[Editorial] Double Bill Recommendation: Vivarium (2019) and The Room (2019)

Have you ever thought about having kids? You might even have a few little ones already and have the option to expand your tribe further to create your perfect family home. Well, have you seen either Vivarium 2019 or The Room 2019? Because these two films were designed as some form of on-screen contraceptive that will allow anyone considering children to immediately take that option from the table and throw it to the wind; so if you really are thinking about having a family, it could be advised that you stop reading this article now...

It seems that in 2019 there was some undiagnosed fear regarding the upbringing of children and how their being could inevitably destroy everything around it. Perhaps the writers of both films subconsciously knew that we were heading towards 2020 and bringing a child into that year was something to be avoided at all costs, or perhaps it is just a common theme in horror to explore the fear that children can instil in us. As a woman, the fear of childbearing looms constantly; growing an unidentified being inside your stomach for 9 months and having fever dreams of the stomach burst scene in Alien. Then wondering what fresh hell awaits the delivery room as this creature rips itself from your abdomen hoping it won’t be as brutal as the birth in Safe Haven in VHS 2. Finally staring at this soulless little demon babble and suckle, scared he might end up like Damien from The Omen. Children are constantly a source of terror both on-screen and off-screen, forcing our anxieties about the child itself and also our abilities to raise a human to rear their heads and reinforce their way into our lives. But it is this fear of the ‘unknown’ and never feeling quite ready enough to have a child that is the perfect breeding ground for horror narratives to develop, and therefore is why there has been an abundance of films throughout the years that focused on evil babies and demonic children. 

However, out of all of these films that have come before and continue to be birthed into the horror genre, Vivarium and The Room were the two films that seemed to stand out from the rest and really provide a sense of abject horror at what happens when a child is born without a soul, or a biological attachment. Vivarium is directed by Lorcan Finnegan and stars Imogen Poots and Jesse Eisenberg as Tom and Gemma, a young, hopeful and aspiring couple determined to enter into the housing market in the UK and find their dream home, a place where eventually they will start a family and blossom into their full potential. They arrive at a newly built housing complex called Yonder, a place which the posters describe as the most perfect and idyllic place for anyone to settle. The estate agent takes them to No.9, where they peruse the insides of the ‘perfect’ home, which already comes equipped with a baby’s room fully painted and dressed, ready for the imminent arrival. Soon the couple find themselves abandoned by the agent, and as they seek to leave Yonder they quickly realise that they have found themselves within a labyrinth of brick and mortar designed to entrap live prey for a purpose they are soon to find out. Arguments ensue, alongside the desperation to leave this green hellscape but before the couple can find their exit, they are gifted a baby boy in a box with a note that promises of leaving their situation if they raise the child to adulthood, but this is only where their nightmare is about to begin. 

The Room 2019 is a Russian-language film directed by Christian Volckman and stars Olga Kurylenko and Kevin Janssens as Kate and Matt, a couple who also find themselves ready to start the next chapter of their life together. They have just moved into an isolated and remote house, one that will fulfil all their hopes and dreams, and allow them enough space to start the family they have always wished for. But they soon discover this is a house with more to offer than they had imagined, with a room that grants any wish they desire. The couple indulge; famous paintings, diamonds, designer clothes, endless champagne, drugs, money - anything they can think of is materialised inside the room and awaits for them to enjoy. However, there is something Kate desires more than anything else and that is a child, which she begs the room for, and it delivers. Instantly, the couple have a bountiful baby boy in their hands, but it doesn’t take long before they begin to realise that there are consequences to their actions, and when it comes to Shane, their child, the true realisation of what he is, is horrifying. 

