In 2005 director Shinya Tsukamoto was given the opportunity to make a 25-minute short film for the compilation entitled “Digital Short Films by Three Filmmakers 2005” which would open the 2005 Jeonju Film Festival in South Korea. The result was the short version of Haze – a film that presents a vision of Hell which could be described as a compilation of individual nightmares played out within the confines of an oppressive concrete cavern. The film was extended to 49 minutes for a theatrical release called the “long version”.
Although the film’s premise is quite simple, basically consisting of a man trapped in a strange place living out scenarios that depict basic primal fears, there is also a whole other part of the story involving his personal life that’s never quite clear. The one thing that is made clear is that the situation in the cavern is directly related to the direction his life has turned recently. There’s nothing quite like a trip through Hell to make you appreciate life.
Shinya Tsukamoto’s character wakes up in a dark cramped space with no idea how he got there or what he was doing before he lost consciousness. Once he realizes he’s trapped we see him being dragged down a dark corridor by an unseen force. We get a flash of a shadowy figure and suddenly we hear a sickening thud and blood gushes down his forehead. A bloody wound also opens up on his side. When he sees this, he begins to scream in terror. This 2+ minute opening sequence not only sets the tone for the rest of the film, but includes several pieces to the puzzle that will become only slightly clearer toward the end.
Waking up in a completely new area, a recurring theme throughout his entrapment, the man finds himself lying down in a very tight area between two cement walls with barely enough space to crawl in any direction. This scene is sure to give even mild claustrophobics the heebie jeebies.
After a few minutes of wiggling and crawling between the walls, the film cuts to an entirely new scenario. He is now wedged tightly between two walls with his teeth wrapped around a metal pipe. He is stuck standing on the very tips of his toes so he can’t relax. The only way to escape is to drag his teeth across the pipe until he reaches the end, and of course this entire process is accompanied by an insidious screeching noise and his own guttural screams.
The man continues on through various painful and unnerving scenes until he comes across an injured woman (Kaori Fujii) lying amongst various dismembered body parts and other decaying human debris. Together they discuss their situation and try to remember important moments from their previous lives that may have led them there. She wants him to escape with her but he’s hesitant and scared to try, thinking that even if they escape there’s nothing great waiting for them on the other side. It’s a curious sentiment given everything he’s been through up to that point, but one that goes a long way toward explaining his current mental state. Eventually they decide to attempt escape together, with an unseen monster looming right behind them the entire time.
Haze does a great job of portraying basic primal fears such as claustrophobia, teeth pain, and bodily restriction. It brings feelings to the surface that most of us only experience in our worst nightmares. Personally I’m not particularly claustrophobic in general but the idea of being stuck between two huge slabs of concrete without having a full a range of motion did end up giving me the creeps on some level. Chances are just about anyone can find a scene or two in Haze that makes them at least a little uncomfortable, if not completely mortified. And frankly that’s a welcome change from most horror movies released nowadays.
Even though it’s a relatively short movie with a simple premise, Haze leaves the viewer with more questions than it answers. In the last few minutes we’re presented a flurry of scenes which can be interpreted in many different ways, none of which are more or less valid than the next. It’s up to each person to come up with their own version of events. I think that’s my favorite aspect of the movie. Long after any fear wears off you’ll still be trying to piece together little details that make the story a little bit clearer. Judging from message boards people have their own theories ranging anywhere from simplistic analysis of scenes to wildly intricate sub-plots that were never even hinted at within the film itself. In the end we’ll probably never know who’s right, but personally I think it’s pretty cool when a film makes people think about it that much beyond the final credits.
Tags
