Loosely translated to rats nest, Razzennest is unlike your typical horror flick. Refusing to be defined, this arthouse take on the genre offers many layers of meaning to unpack.
The premise, an ‘audio commentary’ on a visual art film from director, Manus Oosthuizen, who (along with members of the crew), sit down with film critic, Babette Cruickshank (Sophie Kathleen Kozeluh), to chat about the film in a quiet studio on a Sunday. The visual imagery plays as we listen to the interview develop. Twists and turns reveal more about the people involved in the making of the film and the locations steeped in a horrific history, featured in the images on screen.
The collection of images plays throughout the feature-length film, running for 84 minutes.
At first, it may be difficult to pair the visuals with the audio interview, but after the first 20 minutes or so, it is clear that the two reflect and enhance each other. The images, some still, some moving, capture Oosthuizen’s vision of Austria from 1618 to 1648 during a 30-year war between Roman Catholics and Protestants. Initially the images seem quiet, isolating, and empty. There are many Christian images of crosses, religious figurines, and abandoned houses, dead and decaying terrains.
The absence of an active war in the film is addressed by Cruickshank, to which Oosthuizen replies, “I refuse to show the thing I want to address”. What is not visually shown in the film is the most significant (and vile) of what had taken place. The imagery remains calm yet unsettling.
There are no people, only those that are heard commentating on the imagery. Again, this discussion lasts for about 20 minutes before things begin to significantly shift in the recording studio. The camera man, who spent time shooting the footage in the remote location, speaking to Cruickshank in the studio, becomes ill. He vomits what the others assume is… black clay?
Razzennest refuses to be defined. It is self-referential and, at times, cheeky. Banter between filmmaker, Oosthuizen and critic, Cruickshank, throw around comparisons to The Blair Witch Project (‘without the witch’) and many other big players in the genre.
Both Oosthuizen and Razzennest defy being categorised or canonised. It is made pretty darn clear throughout the audio commentary, as Oosthuizen becomes more and more agitated – especially when it is suggested that the film may be a ‘folk horror’ film.
In the face of being abused by a filmmaker who has a strong unwavering vision, the critic maintains politeness and interest in the film, one that has many layers of complexity. It is a disturbing confrontation with war, with religion, and the despair that is left behind. Razzennest is more difficult to hear than it is to watch, however, the two components work together in a unique way, to tell a story some may find hard to digest.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Razzennest screens as a part of A Night of Horror International Film Festival, at Dendy Newtown in Sydney.
For tickets and more details head here: https://www.dendy.com.au/events/a-night-of-horror-international-film-festival
Razzennest screens with Walla (Dir: Jamie Gower/US/4 min) at 9pm on Monday 17 October 2022.
