On November 18, 1978 in Northwest Jungle of Guyana, Rev Jim Jones led his brainwashed followers to death by convincing them to drink a cyanide laced punch and also to kill their children by injecting it. And to top it all off when some people objected and talked about having a right to live his gunmen shot them. In one of the biggest mass suicides in modern history, 910 people were killed. Only a couple dozen or so managed to flee. Cults were always considered evil but it was never so evil as was at that moment. How can a man convince so many adults to kill themselves and their children only Jim Jones could have told us, but he killed himself right after he witnessed 910 deaths. Good riddance though psychology lost a perfect zoo specimen and i guarantee many psychologists/profile makers shed a tear.
Though not to digress, this is a movie review and its about a horror movie which takes its premise from the above real horror event. And fictionalizes it. And with such a horrific background to squeeze energy from one must think half decent movie makers must have done some kind of a job, resulting in a tense, nail biting soul churning horror movie.
As it turns out the first hour is very very good. Its a found footage cum normal narrative movie. Using the best of both worlds it creates a very tense atmosphere which spirals out of control and ends with the gut wrenching mass suicide scene. In this its called “Eden Parish” rather than Jonestown and why director Ti West (The Innkeeper, The House Of The Devil) never uses a inspired by real events signature one will never know. That simple blurb could have risen its horror quotient by miles cos very few, atleast in my city, know about Jonestown Massacre. But still a very well done hour and then it starts regressing. Pity.
The story starts as Patrick a reporter for Investigative journalism company VICE, played by Patrick Audley (Ain’t them Bodies Saints) gets a invite from her sister to visit her at an undisclosed location in a undisclosed African country. She’ s Caroline played by Amy Seimetz ( Upstream Color, You’re Next) who has joined Eden Parish cos “Father” as Jones is referred in this movie helped her recover from her drug addiction. Patrick brings along two of his friends Sam and Jake played by A.J Bowen( You’re Next) and Joe Swanberg(VHS) respectively.
The first red flag is raised when the people who escort them aren’t peaceful hermits but sturdy Africans with guns. They order them to stop filming or else they won’t be admitted inside but Caroline comes to their rescue. She says its ok to film anything, a nice excuse from the makers in my opinion to continue with the found footage technique, but from then on the starts a thrilling ride till minute 60.
Sam and Jake talk with the people of the community as they discover that this heavenly place is for real. The people are happy, working hard to maintain their creations and of the opinion that being away from the big bad influence of Capitalistic USA is a boon. The Father is held in high esteem and everybody has sold their properties and donated everything to this cause. They also have a sparse medical centre which doubles up as birthing centre and playing area for kids. Joe rightly says its not enough for the people around but even the ultra critical journalists are convinced that this a place which they could see people thriving in. And for that they decide its time to interview the big fish “Father” and request Caroline to set them up. And soon they get a positive response and happily prepare for a tumultuous evening.
Some hours later a nervous Sam is ready to interview the big man himself. And when he first arrives with cacophony of claps you get goosebumps. What an entry and what a nice imitation by Gene Jones( The Hateful Eight). The interview doesn’t go as planned obviously as Father answers haphazardly running circles around the questions without tackling it. And it ends with subtle hints of threat which is the second red flag for Sam. As the interview ends and people start singing and dancing, everything explodes as a little girl approaches Sam with a letter which simply says “Save Us”. And with that the merry party turns into motherfuckin hell.
I have read some discussions about the movie and one refrain is that as we all know how this ends Ti should have done something different with the premise. There are many conspiracy theories regarding Jones and he could have integrated that into this and maybe more people could have enjoyed it. But he does bring a topic which is old but horrific nonetheless into younger generation’s consciousness and this cannot be underestimated. And also his writing doesn’t take into account that it’s a 90 minute thing. And the last 30 minutes which should be the strongest are the weakest.
Gene Jones as stated has done tremendous work biting into the meaty personality of Jim Jones. He has very little to do here though cos this movie deals just with the last day of his cult. But 15 minutes of him is worth the ticket. And opposing him is the journalist A.J Bowen. He does a nice turn as a skeptic turned believer turned scared as hell person. These two get the most scope to show their magic. Others are relegated to supporting and do as well as they can. Especially Amy.
Camerawork is good. Beautifully shot with no big set pieces or ultra gory scenes. The suicide scene is pretty well done. Editing could have been better. Many stretches could have been cut down. In my opinion length should be decided by the story rather than being the other way around. Music does its work as well.
All in all a movie which recreates a painful chapter in cult history and without going deep into the why’s makes us wonder “WHAT?”. Is this even possible? Adults not 100, not 200, not 300 but 500+ convinced to commit suicide and murder their children. As per the infamous Jonestown Pre suicide ritual Audio clip only 1, ONE woman intervened and said they have a right to decide what they want to do with their lives, but alas nothing came out of it. Their high and wild leader was a stubborn devil. About 30 minutes later she was dead with many others. 300 among them children. Hope history never repeats itself, though its mankind we are talking about, so shit will always happen.
HighTension Meter: 7.5/10
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