13 Nights of Shocktober: Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

 by A.J.

Night 4: Art Horror Night

 “An epic saga of violence and madness”

Velvet Buzzsaw

It took me a long time to get around to Velvet Buzzsaw, released on Netflix and lost amongst the regular deluge of “content” to the service in addition to all the titles already in “My List,” but it is an entertaining horror film well worth watching. Set in the high art world of Los Angeles, Velvet Buzzsaw is Nightcrawler writer-director Dan Gilroy’s foray into horror. While he does not try to reinvent the genre, this is not a formulaic genre exercise either. Gilroy clearly understands what makes an effective and lively horror movie. 

Jake Gyllenhaal plays a highly influential art critic named Morf Vandewalt, whose thick framed glasses, Caesar haircut, exaggerated facial expressions, and obviously affected speech will clue you in to the broad tone of the movie within the first three minutes. To invoke an art metaphor, Velvet Buzzsaw does not use the light, meticulously planned, almost imperceptible points of Georges Seurat (A Sunday on La Grande Jatte), but the thick and clearly visible brush strokes of Vincent van Gogh. This is not an “elevated” horror film but instead plays like it is an exquisite, high end feature length episode of Tales From the Crypt; a high compliment from this critic. 

Josephina (Zawe Ashton), an employee at a posh art gallery, discovers that her neighbor has committed suicide and left behind a note to dispose of his prolific body of unseen artwork and paintings. Encouraged by her boss, Rhodora Haze (Rene Russo), Josephina says she found the paintings in a dumpster without a note. This allows Rhodora’s gallery to claim ownership of all the macabre, mesmeric work by the late artist Deese. In exchange for a review and profile, Morf takes some of Deese’s paintings, sure to become very valuable very soon. His research uncovers not only Deese’s suicide note and final request, but the dark and violent past of the mysterious artist who mixed his own blood into the paint. It is somewhere around here that you, unlike the characters, realize that the art is cursed and all those who profit from it will receive their comeuppance. 

Like a Tales From the Crypt episode, this is basically a morality play—bad people do bad things and reap their sour rewards—used to deliver shocks, thrills, sex, and violence. Nearly every character is unlikable to some degree–except for the sweet and out of her depth Coco (Natalia Dyer), who floats from one unfortunate employer to the next, and John Malkovich as a now sober but washed up artist. Yet, all of the characters are drawn with such broad strokes that they are understandable, to some degree, and entertaining. 

The killer artwork provides for some very memorable and visually interesting “kill scenes.” Cinematographer Robert Elswit ensures that every scene, even the non-supernatural ones, look impeccable and eye-catching. The scenes of the artwork coming to life and moving and bleeding are creepy and scary and exciting too. Every moment of Velvet Buzzsaw is stylish, which is only appropriate for a movie set in the high art world. 

The screenplay has fun with and lampoons every art type: critics, gallery owners, rising artists, washed up artists, art bloggers/influencers. I suppose the weakness of the movie is that at times it thinks it is delivering biting satire but actually offers no real insight or critique of characters more concerned with profit and status than art or merit. The exaggerated characters and art allow for amusing moments without fully turning the movie into a comedy. A scene where a dead body is mistaken as part of an exhibit is one of the darker moments of humor. Another scene of a gallery owner first mistaking a reproductions factory and then bags of trash for a new work by the Malkovich character is another obvious but still no less amusing moment. 

Velvet Buzzsaw is broad but not over the top. Gyllenhaal’s performance is best described in the same way. As the movie goes on it builds a sense of impending dread around the characters but not for the viewer. No new ground is broken thematically but that hardly prevents this film from being an entertaining horror movie. The best thing about Velvet Buzzsaw is that it is not afraid to have fun; it does not think being scary and being entertaining are mutually exclusive.

Velvet Buzzsaw is currently streaming on Netflix.