It Wants a Story With an Ending

Resolution (2012) Dir. Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead

After receiving a disturbing video, Michael decides to visit his drug-addicted friend Chris at a remote cabin, where he attempts to help him get clean. But something else is at the cabin. Something with an interest in stories. 

“The people come here, Michael, to look for aliens, ghosts, and cults, and gateways to hell, secret military bases looking into other dimensions. I think, if there IS something, it is none of these things - or perhaps all of them.” - Byron

If you’ve a passing interest in independent horror, you’ll most likely have come across Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead. Their unique blend of naturalistic, mumblecore filmmaking mixed with heady, cosmic horror has rightfully earned them a reputation as creators to keep an eye on. Their success has even found them now working on a couple of Marvel TV shows (Moon Knight and Loki). Luckily, that doesn’t seem to have slowed them down from producing their own work and I’m hoping things remain that way.

“In horror, in genre films, the assumption is more just a straight entertainment film. But you can Trojan-horse great relationships and universal themes into them. So you can actually come out with a more populist view, while also making something substantive.” - Aaron Moorhead

Resolution, their first film, is principally about two best friends who no longer understand each other. Peter Cilella and Vinny Curran do a good job of selling the protagonists’ fractured friendship and keep everything grounded as the film starts laying on meta-commentary and cosmic horror concepts.

Of course, any hint cosmic horror will draw comparisons to Lovecraft, but Benson notes:

“I didn’t know who H.P. Lovecraft was. But I knew if you slowly realize that whatever this antagonist is, it’s something so old that it predates other mythologies of monsters, that idea got under my skin. The idea that you kind of feel like you’re sitting in the presence of some really ancient evil. That was a scary idea.” - Justin Benson

When the horror creeps in, it can feel like the film is throwing as many horror clichés at the screen to see what will stick. We have: missing research students, a diary about telekinesis, creepy photos, haunted cabins, cults, found footage, cave drawings… Each new trope suggesting a different movie. A different path. That’s by design. It’s similar to the scene in Cabin in the Woods where the characters discover a room of horror trinkets and unwittingly find themselves deciding their own fates.

The film’s title has a double meaning of course - it is about the promises we make to ourselves and to others - the resolve to quit drug abuse, and it’s about endings. Resolution is a film in search of an ending and so is the entity that is stalking Michael and Chris. 

Is the entity the filmmakers themselves? Is it us? The movie playfully juggles these questions and asks us what ending we would find most satisfying. It’s a film about stories and what we tell ourselves or our loved ones to get through the day. Michael and Chris are both lying about how scary they find life and if it was left to them to decide, they would have ended the story having learned nothing. About each other or themselves. Because that’s often how life works. We don’t always learn lessons, and if we do, we repeat the same mistakes again and again. That’s entirely unsatisfying as a story. So the entity forces them into trying something else.

Benson and Moorhead’s films gleefully refuse to stick to any specific genre. Their follow-up, 2014’s Spring (highly recommended) is sort of Before Sunrise meets a creature feature, but that barely addresses the ways in which it continually tries to throw the viewer off the scent. Their interest in crafting cosmic horror that is both all-powerful and incomprehensible, but that doesn’t succumb to the nihilism of Lovecraft is always fascinating. I think the key is that they invest a lot of effort in developing the central two characters in each of their films.

There are a lot of really inventive, low-budget “mumblegore” horrors out there that I’d recommend (She Dies Tomorrow, After Midnight, The Battery, Pod, Creep, Baghead, early Ti West films etc.) but I think Resolution is a perfect place to start.

“Can we try it another way?” - Michael

Where can I watch it in the UK?

An unfortunate example of how streaming can limit our cinematic experiences, Resolution is not available to legitimately stream anywhere. You can buy a physical dvd/blu ray but even those are limited. Someone has made it available to watch on Youtube but I’m not sure how long that link will last.

Pairs well with

If you’d like to find out what happened to the characters in Resolution, they make a brief appearance in Benson and Moorhead’s third film, The Endless (2017, dir. Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead, available to stream for free on Arrow or to rent for £1.99 on YouTube/Google).

The Endless picks up a lot of the thematic threads that are introduced in Resolution, by exploring the cult that we only see a minor glimpse of in the first film. It’s a more assured and polished entry where the writer/director duo, at the height of their powers, get to really indulge their ambition. 

Further Reading

• Evolution of Horror discuss both Resolution and The Endless in this episode from their Aliens season.
• An interview with Benson and Moorhead about the importance of time in their films.
• A Script Apart episode with Benson and Moorhead discussing their latest film: Something in the Dirt.

Other Recommendations

• Relatedly, Benson and Moorhead recommend some of their favourite Arrow films which make for a pretty good week of movie watching.
• I was curious if there were any vintage Vincent Price narrated spooky stories around on YouTube and there absolutely are. If you’re in the market for Vincent Price audio, this 11 hour Tales of Horror compilation has you covered.

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to those of you who have paid for your subscription to this substack. I really appreciate the support!