Fantasia Film Festival’s The Columnist is probably one of the more cathartic horror films I’ve seen for a while. Quite a few slashers have a cast of people you’d happily see die, but it’s not often a horror film gives us someone literally getting bloody revenge against the internet trolls that have attacked them, if anyone deserves to be cannon fodder in a horror film it’s them right?
Well, that’s what the blackly comic The Columnist, directed by Ivo Van Aart, debates with its central premise – The story of mild-mannered feminist columnist Femke Boot, played brilliantly throughout by Westworld’s Katja Herbers, who suffers a torrent of online abuse until one day she snaps and begins a murderous rampage through her Twitter/Facebook detractors.
I mention that it’s cathartic and to begin with it certainly is, especially as a fellow writer. It’s hard not to root for Boot as she clumsily murders her way through the first few internet trolls. One pertinent observation the film makes with the first victim and the catalyst for what follows is that he would have a pleasant conversation with Boot in person, but was saying all manner of hateful things to her online. This was smart and Herbers nailed the incredulity of the moment that Boot discovers this.
The second victim was a man in a relationship, but who also treated women abhorrently on the internet. It’s distinctly satisfying to see him get confronted by Boot, who asks him whether his partner will like the things he’s saying and to then see him receive his comeuppance after doubling down on his misogyny. The point being made by the film, at least initially, is that the murder of these men is somewhat justified.
But by the time we’ve reached our bloody finale, the film deliberately shifts its point of view slightly. The victims/perpetrators of online bullying become less reprehensible all the way up to the big reveal that the ‘white whale’ Boot has been chasing throughout the film, the person she considers to be the ringleader for her online anguish, is just a teenager who likes Fortnite and doesn’t fully realise the consequence of his actions.
Things begin to turn slightly before this though, with one of the film’s cleverer scenes during which images of Boot hunting down an elderly man with a rifle for his words are interspersed with a monologue from Boot’s daughter Anna, played by Claire Porro, written by Femke herself, about how freedom of speech should be protected and people shouldn’t be silenced.
Obviously the irony of these two things is heavily spelled out here, but it still works, especially with the suggestion that journalists around the world are murdered for their words and that’s a bad thing, juxtaposed with Boot’s slaughter.
Another fun bit of irony in this film is that another character, the strange, nail-painted and freedom of speech loving horror writer Steve Dood (Dood of course meaning Death in Dutch), played by Bram Van Der Kelen, who believes that there’s a little darkness in everyone ends up being the voice of reason in the whole thing, constantly reminding Boot not to pay attention to the haters and also making one last attempt to bring her back from the brink.
Unfortunately Boot’s characterisation is a little rushed as she seems to take to being a serial killer extremely quickly. She literally transitions from damaging a fence as a form of anger release to pushing someone off of the roof of a house and then chopping off their finger as a trophy, which is quite the escalation. It sort of works because the film is supposed to be surreal as a black comedy, but we see multiple slayings from Boot before we even get a little bit of an inkling that her actions are starting to weigh on her at all, which is a little problematic.
I can’t complain too much though as we are treated to some extremely inventive and fun kills, a nice reoccurring gag about storing severed finger trophies in frozen peas and a super-fun serial killing montage set in the most ridiculous and visually interesting of settings, displaying some of the great cinematography that can be found throughout.
The Columnist does hold back on the gore a little bit but it’s still decent enough for most horror fans. Plus the costume design is pretty great too, I’m a sucker for blood splatter on white clothing and the finale of The Columnist gives us plenty of that.
Another moment within the finale that I particularly loved was a very inventive cut between Boot holding a gun to one character with a ‘will she, won’t she shoot’ standoff taking place and then cutting to Boot’s daughter taking a photo of the, now discovered, finger trophies with her camera – with the sound of the flash filling where the sound of a shotgun shot would be. It was very playful and inventive and certainly took me by surprise!
I wasn’t particularly taken with the very end though, as a blood covered Femke Boot attends her book signing for a book, it’s worth noting, she couldn’t write due to writers’ block until she started murdering people, and gets welcomed and cheered like a hero. This felt like the film playing it too safe to me, sitting on the fence about how it, and ultimately how we, should feel about Boot’s killing spree morally.
Ultimately The Columnist is a fun black comedy full of cathartic confrontations with stereotypical internet trolls leading to some great kills, good performances and interesting characters. But unlike similarly premised Prevenge or Sightseers it just falls short of being something truly special as it doesn’t really go further than giving us a ‘what if you murdered your internet trolls’ premise and has a wavering message that could’ve been sharper.
For more reviews and interviews, check out our Fantasia Film Festival 2020 coverage here
