They were nowhere near the cabin when their daughter was murdered so what was the connection? Who did actually kill the daughter...
The daughter's murder had nothing to do with the cabin and the deaths there. It was only the tragedy that set events into motion
for that family (meaning they wanted to leave the city and find a "quiet hideout" to recover -especially since there were nasty rumors circulating about the little girl having been murdered by her own dad- that was bull...). IF they HAD NOT lost their daughter and moved to that location, the story would be about
some other unlucky family renting the cabin in question!What comes to the daughter's murder itself: I see it only as
a catalyst in the story, not one of its
themes. Certainly the police were keeping the case open in the city, in quest of the killer, but following those procedures was not the direction
this movie was supposed to take. And the "who" and "why" are just as irrelevant here. The father had obviously forgotten to lock the glass door of the porch, and when mom woke up, she closed it, got a glass of water and went to check on her daughter, who had been brutally slashed, probably by an outsider sneaking in through the unlocked door, then doing his dirty deed (murder, possible rape, whatever his motives). I think the MAIN if not ONLY point of showing the city life and the family tragedy as a prologue, was to show the couple was grieving, and there was mistrust between them. Dad felt guilty for having neglegted safety by forgetting to lock the door. Mom was holding it against him, blaming him for giving the criminal an opportunity.
Guilt, blame, depression, anger...how ideal mindstates for any kind of negative energies and vibes to sink in and hold their grip like leeches, feasting on the suffering and sorrow.
About
the dark presence: it's difficult to find a way to describe my take on it, but I'll make a brief try. I think an example of the opposite extreme might take my point through, so here we go: There are certain very special places on this earth, where millions of people gather for various reasons -to be purified, cured -either mentally, spiritually or physically-, to find inner peace, to receive graces and blessings...the wishes vary, but there's a shared goal:
aim for happiness and a shared motivating quality:
faith.
So well -why are these places considered so powerful, untarnishable and
downright sacred? A believer will probably say some celestial, otherwordly miracle had taken place there, purifying the grounds. Sure, I won't argue with that. But I think there is also another reason for the "holy" atmosphere and possible miracles taking place, and it's this:
All those masses of people, sick, poor, suffering and grieving, come with a certain mindstate -carrying all their hopes and dreams and faith and love with them- like so many others have done before them. THIS PURITY OF HEART AND DEPTH OF FAITH KEEPS THE ENERGY PURE AND SACRED.Just a theory of mine (which I firmly believe in, but not everyone would agree with me), and my point is
it works both ways! Why do they say the opposite kind of places, where death, suffering, hedonism, cruelty and such vices have abided, are often rumoredly
cursed and haunted? Even departed spirits can't rest, when their demise has been unjust, and the atmosphere and energy is severely contaminated by eg. jealousy, greed, hatred and general ill-will. These are unholy grounds, dark and threatening.
I see the area where the cabin was located as something of such nature. It started with the death of Jim's mom in the dungeon, a likely suicide by suffocation. That seemed to inspire the son to "keep alive the tradition of May 22nd" -his mother's day of death- by (probably) claiming more lives as the years went by. But this is not all: the suffocating sense of doom and depression
was wreaking havoc on people's minds, and they were very prone to self harm and possession definetely, especially around the time of previous deaths. So -all in all- this was the worst possible kind of environment to heal fresh wounds -or
any kind of wounds for that matter! Had they decided to join the masses of pilgrims hiking to Santiago de Compostela instead or something, their poor souls might've been saved, and this movie would never have been made...
I'm not sure how helpful or enlightening this post was, but I was having fun writing it! And I personally liked the movie a lot, they don't need to be totally flawless and deeper than The Pacific to entertain me...
"Nothing can be obscene in such love. Everything that occurs in between it becomes a sacrament."
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romidon
16 years ago
I gotta disagree with 'detune'["And it wasn't important how the daughter died..."] and 'Mater_Lacrimarum' ["What comes to the daughter's murder itself: I see it only as a catalyst in the story, not one of its themes..."].
The daughter's murder, as heinous as it was [wrist/throat slashed, finger cut off] WAS important, and at some point needed to be addressed one way or another. It's not like she died in some freak accident.
Seriously, who [PARENT, especially!] wouldn't move heaven and hell to track down her killer??? For THAT aspect of the film to NOT be drawn to some sort of conclusion pretty much sank the film for me...
(Well, I didn't exactly hate the film; it had a LOT of promise [I liked the low budget atmosphere of it all; mediocre acting / script, ect.], it's just that the daughter's murder was too significant for me to pass off as lightly as 'not important' or 'just a catalyst' [as noted below! :) ].)
As for the murder ONLY acting as a catalyst; ridiculous: In that the daughter was one of the MANY ghosts that continued to appear throughout the film, she obviously held some relevance to the events AFTER her death.
Unfortunately her appearances were disjointed and somewhat incoherent: In some instances she was just creeping around, others she seemed to be trying to warn her mother of something.
And what was with the scene with her being stifled and dragged away by another [ghost?]?? THAT particular scene [to me] seemed to indicate a VERY deep connection between her and the events that were taking place. (UNLESS it was just letting everyone know that her killer was dead too...) ;)
Yet at the end, ALL she seemed to have to tell them was that she was 'Ok', and that 'they weren't to blame'. Bulls**t!
If she could tell them that, then why couldn't she give them some hints as to who killed her?
Much more that 'just a catalyst' the daughter's death was a very primary and underlying theme through out the movie: Grief drove her parents from the city to the mountain get-away. Seeing the daughter's ghost kept the mother from wanting to leave at crucial times. The daughter's presence at the end seemed to bring the parents forgiveness and [somewhat] redemption. To NOT bring some kind of closure to such a pivotal character was [imo] a VERY big plot miscalculation...
Just my thoughts, fresh after watching 'Dark Remains' and reading the other posts in this forum.
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