The Kids Are Not Alright

Spontaneous (2020) Dir. Brian Duffield

When high school students mysteriously start spontaneously exploding, teenagers Mara and Dylan decide to stop postponing their life plans and live in the moment.

“At least you can’t say: “things were so much harder in my day.”” - Mara

“You’re right. You have it way worse.” - Angela (Mara’s Mum)

Back in 2015 The AV Club, in an article by Noel Murray, posited the start of a new trend in horror - the age of unbeatable horror. It drew a link between The Babadook and It Follows as having horror antagonists you don’t defeat, but just learn to manage.

“That’s what’s so fascinating about The Babadook and It Follows. Both are bone-chilling, but they’re also instructive about how to cope with the impossible. At times of growing despair, people like to go to the movies to escape — and here are two films saying, essentially, that some things are inescapable, and that we have to learn to live with them.” - Noel Murray

Eight years later, I think it’s fair to say there was something in this. Let’s call it the era of Enduring Nihilism. Or Generational Nihilism? This has actually been present in a lot of YA and teen pop culture for a while now, but I think the general snobbishness towards these has let it go under the radar.

Nihilism is no stranger to horror of course. This is the genre that Lovecraft worked in. And we’ve also had the ironic, detached nihilism of Gen X/Millennials in the Scream years. But there’s something different about this new brand of nihilism. This isn’t ironic, or the “We’re Already Dead” edgelord doomer-ism of Zack Synder. This is an almost zen-like acceptance of: the evil thing is here/coming, we are powerless to stop it, but we can still live kind, loving, and good lives anyway.

Spontaneous really took me by surprise. It came out in the height of the pandemic, and had an awful poster, so I think a lot of people missed it when it first came out. I’d highly recommend circling back and giving it a watch.

While you can make a case that the film is largely about teenagers living under the horrific shadow of school shootings, insufficiently stringent gun laws, and a political climate that lacks the motivation to do anything about it - the film is arguably at it’s best when the metaphor is less tangible. There are any number of legitimate reasons for Gen Z to be terrified about the world and their future in it: Climate catastrophe, rising transphobia, smart phone induced anxiety, growing economic inequality and uncertainty… If you try to tie the combusting teens down to one specific issue, the conceit can start unravelling in your hands. There is no “solution” to the events of Spontaneous, but there are genuine, real world ways to solve/mitigate some of these issues - so a one-to-one comparison doesn’t track.

Amid the allegories though, we have a central love story that needs to work and I think Katherine Langford and Charlie Plummer nail it. The ET/Elliott scene was a delight and they have a natural, easy chemistry throughout that carries you through a film that could easily be unrelentingly bleak. Tonally, we’re looking at Easy A with gore. 

Structurally speaking, this film is a lot more atypical and indie-spirited than it appears at first glance. Another version of this film might have built to a moment that happens at the end of the second act and stopped there. But this has an extra half hour that deals with the aftermath of that moment. Where most films might have a climatic, cathartic battle or resolution, Spontaneous just sits with the trauma for a while. I assume, having not read the book, that’s partly due to the source material, but I still think it’s a strong choice that another adaptation wouldn’t have kept. 

The typical, expected beats of a high school rom com aren’t here either. We have no mean clique, no second act obstacle to overcome, no jealous friends… These kids have no time for that. Instead, there’s a sort of Class Solidarity. They all recognise they’re in the same boat and their energy is better spent elsewhere.

Putting Sufjan Stevens at the end is cheating though. You had my tears already, there’s no need for that sort of tearjerk-warfare Spontaneous.

Where can I watch it in the UK?

You can rent it for £0.99 or buy it for £5.99 on Amazon/Apple.

Pairs well with

I think a good double bill would be with The Falling (2014, dir. Carol Morley, available to stream for free on Shudder and BFI Player). This has a slight “we have Picnic at Hanging Rock at home” reputation which I think is unfair.

It’s a beautiful piece of work, has an excellent soundtrack by Tracey Thorn, and it has Arya Stark and Florence Pugh in it. What more could you really want?

The unexplained student outbreak here is a mysterious fainting epidemic that may or may not be an elaborate hoax. It’s a haunting film that only grows in power the more time you sit with it.

Further Reading

• That AV Club article about unbeatable horror.
• Here’s a college student talking about Optimistic Nihilism and the CoreCore trend.

Other Recommendations

• Brian Duffield’s latest film - No One Will Save You (an alien home invasion film) is streaming on Disney+ now. It’s fine. The opening 20 minutes or so are more impressive than the rest. Kaitlyn Dever is great though.
• Looking for some horror books to read this month? This is a decent list of authors/books to look out for.