Repulsion (1965)

Repulsion:

Roman Polanski’s second film, and his first in the English language, is an even more calculated and intense ride than his stunning debut ’Knife in the water’. As a movie, it is one that most expertly balances the thin line between psychological horror and blood splatter horror, being at once both and excelling in huge amounts at each. Urban life in a London apartment is the subject, but so is sexual repression, violent outrages and bloody, grisly murders. These murders are shown being commited onscreen, but their aftermath is never fully disclosed. Could they just be hallucinations in the mind of a lonely, possibly molested young girl (played with expert nuance by Catherine Deneuve, always giving us a thousand yard stare)? A scream near the end could mean anything - that the murders did happen or something equally grisly (we see a dead, uncooked rabbit taken out from the fridge and placed in the living room). Has the distinction of possibly the creepiest last shot I have ever seen, where the camera keeps zooming into a picture on a table till it stops on a young girl, looking away from the camera. Has similarities to Hitchcock’s ’Psycho’, but makes it look like a childrens film in comparison. Groundbreaking visuals and direction, even by todays standards. Presented in more fitting black and white.

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