#blum&poe

[supersonicart]

Friedrich Kunath's "I Don't Know The Place, But I Know How To Get There"

Currently on view at Blum & Poe in Los Angeles, California is artist Friedrich Kunath's solo exhibition, "I Don't Know the Place, But I Know How to Get There."

Kunath utilizes a personal style of romantic conceptualism, layering poetic phrases with poignant, often melancholy imagery. The work embraces comedy and pathos, evoking universal feelings of love, hope, longing, and despair. The artist’s personal journey from Germany to Los Angeles plays a key role in his work, incorporating German Romanticism and western popular culture, with still life, cartoon imagery, commercial illustration, nature photography, and lyrical references. 

THE SUPERSONIC ART SHOP | FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM

#art #painting #friedrich kunath #blum and poe

[antronaut]

Shio Kusaka - (grid 132). 2016 

stoneware 27 1/4 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2″ 

#Shio Kusaka #Blum & Poe

[searchsystem]

Banks Violette / Blum & Poe / Not Yet Titled / Installation / 2009

#banks violette #blum & poe #not yet titled #installation #2009 #art

[thewaspandthefig]

Buffet, 2020 by Anna Weyant

#blum & poe #anna weyant #art #realism #food

[irlpretear]

100 trans/genderqueer musicians

Bands

Against Me! (rock, folk punk) (x)

The Oozes (punk) (x)

The Hirs Collective (metal, grindcore) (x)

GEL (hardcore punk) (x)

Urn (hardcore punk) (x)

The Black Dresses (noise pop, hardcore hyperpop) (x)

Party Ghost (rock) (x)

Lagrimas (hardcore punk, scream punk) (x)

Doll Skin (rock) (x)

Dazey and the Scouts (rock, indie) (x)

G.L.O.S.S. (hardcore punk) (x)

Dog Park Dissidents (punk rock) (x)

She/Her/hers (rock) (x)

Deli Girls (hardcore electronic) (x)

Dream Nails (punk rock) (x)

Sarah and the Safe Word (rock, dark cabaret) (x)

Pinkie Promise (punk rock) (x)

B. Fraser (emo) (x)

Newgrounds Death Rugby (emo) (x)

Scowl (hardcore punk) (x)

Feminazgul (black metal) (x)

Sports Bra (dream pop, light rock) (x)

Club Sofa (indie pop) (x)

The Cost ov Living (grindcore, harsh noise) (x)

Kuromy (punk) (x)

The Sonder Bombs (indie, pop) (x)

Lidocaine (rock) (x)

I'm letting unseen forces take the wheel (cybergrind) (x)

Gum Disease (punk) (x)

Cam Girl (rock, trash rock) (x)

Gully Boys (grunge pop) (x)

Arcadia Grey (sparkle punk) (x)

Schmekel (folk punk) (x)

Destructo Disk (punk rock) (x)

User Unauthorized (hardcore punk) (x)

The Spook School (indie pop) (x)

Pinkshift (emo) (x)

Glass Beach (emo) (x)

Butch Baby (light rock) (x)

VIAL (indie punk) (x)

Sister Wife Sex Strike (folk punk) (x)

homewrecker. (metal, hardcore punk) (x)

Mega Mango (indie rock) (x)

Keep For Cheap (prarie rock) (x)

Steam Powered Giraffe (cabaret, steampunk) (x)

Thotcrime (grindcore, cybergrind) (x)

Whirlybird (indie pop) (x)

Kampsport (hardcore punk) (x)

Um Jennifer? (alt-rock, punk) (x)

Scarlet Demore (alt-rock) (x)

HappyHappy (folk, folk-punk) (x)

Queen Zee (punk) (x)

Grumpy Plum (slop pop) (x)

Cheap Perfume (punk) (x)

Pollyanna (power-pop, rock) (x)

Ballista (metalcore) (x)

Faetooth (fairy doom, metal) (x)

Lacerated (death metal) (x)

Fortuna Malvada (hardcore punk) (x)

