ninth gate vs. eyes wide shut

Yes, alot of people thought the end of the world was coming with the new millennium and Y2K
There was also Arnolds"End of Days."

I didn't actually get to see Eyes Wide Shut until last year, and as a long time fan of The Ninth Gate it immediately struck a chord with me. They have a very similar feel, not just because of the occultism, but also because of the slow pacing, the fact that they're both mystery movies, and the high-society settings and the associated color palettes.

I have watched the Ninth Gate quite a few times. Each time a discover something else. There are little things like the “Castle” painting in Balkin’s library. Every time something happens to Corso, it appears in the Ninth hate. His friend was killed and hung by his right foot, also the first engraving he inspects. When Corso is talking to the Ceniza twins in their store about the book, one twin points out the engraving from LCF that could mean “danger will ascend upon you from above.” When Corso walks outside, the scaffolding falls. Coincidence? I think Polanski wanted us to think this BUT Corso returns to the Bookstore for the 9th engraving and it falls from the top of the very tall bookshelf. We see him enter the castle but was he accepted? Also the engraving has the face of one of the twins with a bow and arrow like Cupid. Many of the engravings resemble Tarot cards. I am not an occultist but this movie is full of occult references. Balkin’s class and the books Fargas talks about are real. Just a very interesting movie. I try to watch it once a year.

Say what you want about Polanski, but he makes fantastic movies. I honestly feel such empathy for the dude. Hitler killed his whole family. Horrific. Then he gets married and is expecting his first child when the Charles Manson Family murders his wife and unborn child. Polanski has seen some real ev and felt real sadness in his life. I know about the rape charges and that he is a criminal. He paid the girl restitution. I’m not excusing it. I think he is just really messed up. I know I would be if one of those things happened, let alone both. What are the chances?

I left the movie theatre during Eyes Wide Shut. I thought it was awful. I watched it a few years later and didn’t find it to be so bad but certainly not the greatest movie Cruise has ever done. Vanilla Sky, Magnolia, and Minority Report are so good. He really does make really great movies.

Both are fantastic films and yeah they do have some similarities.

The Ninth Gate is an excellent movie, captivating and genuinely mysterious while Eyes Wide Shut is a horse crap movie in all aspects. I don't think they have anything in common except the cloaks they wearing at some point

Interesting. I just came from the Eyes Wide Shut board to start a post comparing The Ninth Gate to another film.

Serendipity?

Anyway, I am a huge fan of Eyes Wide Shut, but the only film that came to mind when watching TNG was Angel Heart.

Eyes Wide Shut certainly had what appeared to be a cult brewing in the mansion, but we don't have a lot to go on there. Could be they just came up with a goofy ritual structure as a prelude to their orgies just to be different? Or just because they are rich and powerful so they can?

With great power and wealth sometimes comes boredom that can lead to extremities. I think. To that end they may not have been a real cult with real teaching and/or doctrines or leader to worship/follow (things I typically think of when defining a cult). Though they did have rules when it came to "redeeming" someone.

Or else that was made up on the fly to scare Bill. Open to interpretation I suppose, as most things.