History of the Occult (2020) is a cosmic horror film from Argentina/Mexico. It features the final episode of a 1980s news show, which features a host interviewing guests about a supernatural conspiracy. The aspect ratio changes at various moments.
Wait…isn’t that just like Late Night With The Devil? Kind of, yes…
It is another one of those interesting confluences that happen in film from time to time: Volcano vs. Dante’s Peak, Deep Impact vs. Armageddon, Leviathan vs. DeepStar Six, Madame Web vs. The Trash Can At Your Local Dog Park…
Let’s take a look at it. Major spoilers will happen because there is not much to talk about without them.
History of the Occult
History of the Occult is one of those movies that knows it can’t get by with budget and big names, so it tries to get by on being vague enough to appear intelligent.
Is it vague? Yes. Is it intelligent? Maybe…
The movie is cryptic in the amount of information it delivers the viewer. A person is left to puzzle out what it all means. The movie is also in Spanish, so subtitles must be read if you haven’t gone through your Duolingo lessons on the off chance you run into Salma Hayek.
Plot-wise, it appears the government has been taken over by warlocks. The warlocks sacrifice their children. So, History of the Occult is essentially non-fiction up to that point. It gets weird when it puts forth the idea that humans are “ants in a TV studio.” Humans have no real grasp of reality. Reality is contained within the belly of a cosmic beastie.
In case the viewer doesn’t get it, the movie gives a glimpse of a tentacle, so they know they are in H.P. Lovecraft territory. If a person doesn’t know H.P. Lovecraft, then they are probably out of luck.
History Of Violence Of The Occult
History of the Occult swings back and forth between four investigative journalists in an apartment, a woman by a phone booth and the news show.
The four investigative journalists are trying to uncover the conspiracy before time runs out. To pass the time, they chew on some tannis root and have a couple of low-grade hallucinations. Or are they seeing into the truth of things? That is up to you to figure out.
As for the woman by the phone booth, she is trying to find an address to a house that…uhm, well, that is up to you to figure out, as well.
The host of the news show works with all of these people to uncover the truth before midnight. His guests include a former warlock with the power to induce nosebleeds and a scoffing journalist who is a recipient of said nosebleeds.
History of the Occult is filmed in black-and-white, so you know everyone is taking all of this very seriously. Once in a while, the color red bleeds into things. A flitting moment of animation also occurs. The movie ends with the film going from black-and-white to full color.
It appears this is supposed to represent the world waking to its true reality. As for what that reality might entail, that is up to you to figure out. It reminds me a bit of The Thirteenth Floor (1999), a pretty fun noir Craig Bierko movie that got swallowed by The Matrix.
History Of The World Of The Occult
Where does all of that leave us? History of the Occult is intriguing but not particularly satisfying. Fans of cosmic horror might want to give it a whirl. It is off the beaten path of the usual suspects when exploring the genre, such as Annihilation, Color Out of Space, In The Mouth of Madness, The Beyond…
The cast, direction and setting are all fine, but History of the Occult is probably too vague for its own good. Movies that make the viewer work a bit are welcome, but movies that simply push the viewer off a cliff into the great unknown are not.
One watches with the hope that it is building to an ah-ha moment. One imagines that in the head of the writer/director Chris Ponce, it does. Unfortunately, the line he takes doesn’t give us enough glimpses into the conspiracy. Instead of H.P. Lovecraft, we get H.P. Let’s-Just-Be-Friends-craft.
By way of comparison, Hereditary, took a similar line. Ari Aster showed us a cosmic conspiracy from the point of view of the victims. Yet, he showed us enough to make sense of it. Maybe too much. History of the Occult shows too little.
In the end, History of the Occult and Late Night With The Devil might make an interesting double-feature. Late Night With The Devil is the superior film, however. Play it second.
