Gautam Anand
‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ is the latest Dan Gilroy film starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer, and John Malkovich. The film had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival on 27 January 2019 and was then released worldwide on Netflix on Feb 1, 2019.
‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ is as much a satire as it is a horror film. The film’s story revolves around a bunch of art dealers, art exhibitionists and art critics, who decide to make money out of a series of paintings that are unexpectedly discovered after its artist’s death. But as it turns out, the paintings were protected by a supernatural force, which decides to enact revenge on those who have allowed their greed to get in the way of art.
Gilroy, the writer and director of the film, very cleverly uses the premise of a revenge horror film to offer commentary on commercialization and criticism of art. It is a film that you are either going to love or hate. With bold imagery, goofy characters and loud background score, the film might feel in-your-face, but clearly that is what the makers intended. While there have been tons of revenge horror films made in the past, I doubt if you would have seen anything like ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’. Though, certainly, there are films that are quite similar in its tone and message. So, let’s dig into the past and find out what are the films that are most similar to ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’. We hope you like our recommendations. If you do, remember, you can watch many of these movies like ‘Velvet Buzzsaw’ on Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime.
1. Mother! (2017)
Well, let’s start with a film that is a very obvious choice. While Velvet Buzzsaw is critical of how greed is destroying art, Mother is a commentary on how greed is destroying our planet. In essence both are revenge horror films. Darren Arofonsky, who has made some truly spectacular films like ‘The Black Swan’ and ‘Requiem of a Dream’, but with ‘Mother!’ he throws himself into a completely uncharted territory. It tells the story of a couple who welcome guests in their house but find difficulty in getting rid of them. The film plays on many themes, layered one after another. From a take on what we are doing to Mother Nature to drawing allegories from biblical stories, this film has a lot of thought-provoking points to make.
2. Nightcrawler (2014)