Peach Rings (bedroom power-pop) (x)

Solo Artists

Laura Jane Grace (rock, folk punk) (x)

Left at London (pop) (x)

ZAND (pop, ugly pop) (x)

Ada Rook (hardcore electronic) (x)

Ms. White (pop) (x)

Rett Madison (indie, folk) (x)

Murder Person for Hire (folk) (x)

Backxwash (rap, industrial hip hop) (x)

LustSickPuppy (electronic, rap) (x)

Babylungs (electronic, rap) (x)

Human Kitten (folk punk) (x)

Harley Poe (folk punk) (x)

Ewy (emo, folk punk) (x)

Averstaskta (instrumental) (x)

Andie Schoen (indie) (x)

Elliot Lee (dark pop, electronic rock) (x)

Urias (hip hop, ballroom) (x)

Twink Obliterator* (cybergrind) (x)

Rio Romeo (cabaret punk, indie) (x)

Knife Girl (art pop, indie) (x)

Alexander James Adams (folk) (x)

Starmaxx (pop) (x)

Sofya Wang (pop, alt-R&B) (x)

Boy Jr (indie/alt pop) (x)

Medusa (revenge pop, hip-hop) (x)

Mal Blum (singer-songwriter, folk) (x)

Gina Young (riot grrrl) (x)

Petra Fiyd (indie pop) (x)

awfultune (bedroom pop) (x)

Quinn Hills (alternative pop) (x)

Femtanyl (electronic) (x)

Vivivivivi (electronic, glitchcore) (x)

Lilac Boy (glitchcore) (x)

Rosie Tucker (indie rock) (x)

Ryan Cassata (singer-songwriter) (x)

Pain Chain (noise, synth) (x)

In Love With A Ghost (electronic, lo-fi) (x)

Alice Longyu Gao (hyperpop) (x)

Prophetic Nightmares (ambient synthwave) (x)

Saint Wellesley (indie folk) (x)

#music #trans art #punk #queer art #some of these are incredibly obvious and some are very not so #also i say trans/genderqueer bc some of these artists are not explicitly out but still fall under the umbrella of queer #if i made a mistake and one of these artists is actually cis let me know too #im not adding to this list nor is it just a top 100 btw. just a selection #if you ask where is (popular artist) im gonna block you

[sajiabude]

#dave miller #blum and poe

[nobrashfestivity]

Shio Kusaka: Volume 3; 2014, 2015, 2016. Blum & Poe “Published in conjunction with the exhibition Shio Kusaka (July 2 — August 20, 2016) held at Blum & Poe Los Angeles.

This catalogue is the first in an ongoing series of catalogues documenting a selection of Kusaka’s artworks, inspired by Japanese pottery reference books. This first volume focuses on works from 2014–2016. Shio Kusaka lives and works in Los Angeles. Her work was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and has been exhibited throughout the world.”

Arcana Books

#Shio Kusaka #books #sculpture #tyrannosaurus rex

[wonderbutch]

genres and bands i listen to and how i got into them: an entirely too long useless list i made instead of sleeping

celtic punk

shoutout to the genre ever? i grew up listening to celtic punk literally since i was born. my dad sucks but his music taste does not. this genre is 32% responsible for my leftist punk attitude, which is ironic if you know anything about my father.

- the dropkick murphys: first band i can ever remember hearing. as a toddler i called them “the bastards”. still a favourite forever and everrr. their newish album “this machine still kills fascists” fucks HARD. the band will forever be a formative reminder of my working class upbringing in a miners family

- the rumjacks: late nights and early mornings in my dads car introduced me to this band. i really will tell me ma when i get home and i wont feel guilty about it

- paddy and the rats: one of the only celtic punk bands i actually discovered on my own. in 2018 i went on a sailing ship for a week and that got me rlly into celtic punk again LMAO. this band is so fucking good

emo/pop punk

i was 13 and tbh it was a phase but i still love listening to fob and mcr and sws

- my chemical romance: unironically i think i got into them through band memes

- fall out boy: literally just thru scrolling through youtube when i was 12

- [REDACTED]: [REDACTED]

- sleeping with sirens: this band shaped me as a person. kellin quinn the original gender envy. ohhh i miss this band sm

- all time low: a kid in my class in year 7 introduced me to all time low and ill remember him forever for it. hope youre well, jaiden.

