Each of them got 1 vote, or 14 %.

13. BOG OF BEASTS (2006, Claudio Assis, Brazil)
+EXTASE DE CHAIR BRISEE (2005, Pierre-Luc Vaillencourt + Frederick Maheux, Canada)
+FRIENDSHIP (2008, Right Brain Team, Thailand)
+GARAGE OLIMPO (1999, Marco Bechis, Argentina)
+THE HUNGARIAN SERVANT (2004, Giorgio Molteni + Massimo Piesco, Italy)
+A NATION WITHOUT WOMEN (2003, Manish Jha, India)
+RULE #1 (2008, Kelvin Tong, Hong Kong)
+TUENJAI: THE UNFORGETTABLE CASE (เตือนใจ คดีที่ไม่มีวันลืม) (1979, Dul Wijit, Thailand)

Each of them got 0 vote.

--You can read the interview of Edwin, the director of BLING PIG WHO WANTS TO FLY, by the late Alexis Tioseco here:
http://www.criticine.com/interview_article.php?id=31

--I think THE WITCH is too violent for my taste, but the film is still "acceptable" in my point of view, because I guess the making of this film doesn't cause any harm to "real" animals or "real" human beings.

I think the killing scene in this film seems to have some disturbing sexual connotations. Actually it is too disturbing for me.

However, there are many reasons why I like THE WITCH, including:

1.Its perfect use of music, which is something you can expect from every film by Alwa Ritsila

2.Its editing, which is really difficult in this film, because Alwa plays all the three main characters.

3.Alwa's performance

4.Its lighting, or lack of lighting. I don't know if the directors use special lighting in this film or not, but I like the low-light images in this film very much. The images of this film look very realistic for me, and it makes the film much scarier.

5.I think this is one of the scariest films of all time for me. It is as frightening as JEEPERS CREEPERS (2001, Victor Salva) or WOLF CREEK (2005, Greg McLean). THE WITCH may be inspired by SUSPIRIA, but I think THE WITCH scares me much more than SUSPIRIA, because THE WITCH has realistic looks and realistic settings, while the story of SUSPIRIA takes place in a gothic school, which seems to have no connections with my real life.

THE WITCH also reminds me of two horror films I love: TOOLBOX MURDERS (2003, Tobe Hooper) and SCREAM (1996, Wes Craven). These three films scare me a lot, because it makes me feel as if the stories in these films can happen in my real life. The stories of these films don't take place in a rural area or a deserted house, but take place in ordinary neighborhood or ordinary apartments. After I saw THE WITCH, I always look carefully both left and right whenever I leave my apartment. The film makes me fear that I might see a wicked person like the witch waiting to attack me outside my room.

6.THE WITCH unintentionally makes me think about something—I think that as long as I still eat meat, I'm not that much different from the witch. I know that the directors of this film don't have any intentions at all to make the audience think this way. I just feel a little bit guilty when I eat meat, so I adapt the film to my own feelings of guilt.

Excluding the disturbing sexual connotations of the killing scene, something in the killing scene unintentionally reminds me of some animal-slaughtering scenes in other films. The witch in this film can keep her own beauty by using the blood of some virgin girls. It makes me think about myself who still enjoy eating meat, meat which come from innocent animals who don't want to die, who may cry for help, beg for mercy, wonder why they are going to be killed, and suffer enormous pain when humans kill them. These animals are not much different from the victim in THE WITCH. And I am as heartless and cruel as the witch. I just want to enjoy delicious meat, and I don't care how much suffering other animals may experience in order to become my food.

Yes, I still eat meat, and because of this, I don't think I'm much different from the witch.

Other feel-bad films I like:

21.ANTARES (2004, Gotz Spielmann, Austria)
22.L'ARGENT (1983, Robert Bresson, France)
23.BAISE-MOI (2000, Virginie Despentes + Coralie Trinh Thi, France)
24.BAD LIEUTENANT (1992, Abel Ferrara, USA)
25.BATTLE IN HEAVEN (2005, Carlos Reygadas, Mexico)
26.BOYS DON'T CRY (1999, Kimberly Peirce, USA)
27.CAPOTE (2005, Bennett Miller, USA)
28.CASUALTIES OF WAR (1989, Brian De Palma, USA)
29.A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971, Stanley Kubrick, UK)
30.COME AND SEE (1985, Elem Klimov, USSR)

31.CRIMSON GOLD (2003, Jafar Panahi, Iran)
32.CRONICAS (2003, Sebastian Cordero, Mexico)
33.CRY IN SIELENCE (2006, J.G. Biggs, France)
34.THE DEATH KING (1990, Joerg Buttgereit, West Germany)
35.DEMENTED (2006, Laurent Achard, France)
36.THE DEVILS (2002, Christophe Ruggia, France)
37.DOG DAYS (2001, Ulrich Seidl, Austria)
38.DON'T CRY NANKING (1995, Wu Ziniu, China)
39.EARTHCORE (2005, Chookiat Sakvirakul, Thailand)
40.FATE (1994, Fred Kelemen, Germany)

41.IMPRINT (2006, Miike Takashi, Japan)
42.IN MY SKIN (2002, Marina de Van, France)
43.IS IT EASY TO KILL/PRAY? (2005, Sherman Ong, Vietnam)
44.I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE (1978, Meir Zarchi, USA)
45.I STAND ALONE (1998, Gaspar Noe, France)
46.LOVELY RITA (2001, Jessica Hausner, Austria)
47.THE MACABRE CASE OF PROMPIRAM (2003, Manop Udomdej, Thailand)
48.LA MADRE MUERTA (1993, Juanma Bajo Ulloa, Spain)
49.MONDOMANILA (2005, Khavn de la Cruz, Philippines)
50.MON FILS A MOI (2006, Martial Fougeron, France)

51.MONSTER (2003, Patty Jenkins, USA)
52.NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007, Joel Coen + Ethan Coen, USA)
53.OR (2004, Keren Yedaya, Israel)
54.PAIN (1994, Eric Khoo, Singapore)
55.PANDA (2007, Nathan Homsup, Thai animation)
56.PERFECT LOVE! (1996, Catherine Breillat, France)
57.A PETAL (1996, Jang Sun-woo, South Korea)
58.THE PLACE WITHOUT LIMITS (1978, Arturo Ripstein, Mexico)
59.PLEASANT DAYS (2002, Kornel Mundruczo, Hungary)
60.SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy)

61.SANTA SANGRE (1989, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Italy)
62.SATANTANGO (1994, Bela Tarr, Hungary)
63.THE SEVENTH CONTINENT (1989, Michael Haneke, Austria)
64.THE STRANGERS (2008, Bryan Bertino, USA)
65.TO BE TWENTY (1978, Fernando Di Leo, Italy)
66.VENGEANCE IS MINE (1979, Shohei Imamura, Japan)
67.LA VIE DE JESUS (1996, Bruno Dumont, France)
68.VIOLENCE AT NOON (1966, Nagisa Oshima, Japan)
69.WHO CAN KILL A CHILD? (1976, Narciso Ibanez Serrador, Spain)