Film Road to Halloween: Assassination Nation (2018)

The road to Halloween is paved with good films. Wherein we countdown to the spirited season with a hundred doses of horror. 29 days to go.

There’s no denying it’s really hard being a woman right now. There’s a spotlight on inequality, but if anything, there is more open hostility and even violence towards women. Hollywood and films are addressing all of this more or less brilliantly. Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation is a film that has incredibly powerful, honest moments, but it also falls short on really hitting the sweet spot.

The story takes place in the town of Salem. The kids, and adults alike, are glued to their phones and social media. Everything is sexualised, everything is now or never. Our four protagonists are Lily, Em, Sarah and Bex, four perfectly normal American high school students, who live their lives partly online. When a mysterious hacker first releases some very sensitive information on the local mayor and later almost the entire town, anarchy erupts. And somehow, the four girls become targets in the middle of all the madness.

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Levinson’s HBO series Euphoria has been a huge hit and it certainly hits a lot of the same notes as Assassination Nation, but Assassination Nation is purposely in your face, over-the-top violent and straight up about what it wants to say about the times we live in. The odds are not in these girls’ favour and they never were. They are being punished for their gender and their sexuality which is only desired up to a certain point.

The film might come across as slightly condescending and dumbed down even. Assassination Nation certainly isn’t a subtle film. The trailers and the beginning of the film contain several trigger warnings, which is somehow feels a little insulting but proves to be true. Levinson lays down the law early on; he isn’t here to faff around, but wants you to know immediately what kind of a film this is. There’s no denying that underneath its extravagant and outlandishly violent surface is a universal truth that applies to all women.

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Assassination Nation doesn’t really go from good to great until the last moments. Lily and her friends have been done wrong and they’re out for revenge. Lily posts a rousing speech online, standing in front of a torn US flag. She speaks how certain things are expected of her, forced upon her but she is then equally punished for these things. She asks – no, tells the viewer not to blame her for their mistakes and miserable lives. She only just got here.

There is strength in numbers and there’s strength in women. We are a force to be reckoned with, we will not be tamed and we will not be blamed. Beware. Lily’s video message reaches the other young women in town and they follow Lily into battle. Quite literally as they head towards a mob of angry men, who are ready to beat these girls back into order, back into patriarchy. The women raise their guns, take aim… and then nothing.

The film ends with a marching band marching through the streets of Salem, littered with broken glass, crashed cars and the bodies of those who didn’t make it. They play Miley Cyrus’ We Can’t Stop while a girl twirls in front of the band. The credits start rolling while the band marches on. The end.

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Because what else is there? Nothing has changed, not really. Lily may have given a great speech, a rallying cry to battle and they certainly battled it out on the streets of Salem, but Lily’s words ring true for our reality as well and there’s no happy ending here, no resolution. Assassination Nation at times plays like a fever-dream, a worst-case scenario from hell. Except that we’re dangerously close this scenario. The film blends violent fantasies with our real-life anxieties with terrifying accuracy.

Assassination Nation will never be featured on anyone’s top 10 lists of anything, but it’s an interesting little film. It’s poignant and accurate in its depiction of our lives online, presenting us a scenario that could well become reality. The film is terrifying in how relatable it becomes while retaining it’s almost fantastical feeling. As a woman, Assassination Nation represents all our worst fears. The real ones, the ones that we actually believe might happen.

The scene that has stuck with me is one where the town’s sheriff rallies the crowd and screams over the police radio that they’re good people to the murderous, cheering crowd. “We are good people”. The crowd has beaten and murdered, or at least attempted to murder several citizens, most of them women. They are now targeting four underage girls. They showed no mercy to those killed. Instead the good people of Salem let their feral, primal instincts take over in a society that descended into chaos and anarchy within days. But they’re good people, their hands have been forced to do this. It’s not their fault. They deserved it, they asked for it. We’re good people. I’m a good person. Sound familiar?