- la dispute: got to see them live last year after @starcam413 got me into them! theyre kinda more screamo like sws but not in the same way as sws but definitely emo too

- set it off: this band is still SO GOOD. so fucking good oh my god. truly the fucking era

- the score: i was a greek mythology nerd as a kid (its my major now!) of course i listened to the score. i miss being 13 and listening to the score on youtube on my laptop at 3am so bad

folk punk

celtic punk and folk punk are very related, and i grew up listening to bands like the pogues and the violent femmes. is it really any wonder how i ended up Like This

- the violent femmes: as a child my dad would play country death song in the car. yes i am mentally ill and have daddy issues can you blame me????? (the song is literally about killing your daughter and then offing yourself)

- toby foster: really one of my proper introductions to the genre and what ultimately led me to discover bands like ajj and pat the bunny. found him on youtube through his song tennessee. i was 13 i think?

- pat the bunny: after toby foster i was completely hooked on the genre and of course ended up listening to the king himself, pat the bunny. your heart is a muscle the size of your fist is such a comfort song to me even now. it sucks he no longer makes music but im very happy he got sober!

- schmekel: im trans and punk of course i listen to schmekel. fantastic trans and jewish band that helped me a lot with my transness as a young teen

- mal blum: im counting his music as folk punkish, sue me. no idea how i got into them either. their song new years eve is the song i listen to on repeat every single new years eve, and i have yet to change this tradition. Help Me.

- the front bottoms: I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS. THEIR EARLIER ALBUMS ARE FOLK PUNK AS HELL. genuinely my favourite band ever. i can’t remember how i got into them but is how i ended up friends with @starcam413 (hi jon!)

- she/her/hers: sooo formative to me when i was 15/16 struggling with being trans.

- harley poe: ohh i love this guy so fucking much. why do i relate so much to a middle aged divorced man????

- days n daze: one of the most popular folk punk bands so i mean. Duh. sooo good i love them.

punk

- the sex pistols: listen. listen to me LISTEN TO ME. LISTEN. i dont even fucking like this band. in fact i despise it. but because my dad is an idiot, he loves this band and played it a lot when i was a kid.

- the queers: i think i heard them on a spotify playlist last year? big fan.

- the muslims: i believe this was recommended to me on reddit?? amazing black and brown queer band, i love it a lot

- tribe 8: im a lesbian with a complicated gender identity of course i listen to tribe 8. trans queer punk band that i listened to a lot when i was like 15 i think

- against me!: listened to them a lot when i was 15

new wave/post punk

got into this genre in 2022 and Hella into it late last year. blame paper girls brainrot.

- devo: got into them in 2022 thanks to an online friend hi ira 🌀 theyve never made a single bad song

- the cure: once again my dad showed me a lot of the cure when i was a kid and getting into music

- blondie: ….have you seen the batman and harley quinn movie….please dont make me say more. the first cassette in my collection is from this band!

- new order: one of my favourite bands right now. like most things for the last three years of my life, i got into this band because of a comic book. the tv adaption of paper girls features two new order songs and it got me absolutely hooked on this band.

rock/all that shit??

- danzig: once again you can blame paper girls for this

- bon jovi: also paper girls. i am obsessed with jon bon jovi’s hair in the 90s. gender envy as fuck

- queen: when i was 14 i found my grandpas mp3 player from the 2000s, he was a big fan of queen. i ended up putting all my music on the mp3 player and ive used it every single day since.

- billy joel: i was raised by my grandmother of course i listened to billy joel. played a lot on our old radio with my nans ipod when i was a kid. apparently my nan isnt even a big fan of him so i guess he was only formative to me lol????

indie

probably one of my most listened to genres just because. i have no reason. ive come to realise that most of my indie music taste is stolen from aura.

