Trash Fire [Horror Movie Review]
Trash Fire begins with the main character stating, to his inattentive therapist, that he wanted to wait for his parents to die before he killed himself. The therapist, Florence, detects hostility from Owen, and he returns her astute observation with a prompt "Go fuck yourself." Already, we have sown the seeds for a family relationship dramedy with, well, a bitter twist.
After a quaint anniversary dinner where Owen's girlfriend, Isabel, states that she feels their three-year relationship is unstable, Owen, ever the kind soul, informs her that she is sexual unattractive when she expresses dissent. Upon looking at his visage, Isabel responds promptly by heading out, and Owen vomits in the bathroom because he suffers from bulimia. He returns home to find the key to their shared apartment no longer works, but after having a seizure, Isabel takes him in again.
The film sets up its premise well; for example, his fear when he hears the smoke detector beeping sets up his past childhood trauma. As well as that, Owen is a great character in that he's quite terrible, yet one cannot help but pity his losing struggle against his inner demons, especially given his
turbulent past. Still, he comes across as needlessly caustic in many scenes, but this only makes the death knell for the relationship more interesting, especially when he shows glimmers of amiability that show what Isabel might have seen in him when she met him. There's good framing and mirroring that starts with, of all things, vomit. Owen's bulimic episodes mirror Isabel's morning sickness so when she begins feeling ill, one first thinks the person in the stall is Owen. True to its slow-burn nature, the film also gives nods to Psycho, slyly referencing the Bates-as-Mother silhouette in the window, as well as the famous shower scene.
Essentially, Owen, at his pregnant girlfriend's request, seeks to reconnect with his Grandmother Violet and his sister Pearl, the latter whom he abandoned on the side of the road and left to his cruel grandmother. Pearl starts off as a hidden character, barred from the outside world, and her hobbies include making glass earrings and masturbating outside of women's windows. Given this and Grandmother's well-acted callous flippancy, Owen and Isabel are in for the time of their life. Ultimately, as ideal as mending old wounds sounds, some scars are best left untouched. As well as that, with Pearl's sexual fixation on Isabel and the family's controlling, religious overtones (Isabel is often accosted for having a child out of wedlock), the theme of repression comes through, much like how Owen's attempts to forget his past backfire and cause physical harm.
The strongest performances are from Angela Trimbur and Fionnula Flanagan (The Others), Isabel and Grandmother Violet, respectively. Also, I loved the ending! This movie isn't for everyone, but if you enjoy dark humor and family-oriented horror, give this one a try.