Hey what's up guys
Today I'll show you a horror film: "The House That Jack Built"
Spoiler ahead, watch out and take care
The movie begins with a horrifying confession and conversation,
between an architect named Jack and an unseen man known as Verge
Jack, a psychotic serial killer, prepares to share five random gruesome killing incidents,
that he had committed in the past 12 years of his life
Reminiscing the moments of killing, Jack boasts the first incident,
by stating how he victimizes a woman
While Jack is driving towards the Pacific Northwest, an unknown lady crosses his way,
asking for help for her malfunctioning vehicle
At first, Jack resists offering some support; but the woman insists
She convinces Jack to give her a ride to the repair shop to fix the broken equipment from his vehicle
This talkative woman even mocks him for being a serial killer, while they get to the shop
Upon arriving, the woman begs one more time to drive her back to her car
Jack begins to lose his patience, immediately grabs the broken jack,
and strikes it at the woman's face
Based on Jack's actions, we can infer that he has an obsessive-compulsive disorder,
leading to repetitive murders and killings
He believes that there is a hidden artwork for any murder
As he stresses, "The old cathedrals often have sublime artworks hidden away
in the darkest corners for only God to see
The same goes for murder"
Then, he also shares how he dreams of being an architect,
and how he purchased a building lot before the incident of killing the lady
Right after murdering the lady, she then places the corpse in an industrial freezer,
a room that is filled with dead bodies
As we can notice, the scene shows a random man playing the piano,
which depicts the belief of Jack that the repetitive murders he is doing,
are considered art and purposeful
Afterward, he continues sharing his autobiography; and this opens the second incident
At the beginning of the second story, Jack deceives an older woman named Claire,
that he is an insurance agent
He fabricates details of being a police officer and an insurance representative,
that could potentially increase the pension
Though the older woman is hesitant and suspicious, Jack captures her heart,
and convinces her with such lies
He then attempts to enter the woman's house, and execute the plan
Without a doubt, the woman permits him to enter her house, only if he will double her pension
In just a blink of an eye, he quickly attacks her inside, and strangles her to death
But Claire appears to be still breathing and alive, after the first instance of choking
He feels apologetic, and even offers some chamomile juice to the older woman
But his OCD behavior shifts again; and he finally ends her life by stabbing the woman's chest
Later, he places the woman in a chair, and takes photos before packing them in the van
He cleans every hint of killings by wiping all the bloodstains on the floor and walls,
and arranging the things in-placed
The atmosphere gets intense, when Jack hears the siren of the police's car
He speedily clears everything, and makes sure that this man will not figure out the said murder
He puts the corpse away from the vehicle, anticipating that the police officer will check his car
The said officer arrives at the scene with no marks of crime in the location
He then investigates Jack's vehicle, to see if there are any bodies left in the car
But Jack expects this to happen; so he places the corpse secretly,
and saves himself from being the primary suspect
To avoid being accused of the said event,
he misleads the investigation by providing false information and observations
The officer stops him, and suggests he leaves the place since none is part of his business
Suddenly The serial killer ties Claire's dead body face down to the back of his van,
while the police officer is searching for something
He rapidly drives back to his house, and stores the dead body in his industrial freezer
He even worries about the bloodstains on the road;
but celebrates when the rain pours out from the sky
In this scene, we can discover how rain becomes a blessing and an escaping element for Jack,
after washing the clues of the murder on the road
The drop of water erases the trail of blood found in the road,
eliminating the possibilities of being caught
He emphasizes how he sees killing as liberation for him and the pleasure of destruction
The next day, Jack strangles another lady and hits an older woman;
because he is not satisfied with the previous photos
He believes that his OCD diminishes every time blood drops from killing
An obsession arises in taking photos of the remains of his victim, and labels himself as Mr Sophistication
The third incident occurs when Jack dates a single parent with two kids
They go on a picnic trip out to a field, and do some hunting
Jack eventually instructs the older kid regarding the proper usage and aim of the gun
A horrible circumstance emerges, when Jack tries to hunt the mother and children
The next seconds reveal the sound of a firearm with the young boy lying on the grass
The sociopath architecture kills the young boy,
which causes the woman to startle and hide her other son
As a mother, she approaches to help her wounded son
Shortly, the murderer mercilessly triggers his hunting rifle again, shooting the younger son's head
With his psychotic behavior,
he forcefully set up a picnic with this lady together with the dead bodies of the two kids beside them
Later, he also assassinates the woman, and takes one of the dead sons with him
He brings the young boy's corpse, and remodels it like a mannequin that is smiling and waving
As we can notice, Jack kills passionately with no signs of guilt and regret
The scenario puts Jack to the test when meeting a single parent,
which offers him hope for love from a family
But the killer's evil side still prevails by hunting and murdering all of them
This only concludes how irredeemable Jack is; and how he lacks love in all ways
Following the death of the family is the existence of Jack's fourth killing incident
In this story, he highlights how a naive lady entirely captivates his heart
He is non-threatening in the beginning, as he hobbles with a crutch towards the lady
With such gentleness, he makes Jacqueline believe that no harm will be inflicted,
and convinces her that leaving her is not one of his plans
Hence, they enjoy the night by conversing with each other in a drinking session
He seems to be crude after sexual remarks of complimenting her body
As the night gets darker, the conversation gets intense after Jack suddenly admits his wrongdoings
He declares to her that he has already killed 60 people
Jacqueline laughs, and assumes that this man is simply weird
Tension emerges because of those arguments, which came from a simple thing
A few moments later, Jack requests and borrows a magic marker
Then, he gently pulls the dress of the woman down to witness the melons
He gently touches the breasts, and traces them with the red-inked pen
The lady is confused, and disappointed with what she expects to happen
After realizing the strange behavior and gesture of the serial killer,
she swiftly goes inside and seeks help
Jacqueline encounters a police officer, and reports what the killer admitted
But the police officer does not believe her for being drunk
Consequently, the sociopath architect follows and interrupts the said conversation
He declares that he killed 60 people, and that he is a terrible human being
Unfortunately, the police officer leaves,
considering that all the information said was just an outcome of their drunkenness
The changing behavior of Jack radiates again, crying and asking for forgiveness from Jacqueline
He begs and pretends to regret all the killings he intentionally does
While he falls asleep from being drunk, Jacqueline strives to find pills to help him
She then sees the moment as an opportunity to escape
Unlucky as she is, the door is locked
and Jack is now awake, standing right in front of her
She concludes that Jack is the Mr Sophistication in the news,
and shouts for rescue
We can surmise how Jack reflects on himself as being a killer
To kill is to satisfy himself Contemplating the areas of his actions,
he emphasizes why the male always appears to be criminals of all time
And why do men seem to be figures of failure, while women are always victims?
