Adonis Complex: A Terrifying Look into the Modern Day Acceptance of Wild Practices
Adonis Complex will put you on the edge of your seat for 75 straight minutes. When the credits rolled, I was left completely unsettled in the greatest way possible. Watching this movie put me in a symbiotic state of perplexity and anticipation. Adonis Complex is a visceral experience of unease mixed with exhilaration that serves as the perfect date night scary movie. It harps on an acceptance of once uncommon practices, like extreme workout routines and sleeping at a strangers home, to paint an image that will stick with you for a long time. The experience this movie creates is undeniable, and so is the beauty of the film-making. The contrast between the beauty of the images and the terror of the story make for a truly unique movie-going event.
The story begins when Avery and Sam show up to what seems like a relatively normal lake house rental property reserved under a service that very much resembles Airbnb. They are to be joined by the mutual friends Cory and Becca for a weekend of lake fun. Quickly into the film, you can tell that Avery and Sam have a playful but complicated past that comes with any platonic relationship between a beautiful girl and (sorry Jeph) a pretty normal looking guy. There is an obvious friend-zone vibe going on. We also get a peak into a traumatic event that happened between them that is never fully explained or explored. Aside from their relationship, there is a hyper awareness that something is terribly off from the very beginning. This is primarily created by the actions of the energetic, and socially unaware phycho Tad, who owns the vacation home and seems to be entirely too present. As the weekend proceeds, the tension builds and you physically move closer and closer to the edge of your seat.
Adonis Complex is Chad Werner’s debut film which is hard to believe considering the ambition and complexity he shows. The beauty of this movie is in the suspense. And the suspense is created through a multitude of different techniques including the movement and positioning of the camera, the loud and beautiful score, and the clever use of a creepy DVD about Greek Mythology that serves as an excellent way to segment the story. A few shots that stuck out to me was the way that he sets the scene of the interior and exterior of the lake house through slow panoramic views . The house is alive in this movie and plays a major role which is made possible through this exposition. The slowness at which the camera moves builds a sense of paranoia that lasts. Chad also invokes almost a Paranormal Activity vibe with overhead shots of Sam and “Ave” in their rooms at the lake. This angle is uncomfortable and captures the most terrifying scene in the movie to me personally. Not all of the genius is in the horror. Views of Becca and Cory driving to the lake house into the sunset are straight up beautiful and don’t resemble images that I can recall from any other movie I have seen before.
In addition the masterful camerawork, the music also plays a major part of the story. The beautiful choral music serves to crescendo or transition a scene, while the delicate folk of Brody Price brings a temporal comfort. Every visceral moment is accentuated by the bold score, or in some moments the lack thereof. The creepy DVD scenes segment the story in a way that provides a sense of eerie convoluted context.
Aside from the beautiful film-making, Adonis Complex is a good movie because it uses our acceptance of once unique practices that have become commonplace to create terror. Viral workout routines and fad diets have been interwoven into the societal norm but what happens when these practices go too far? Getting into a random person’s car has become the ideal way to travel. Staying at a random person’s house has become the ideal way to vacation. But what happens when these practices become so commonplace, you don’t question them anymore? I found myself extremely frustrated at the main characters in this film for continuing to be in the presence of the absurdly creepy host. Is this behavior really that weird though? He seemed normal enough. You don’t really want to judge a book by the cover. Adonis Complex puts the reservations you have regarding these activities that you have buried, into an extremely bright red light. After this movie, you are going to rethink subscribing to the next “innovative” workout routine or booking your house on your next vacation, and perhaps that is a good thing.