- girl in red: shoutout to discovering im a lesbian in 2017/2018 and to my best friend @vampoholica for introducing me to girl in red

- bastille: i love bastille sm icarus is such a good song and as a greek mythology kid i was so obsessed. bad blood youll always be famous to me

- mitski: oguhfhgh i dont know how i got into mitski but good lord. literally life changing.

- the smiths: fuck morrissey. i think this too was aura’s fault and i forgive them bc i love the smiths

- chloe moriondo: ahh the youtube ukulele era how i miss you

- alex g: i can’t remember how i got into alex g but i got into his music in 2022 and now im obsessed and unwell about him

- adrienne lenker: again this is aura’s fault and i am so fine with that. music sooo devastating it makes u wanna throw up and sleep forever

- elliott smith: i started listening to him because of simon vs the homo sapiens agenda

okay thats it thank u for reading this stupid post lol

#music #music genres #bands #emo #folk punk #new wave #post punk #celtic punk #punk

[6v-theblog]

Nobuo Sekine installation view at Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, 2014

#Nobuo Sekine #6varchives #contemporary art #abstract #6v #abstract art #modern art #modern design #modern #contemporary design

[pagansphinx]

© ANNA WEYANT. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND BLUM & POE, LOS ANGELES / NEW YORK / TOKYO.

Anna Weyant (Canadian, b. 1995) • Loose Screw • 2020

#art #painting #fine art #contemporary artist #contemporary portraiture #portrait #paintings of women #anna weyant #21st century art #canadian artist #women in paintings

[drawdownbooks]

LA friends, graphic designers, and friends of the book! We're super excited to participate in Acid-Three at Blum and Poe in a few weeks. Gather with all the incredible artist book publishers, artists, and designers to peruse printed matter: June 16-18, 2023. 80+ exhibitors and so many cool folks! https://acid-free.info/ Eventbrite Event https://www.eventbrite.com/e/acid-free-los-angeles-art-book-market-tickets-639610611557

#Acid-Free #acid-free art book fair #graphic design #draw down books #typography #book fair #los angeles #art book fair #acidfree2023

[tempusnon]

Florian Maier-Aichen

Untitled (Mount Wilson)

2002 

Chromogenic print, front-mounted to acrylic and flush-mounted to aluminum, signed, dated, and editioned ‘⅚’ in ink on the reverse, and a Blum & Poe, Santa Monica, label on the reverse

#Florian Maier-Aichen

[mentaltimetraveller]

Julian Hoeber

Blum & Poe, Los Angeles/New York/Tokyo

#Julian Hoeber

[burlveneer-music]

Lonnie Holley - Oh Me Oh My - part secular gospel, part spoken-word memoir, with musical backing that sounds like a collaboration between Daniel Lanois and Bill Laswell (but is actually produced by Jacknife Lee)

