Velvet Buzzswaw (2019 film) = Finished

It is so damn refreshing to watch a horror movie without a point.

I've seen a lot of mixed critical reaction to Velvet Buzzsaw over the past few weeks, and I think it's due to a fundamental break between what people wanted this movie to be, and what it actually is.

Velvet Buzzsaw is a straight-up Pandora's Box story. Something horrible is unleashed upon the world and spreads, set upon the backdrop of people so absorbed in themselves that they don't realize the danger picking them off one by one--or that they're the infection vectors that will further its mind-breaking influence beyond the borders of their vapid little universes. Some folks realize what's going on, but always too late. It's The Thing, with a treatment of humor instead of grim nihilism and suspense. The movie delights in creating a bunch of charismatic but fairly awful people for you to watch, and criticize, and scoff at, before they die pointless, ironic, and grisly deaths for sins they're too deluded to even realize they committed.

The movie goes to such lengths to further this straightforward narrative.

The use of fairly mundane or washed-out imagery until the supernatural influence is doing its work, creating the striking, hypnotic moments that showcase director Dan Gilroy's true skill and gradually kill off our cast. The unknowable, seemingly omnipotent nature of the threat. The fact that one of the main supporting characters has a literal Velvet Buzzsaw tattoo that remains unexplained until it's used like a grisly little Chekov's gun...

Seriously.
There's no backstory behind the tattoo, no attempt to justify it, no in-world explanation or winking conversation - just a musical sting when you see it near the beginning of the movie, and another sting before it does its nasty, shockingly funny job near the end. This movie wears its shlock on its sleeve, and executes this intention perfectly.

What folks wanted from Velvet Buzzsaw on the other hand - at least judging from the reactions I've seen - is a sophisticated commentary on the art world. It's like expecting Scream to take five minutes in the middle of the movie to consider the psychological impact of a faceless mask on identity and behavior.

...Oh god, that's probably an essay, isn't it.

This movie's critical reception is actually an interesting way to examine the state of media analysis today. Considering the potential concepts you could explore through the contemporary art world given rare representation here, folks seemed to want a movie with lore and dimensions. Deconstruction they could dig into, that you might build a "VELVET BUZZSAW EXPLAINED!!!" video or listicle around. Layers upon layers upon layers of stuff. A lot of horror tales these days do feel like they gotta have this additional 'thing' on top - not that it's a direct result of the analysis or criticism. It's just an interesting coincidence, and has a lot of precedence in past works.

Such things can't just be a monster movie - it's actually a metaphor for childhood guilt!! Booooooo~~

Sometimes this genre-transcending metaphor-making really works, as with Colossal's blend of kaiju and domestic abuse. I don't think this is a NECESSITY, though, and that's the charge people seem to be making against Buzzsaw. That it doesn't go the 'extra mile' to produce...something it doesn't seem interested in doing in the first place.

As it is, you watch Velvet Buzzsaw, it tells its story (very well), and then it ends. There's no questions left behind or lore to dig into - just the inevitability of the sh*tstorm that's about to erupt.

Velvet Buzzsaw isn't just a cool artifact that I enjoyed consuming - it's the type of straightforward story I'd genuinely like to tell myself.