Film Review: Hora (The Whore)
Hora (The Whore)
Directed and written by Reinert Kiil
Starring: Isabel Vibe, Jørgen Langhelle, Kenneth Falkenberg
Review by Marc Patterson
Warning: Hora presents some pretty hardcore, disturbing and fucked up shit. It’s got bits that tonally remind of me of Lucker the Necrophageous, which is perhaps a not so great a comparison beyond the fact that both are products of Belgian filmmakers. Hora shares more in common with Meir Zarchi’s bleak, and arguable masterpiece, I Spit On Your Grave.
Hora is a rape/revenge film of the utmost. From the opening to closing credits this is a pure exploitative and violent love song to Zarchi. For those of you familiar with said rape/revenge film the plot will come as no surprise. Rikke (Vibe) is a writer looking to get away from her boyfriend and family to finish her novel. She rents a cabin in the woods and along the way meets some not so gentlemanly-like boys. Yeah, I’ll stop now. You know how this story will go quite well. Gang rape and bloody revenge ensue. Where Kiil truly takes a sharp divergence from his predecessor is in the revenge. Rikke doesn’t take the time to heal herself and plan too much, but rather goes straight to revenge. With the word “Hora” (Whore) carved into her forehead by her rapists, she launches a full-scale attack fueled by a soul drained of any good, now filled with contempt and hatred.
While there’s no denying that I Spit On Your Grave is easily the most overused comparison of 2010 by any reviewer looking to better explain a rape/revenge film, with Hora Reinert Kiil takes the cake. Hora is literally a total plot – and in some cases a shot for shot – copycat of I Spit On Your Grave. It even includes a timid, socially challenged kid who is forced to rape Rikke. That said, Hora presents some of its own unique material and without question is far more exploitative than I Spit On Your Grave ever thought to be. (Not that this is necessarily a good thing); however, Hora brings some flourishes of its own to the front, which we’ll get to talking about pronto.
Exploitation and style take center stage in Hora, which is easily the biggest difference between the two films. There is a clearly defined difference in narrative voice at play.
Immediately noticeable is that all of the women in the film are good looking, busty, and the camera lets you know that’s all they are really supposed to be. In Hora the camera spends quite a bit of time lingering on shots of Rikke’s breasts and ass, whereas in I Spit On Your Grave the camera remained objective in its POV. As the audience we were brought to our own conclusion and were simply voyeurs watching from the outside. In Hora the camera is telling us it’s okay to ogle, to even enjoy this a little, which I find inherently more disturbing. Kiil even injects a lesbian make-out scene in the beginning just to assure us that this is going to be a more sleazy undertaking.
The men in Hora are all despicable. Even Rikke’s boyfriend, who we never see, but is only a voice on the other end of a cell phone, is a quintessential chauvinistic pig. And this is the reality of the film. Men are sleazy pigs. Women are whores. Simple as that.
To be clear, I’m not going to make like I’m a huge fan of the original I Spit On Your Grave film. I’ve seen it a handful of times, maybe three times tops. I thought it was a good film and made well. I thought it portrayed rape/revenge the way it should be done – in a very painful, hard to watch manner. With Hora, yes, it’s hardcore and at times visceral, but in the deepest part of my gut I’m not feeling it. I really struggle with the rape/revenge “genre” because I think it has so little direction in where it can go, and it’s so important that in these films, where we’re supposed to take it seriously, that the director takes an objective viewpoint allowing the viewer to work their way through the film and draw their own conclusions. That’s just not the case with Hora. Here, because the camera constantly lingers and ogles we’re assured it’s okay to secretly enjoy this, as if we’re getting off on rape fantasy. I’m just not comfortable with it.
Hora mixes in heavy sexuality with violence, blurring the line between the two. This is further emphasized by the strong voice of a man behind the writing. After all, what woman would hang around in a cabin by herself in her bra and underpants after being confronted by a couple of drunk locals who all but said they want to rape you? Would a woman really go around like nothing happened, taking a hot relaxing shower, drinking some wine? Okay, so this isn’t the most intelligent horror film made, and is clearly written by a man, but Kiil knows who his audience is and plays up to them sufficiently enough.
To the technical proficiencies of the film Kiil does resort to playing the now standard tricks of making a modern “grindhouse film” including the use of incomplete reels and scratched frames, but is not consistent in doing so, using these more as a transition tool. Some scenes are presented completely in black & white, others in a slightly desaturated tone and – which I pointed out on another review – isn’t something I find to be effective. It’s a stylistic move made simply for the sake of style, but I’m not buying it. When the narrative is in full force the frames are as crisp and as clean as digital cinematography likes to be, but then we see a digital “cigarette burn” for emphasis or a scratch and are taken out of the moment.
To more of the positive, I really liked how some of the shots are framed. Kiil has a real eye for what will look good. His shots are set up well and he fills the frames, keeping the camera focused on the subject. He additionally makes great use of some mirrors, to include a really cool shot using a rounded security mirror you’d find in any convenience story. The angles are terrific and honestly, this was a wonderful film to watch. He only lets the camera go shaky when using it to effect, though some shots suffer from being under lit. I find it important to mention that the film is technically sound because on premise alone this could be seen as a rather amateurish knock-off effort, and while it certainly leans towards that, Kiil has shown that he has a skilled and capable hand with the camera. I would have just liked to have seen him take a more divergent path than what is essentially his own take on ISOYG.
Filled with stylistic subtleties, Hora is brutal and violent enough to make even the most hardened horror fan wince in pain. To a midnight theater full of drunk and bloodthirtsty horrorphiles Hora will do well, and it is to those fans we recommend this film.
