Threads like this really interest me.
I'm very much intrigued by those who find themselves disoriented by the images on screen.
Although I loved this film (I've seen it, at least, 45 times and it inspired me, as a child, to become an artist), I can understand people who find it difficult to watch.
Henson and Oz (with the vision of Brian Froud) were so successful in creating a surreal universe totally removed from the familiarty of own existence. There isn't a single human being on screen through the entire film's run and every scene is occupied by strange and bizarre creatures that were hand crafted.
Like a cubist or abstract painting, this can be a very uncomforting concept for some people to wrap their mind around; to be emersed in an alien environment. This movie is more of an artistic display than a spectacle. For many, it can take some getting use to. The invention of the VHS recorder and establishment of cable television allowed the film a second chance for people to actually get it because it failed in the theatres. Like art, it was too ambiguous in determining its target demographic (was it for kids, boys, sci-fi lovers, adults?). The posters for the movie, in themselves, were fantastically frightening and like, Willy Wonka, parents were concerned about horrifying their children. And rightly so.
HBO and VHS saved alot of films that didn't do so well in the 80's(Blade Runner, Legend, Lybrinth and the Neverending Story).
But now The Dark Crystal is a cult masterpiece. And like all odd creations, things that are different to the human psyche are not always immediately well received.
So if you feel a little disoriented and disturbed while watching this film it's alright. For some, it's only natural.
After all, we're only human.
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Sic Coyote
16 years ago
I actually felt a bit ill when watching this and it's the first time I've seen it, actually it's more like eyestrain, I watched it on a projector screen but I don't think that does anything, except maybe aplify the effect. I'm thinking there may be something up with the colours on the version currently available, they seems to waver slightly, not noticable unless you're taking notice I noticed this more significantly in Quo Vadis and in an old damaged print of Day of the Animals.
It's possible this could be causing it,
I think I maybe also need a bit of sleep and some new glasses.
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mooveejunkie
16 years ago
I adore this movie!
I love is organic abstract atmosphere around it. Like what SeeBear said, there's now human or anything of earth in this movie. Frighteningly intelligent ritualistic bird-people-- destined elf people-- odd looking, long haired, dinosaur/mammal mystics with eery constant voices-- a hideous manly woman-thing who has lived forever and knows too much-- catfish mixed with rabbits on stilts-- yeah, its like one is in delerium. But it's so beautiful to me!
I do gotta admit. This was a movie my parents had to put away from me for a couple of years. I was just a little traumatizing when I was pretty little. But is there something with the quality of the movie (the whole picture, colors, graphics) that make you people "ill"? Like when someone reacts to flashing lights and haves a seizure?
Blair Witch Project (someone else mentioned this one) is one movie that makes me physically ill. The camera moving and the bad-audio with the demented realistic screams is very sickening to me. And the ending's just-- *shivers*. Don't forget the the credit/cast music, if can call it music. Sounds like something wicked is in your basement!
Another movie is Princess Mononoke. The whole demon-slime flying about god-like pigs is pretty weird, engulfing the girl and that unusual face of the forest spirit. I love Mononoke, but when I first saw it, it kinda traumatized me for a few days.
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