Some years ago, there was a magazine piece wherein the writer meditated on the concept of the “Cosmic Southerner”: the late Pharoah Sanders, André 3000 and Col. Bruce Hampton (on whom the piece was ultimately focused) were all mentioned. Somehow, Alabama-born, Atlanta-based self-taught artist Lonnie Holley was left out of the piece. But Holley, 72, has improvised — nay, conjured! — ecstatic, baffling and heavy moments that can often only be described as “cosmic.” In a mere two lines of a song, Holley can zoom in on the pores of one’s skin and pull back to encompass the whole of the Milky Way. All that said, Holley’s music and visual art (for which he has shown at The Met, The Smithsonian and is represented by the illustrious Blum & Poe) is much more about our place in the cosmos than the cosmos itself. It’s about how we overcome adversity and tremendous pain; about how we develop and maintain an affection for our fellow travelers; about how we stop wishing for some “beyond” and start caring for the one rock we have. Holley has never delivered this message as clear, as concise and as exhilaratingly as he does on his new album ‘Oh Me Oh My.’ ‘Oh Me Oh My’ is both elegant and ferocious, sharpening the work contained on his 2018 Jagjaguwar debut ‘MITH’. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal. Holley’s harrowing youth and young manhood in the Jim Crow South are well-told at this point — his sale into a different home as a child for just a bottle of whiskey; his abuse at the infamous Mount Meigs correctional facility for boys; the destruction of his art environment by the Birmingham airport expansion. But, as mentioned, Holley’s music is less a performance of pain endured and more a display of perseverance, of relentless hope, of Thumbs Up For Mother Universe. Intricately and lovingly produced by LA’s Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), ‘Oh Me Oh My’ features both kinetic, shortwave funk that calls to mind Brian Eno’s ‘My Life in the Bush of Ghosts’ and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno’s ambient works. There are also elements of Laurie Anderson’s meditations, elements of Gil Scott-Heron’s profound longform soul, elements of John Lurie’s grabbag jazz, and yes, elements of Sun Ra’s bold afrofuturism. But ‘Oh Me Oh My’ is a triumphant sonic achievement of its own. Acclaimed collaborators like Michael Stipe (“Oh Me, Oh My”), Sharon Van Etten (“None of Us Will Have But a Little While”), Moor Mother (“I Am Part of the Wonder,” “Earth Will Be There”), Justin Vernon of Bon Iver (“Kindness Will Follow Your Tears”) and Rokia Koné (“If We Get Lost They Will Find Us”) serve as choirs of angels and co-pilots, giving Lonnie’s message flight, and reaffirming him as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community. Holley reflects, “My art and my music are always closely tied to what is happening around me, and the last few years have given me a lot to thoughtsmith about. When I listen back to these songs I can feel the times we were living through. I’m deeply appreciative of the collaborators, especially Jacknife, who helped the songs take shape and really inspired me to dig deeper within myself.” ‘Oh Me Oh My’ is also an achievement in the refinement of Holley’s impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. During each session, Holley and Lee would discuss the essence of the songs and distill Holley’s words to their most immediate center. On the title track, which deals with mutual human understanding, Holley is as profound as ever in far fewer phrases: “The deeper we go, the more chances there are, for us to understand the oh-me’s and understand the oh-my’s.”  Produced and mixed by Jacknife Lee

#Lonnie Holley #blues #soul #gospel #americana #ambient #folk #us #atlanta #2023

[exmcrtis]

(madison iseman) [THE RACONTEUR]. Please welcome [EZRA BLUM (SHE/HER)] to Huntsville, WV. They are an [TWENTY-SEVEN]-year-old [VISITOR] who lives in [TOWN]. You may see them around working as a [PRINTER ASSISTANT AT HUNTSVILLE DAILY/HORROR NOVELIST]. Poor unfortunate soul. We’ll see if they survive.

TW: car accident, death mention, trauma

full name: ezra jean blum

birthdate: february 14th, 1997

age: 27

height: 5’2”

sexuality: demisexual

bio:

if you were to classify ezra blum’s life as a shakespearean play, it would undoubtedly be a tragedy

she was an only child to two young and in love parents, and the moment their daughter came into the world, they felt like their life was complete

both of her parents were writers; her father a suspense novelist and her mother a romance novelist, and it wasn’t lost upon them how different their styles were

they wanted their daughter to feel as loved as possible, so they gave her everything she could ever want or need without her having to ask, and needless to say she was spoiled without being coddled

her days were filled with literature of every type, creativity and a wide imagination encouraged around every corner

ezra liked to spend most of her free time outside, creating fantasy worlds for herself and making new (imaginary) friends every single day

she soon became the queen of mudpies and hiking trails, and her parents couldn’t have been more proud watching their daughter’s mind grow 

she had a deep love for all things creepy and unknown, quickly proclaiming that edgar allan poe and stephen king were her favorite writers, and that she wanted to be just like them

the other kids often found her odd, claiming that she read too much and that the things she talked about were weird

