Chaos (2005) - A Retrospective

Now we know that we can't even be in our houses without
getting murdered, so we may as well end it all now.

Years ago, in my quest to find the world's most gruesome movies, I came across a little old picture by the name of Chaos (not to be mistaken for the Jason Statham movie of the same title and year). Chaos achieved perhaps more notoriety than it deserved when Roger Ebert was the first big critic to write about it, and he hated, hated, hated this movie. In a scenario not unlike that of The Brown Bunny, Ebert managed to land in a back-and-forth with filmmakers who were displeased with his take on their projects. He denounced the movie as "ugly, nihilistic and cruel", and I honestly can't think of three words that better sum up the vibe it gives off.

I first reviewed Chaos in a long-winded essay here and broke down in minute detail my problems with it. Dialogue was boring and for some reason often racist; the narrative was a near beat-for-beat retread of Last House on the Left; the last few minutes just insulted everyone from audience to characters. So perhaps as a result of deep-rooted self-loathing, I had a spare hour and watched it again today (it's a thankfully short movie, although it doesn't feel short enough), and felt the need to go into a few finer points that ultimately make Chaos as horrific as it is.

Within the first minute I realised that I was all geared up for round two of hating, hating, hating this movie, so had to make a conscious effort to lower my guard and try to see it through fresh eyes. The action leading up to the main plot point of the film - that being the killing of the girls - is all rather pedestrian and does the bare minimum required of it in giving us simple intros to our characters. The action following the killing of the girls is some of the most bewildering stuff I have ever seen. The second act, the top of our story arc, the money shot, is how the girls get done in, and even the more stoic horror goer may find this part simply too much. I always knew it was too much, but in all my rage and discomfort, neglected to consider why I felt that way.

This doesn't seem familiar in the slightest.

Chaos is entirely diegetic in terms of its soundtrack; that is, there is no score, sound editing or anything. It is just spoken word and muffled scream. It can often feel like watching a reel of dailies, though I assume the makers were going for the verite style which I have to admit they pull off to a pretty remarkable degree. There is accounting for angles and camera movement - this is not your conventional found footage - but other than this, it is a very raw experience in terms of composition. Almost no FX were required for what has to be one of the most gruesome films I've ever seen, and the knifeplay can't add up to more than one minute of the runtime, but a truly sinister and hopeless atmosphere is created, making what we watch all the more effective.

Our ring leader Chaos is played with terrifying realism, and at times apparent ease, by Kevin Gage. He is really ballsy with his performance and never once restrains himself or seems like he's even trying. There is a particular shot in which he goes to lug Angelica from the van, and simply grabs her by the back of her jeans and carry her like a bag of groceries. His take on this villain feels authentic, with wavering tempers and eerie coolness. He doesn't feel like a regular guy playing make believe, and I cannot imagine how uncomfortable a shooting experience this must have been for him and his co-stars. Gal pal Daisy feels similarly real as we see her stance and loyalties fluctuate throughout, and we manage to scrape just a sliver of sympathy together for her.

The girls Angelica and Emily (Maya Barovich and Chantal Degroat respectively) are what sell the film in terms of realism. I have often documented my dislike for horror actors who just can't convince me that they are in real pain or terror; there is movie screaming and then there is real life screaming, and the two are very different. Both actresses get to wail and scream and cry their hearts out, and it is their willingness to push their comfort levels and endure snotty noses and coughing dust that makes you engage more than you might with your average genre victim. What I liked the most in this sense - as disgusting as it is - is Degroat's almost lack of reaction when she is murdered. The pain exceeds the human body's capacity, and rather than scream, she just groans and screeches as the life drains out of her. I don't know how, but these actresses managed to deeply understand fear, physical and mental pain and portray them in a disturbingly real way.

Nor does this.

The lack of score where you feel there should be one (I noted a few occasions where any other movie would have obeyed specific musical tropes) manages to tie all the horror together and leave us no escape route. The movie somehow makes good use of the parent characters, by cutting back to them every now and then to give us time to breathe. This was what Craven was going for with the cop duo in his film, and in Chaos you can feel it full force -- it is actually a relief when the horrifically stereotyped black mother starts whining and chatting shit for a minute.

Director DeFalco managed to bag himself actors who were far, far better than his movie required them to be, but generally demonstrates that he does know what he's doing. It's just that he pulled his evil plan off so well that we have nothing to think about except how horrifying all of this is. When it's over you feel zero sense of satisfaction or really any emotion at all. It is a deadening slog of a movie that leaves you drained and no better for having watched it.

I didn't feel that Chaos was a particularly badly made movie the first time I saw it, but it had zero entertainment value in the traditional sense. Even the edgier 'torture porn' like the Saw sequels are exciting and enjoyable in their own funny way, but Chaos is just as bleak and deadpan as it gets. I notice this time around that it is a more competently made picture than I initially gave it credit for, and most of the choices made by the director seem fairly justified. At least up until the final sequence. But I maintain that it is a thoroughly uncomfortable, unsettling movie that has not a drop of fun or relief to offer its audience.