Above:
Fin by Jack Saul
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Tuesday, October 22, 2024
Happy Birthday today October 23rd
Horror Hunks: Haze
'I have to take a head count...'
Curran
So 2017's Haze is exactly a horror movie, at least not in the traditional style many have come to expect. There's no serial movie, no slashings or body gutting. There are however, a brutal fraternity hazing death, a group of masked sociopaths, a Halloween bash, and more than a few horrific moments and scenes.
In the aftermath of the brutal hazing death, Nick, a college freshman, finds his desire to join the best fraternity on campus compromised when his older brother launches an anti-hazing crusade. The film is described as a modern retelling of ancient Greek mythology, and the documentary style creates a realistic, raw and sobering portrait of what goes on behind fraternity and sorority house walls.
Nick is played by the adorable Kirk Curran, and I was impressed with how complex he portrayed the college freshman. With his sweet, all-American cuteness, he was initially likable, but like most of the characters in the film, he has a dark side that comes out in many ways, especially with the two female characters he interacts with. Nick's a nice guy, who sometimes, isn't really all that nice.
Some of the scenes are difficult to watch, the brutality of some of the hazing scenes are more intense due to writer and director David Burkman's shooting style. The cruelty seems to be the point in this particular frat house, and I kept wondering why Nick and his friends were so drawn to being members. I would have left after night one, but the lure of belonging to the brothers was too powerful.
Eventually Nick does see the light, well.. I think he always saw the light, but finally acted on his feelings in the end. This scene is actually one of the lighter hazing moments, and as you might have guessed, the head count wasn't about the one attached to their necks. If you want to check out Haze for yourself, just Google 'Haze 2017', and you'll find a link to film free on Tubi.
Tales From The Front Desk: Fin by Jack Saul
Someone has literally died in every room...
Tales of Unexplained Mystery
With Halloween just around the corner, we've officially hit the spooky seasons. It's getting darker earlier, meaning more time for spirits to rise and roam. One of the spooky season's most enduring traditions is the telling of ghost stories. Since most spirits to rise and wander around the places where they died, it makes sense that hotels would be full of them...
Most of us think of hotel rooms as a place of release. For most of us, we're away from the problems of home, and focus on releasing ourselves sexually in a safe place, unburdened for the day to day pressures we usually face. Hotel rooms are sometimes places to meet up, and hook up with strangers, and even when we're on our on, self pleasure is a must with a night away from home.
Sometimes however, our problems tag along, making it difficult to escape the horrors we face at home. Sometimes, they horrors are strengthen, with an excess of alcohol in a room we have zero connection with. According to studies, violence against another person is by far the most common criminal offence reported. In a 2022 study of U.K. hotels, data shows there over 4500 allegations of violence and public disorder.
Many might expect the primary crimes in hotels to involve theft, robbery or burglary's, but that number was a distant second to violence. Although some of this may be partying frat boys, much of it includes violence between partners, an violence woven with intimacy, lust, power and control. It's not really surprising, given that any decrease in inhibitions, causes every emotion to rise. Sexual urges yes, but also violent and murderous urges as well.
You only have to think of the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles to confirm the theory. The television show American Horror Story: Hotel was based on the history of the Cecil. Originally build as a middle-class hotel in 1923, it eventually became a budget hotel and rooming house. Over the decades, numerous violent incidents, some resulting in death occurred at the Cecil. At least 16 sudden, or unexplained deaths occurred in or around the hotel.
It's said that almost every hotel over 50 years old has experienced at least a few deaths over the years. Many older hotels, even boast about a death in every room. It makes sense then, that there are thousands of spirits, oven who met gruesome ends, are in a state of unrest, haunting the hallways and rooms of hotels, motels and inns.
Photographer Jack Saul didn't set out to create a Halloween themed shoot, but there was certainly a haunting quality when I dove into his shoot with 20 year old Fin. Jack has shot in many hotel rooms over the years, but there was something different and unusual about his work with Fin.
It wasn't just that there were a few overexposed images, it was the distinctive look in Fin's eyes in those shots that stood out to me. It was almost as if that split moment, with the light in his eyes, Fin caught a momentary glimpse of the room's preternatural past.
It may have had something to do with nerves. When our nerves are raw, we tend to feel things more intensely, pain yes, but other emotions and feelings as well. Fin's trip to the hotel wasn't just another shoot, or another day. He came to the shoot with Jack with a purpose. Given his slim build, Fin never saw himself as someone who'd ever pose nude, but after seeing Jack's work on-line, became captivated with giving it a try.
Fin came from a fashion background, and was used to modeling clothing, but revealing himself without it, was more than a challenge, but something he needed to do for himself. To push his boundaries, and experience something that scared him. According to Jack, once the nervousness subsided, he began to have fun, dropped his inhibitions, and began flirting with the camera and sensually expressing him in that hotel room, in a way he'd never dare to at home, or around others.
'There was certainly a confident undercurrent that Fin wanted to express fully. '
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