strongly encouraged to take up an extracurricular activity, ezra chose the school newspaper, finding that most of the other members didn’t bother her unless it was to read over her articles

she figured it was the best of both worlds, and it kept the guidance counselor — and her concerned parents — off her tail

but while life seemed blissful for ezra, things changed just days after her fifteenth birthday

her parents were in the front seat laughing and talking until they weren’t

the last thing ezra heard before blacking out was her mother shrieking, and then it was an explosion of glass and the sound of metal grinding

ezra woke up two days later in a hospital bed, her throat sore and her memory blurry, surrounded by nurses with concerned looks on their faces

she’d walked away with only a gash on her belly that had been patched up in surgery and a bruised ribcage from her seatbelt

her parents hadn’t survived the crash, but she had, and she was left alone, her pain not from her physical injuries, but from the loss of her parents

she lost interest in talking to anyone, shoving herself in the back of classrooms when she started at her new school and never bothering to get to know anyone

her sleep schedule had also gotten worse; she was usually lucky to get a couple hours of sleep in every couple of days, her nightmares waking her up just as soon as she’d lulled off

she was in her new school for a few months before she met icarus desjardins

he was tucked away in the library and she stumbled across him, and for some reason, a little voice in the back of her mind told her that he was different

he liked to read and he was gentle, and to top it off, he never made her talk about anything that she didn’t want to

ezra had no idea what she’d done in life to deserve meeting him, but it wasn’t long before she developed feelings for him

it happened gradually; she spent as much of her time with him as she could, and he never seemed to protest, his friends even accepting her into their little circle

after about a year or so, ezra slowly began to come out of her grief, even responding to therapy better than she had at the start

in that time she started working on her first novel, drafting up countless versions before finally settling on one

she was still in school when it was published, but she kept humble by not mentioning it to anyone, never wanting any extra attention

life went on for them happily; they graduated high school and went on to college and got an apartment together

in that time she published two more novels with icarus’s encouragement, and she felt like things couldn’t get any better for them

a last minute road trip for the couple had felt like a good idea at the time, but just like most other things in ezra’s life, it didn’t end in bliss

the road was slippery and the winding, and what happened next felt like deja vu

the car horn is what woke her up this time, the car flipped over and her vision blurred

she could only make out icarus’s limp frame beside her, and after clawing her way over to him, she desperately checked for his pulse and came up short

ezra panicked, wanting to be hopeful that his heartbeat was faint and that there was still time to get help

and so she freed herself from the confines of the car, the old scar from her teen years opened up and bleeding, and she began walking

the town that she stumbled into was huntsville, and she was immediately met with concerned faces

not many people would find a girl covered head to toe in blood and remain calm, and despite the frantic questions that they asked her, ezra didn’t have any answers

she tried to croak out icarus’s location, but nobody wanted to listen to her, and the only words she heard were ‘stuck’ and ‘can’t get out’

all the years she’d spent healing were taken away from her, and ezra felt like she was back to square one

she acquired a room at martha mae’s bed and breakfast, holing up with her door closed and a disinterest in meeting anyone

all she could think about was icarus, and how she’d left him behind to try and get help

she wondered what would’ve happened if she’d gone in the opposite direction, and whether or not her boyfriend was still alive

ezra hid herself away for months before she finally bothered getting a job at huntsville daily

she was never forthcoming about her life; when people asked about where she came from and about what she did before huntsville, ezra would shut down completely and stop talking

needless to say, she wasn’t able to make any friends, and she couldn’t be bothered to care about it

the only healing she managed to do was physical; the scar on her belly was even darker and rougher, and the word ‘sleep’ was no longer in her vocabulary

it was no way to live life, and each day that passed, ezra questioned more and more why she was even still alive

she’d been in huntsville for five years when icarus showed up out of the blue one day

ezra thought she’d seen a ghost, but it was really him, and that was the first time she’d felt relieved in a long time

her guilt and sadness all came flooding back to her, the night of their accident still in the forefront of her mind

and yet part of her was happy to see him again, and it was like no time had passed between them at all

she’s still very much addicted to books, and finding her without one is rare

despite huntsville being tragic in and of itself, she’s making due with everything that she was given, and counting each day as some sort of silent blessing

but deep down, ezra will always worry about what else might go wrong

#huntsvilleintro #ezra blum: intro #car accident tw #death mention tw #trauma tw

[themostleastuseful]

