Horror Review: Censor (2021)
At a time when the UK declared war on gory horror movies, Enid works as a censor, deciding what the viewing public can handle. Enid has experienced some real horror in her life - her sister Nina mysteriously disappeared when they were children. To make matters worse, she doesn't even remember exactly what happened. So, when one day she sees a movie creepily similar to what little she does remember, she becomes obsessed with finding its creator...
Warning: this review contains SPOILERS.
We really wanted to like this way more than we did. It's like it had 3 different movies inside it:
- a standard mystery with an unreliable narrator
- a mystery with a surreal twist
- a gory satire about all the moralising surrounding horror movies
Judging by the ending, the last one was what the filmmakers really cared about. In a standard horror, Enid's final descent into madness would've been terrifying - here, it was something out of Tucker and Dale VS Evil. That wouldn't have been a problem if Censor had been equally humorous from the start. However, it was terribly serious right until Enid killed the actor playing Beastman and everyone lost it. Yes, the reminders of the UK's moral panic looked ridiculous, but everything was played so, so straight. Enid's concerns about protecting the people from fake blood and fake violence could've been comical if the way the character was acted or the way those scenes were filmed had been slightly different. Yet, something just kept this from really feeling like a satire. The fact that Doug, the producer of Frederick North's movies, was a creep and that his death was an accident due to Enid defending herself didn't help. Maybe if there'd been some misunderstanding and she had freaked out and killed him, the ending would've seemed less abrupt and it might've been easier to enjoy the movie as nothing but pure satire. Instead, everything seemed to point to option 2 (a mystery with a surreal twist) until near the end.
Enid's work was of course crucial for the plot. Her being a censor was important. However, it also made her someone who had spent years watching horror movies daily before she lost her grip on reality and killed two people with an axe. That kinda undermined the movie's mockery of people's concerns about the effects of horror movies on those who watch them. On the contrary, Enid would've been a good example of desensitisation due to repeated exposure to extreme violence. If North's movie were in any way accurate, Enid would've already been a murderer before she became a censor. However, Censor never revealed Nina's true fate. And then there was the fact that Enid's parents didn't act like she had killed her own sister. The only mystery was her amnesia, but it's crazy to think that no one would've found the body. Maybe if Don't Go in the Church had shown "Enid" pushing "Nina" into a well or something more feasible. Or North could've been less cryptic and said more about the real case that had inspired him. But really, we think that Enid being on good terms with her parents was the biggest problem. Remove that and the situation with Nina would've been way more ambiguous.
As for some standard plot issues - how difficult would've been for Enid to find information on Alice? No, there was no Google back then, but maybe she could've visited some more video stores. Horror movies weren't entirely banned after all. By the way, it was unclear exactly how much Enid and the other censors were cutting from the movies. While we think it's ridiculous to censor something meant for adults, they seemed to allow a surprising amount of gore. Also, Frederick North's movies didn't even look that crazy when compared to some of the other snippets shown in the movie. Certainly not as disturbing as real-life video nasty Deranged (at least judging by its description), which was mentioned here as the possible inspiration for a brutal murder. Of course, the fact that it was itself based on the real crimes of serial killer Ed Gein, reinforced North's statement that he didn't really create horror. Unfortunately, these connections didn't make this movie more enjoyable. We got it - we just didn't love it.
In the end, Censor (2021) wasn't scary and the mystery it kept teasing the audience with went nowhere. It was also oddly humourless. This really needed more humour. We didn't know about the UK's war on horror, though, so at least we learned something new.