Few horror films are positioned by film critics as a significant and significant event in the history of the horror genre and underground film art in general. Such a film work is the author's brainchild of Edmund Elias Meridge, which he showed the world in 1990. The picture in the national box office is called "Generated." It is rather difficult to determine its genre affiliation unambiguously, because the author, when creating the project, deliberately avoided all kinds of classifications and taxonomies. Not surprisingly, it is very difficult for the viewer to accept, and for critics to interpret the semantic background of the bichromic, gloomy and sinister narrative generated by Meridge. The Begotten movie has an IMDb rating of 5.90.
Idea development
Edmund Meridge in the film "Generated" appeared in several roles: as a producer, screenwriter, director and cameraman. In 1984, starting to create his own project, he owned the small company Theatreofmaterial, specializing in experimental productions in New York theaters. Initially, Merge wanted to realize his plan in the format of a theatrical dance number and present it at the Lincoln Center, but later he decided to film the action, turning the plan into a full-length film.
At that time, Edmunt was barely 20 years old, he fueled his creative inspiration with the ideas and theories of A. Artaud and F. Nietzsche, which, according to the director, were not fully reflected in cinema. According to the prominent critic Eric D. Snyder, the creation of the 1990 masterpiece by Meridge was inspired by the film “The Eraserhead” by David Lynch, which also exaggerates religious themes and several themes from Slavic and Christian mythology.
History of creation
According to reviews, Begotten is extravagant due to the irrational perception and non-trivial interpretation of everything that happens in it. The film strikes the audience with obsessive sophistication, is perceived as a gloomy phantasmagoria. The timing of the tape is 72 minutes, film experts tend to compare this period of time with endless heartbreaking agony.
In general, Edmund Meridge worked on the creation of horror for more than three years, and the shooting process took place in various places. The author personally developed all the special effects of his brainchild, without using computer technology. He involved almost all the employees of his company. People of different professions were united by one thing: they knew how to express emotions without dialogue. During the preparatory phase, all participants in the filming had to perform a certain sequence of breathing exercises, which brought them to panic tantrum, in order to analyze the experience and try to transfer it from the screen to the viewer.
In a creative tandem with like-minded people
Edmund wrote the script for the film "Generated" in solitude, paying close attention to phenomena that have an ambiguous, dual meaning, frightening him. But at the final stages of writing, the director involved the entire crew in editing the text. This happened as follows: Meridge recited the written lines, becoming like a poet, and then they discussed with the creative like-minded people what they read, focusing attention on individual details.
Rehearsals lasted for four months, from the beginning of winter to early spring. As soon as it got warm, all the tests took place exclusively in nature, which affected the general creative atmosphere and led to changes in the previously approved scenario.
Short storyline
The Begotten film begins with an episode set in a remote wilderness in a tiny, abandoned shack. God makes a sophisticated attempt at suicide, wounds his gut and dies, bleeding. Mother Earth appears from under his body, which, having fertilized itself with the seed of God, becomes pregnant and goes home. After she gives birth to a Son, a crippled, inferior creature, which she hastily drags along with herself on a rope. Nomads nomads who burn the Son of the Earth find the individual, but Mother resurrects the creation, trying to console him.
At this time, a vagabond tribe, most likely belonging to one of the ancient mystical cults, returns, tormenting the Earth, killing it, as well as the Son mourning the lifeless body of Mother. After the two of them are dismembered and buried, the place of the grave in an instant is covered with grass and flowers. The final shots of the film "Generated" (1990) show the public Mother and Son wandering through the woods, hinting at their next resurrection.
Surrealism without absurdity
Begotten reviews of movie experts are often compared with the early creations of surrealists, using, like Merge, a lot of allusions and paradoxical combinations of forms. At the same time, all referees emphasize the absence of absurdity inherent in the work of adherents of this trend in art. Perhaps this comparison is due to poor readability of the sequence of events, the almost complete absence of cause-effect relationships. It follows from the principle of chronicle, the use of parataxis, a simple connective connection without pretexts and particles. The events in the movie seem to be separated by a comma, and the author-director practically does not think about their compatibility or semantic conductivity. But cynical horror appraisers should consider that experimental cinema should be just that. The chronicle in it only records events, so it seems that the viewer is watching the action of a real pagan cult. It is not surprising that many authors note the presence of pagan rhetoric in the picture, since the motives for fertilizing the Earth with the seed of God, the scenes of ritual burning and subsequent resurrection are directly related to the mythology of different cultures.
