E. Elias Merhige

Director

Forfans of experimental, avant-garde and challenging horror/arthouse cinema; viewers interested in symbolic, ritualistic and non-narrative film work.
2 Reviews 2 Definitions 1 Charts

The Profile

American film director known for the experimental horror film Begotten (1991) and the later film Shadow of the Vampire (2000).

Merhige is known for stark black-and-white imagery, ritualistic and disturbing visuals, and an experimental approach to sound and narrative. Begotten (1991) is widely cited as a landmark of weird/experimental cinema.

Two DeBaser reviews examine E. Elias Merhige's Begotten (1991), highlighting its shocking opening, stark black-and-white imagery and looping soundscape. Reviewers frame the film as experimental, expressionist and divisive. Themes discussed include myth, birth/death symbolism and ecological or religious readings. Recommended for viewers who seek challenging, nontraditional cinema.

Notable Quotes

❝ Language bearers, Photographers, Diary makers. You with your memory are dead, frozen. Lost in a present that never stops passing. Here lives the incarnation of matter. A language forever.

❝ The black and white footage, along with the lack of audio replaced by strange sounds on loop, does nothing but transport the viewer into a hallucinated and timeless dimension.