Both films look at the desire we have as humans to bring children into the world, and to continue the lineage that we feel must be spread. Society has always made humans feel as though our sole purpose is to breed and continue the family, passing down names and traditions throughout the younger generations in some form of narcissistic need to still be ‘alive’ even long after death has occurred. For those within society who simply choose not to have children, they are often chastised and interrogated as to why they don’t want to have a child, but shouldn’t the same be applied for those who do want to have a child? Many young couples also feel it is the next step in their relationship, the one that begins to bring them together as a family and in some ways complete them, however, as shown in the films, that is not always the truth. From the outset of Vivarium both Tom and Gemma express their timid want for a child, but it is clear they are not quite ready, which begs the question: when is anyone ready? In The Room, both Kate and Matt say they are ready to have children, but display an irresponsible attitude to life when they let loose with their wants in the room and end up partying repeatedly until the only thing left to ask for is a child. In both films, it is the wants and desires of the couples which ultimately finds them in terrifying situations, which serves to suggest that perhaps just having a ‘need’ isn’t always enough, and can end with dire consequences. 

What is interesting for both films is that they inherently look at the relationships between mother and sons, and how an uncomfortable attachment is formed, one that seems very wrong. The directors of each film are men, and therefore these films could be a representation of their fears regarding losing their wives to their sons, once born. It is often said that sons and mothers, and respectively fathers and daughters, have a different bond to one another, something that ties them together for reasons unknown. When a mother has a son, he becomes her world and her life, and therefore these films represent the manifestation of fear within the fathers; worried that their love and bond will be replaced with that of their son, although understanding that the bond is completely different, but perhaps more intense and unbreakable than a romantic bond. In Vivarium we watch as Gemma struggles to be cruel to The Boy, and despite finding herself cursing at him and exclaiming ‘I’m not your mother!’, often protects the boy from the wrath of Tom when he becomes enraged at the behaviour shown by him, clearly wanting to throttle him. She has a maternal instinct that she cannot escape from no matter how hard she tries, and this means that she is the one who continues to survive and pursue reaching the end of his upbringing in order to be released. Similarly, in The Room, it is Kate that finds herself maternally looking after Shane even when Matt refuses to go near him and wants to find ways to destroy him by taking him out of the house and leaving him for dead. Although Kate understands that Shane is wrong, she cannot help but want to protect him as after all, he is the baby she has raised into a man. Both Shane and The Boy in both films retrospectively, once they have unexpectedly grown from baby into a man within a matter of days, pose threats to the men; they are now taller, more masculine, overpowering and exceptionally attached to their mothers, so much so in The Room that it becomes borderline incestuous in terms of Shane’s obsessive nature. This on-screen depiction of sons becoming the women’s rulers signifies a manifestation of fear within the male directors and how they may fear that a son could become a threat to the relationship they once possessed with their wife. 

Vivarium and The Room both look at the idyllic lives that heterosexual couples are often striving for; marriage, a house and eventually a family. We have been raised by society to feel that we are incomplete without checking the boxes of this predetermined list, handed to us at birth, even if it is not something we truly wish for. Vivarium looks at this concept from a housing point of view also, and how there are affordable housing problems here in the UK, leading to overcrowding and overpopulation in areas that are in poverty. Tom and Gemma strive to have the ‘perfect’ life, but eventually it is this want to do as society expects of them that leads to their demise. The Room  explores the position of desire and want, and perhaps not fully accepting the consequences of what happens when you bring a child into the world. Kate and Matt both want a child, but at the same time are not quite mature enough to handle what a child brings and how they will have an effect on their relationship and the world around them. Both films focus on the deterioration of relationships and the potential that children can in fact, have a negative impact on marital bliss, which although is a hard truth to swallow, is inevitably a truth that many couples come to face once they have their parental wishes come true. 

These are films that have in a way slipped under the radar somewhat, and have never been fully appreciated for the deeper messages that they convey to the audience. As a double bill recommendation, watching these two back-to-back might incur a desperate and depressing feeling, one that acts as a form of contraception. Vivarium will leave you with a headache from the non-stop screeching produced by The Boy and will give you nightmares from his mimicking behaviour, one that exacerbates how children copy their parents and forces them to be fully aware of themselves at every moment. The Room will get under your skin and make you feel sick to your stomach with some of the places that it ventures, reminding you that sometimes it’s just better to not wish for any child at all.

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