Appendage Is a Weird Little Movie That Is as Blunt as It Is Important
Blindly browsing through streaming platforms may sometimes help you find some pure gems. Even if you might be the only one who thinks of them as such.
I’ve seen some interesting movies in the last couple of weeks. For example Mélanie Laurent’s Voleuses was an interesting heist film about female friendships while Malnazidos, also on Netflix, was a neat “Overlord but Spanish“, where a group of soldiers in 1938 has to band together against zombies created in Nazi experiments. But the one movie that really got me hooked was this years Appendage, now streaming on Disney+ (or Hulu, depending on where you’re from).
Appendage tells the story of Hannah. A young woman who discovers there is a weird tumor-like creature growing from her side that is not only physically painful, but also mentally abusive to her. It is basically like a modern retelling of Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case, with maybe a little bit of James Wan’s Malignant sprinkled in.
Allegorical Nuance of a Sledgehammer
One might even argue that Appendage is a sort of an “A24-like“ retelling of some of the themes from Basket case, which I would agree with only a little. Similarly to an A24 horror movie, Appendage is very focused on the allegorical through line of its story. But unlike an A24 horror movie, it is also extremely blunt about its allegory, to the point that the subtext of the film occasionally just morphs into the text. Once you understand what Appendage is about, it will start to feel like it’s beating you over the head with its message every five minutes. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Earlier this year I wrote a post about how much I liked Barbie. And some of the criticisms I’ve usually heard about the film (mostly from women) was that Barbie is very “feminism 101“. That its themes are very surface level and not bringing anything new to the table. And though I can understand that frustration, I also think that for a big movie like Barbie, you need your message to be as broadly understood as possible. Because you don’t necessarily want to talk to the people that already agree with you. You want to talk to everybody else.
And though Appendage is not by a long shot as big of a movie as Barbie is, I think a similar principle applies to it. The movie is extremely blunt with its messaging, but maybe that’s exactly what you need if you want to address as many viewers as you can. Because no matter how obvious the films themes are, they still are also extremely important to talk about.
Weird Wet Puppets for Everyone
There is also one other reason why I wouldn’t necessarily compare Appendage to an A24 production. Because unlike most of its “elevated horror“ movies, it doesn’t shy away from being pretty weird at times. Now don’t get me wrong, I really like lots of the A24 production. My only issue is with the term “elevated horror” itself, because it often suggests that movies in this category are somehow better and more “art“ than the rest of the horror genre.
And Appendage actually rebels against that idea. It is sincerely an example of one of my favorite film subgenres: movies that deal with some heavy and interesting themes, while also being very silly and weird on the surface. And let me tell you: if you like disturbing body horror and little monster rubber puppets in movies and think that they don’t get used that much anymore, Appendage really might be a great treat for you.
The movie was written and directed by Anna Zlokovic and stars Hadley Robinson, Emily Hampshire, Kausar Mohammed, and Brandon Mychal Smith. Now I’ve never heard of any of these people, but I think they all did a great job. I may be one of only few people who think this (the movie now sits on 5.2/10 on IMDb) but I am really glad it got made anyway. And I wish that every once in a while we could get more movies like it.