Carly May Borgstrom’s debut film Spirit in the Blood is messy but likable. As a psychological horror thriller, Borgstrom tries to deliver something new. At first, it was not quite clear what she was aiming for—is the focus on the cult-like community or the impact of dysfunctional households on teens?—but gradually she found her voice and stuck to it. Summer H. Howell is brilliant as the timid teen, Emerson Grimm. Other than a few glitches, Spirit in the Blood is an enjoyable, visually alluring, feminist horror film.
The Grimm family moved to a suburban town in Canada. Julian had spent his childhood in the small town, and after years of living outside the community, he realized that he had to return home. The church community was tight-knit, and everyone respected and followed the guidance of Pastor Carl. Julian’s daughter, Emerson, was not impressed by the town and its people. She did not adapt well to the change, and she mostly preferred listening to music and reading comic books alone. Julian often felt frustrated with his daughter, and on one instance he left her by the side of the road while driving home. That morning, Emerson caught a glimpse of a monster, but when she later told her father about it, he did not believe her.
Spoiler Alert
How did the ritual affect the girls?
Emerson looked younger than her age, and her father often teased her for her interest in comic books. Her lack of confidence made her an easy target for bullies at school, and Emerson ended up hiding in the bush on the first day of school in the suburbs. Delilah Soliel noticed Emerson, and she sympathized with her. She too was ridiculed and made fun of at school. Delilah was mature beyond her age, and she refused to be confined by the school rulebook. The town disapproved of her and her single mother because they defied Christian traditions and ideals.
When Emerson met Delilah, she was mesmerized. Delilah was anything like her, and perhaps that was all the more reason why Emerson enjoyed her company. She felt good knowing someone as outgoing and mature as Delilah wanted to be with her. Delilah did not find Emerson weird as most kids did; instead, she enjoyed listening to her wild theories and ideas. She started to trust Emerson when she mentioned seeing a monster in the forest. Recently, Delilah’s friend, Rebecca, had gone missing. Emerson believed that the monster got Rebecca; she remembered how vulnerable she felt that day in the forest; for a minute she thought that the monster would make her disappear and no one would know.
When Delilah jokingly mentioned that her other ‘bad’ side lived in the forest cave, Emerson added that she sounded like a Scythian since they believed that there was a hidden dark spirit in every human and they summoned it to unleash its power to help them become fearless. But it was important not to let the spirit out for long because it survived on blood. Delilah was fascinated by the theory, and when she realized that the townspeople would never listen to them (she and Emerson were made fun of when they told the school principal about it), she decided it was time to unleash their dark spirits. Emerson had only read about the ritual in books, and she had no idea if it was effective. But since it was their only hope, she decided to go ahead and follow the instructions. Emerson and Delilah felt a rush of energy when they performed the blood ritual. I believe it was all in their heads, and they had convinced themselves that their dark spirits had been unleashed. This made them feel invincible. They could make a morally tainted choice and blame it on their dark spirit. They no longer had to be the good girls that the elders expected them to be.
Gradually more and more girls claimed that they had seen the monster in the forest, and they spoke to Emerson and Delilah about it since they were the only ones who would believe them. Emerson and Delilah introduced Abby, Baby, and Rachael to the ritual, and the girls experienced a strange energy that made them feel extremely powerful. They were no longer afraid of the unknown, and together they trained to destroy the enemy. At home, the girls were told to rely on the men who went out hunting every night to ensure the safety of women, but they had no idea that the young girls gathered every day to reclaim their space, refusing to remain locked in their house fearing the unknown. For the first time, the girls did not feel completely helpless in their lives—they were liberated, and they took pride in being ‘bad’/‘evil’ because it allowed them to bend the rules and ignore societal expectations.
What led to Emerson and Delilah’s fallout?
Delilah was Emerson’s best friend, and she often felt possessive about her. Emerson thought that there was a side of her best friend that she did not know. She wondered if Delilah was sexually active because she had overheard her classmates say so. But then again, Delilah was her best friend who validated her crazy ideas, and it was difficult for her to imagine the same Delilah engaging with men. She had seen Delilah flirt with her mother’s boyfriend, Frank, and Emerson did not approve of it. She was scared of Delilah’s wild/dark side, and at the same time, she refused to share her with anyone else. Her connection with Delilah was special, and perhaps she found it difficult to imagine her sleeping with someone else.
