Requiem is a Nightmare: So, Why Wasn’t It Labeled a Horror Movie?
The first time I ever watched Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream, I was probably somewhere in my late teens. I remember it leaving me feeling pretty disturbed and uneasy. About 10 years later, the movie still haunts me and evokes the same fears and discomfort. Unlike a horror movie that you might want to watch repeatedly for the storyline or crafty jump scares, Requiem leaves you genuinely haunted by a monster you can’t see. Nor can you deny its presence all around us.
Adapted by Darren Aronofsky in collaboration with the author of the 1978 cult novel, Hubery Selby Jr., the original story has been described as “grimly forensic.” As it goes, we are introduced to four characters and their vulnerability to varying levels of addiction.
For anyone who has faced drug addiction firsthand or witnessed someone else struggle, this movie can feel pretty traumatic. Perhaps it comes off as dramatic or like a psychological thriller for those who haven’t. For me, revisiting the film made me question why the movie wasn’t ever actually placed in the horror genre.
In this piece, I’ll go over some basic similarities or tropes we see in traditional horror movies, as well as dissect our invisible monster: Addiction.
In an interview with Michael Gingold for Birth. Movies. Death., Aronofsky said that when structuring the film, he quickly realized he was making a movie about a monster. Addiction has been portrayed in many ways, most commonly with electrified sensory and dream-like scenes, such as in Trainspotting (1996), Spun (2002), or more recently, Climax (2018). Whatever the drug of choice, most of the time, our characters are stuck in a cycle of chasing it. While we can’t see addiction, we can witness how it affects people based on the choices they make and the boundaries they are willing to cross.
Could this be enough to classify the sickness as a monster, like cancer or a parasite-like host that takes over the mind? We all refer to these things as monstrous: hey take us over; they are an unseen evil. But, for those who might not agree, perhaps you see addiction more like “the bad guy winning.” In Requiem, both are arguable and certainly more likely to give a point to the horror genre, rather than take it away.
Requiem for A Dream, 2000
Apart from the premise of the film, there are many instances throughout the movie that I would also consider horrific. From the very beginning, we are able to pick up that things are only going downhill, and will keep going downhill until the end. In the opening scenes, Harry (Jared Leto) is arguing with his mother, Sara (Ellen Burstyn), over taking her TV set. Shortly after, we learn that Harry and his friend, Tyrone (Marlon Wayans), are taking the set to pawn for heroin. Later, we meet Harry’s girlfriend, Marion (Jennifer Connelly), and slowly, each character's demons begin to reveal themselves.
From occasional daydreams to glimpses of what each character’s life is really like, we get insight into the factors that essentially fuel our characters' psychological torment, and in some cases, what leads to their sanity slips. The drug torments them and pushes them to make what would otherwise be dangerous decisions to make money or acquire a fix just because it is believed that whatever happens after that will be better; They’ll make enough money to buy in excess next time, or enough where they can better their lives. With Harry, Tyrone, and Marian, we witness a predictable downfall–a cocktail of bad drug deals, prostitution, and crime. Sara, who has never struggled with heroin or drugs to our knowledge, instead, has a super fixation on being popular and getting on television. Her self torment leads her to see a doctor who prescribes her diet pills. In the chaos of self-isolation, possible addiction, or obsession with making it on TV paired with the wrongful taking of amphetamines, her world seems to turn into a real nightmare—in some cases even scarier than the others.
In this sad and dark film, the shadows provide viewers a jumpscare or two. Several of the most notable scenes include the burst of short snap sequences when someone is using heroin, Marion’s sex scene with her therapist, and when Sara’s refrigerator starts to bang toward her while she’s hallucinating. What I think makes them all so deeply uncomfortable is that the visual shots of are typically of the person as an act is happening. We see Marion’s emotionless face, Sara’s frightened one and Harry’s pupils grow wide. As the film approaches its end, wide shots are provided to the context, making the horrors even worse.
Like, when we see Harry inject for the first time in the entire movie, it is into what can only be described as one of the nastiest needle infections on film. Or when we see Sara’s apartment after she’s rushed out, or the room of cheering male onlookers when Marion agrees to sell her body to score. While these scares are not traditional in any way, they do evoke that uneasiness and that our characters might actually be at a point of no return, that their fates are sealed. And yeah, in many ways they are.
There is no doubt that the film is very sad and dark. But in those shadows, viewers also get a jumpscare or two. Two of the most notable scenes include when Sara’s refrigerator starts to bang toward her, or when we see Harry inject for the first time in the entire movie, into what can only be described as one of the nastiest needle infections on film. While these scares are not traditional in any way, they do evoke that uneasiness and that our characters might actually be at a point of no return, that their fates are sealed. And yeah, in many ways they are.
While many make it out alive, it makes you ask: With what quality of life? The horror transforms all of them in some way. We're forced to believe that even if some of them are making it out alive in the breathing sense, none of our characters see a happy ending.
Article by Destiny Johnson
Destiny writes about true crime and thrillers. She likes movies and stories that make you question the world around you, more so than what makes you jump.
