Cryptic Triptych is a remarkable anthology of three shorts that show off her skills and penchant for terror. She’ll be presenting it in person at The Texas Theater on Oct. 21.
“I wanted each story to have its own look,” Hye says. “So I had a different cinematographer for each. Even though I’m writing and directing all of them, it gives them their own artistic personality.”
Framed by a charming animated sequence of famous art pieces coming to life (which was done by her son), the stories are linked by an intense interest in toxic relationships, a recurring theme in Hye’s work.
The first, Adoratum Technica, is a modern adaptation of the Greek myth of Pygmalion, in which a sculptor falls in love with a statue that the gods then bring to life. Here the statue is a combination of artistic creation and independent AI. The artist (Zach McCardell) continually questions the statue, asking her why she doesn’t love him even though he loves her. This is easily the best of the three.
Part of it is the incredible cinematography of Rob Neilson, another well-known Texas indie film talent who also helped achieve the distinctive look of Daughters of Evil. Neilson has clearly been paying attention to modern horror shot techniques, and he makes this short unsettling through a deft use of portrait shots from unexpected angles that play with the concept of identity.
The other part is the performance of Maclaine Lowery as the sculpture. She lends a kind of divine detachment to the role that fits the story’s roots. Her placid responses to the artist’s increasingly abusive cries for love with simple honesty will feel very familiar to anyone who has ever loved a narcissist. She even offers to pretend to love him if it will help, but she will not lie to him while she’s doing it. Even at the gruesome end of the story, she remains impervious to his parasitic desire.
“If you’ve seen people be crazy about you, you recognize this,” says Hye. “Centered and happy? What’s that like?”
The second story, The Sound of Her Voice, is more realistic and grounded. A teenage boy is slowly driven to violence by his toxic mother, a decline that warps him profoundly.
“When I minored in psychology, I was fascinated by the Freudian concept of the superego,” says Hye. “Most people think of it as a conscience. Dig a little deeper, and you realize it’s really whatever your first caregiver gave you that sticks. It's arbitrary, and it can be ugly.”
The last story is the scariest. Graybeard is based on the life of one of America’s vilest serial killers, Albert Fish, who would kidnap children, eat them, then send their parents notes about what he did with their bodies. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Hye and cinematographer Kerrianne Parker present this story in an oddly timeless manner that makes it bright and dreamlike.
Robert Salas plays the killer, a refined and well-dressed man of casual brutality. When he’s first seen, the way he abducts a child is nauseating in its banality. The fact that Salas resembles a mall Santa on his day off adds to the unease. While there are some weak points in the script and pacing, Graybeard ends on a gut punch of horror that overshadows the rough edges. It’s a fine note to end Hye’s first feature-length project, and possibly her best work yet.
Cryptic Triptych (featuring director Fatima Hye in person) shows at The Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson St., Monday, Oct. 21. Tickets are available through EventBrite.
