i think i was like 4 or 5 when i first saw this movie and i was obsessed with the pale man, it was the first time i consciously remember saying to myself, "woah this dude is freaky as hell and his design is cool as fuck" (paraphrased of course) since then i've been obsessed with horror movies, practical effects, and strange looking creature guys of indeterminate gender <3
thesis might be one of my favorite horror thrillers of all time?
so basically, there's this young woman who is doing research for her thesis paper on violence in media. she finds a classmate who has an extensive collection of snuff horror films and weird porn, and he shows her some of these "snuff" films that looks a little too real. then follows a subsequent investigation into who did it and why.
it was very blue velvet (1996) meets the scooby-doo live action movies and i mean that in a complimentary way (also there were things about it that kept repeatedly reminding me of psycho (1960), which was really interesting). this movie was a little bit insane and it made me feel like i was losing my marbles, it got to be so bad at some points that i'd have to pause to take a lap around my kitchen and just like scream a little, and then resume watching. this happened A LOT!
it was genuinely so so so fun to play detective and guess what was going on and then seeing how my theories played out, it was literally enrichment for me and my neurodivergent brain. the movie doesn't make you feel stupid either, which is really nice because a lot of mysteries do that and it is the bane of my existence. it fs does explain things but it does it via plot and a little bit of a villain monologue, and those are lowkey kinda fun so it gets a pass in that regard.
tl;dr - this is truly a feast for freaks and fucked up horror fans alike <3
content warnings for the movie (side note: if there's typos, mind your business i am a gummy deep and i just rewatched this wonderful movie)
