For the final 31 Days of Horror challenge I am pleased to see that the final stretch is populated heavily with cosmic horror films of different fine calibers. Spring, a movie that apparently came out 11 years ago and I only just now watched, is often described as in the cosmic horror/Lovecraftian vein, but I rather disagree; it fits a niche more in line with mythology and even creeps into the realm of allegory just a little. Spring is only partially a horror film, and takes themes of transformation, immortality and tradition that might exist in a decidedly different context in another story and treats them in unique and new ways.
The story premise is simple: Evan is a cook at a bar who has been taking care of his terminally ill mother. After she passes away he gets into a brawl at the bar and soon decides maybe he needs to get out of California entirely, and takes a trip to Italy on a lark, the place he wanted to go with his father before he passed as away as well. With so much loss in his life, he needs an escape, and Italy provides it.
First Evan runs into a couple Englishmen who he tags along with, then while visiting a remote seaside town he meets Louise, a young local woman who he rather quickly becomes obsessed with; she for some reason just wants a one night stand, but he wants a real relationship. She blows him off, but Evan is persistent and decides to stay in the town, working for an old gentleman offering lodging in exchange for farm work. Evan then manages to bump in to her the next day and convinces her to give him a chance on a date. They hit it off well, and it quickly builds up a week long whirlwind relationship.
The problem is that Louise seems to have a secret. She has two different color eyes, though she tries to disguise it with contacts. She works on a research program for a University to study the genetics of the local population, which has changed very little over the centuries. She takes special shots for an unusual skin condition she manifests. Occasionally, she transforms into a horrifying monster and murders things.
Evan's and Louise's relationship is the core of the film, but her complication as a unique, ancient immortal Roman with a monstrous variation of lycanthropy that you really have to see to appreciate makes for a fascinating character study laced with a unique form of horror mixed with, at its core, a deep and impermeable love story about two very complicated and extremely sympathetic people.
This was a fascinating, thoughtful and even philosophical movie, and honestly almost more of a love story than a monster flick, though it is absolutely both. If you are like me and missed this gem for the last decade, definitely check it out. Yet another A+! Deeply interesting, and it honestly goes in directions I don't think any other film has quite managed to do so well.
SPOILER SECTION
This movie is so much better than it lets on, a deep dive into a world that is more than the sum of its parts. It's a love story, and its markedly allegorical in how it spins a story of two young lovers who just happen to have this extra hurdle, specifically her monstrous nature, and her inevitable reincarnation which leaves her both herself, in her consciousness, but an entirely new person as well. An an allegory this could be symbolic of any relationship in which one partner has a deep, dark secret, obligation, addiction or other obstacle to properly embracing the relationship or building trust. By veiling this practical issue in building a relationship in a literal monstrous allegory it allows for a fun exploration of what it means to fall in love and build trust.
Layered on top of this fine allegory is a surprisingly deep conceptual space about what is literally happening in the film: an immortal, ancient woman who is genetically anomalous, bordering on magic, with a condition that could be the actual explanation for so many mythological creatures of the archaic world. Her awareness of her condition and her attempts in the modern age to study and understand her own genetics and treat it to give herself a better life, even as she tries to fall back on old occult paths as a last resort, makes her a remarkably sympathetic character, no matter how many animals and tourists she eats along the way. Her decision at the end (and we assume the best ending here, which is what seems to be implied), is that like her mother in Pompeii she can choose to fall in love, and the chemical influence of oxytocin causes the "birth" of her new self to stall, leading to her existing self continuing, but now as a mortal woman. But the subtly stated implication is, just as with her mother, that her children will be born with her genetic monstrousness, so the cycle still continues.
As a stand alone film Spring is great, well worth a watch. But as a concept space where I want to learn more about Louise and her kind, for surely there must be others such as her who have perhaps disappeared over time? Throwbacks to a wild sort of mutation that founded the belief in everything from Lilith to the gorgons, lamias to chimeras, you name it....the implied universe of Spring is deeply fascinating to think about. Given Hollywood's track record for pile-driving expanded universes into the ground I'll just say that Spring, by itself, is more than enough to let me imagine what this universe is like.
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