Author's style of shooting
Before starting to create the film “Generated” (1990), Merge decided on the shooting style and color scheme of the project. The picture was shot on black and white 16 mm film with an Arriflex camera. The director deliberately processed some of the shots with sandpaper to give them an old, spoiled look. Subsequently, he managed to re-photograph each frame, subjecting it to filtering and visual processing. He spent almost 10 hours to create a minute of tape time, as a result, there are no half-tones in the film, only cardinally white and black.
The lack of dialogue, as critics say in reviews of Begotten, did not prevent the creator from uncompromisingly and rigidly conveying the feelings and emotions of the characters. The film is notable for the complete absence of musical accompaniment. Instead of musical compositions, the action is accompanied by sounds of wildlife like trills of crickets, etc. Separate episodes were shot in such a way that the beholder cannot understand where the bottom is, where is the top, or what time of day is day or night.
The main tasks and their solution
All of the above tricks were aimed at implementing clearly defined tasks that Edmund Meridge set for himself before starting work. The author wanted the project to be similar to films of the 20s, a cinematic artifact, the remnant of a culture with rituals and customs that irrevocably sunk into oblivion.
Begotten in the reviews is described as a film made for the viewer with a non-standard way of thinking and exquisite addictions in cinema. Therefore, the author created it, like any arthouse project, which can be interpreted in different ways, since it is not a reflection of reality and truly existing phenomena. But from this, the artistic value and depth of the components are not lost. The picture is contradictory in its complexity, but the fact that it is a masterpiece is not subject to any doubt.
Interpretations
The author of the film himself in his statements repeatedly tried to explain the true intent of The Generated. He identified his project with a cocoon of archetypal materials that challenge the rational and moral structure of the picture. The tape in his understanding is a launching pad for the audience’s imagination and the minds of the watchers.
The heroes of the film (nomad), according to the director, are nothing more than a metaphor for the forces that dominate modern society, capable of deciding the fate of mankind. And he tried to imagine life as a rebirth or imminent catastrophe, to which the style of human interaction with nature can lead.
Acting Ensemble
In addition to creative like-minded people who are employees of Theatreofmaterial, professional actors directly participated in the production of the picture. For example, Brian Salzberg, who played the role of God killing himself at the beginning of the tape, after participating in the film, Meridge did not continue his film career, did not star in any other film.
One of the participants in the casting of the pilot project continued his collaboration with the director. It was Stephen Charles Barry, who played the Son of God, who later starred in the short film "The Homon of the Birds of the Sky," positioned by Merge as a sequel to The Generated.
The unenviable fate in building an acting career befell the performer of the role of Mother Earth. Donna Dempsey did not further replenish her track record. Her filmography contains only one picture, which remains the extravagant brainchild of Edmund Meridge.
Criticism of professionals
Despite their eccentricity, the picture was positively received by critics, some of them were inclined to consider the work of Meridge as one of the ten most important films of our time. "Generated" was included in the top ten films of 1990. The attention of cinema experts was riveted to a bizarre abstraction in the narrative of the tape, which, according to their opinion, causes both discomfort and attraction due to the strange combination of lyricism, passion and ambiguity of metaphors. Also, the manner of shooting, the use of oblique camera angles, the successful distribution of chiaroscuro, and the unique frame processing technique were highly noted. But the highest praise from professionals has received many options for interpretation of the plot.
Limitations
With all these advantages, the picture was banned for showing in some countries, for example, in Singapore, due to the excessive cruelty of individual scenes. Naturally, there are so many people, so many opinions. Perhaps, for many ordinary people, the picture may seem like a disgusting low-grade trash created by insanity. Only one thing can be said: after watching it, not a single spectator will remain indifferent. But when you are about to start watching, you should take into account officially unconfirmed statistics, stating that after this film, almost 400 people attempted suicide. Some experts insist on the presence of something psychedelic in the tape that has a detrimental effect on the human psyche.
References to a film in art
One of the Swedish Katatonia bands, considered the leader in death doom metal, placed the beginning scene of Begotten on the cover of her album Sounds of Decay.
Seven years after the premiere of the film, Meridge was invited as the director of the music video for the rock band Marilyn Manson to Cryptorchid. In the process of creating the video, several scenes from the movie “Generated” were used. Another directorial work of Edmund Elias, created in 1996, is a clip of the musical composition Antichrist Superstar. It was presented to the public only after 14 years - in 2010.
Separate scenes from the provocative film were also used by a German darkwave band called Sopor Aeternus in the video for the song Penance and Pain.
At the beginning and end of the musical composition Stem of the Los Angeles metal band Static-X, sound cuts from the film are presented.