What is common to all of these images of horror is the voracious maw, the mysterious black hole which signifies female genitalia as a monstrous sign which threatens to give birth to equally horrific offspring, as well as threatening to incorporate everything in its path. Discussing representations of the “cavernous, malevolent womb of the mother” in film, Creed explores the female body-and especially its generative power-as a source of both “dread and fascination.” Seventh Son plays on this representation of the monstrous feminine, depicting Malkin and her sister Lizzie, also a witch, as dangerous, mutating forces that threaten the social order.Ĭreed, writing of films such as Alien, The Thing, Poltergeist and Jaws, argues The opening of the film visually links Malkin to the horrific womb imagery explored by feminist theorist Barbara Creed. Julianne Moore is splendidly wicked as Malkin, so much so that I found myself looking forward to seeing her incarnation of the monstrous feminine, much as viewers both desire and dread the appearance of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Further, the film is not so much about stopping “empowered women” as it is about stopping one powerful witch: Mother Malkin. This reading of the film is understandable, but is not in keeping with the book’s more nuanced explorations of gender parity. Indeed, the film adaptation fails to critique the surface level misogyny of the Spook and the wider narrative arc, which led Correa to call it “weirdly sexist.” It stands to reason, then, that Seventh Son just may be a parable for man’s resistance to the feminist movement.”
However, underneath that, it’s a tale of two men trying to stop a group of empowered women. Of course, it all sounds like generic fantasy gobbledygook.
The story of Seventh Son is a simple one: Jeff Bridges plays a Spook (a fighter of evil) named John Gregory on a journey with his apprentice Tom Ward (Ben Barnes) to defeat a clan of witches led by Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore).
While admittedly not on par with the likes of the Harry Potter or Hobbit films, I was perhaps more apt to give it a thumbs up for two key reasons: I don’t like the fantasy/supernatural genre’s tendency to rarely include witches-one of my favorite monstrous/magical figures-and I am in the midst of reading the book series, which adds depth to the stories the film adaptation lacks.Īt Punch Drunk movies, reviewer Andres Correa gives an overview of the film: My co-author and I posit that while zombies and vampires have been resurrected in contemporary narratives in complex, often feminist ways, the witch, as a female monster, is harder to resuscitate.Īlthough Seventh Son was raked over the coals by critics ( Rotten Tomatoes reviews, on average, gave it a 4.6 out of 10), I found it quite enjoyable, despite lead character Jeff Bridges’ oft-panned accent. You might guess that I’d be interested in witches, especially since witches as monstrous figures will be a key focus of my forthcoming book Feminist Perspectives on Zombies, Vampires, and Witches: Radical Monstrosity in Literature, Film, & TV.
#WAS THE MOVIE SEVENTH SON BASED ON A BOOK SERIES#
Seventh Son, the film adaption of portions of The Last Apprentice series by Joseph Delaney has much going for it: compelling visuals, an episodic format with lots of beasties and action, a pleasing admixture of humor, horror and romance wrapped in a fantasy/supernatural package and, best of all, witches: good, bad and in-between.
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