This film, roughly translated as “Freak: The Slasher Killer” or “Phenomenon: Memories of a Slasher Film”, is a Mexican short, independent film starring, written, and directed by Juvenal Plascencia de Anda. The film is about a college student who returns home during the summer break of 1988. When he reunites with his family, they are distant towards him and don’t show him much attention. When he does get attention from his family, it is in a disrespectful sense; his mother is rude to him and his brother calls him a “freak”. In response to the condescending way in which they treat him, he decides to emulate the villains in slasher movies that he enjoys so much – killing his family members in the process.
The use of the yellow raincoat is very original for the genre in that the main character is both the protagonist and, in a way, the antagonist. Usually, it is either one or the other that wears the yellow raincoat which makes this text very original (To clarify: the antagonist really would be the main character’s brother, however, we’re dealing with more of an anti-hero protagonist which again, is unusual for the literary device). The meaning of the yellow raincoat in the film could be boiled down to the embodiment of revenge. The main character uses the jacket as a catalyst for him to live out his admiration of horror movie slashers (i.e., Michael Myers, as noted in the film), and get the justice he deserves. This is where the film also gets its name from as well – he is not just a killer, but a killer imitating serial killers seen in movies.
The film obviously is low-budget with some acting that is less than desired. The film, however, is able to bring about criticism and reference to the various source material in its low finances and short runtime. Writer/Actor/Director Juvenal Plascencia de Anda states that his favorite movie of this genre is John Carpenter’s first Halloween film. We see this blatantly as the main character states that he wants to be like the series’ titular slasher, Michael Myers. Halloween was influential for its time in that it brought the monsters that lived in foreign countries or the ones that dwelled at the bottom of the sea and scooped them up and plopped them in 80’s suburban America. How safe can you really be when a killer could be found in your own backyard?
It is in this way that it’s not hard to see that someone would be influenced by the slashers of the era. If the slashers could instill fear in others, couldn’t they also inspire others as well? This blog is not encouraging violence of any kind, but merely questioning that could slasher films have given way to the rise of serial killers in the 1980s? (i.e. Ted Bundy, the Night Stalker – Richard Ramirez, and others)
While speaking about inspiration, there are several references to various American Hollywood films that could be seen in this Mexican independent short film. As stated before, the Actor/Writer/Director found inspiration from the Halloween franchise, but there are also airs of American Psycho and The Evil Dead II hidden in it as well. In this film, the character doesn’t feel like himself until he is wearing the raincoat – it allows him to be the person he wants to be. This similar theme can be seen in American Psycho as Christian Bale’s character Patrick Bateman is able to be who he wants in his dreams while garbed in a raincoat (it’s not yellow, but the correlation is there).
Similar to American Psycho, The Evil Dead II is represented in this film as well. Towards the end of the film after disposing of his family, the “Freak” pops a VHS tape in a VCR and is shown watching something (most likely a slasher film that inspired him). The crazed demeanor is referential of Ash’s look in The Evil Dead II. Both men have blood dripping down their faces and have a chaotic look from being a protagonist in a film world where the socially unacceptable is accepted.
One last thing to mention about this short (and it is actually the first thing that is shown within the film), is the killer’s perspective on the yellow raincoat. While it was mentioned before about how the raincoat allows the “freak” to be just like the other slashers from the films he admires, none of the aforementioned films (with a slight exception to American Psycho) have yellow raincoats in them. So why the yellow raincoat? As we see at the beginning of the film, the jacket is not hung up in a closet, but out in the open for all to see. In a sense, it could be said that it’s his way of “worshipping” those film slashers. The coat is his “golden idol” – and with it, he can appease the slasher gods’ message – “if anyone disagrees with you, get rid of them”. The main character carries out his killings with a lack of remorse, reiterating that he gets greater joy in killing than he does in his family.
For a short, independent film, Fenómeno: Memorias de un Asesino Slasher quickly pays homage to the source material and the creator’s inspirations. It is quite refreshing too to see Hollywood’s influence on other cultures – it is definitely a film to spend a few minutes of your time to check out! You can watch this film as well as the alternate version (as well as some of his other films) free on Juvenal Plascencia de Anda’s Youtube channel.
Special thanks to my Father-in-law, Tom Berner for help in translation!
This post was initially written on my blog, Yellow Raincoat of Horror which looks at the various ways the yellow raincoat “trope” is used within the horror genre. To read more about this motif, click here, and to visit the original post, go here. Thanks for reading!