SPOILER DISCUSSION

1.Super 8 films as a form of media are inherently nostalgic, especially for someone of Elliot’s age; this is why he’s familiar with the tape from the moment of discovery and can set it up with ease. The “home” movies are nightmares that use nostalgia as a bait. Each one of them starts with a type of innocence as the families depicted enjoy their lives. But each moment of peace is interrupted by an excessive violence which completely undermines; the idyllic fantasy is revealed to be a farce tapering over a brutal terror.

Elliot’s desire to return to better, older times when his works were famous, is this nostalgic desire taken more personable form and like the home movies, it culminates in destruction as the cost of that fame is revealed to be the innocence of Elliot’s family unit. This desire to return to the comfort of the past becomes the death nail as the family returns to their original house and confirms their ultimate fate.

2.Professor Jonas (Vincent D’Onofrio) only undermines the film by overexplaining the horror and removing the ambiguity behind what’s happening. The animal symbolism on top of the tapes proper was all that was necessary to sell the terrors of “Bughuul” and gave the viewer enough interpretative room to determine the nature of what was happening with the Super-8 films.

3. The ending is brings the film full circle. The deputy ends up figuring out the curse behind the tapes and warns Elliot; far from being the genius keeping the idiot at bay, Elliot’s hubris towards the deputy trying to help rears itself in the most painful fashion. If he had not ignored the call multiple times before there was still a chance he could have at least tried to stop his daughter.

But his hubris ensures that he gets incapacitated. Then his desire for fame ensures his ultimate fate. He’s murdered and becomes the true star of the story, a mystery to be solved this time.

At a formal level, the film ends as it opens: a found footage film depicting horror plays. The mystery behind how the first film came to be is solved by the time we watch the concluding film.