She screams as loud as she can, but only receives a deafening silence
Thereafter, Jack yields meaning to his fourth killing
He executes the motive by tying first the hands, and covering the lady's mouth with a cloth
The violent behavior stands out again, when he chooses a knife and unhesitatingly cuts the breast
He creates a coin purse made from the breast's skin,
and leaves the other one to the police officers' windshield
With these three incidents, Verge notices a pattern,
and starts questioning how Jack views women as the common element of his murder
Based on the character's actions, we can infer how MrSophistication believes in a theory
that women are more recessive and more cooperative whenever he intends to kill them
That is why the randomly chosen events are mostly women,
which indeed invokes pride and superiority for himself
We can also agree that the said killer is manipulative and misogynistic,
for his maltreatment and brutal killings towards women
Lastly, the fifth incident of brutal killing unfolds, when Jack selects a random man
As part of rectifying his anxiety with murder,
he forcefully chooses and detains random guys for an experiment from the past
He ties these men, and lines their heads up in a row
His definition of satisfaction is to kill these people with just one bullet as glorification
However, only one shot is powerful enough to make this possible;
and this bullet is a full metal jacket round bullet
Jack tries to search for this type of bullet from the store
but the seller denies it because of illegal use
He then visits his old friend SP
for the same reason of getting one bullet
Unfortunately, this old friend points a gun,
convincing him to give up his weapon and surrender to the police officers
He steadily points the rifle towards Jack, while attempting to contact the police
But the serial killer is wise and clever
He tricks this old friend, using their memories and friendships from yesterday
He convinces him to stop pointing and threatening him
As expected, when the old friend tries to approach him,
the serial killer cuts his throat mindlessly
When the contacted police officer arrives at the crime scene
Jack takes his life as well, and steals his vehicle
Next, he rushes to his freezer to continue the unfinished business and unfulfilled satisfaction
The movie ends with the psychotic serial killer,
who attempts to shoot detained men's heads in the freezer
Upon trying to trigger the rifle, a voice distracts him
and a man figure suddenly appears, named Verge
He then creates a house made up of his victims' cadaver
Not long after, another police officer arrives, and ruins the freezer
He intends to shoot Jack, which leads the serial killer to explore another journey
Verge finally leads Jack down through the facets of Lower hell
As we can remember, Jack confesses, and shares stories of killing to a voice
The man behind that voice is actually Verge,
who is inspired and based on a Roman poet Virgil who leads Dante to Inferno
Verges sends him to the nine circles of hell,
with the hope of seeing any remorse, regrets, and redemptions within him
He also shows a meadow scenery to Jack,
which leads him to recalibrate his innocence during his childhood
Then, Jack remembers all his victims with tears in his eyes
But is it a sign of regret? Or pride?
They reach the deepest and farthest part of hell, as he seeks a glimpse of redemption
They finally cross a broken bridge, that leads to either heaven or hell
He then attempts to climb up the stairway to heaven; but eventually falls
As irredeemable as he is, he fails because he refuses to understand his wrongdoings,
and only perceives them as artistic expressions
Jack slips and eventually resides in the lake of eternal suffering
Metaphorically speaking, Verge's presence serves as the conscience of the psychotic serial killer
He is the guiding voice, who strives to save the hopeless soul and heart of Jack
There are times when Verge scrutinizes him for his actions,
so that by the time Jack crosses the bridge, he will realize and carry his redeeming factor
The psychological horror film effectively orchestrates,
and depicts the theme of misogyny, narcissistic and OCD behavior,
gruesome killings, and self-awareness
Oblivion and lack of moral justifications,
take a major spot in the completion of the said masterpiece by Lars von Trier,
known as "The house that Jack built "
This's Daniel CC movie channel Peace out