MovieChat Forums > Altar (2015) Discussion > Rosicrucian Mosaic (spoilers)

Rosicrucian Mosaic (spoilers)

posted 9 years ago by adderhead
3 replies | jump to latest

Just watched the film on Netflix and, being a fan of haunting films set in a somewhat gothic/Victorian mansion, found it quite enjoyable.

I particularly liked the Rosicrucian mosaic piece but thought it was underused in this film. The ritual associated with it seemed a bit vague. The iron pendulum thing filled with blood that hung over it was too weird. What was its purpose? it seems to me the mosaic should've been used differently, without the Pendulum perhaps, maybe with candles instead or something. There's a certain mystical and mysterious feel, in my opinion, to secret societies and I thought there's be more to the mosaic than what the movie showed. (Perhaps my thoughts are stemming from the likes of X-Files, symbology/conspiracies a la Da Vinci Code, or films like The Ninth Gate.)
In my view, the mosaic deserved something grander.

Instead, it was a weird ritual trying to, I don't know, immortalize or transcend the wife's soul?

It's sort of implied that the pendulum thing descended onto the wife's head, killing her; the indentation/broken off piece of the mosaic was the result of the impact. But what exactly was the pendulum meant to achieve? Maybe it was supposed to signify a torch of some sort? Transferrence of soul into/through the blood? Or, maybe the pendulum wasn't supposed to kill Isabella, but achieve another result, and it fell accidentally and killed her. I'm disinclined to believe the ritual itself made Isabella posess Meg, because we saw Radcliffe earlier posess Meg's husband without any ritual. And if the ritual wasn't meant for one's soul to posess another, then was its real purpose?

It would've been nice if the movie clarified on that bit, and delved a little more into the Rosicrucian symbology.

[–] hilbertjl 9 years ago

I have to agree with you. In fact, in the user review I wrote, I mentioned that I thought it was almost a crime the film had such a near-perfect haunted house/supernatural set location and didn't take full advantage of it.

Can't say that I know a lot about Rosicrucian symbolism or tradition, but I know enough about it to believe it was probably misrepresented in the movie (a shame, but hardly unusual in films).

Essentially, the story could have been great, but I think they were too busy trying to 'scare' viewers to deal with little things like coherence. I mostly enjoyed watching it but was left quite disappointed - especially when it went from semi-believable supernatural to eye-rolling 'oh, sure'--and to be clear, I prefer my supernatural on the semi-believable side; it's much more fun that way. So, yes, good points you made.

"He hates these cans!"

[–] ChefLucretia 9 years ago

Yeah, I feel like I was always struggling with "why?" Nothing made sense. But I did like the atmosphere and the idea. Shame it wasn't fleshed out. Kind of a meh movie for me.

[–] wanganegresse-17-66043 8 years ago

I thought the pendulum contained Isabella's blood, which would explain the cuts on her arm. One of the symbols in the mosaic was a mermaid with twin tails held in her arms, the same symbol on Starbucks cups and also a reflection of an African water goddess. What was also unclear was who was supposed to "receive" Isabella's soul the first time and why the ritual needed the second time if Walter/Randolph could simply posess the father on day one, just by his blood drop on the mosaic floor.