A Review of a Thing

Greetings denizens of the incomprehensible abyss known as the internet, I am a random nobody who criticizes the art of people far more talented than I will ever be. This is the first time I have done anything remotely like this, so do not be surprised if you find it lacking. I know I sure do. Anyhoo, today I will be talking about a horror movie that wants to be a poem so badly that it forgot to have a point.

How do I describe I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House? Boring is too simple a word for how little I cared about anything that happened in this movie. Maybe colorless, or would that be too obvious? When the most interesting thing in a multimillion dollar film is a mold stain, money has not been spent well. It is styled as a gothic horror in the tradition of The Fall of the House of Usher and other Edgar Allen Poe works, but Poe it is not. His stories had themes more interesting than “death is kind of scary, right?”

The movie is about a woman named Lily who is hired to work as a live-in nurse for an old horror novelist (named Iris Blum) with dementia. A simple setup with potential for interesting payoffs. Are there going to be nightmarish creatures spawned from the mind of a creative individual slowly losing their grip on reality? Is the nurse on the run from a past she can never truly escape? Will the main character ever go outside? All of these questions, and more, will be immediately answered no because there isn’t enough time between all the shots of walls.

The plot goes thusly: The nurse shows up, Iris mistakes her for the ghost she’d been talking to for inspiration, Lily reads the book based on Polly (the ghost)’s story and figures out that it had actually happened in the house, then sees Polly in person and dies of a heart attack. Iris dies too because there was nobody left to care for her, then the last ten minutes are Lily monologuing about how dead she is. 

Lily is one of the main problems I have with the movie. For starters, she talks like a grandma with an odd cadence reminiscent of someone telling a bedtime story. It kind of works for her monologues (though the language is so flowery it makes me want to sneeze) but she even does it when talking to her friend, who she calls a slut the way you might call a puppy silly. I am aware that the actress is British, but then why make her do an American accent? 

 Lily is a mix of childish and extremely odd that might make sense if she were supposed to be mentally handicapped in some way, but there is absolutely no indication that she is. Not to say it would be a bad thing, I’m autistic myself. It’s just that, if you’re going to make such a character, you’re going to need to establish or at least hint at it at some point.

 There is a ghost, but we never really find out much about her or her motives. It seems like she wants to show the world what her ultimate fate was, but then she goes and makes Lily hallucinate that there’s mold growing on her arms (the only remotely interesting scene in the movie, by the way.) What’s that for? If she just wants vengeance on the living, why does she tolerate the writer living in her house for decades? Why was she murdered anyway? What’s the significance of her walking around with her upper half on backwards? 

While I complain, the movie does manage to set an atmosphere of doom. The house feels empty and dark even during the day, and the music sets you on edge when it’s supposed to. The problem is, though, that the movie barely does anything with it. building tension without adequate release leaves viewers feeling stressed. A movie that has you feeling worse than when you started is not one you want to see again. Anyway, more complaining.

Like I said before, there is a foundation for something good buried within the snores. The movie has themes of aging and decay, with Iris being shown to have once been quite attractive, but time has taken her mind and body.  Very gothic horror, but none of it feels like it was used to its proper potential. It should have focused more on the author and her futile struggle against time, with the house visibly deteriorating as a reflection of it. Maybe the ghost could change too, slowly becoming more corpselike until it disappears and the actual body busts out of its hole to do some spooking. As it is, I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House bats the idea of beauty being transient around like a cat with a toy but never goes in for the kill. (The two central characters are named after flowers ooo so deep)

#movie review #film #spoilers #i am the pretty thing that lives in the house #horror #gothic horror