The Cell: 31 Days of Horror
For all of October, we will review horror films. Submit your requests here, and you may see your picks selected!
Tarsem Singh — formerly just known as “Tarsem” — is one of those filmmakers who knows exactly how his films should look, but usually doesn’t have a clue as to what they should be saying. The Cell is one of the more divided films in pop culture of the new millennium, because many Tarsem fans feel it has a lot of poignancy to it, whereas many other viewers might find it void of any substance whatsoever. It’s a bit difficult to even grade this film, because I feel it excels in some ways, and barely even tries in others. For a film that’s about the complexities of the human mind (particularly that of a serial killer), it isn’t the best problem to have. On the other hand, The Cell does at least make for a unique watch, which never hurts either.
We follow a psychologist expert in Catherine Deane, played by Jennifer Lopez, who feels horribly misdirected into giving a substandard, boring performance: I say that, because Lopez has made many performances tolerable with her charm and like-ability, but she’s completely impossible to connect with here. Then there’s Vince Vaughan’s detective Peter Novak, who almost seems like he doesn’t even want to be in this film. Pit them together against Vincent D’Onofrio trying to get the world to finally notice him — as a somewhat hammy murderer, who especially overacts in the subconscious sequences — and you have a team of leads you can’t really get behind in a film that begs of it. I know the film has a lot of The Silence of the Lambs comparisons, but I don’t believe the film gets too close to ripping off Jonathan Demme’s opus. Even if it tried to, it’s missing the spark of the performers entirely, so maybe that’s why I’m not noticing a huge similarity outside of both being crime films involving the dissection of criminal minds.
The Cell boasts fantastically bizarre visuals, which help make it worthwhile in that respect.
It’s too bad, because the imagination in The Cell truly is something. This was Singh’s debut, and it felt like he used his music video expertise to put together a special kind of psychological horror. So many strange ideas and visuals are all over this film, particularly once we’re in the killer’s mind. However, we don’t really get too much as to why they’re there, outside of the murderer being abused and tormented as a child. I get that abstract scares make sense when it comes to the creative psyche, but I don’t know if The Cell gets a glowing pass for this considering the other flaws of the film (particularly that it’s a bit of a slog). We don’t get enough substance for the film to deserve its artistic mysticism that explains very little. Still, even if the imaginative landscapes and visuals don’t make the film fantastic, they at least render it worthwhile, just to say you’ve seen Tarsem Singh try to make a different kind of horror film. It comes off as a super long Marilyn Manson video from the ‘90s, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, considering how off putting those were, and how drawn to them curious viewers were anyway. The Cell could have been a hell of a lot better, but it’s at least interesting enough.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.