Empty parking lots, white vans and a masked predator. The perfect triangle to grab every horror film enthusiast’s eye. An atmosphere of fear and horror that makes one wonder what to expect in the next few minutes, and who might pop out of nowhere. A natural pump of adrenaline through entertainment productions as reality stands by in the back.
Sugarcane is that kind of a movie that keeps viewers on edge of the unknown. It’s a long rollercoaster of horrific events and experiences that are not only terrifying, but are mind binding too. The movie started strong with the three horror essentials, A parking lot, white van, and a masked predator who is mentally unstable. Or in simpler words of the entertainment industry, “a psychopath who acts on his wildest fantasies” in the most gruesome ways imaginable.
But before dissecting “Sugarcane” it’s important to notify viewers about the true story and nature of the events taking place in the movie. As it is a reality that a lot of people go through. It’s the dark world of the internet and what lies behind the screens. It’s the dark web content and the way people engage with violent content and take bids on what they are viewing. Which is basically acting violently and exterminating people who were abducted/ trafficked against their will, live for everyone to watch and enjoy.
Enjoyment might not be the right word to use, but in those kind of circumstances, people pay huge amounts of money to see people get kidnapped, tortured and killed. Live. The story follows a dark plot of events that has to do with engaging people with violent acts and killing by taking the highest bidder’s request to choose on how they want the victims to be exterminated and played with.
As a trafficking survivor herself, Mari gets triggered by events of the new case of a teenage girl who recently got abducted and held against her will. She knows the process and how it ends, which is why she’s making it a personal mission to save the girl. Arthur on the other hand is a sadistic killer who acts not according to his rationality, but gruesome fantasy. There are two sides of Arthur in the film, a gentle soft speaker who viewers were introduced to in the beginning of the opening scene, and the violent side of him that was introduced minutes later as he sat in the coffee shop, opened his laptop and started generating gruesome tabs on the site “Sugarcane”.
The quick transition of showing the character’s two sided personalities is an important step towards plotting the story and showing the viewers a deep insight into the character’s mindset and reasons behind their actions that are expected, as the plot twists develop. Viewers can tell that Arthur is mentally unstable, he has two sides to him, as described in psychological terms, bipolar disorder. But his vulnerable personality is taken over and controlled by his sadistic personality. Which is a shock to viewers, especially that the scenes were cut from violent acts in the basement where he is streaming live for others to watch and bid on the victim’s life and death, and the soft side that takes care of his mother and cooks her dinner with much care in the world.
Arthur lives in two worlds, the good and the evil. But it seems that the evil part of his story has taken over matters, that have led his sadistic acts get more and more violent as donations from viewers grow, or decline. In both cases and regardless of the money, his streaming never stopped and even at time when there were no donations made, he acted on his red fantasies and enjoyed the power he thinks he gained.
But what does that tell us ?
It’s not just a story of a sitting victim and another on the verge of being killed. It has more to it.
An eye for details makes the story more realistic, and the production team delivered exactly that. With a white unlabeled van, masked predator and the color pallets that changes with every scene and emotion that sets into it. Lighthearted scenes where the audience have been given a glimpse of the soft side of his nature, as he was cooking for his mom and having dinner with her are usually portrayed through light colors that brings in positivity and warmth. Whereas the scenes where darkness sweeps in and violent acts are taking place, the color transitions from a very light optimistic pallet, to dirty dark green, blue and brown that are seen and reflected as dark black through lighting. The chosen colors and perfect lighting, shaped every scene into a very unsettling theme and tone of delivery for the characters and storyline. It’s the realistic elements that made engagement to the story easy and naturally appealing for the viewer’s eyes despite the violence and backstory surrounding the film.
For those who binged the Netflix series “Monster” , they will definitely see the contrast between the two main killers. A vulnerable soft spoken character with sadistic fantasies that are acted on through a mask, and the natural side of them who wants to be involved and fit in the community. Both share the same characteristics of having two personalities and sides to them, something they can’t control, which limits them from being able to communicate effectively and easily without having slight difficulty with others.
Masks in horror movies usually refer to the idea of acting on the behalf of the other side of the predator’s mind and personality. It’s a personality disorder and an unbalance of being naturally soft sided, while being taken over the darker side of the mind. Masks are not a symbol of trying to hide behind a certain type of behavior, or even the notion of being unnoticed and scary. It’s more of proving a psychotic behavior by acting on the behalf of the other personality that hides deep within one’s self.
Throughout the film, viewers were given the impression of being able to see and feel all the emotions that both the protagonist and antagonist characters have been experiencing. Through quick transitions of personalities and scenes, the movie was set as a series of events that would trigger one’s mind into trying to solve a particular situation, while having their own lives on the spectrum. Specifics were also revealed by the production team, as more details and plot development took place through the duration of the movie that peeled the layers of a mystery, and revealed the secrets behind each action and plot.
The movie will answer all of the questions that will pop into the viewer’s mind as far as the first scene goes, leaving no more questions by the end of it. Answers will be presented and released, but it’s up to the audience to decide and determine on whether the answers are worth the risk, and whether they are justified enough.
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