REPULSION (1965)
d: Roman Polanski

My viewing seems to be unintentionally stuck in the mid-1960s this week. The Addams Family is from 1964, and ALPHAVILLE, The Avengers and now REPULSION from 1965. I didn't mean for this to happen, but now that it has I may follow the trend for a while.

I've seen REPULSION three times in the last 3 years, and I'm not sure I have formed an opinion about it yet. Polanski himself calls it a "psychological horror film." If REPULSION is psychological, what is its thesis? Where is the analysis of the workings of the characters' minds? The film really doesn't offer that - REPULSION is more of a psychological deposition - we are given the facts of the case, not a conjecture as to the motives.

What makes REPULSION remarkable is the perspective from which the facts are presented. Any time we are alone with the central character, we are essentially confined to her subjective experience, seeing and feeling the world as she does, delusions and all. In keeping with that element of 60s film attitude that is sometimes called nihilistic, when normal reality is portrayed, it isn't made to seem terribly inviting.

Along with THE HAUNTING, CARNIVAL OF SOULS, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and Polanski's own ROSEMARY'S BABY, REPULSION is one of the creepiest and scariest horror films of the 1960s. The film's use of sound and silence is flawless.