Terrifying

Forget about radioactive dinosaurs, strange creatures from Mars, twisted bbq selling families in the Texas outback. Forget about psychopathic nannies, rabid canines or snakes on a plane. I want you to watch this Gus Van Sant film because you watched Michael Moore's film Bowling for Columbine, because you read Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed and were completely freaked about the possibilities. I think you need to see his film Elephant because you have that primal fear in the back of your mind that that kid up the block, the quiet, bright, strange one, the kid who takes its and takes it all the time from his peers, the one who is less than popular, the one who collects guns and is deep into first person shooter games, is not quite right and has always given you the creeps.

The world of cinema may be filled with haunted houses, disruptive spirits, twisted beings that come back from the grave to do horrid stuff to the living, but anymore for me these days I fear the living more than the dead, more than creatures from some farway galaxie, more that anything a creature feature workshop in the Valley could ever conjure up out of latex and wire and rampant cannibis fueled imaginations.

Elephant by Gus Van Sant. It will make you a believer in simple kindness. And make you think twice about the value of public education.

Do you know where your kids are right now? When was the last time you told them that you loved them? Do it today, creeps are amongst us.

Action!