After Emerson found out that a cougar was shot down and that it was responsible for Rebecca’s death, she decided it was time to bury their dark spirit. She wanted to protect Delilah, and she assumed that it was the dark spirit that was making her do things. Emerson told Delilah her plan, but her best friend did not agree with her. Delilah refused to believe that their threat was a mere cougar. Rebecca had told her that she had seen a monster in the forest before she eventually disappeared, and that was why Delilah trusted Emerson. She refused to give up on their mission so soon. Emerson confronted Delilah about Frank and told her that a thirty-year-old taking an interest in a minor was problematic. But Delilah was just a teen desperate for love and affection, and she refused to believe that her fling with Frank was an impossible dream. One of the reasons why Delilah and Emerson had clicked so well was because they both belonged to dysfunctional families. Delilah’s mother was often drunk and had her own problems to deal with, and Delilah had to become responsible at a young age. Emerson’s father was extremely dominating, and she had grown up fearing his rage. His wife’s silence whenever he reacted violently showed how she too was afraid of him. Emerson found comfort in books and her imagination until she met Delilah. Emerson was hurt when Delilah told her she was simply envious of her because she was not desired. Emerson tried to prove her wrong, and she approached Joshua. But as they started to kiss, Emerson heard her friends scream.
What does the pastor’s conclusion suggest?
Baby fell prey to the monster, and her friends were questioned. Since Abby, Delilah, and Rachael had witnessed the incident, the pastor had deduced that they were involved in some way. Abby was the first one to break her silence. She felt ashamed of daring to go against the church, and guilt consumed her. She told the pastor about the ritual, and she assumed that she would be spared for telling the truth even though she too had participated. Abby wanted the pastor to believe that she was forcefully made to worship the devil, and eventually, Rachael joined her and blamed Delilah and Emerson for it. Emerson felt overwhelmed and humiliated. Delilah came to her defense and took the blame on herself.
During Spirit in the Blood’s ending, when the pastor decided to admit Delilah to a mental institution, she begged Emerson to help her. But Emerson was extremely scared; she had never considered that their innocent desire to be brave and invincible would land them in so much trouble. Emerson remained silent, and she regretted doing so after she returned home. She tried to contact Delilah through their walkie-talkie, and she suggested they run away from the town. Delilah had always wanted to leave; it was her dream to hitch a ride and see the world, and now Emerson felt the same way. The pastor had ridiculed their efforts and reminded them that they were not meant to deal with such threats. They were young girls who were supposed to follow orders and stay at home to avoid danger. Emerson refused to spend the rest of her life following rules, and the thought of running away from the town with Delilah was liberating.
Who was the monster?
In Spirit in the Blood’s ending, Emerson walked to the forest cave to bury her dark spirit. She waited for Delilah but decided to do it alone when her best friend did not show up. All of a sudden she heard noises as if someone was moving. She realized it was the monster, and when she looked closely, she realized it was a man dressed in a costume. We’d previously seen the predator with Frank. He was perhaps one of the men who had volunteered to protect the women of the town. The monster had always been a man hiding in the woods, waiting for a young girl to walk through the forest alone. The pastor had men patrol the area at night, not realizing that the predator was among those very men. Perhaps he would continue to live in denial because it’s easier to deal with an animal than a man. Also, the entire idea of men protecting women would become meaningless if a handful of men living in the town turned out to be the predators. Women would want to learn self-defense; they might have even wanted to take matters into their own hands, something the pastor would’ve never been comfortable with. The pastor and the men living there sheltered such predators; if Rebecca’s death had been properly investigated, the cause would’ve come to light, but instead, they chose to hush it down.
The man attempted to rape Emerson; he started to choke her when all of a sudden Delilah appeared and hit the man on the head with a stone. She tried to wake Emerson, but she was not completely conscious. The man grabbed hold of Delilah and tried to force himself on her, but Emerson came to her rescue. She was carrying a knife, and she stabbed the man several times. She remembered the technique her father showed her to kill a cougar, and she used it to murder the predator. Emerson and Delilah did what seemed almost impossible—they realized that together they could defeat anything, and they held each other’s hand while cycling, possibly, out of town. They could either head back home and share their experience with their community and help them realize how wrong they had been, or they might stick to their plan and run away. They felt suffocated living in the small town, and perhaps after dealing with the monster, they knew that together they could handle any situation. They might as well see the world, but regardless, as long as they stayed brave, nobody would dare harm them.
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