Behind the Wall (2008) - 2/4

The ghost-story horror film nearly always has at its root the notion of trauma. Despite there being no credited scientific evidence for the existence of ghosts, there has always been a consensus among spiritualists and paranormal investigators that a ghost is present only at the site of trauma. Some event must have precipitated the lingering spiritual energies. This is especially true in the case of malevolent spiritual energies. This bias is a Platonic one. Because Plato thought reality is structured by the realization of intellectual forms in a physical world, he thought all similar structures are the product of a single form. So for Plato the right order of the mind, the right order of society, and the right order of the material world are all a product of a single form. Plato's holism suggests that whatever is capable of causing disorder on a psychological level is thus capable of causing disorder on other levels. As a psychological trauma is capable of causing disorder of the mind, a sufficiently traumatic incident is thus capable of causing metaphysical disorder. This metaphysical disorder, the imbalance in physical reality, is manifested as or perhaps just is the ghost. The solution of many ghost movies is thus to uncover the source of the trauma. Psychoanalysis prescribes the uncovering of a trauma's source in order to restore psychological balance. So the Platonic bias extends this psycholanalytic hypothesis to the metaphysical order. The ghost, which is the metaphysical disorder, can only be eliminated by uncovering the trauma's source. Either the uncovering of the trauma's source is itself the solution or it is co-extensive with the solution. In The Legend of Hell House, for instance, the discovery of the true source of the trauma behind the haunting and the solution to the haunting occur at the same time. Opening the lead door and discovering the short body of Belasco occur together. They had to occur at the same time. They are thus co-extensive. This is the way narrative can distinguish the tasks of discovery and solution, though they are formally the same task of restoring balance.

Behind the Wall is a classical ghost movie. It has the malevolent ghost; it has the trauma that caused the ghost; it has the unerring flow toward the discovery of the trauma and with that the elimination of the ghost. There is in fact more than one trauma in Behind the Wall. The first trauma is the cause of the ghost and the second is caused by the ghost when it murders a woman. The first trauma causes the metaphysical disorder of the haunting and psychological imbalance in retired priest Father Hendry (Lawrence Dane). The second trauma causes social disorder and psychological imbalance in the murdered woman's daughter Katelyn (Lindy Booth). Katelyn lived with her parents in the town lighthouse. One night her mother was brutally murdered and her father convicted of the murder. After years away, she is summoned back to the town by Father Hendry. The town's deputy mayor (James Thomas) and a banker (Brad HOdder) from New York are turning the long-abandoned lighthouse into a tourist attraction to earn money for the economically challenged town. Fearing that probing the lighthouse will aggitate the site of trauma, Hendry requests the help of Katelyn to stop the work. As Hendry's fears are confirmed and the ghost begins killing again, Hendry and Katelyn are both led on the painful path toward uncovering the source of both traumata.

As is often the case with a ghost movie, the uncovering of the trauma is both anticlimactic and fascinating. In Hell House, for instance, the trauma could be summed up as an extreme case of 'Little Man Syndrome.' On the one hand, it's silly that so much horror could be the product of one man's insecurity about his short legs. On the other hand, it's revealing of human psychology. Both the cause and the effects of the trauma are revealing. That we are able to accept that a man's shortness can lead to malevolent spiritual activity suggests that we credit to men such narcissism, megalomania, and insecurity at the deficiencies of the body. That much of the spirit's malevolence is sexual in nature suggests much about repression, inhibition, and guilt. It suggests, for instance, the way guilt and shame can transform love to sadism in sexual relationships.

In Behind the Wall the traumata are the result of female curiosity. The first trauma is brought about through jealous rage over a wife's unfaithful sexual curiosity. The second trauma is brought about by a woman's investigation of the walled-up site of the first trauma. It is as though the first trauma causes the second by its need to punish its own cause, by the compulsion for repetition. There are two other women in the film, Katelyn and the banker's marketing guru, Monica (Suzie Pollard). Where Katelyn is a meek, pale waif, Monica is a sophisticated and independent woman. She knows what she wants and tries to get it. The film presents her as predatory. The handsome deputy mayor is attracted to Katelyn, but preyed upon by the sexually-interested Monica. Monica must therefore by punished by the ghost. Katelyn on the other hand never seems to be in any real danger. Female passivity is rewarded, female curiosity dangerous and punishable in Behind the Wall.

Monica and the banker are also targeted on account of the ideology for which they stand. They are capitalists who see the traumatic history of the lighthouse as exploitable. The film does seem to be making a plea for preserving historical buildings. However, it doesn't make this point very well. For one, capitalism is the social order that is disrupted by the trauma. So uncovering the trauma and restoring order should ultimately restore the capitalist order. Moreover, it is the activity of the capitalists that ultimately leads to the uncovering of the hidden trauma and with it the restoration of order metaphysically and psychologically. Hendry's initial goal was to leave the trauma hidden. The capitalist imperative to exploitation is also an impetus for the growth of knowledge. Hence some analyses that consider science a capitalistic manifestation. In the ghost movie, since trauma is co-extensively solved by knowledge of the trauma the value of capitalism and science is often affirmed.

That is what I found most interesting in Behind the Wall. But in execution it has more in common with The House by the Cemetery than with The Legend of Hell House. Just like House by the Cemetery, Behind the Wall comes across as a series of arbitrary supernatural events. The ghost is supposed to be bound in the walled-up room, yet once free it is as liberated from physics as any ghost. It is clearly shown to be non-physical, yet it seems to have physical bounds. For instance, the characters seem able to time its progress as it chases them and to lock it behind doors. Yet other times it seems almost omnipotent as it transports from one character to another and induces hallucinations. During assaults it is usually an invisible force or a hand attached to an offscreen body. The assaults are always weapon-less violence: pushes, pulls, and lacerations. If one is going to use violence in a horror film, one should at least strive for creativity. This is what elevates The House by the Cemetery. It too has senseless violence, but a senseless violence rescued by Fulci's perverse creativity. In Behind the Wall there is neither creativity nor consistency in the ghost's activities.

It's also unclear why the spirit is attacking anyone at all. Hell House offers an explanation and a tone to the violence consonant with that explanation. Behind the Wall offers no real explanation other than the fact of the trauma and the fact that the film is in the horror genre. This is a film that would have profited by withholding violence and focusing on the investigation. The ghostly sound effects are quite eerie. They are much more effective than the anticlimactic assaults. The film's adherence to formula prevents it take any such narrative risks.

Behind the Wall is the case of a potentially interesting story marred by a lack of cinematic imagination. The ghost story structure, the attractive actors, the ethereal screen presence of Lindy Booth, the Newfoundland location and the spooky lighthouse setting all offered many opportunities for crafting a superior ghost film.