descendant un escalier

 

     
birdtrap birdtrap

descendant un escalier 2009
with Tomas Phillips

descendant un escalier is an abstract horror film with soundtrack by Tomas Phillips. Fragmentary narrative follows an individual over the course of a night, exploring terrains, moving in and between buildings - one of which, like the ominous presence of Hill House or the Overlook Hotel, becomes the monster. Run.

birdtrap birdtrap

The film emerged from a discussion between Tomas Phillips and Chris Sollars about the playfully foreboding atmosphere of the Headlands Center for the Arts property after hours. Utilizing their own experiences of the isolationism in which one might find oneself temporarily immersed there, the artists at once reference genre classics such as The Haunting and The Shining and localize the immediate horror of familiar spaces in the dark.

birdtrap birdtrap

To further distinguish their project, however, they complicate the traditional reliance upon darkness to signify fear by foregrounding light. It is in being exposed, the film suggests, that one may encounter the true face of monstrosity.

The title is taken from the well known painting by Marcel Duchamp, Nu descendant un escalier n° 2.