“Mantra” – a new Buddhist horror film
Posted by theworsthorse in Dharma-Burger!, Uncategorized, death, movies on 11 5th, 2009 | 3 responses
The Denver Daily News is reporting on the local premiere of “Mantra,” a new Buddhist horror film:
Mantra tells the story of a group of strangers who go to a remote cabin area in the woods for a meditation retreat. While a generous amount of nudity and gore ensues, the film also explores some heady philosophical concepts like love, desire and suffering.
[Filmmaker David] Wimer was inspired to write Mantra after attending a Buddhist retreat in India. He found that the meditations were “mind-altering, scary and weird,” and became enlightened on the connections between Buddhism — which focuses on desire and suffering — and horror films.
More here.
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November 6th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Yes, I was concerned that the film might turn out to be dharma-burger. Perhaps it did. I spoke to someone at the Ligmincha Institute in Charlottesville while the project was in development. And she counseled me to remove Buddhist iconograpy from the film – especially thangkas, which though dramatic and perhaps even for some horrific in their imagery could be very misconstrued (and the Bon tradition already has its problems hanging in there). So there’s very little – if any visual reference to Buddhism.
But the sparse script (don’t say anything if it doesn’t improve on silence) draws on the words of Thich Nat Hanh and other Buddhist writers. And the first 30 minutes of the film are basically silent.
I’ve screened the film for various spiritual-minded people who told me straight up they didn’t like horror films. Afterwards, i’ve been assured that the film isn’t dharma burger – and have even been encouraged to submit it to the Spiritual Circle Cinema.
It’s not a perfect film. Which one is?
November 9th, 2009 at 10:30 am
Another review: The Zen Horror Movie that Works
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2009/11/05/ESSAY-Mantra-Review-Farrell-A.aspx
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:53 am
Sounds like an interesting movie.. Hope it gets to Malaysia or is viewable online…