When it comes to describing trauma and abuse, plain vocabulary often fails, but images can easily tell the same tale. ‘Slapface,’ for example, is a visual medium that conveys the tragedies of two orphaned brothers, Tom and Lucas. Both of them are shattered by the loss of their mother, leaving them with nothing except each other.
However, this sibling bond is not always reassuring. The maltreatment in this connection causes Lucas, the younger sibling, to rebel and seek out monsters. This is how he comes into contact with the ‘Virago Witch.’ Will the creature Lucas befriends provide him with the solace he seeks, or will it only cause him more pain?
Jeremiah Kipp’s 2021 film, which he also wrote and directed, is the perfect blend of spooky and meaningful. In today’s video, we will look at the film ‘Slapface,’ which is currently streaming on Shudder, as well as analyze the intriguing ‘Virago Witch.’ Let us get started!
Where Do Monsters Come From? – Slapface 2021
The movie opens with the two brothers sitting across from each other. The elder brother Tom who is played by Mike Manning asks his younger sibling Lucas played by August Maturo if he is ready. He then proceeds to slap him; demanding Lucas do the same in return. This is how the audience is introduced to the film and this ‘game’ called ‘Slapface’ the two brothers play. The title card appears alongside newspaper clippings of missing children and ancient illustrations of witches.
The movie then takes us to a scene of Lucas packing sandwiches for his elder brother mocking him for his inability to cook. Lucas is also seen taking out the trash as Tom leaves for work in a van with his fellow employees. We see how at such a young age Lucas has learned to shoulder household responsibilities due to the absence of a caretaker. After Tom’s departure, Lucas visits a library and is seen looking up the ‘Virago Witch’.
He reads up about her and the building she is rumored to haunt in the woods near his house. This search shifts into Lucas walking up to the said building. Upon reaching the ground outside this building, Lucas takes out a picture of himself and his deceased mother. He cuts his palm with a shard of glass, smears this picture with blood, and then proceeds to bury it in the ground.
Meanwhile, Tom after completing his day at work is seen drinking at a bar at night. Here, he meets Anna. Their flirting is interrupted by the Sheriff who asks Tom to step outside the bar to talk to him about Lucas. The Sheriff informs Tom how he found Lucas creating trouble and warns him that he cannot keep going easy on him just because he knew their mother. He then tells Tom to not become like his father and be a man of value instead.
The scene shifts and we are back at their house where the siblings are playing ‘Slapface’. Tom can be seen nudging Lucas to go hard on him while not holding back himself. After their game, Lucas goes up to his room where Anna asks him if he’s okay. He shrugs this question off and leaves.
Anna stays the night with Tom and tries to speak to Lucas in the morning over breakfast. Lucas can be seen getting visibly annoyed with Anna’s invasive presence in the household as he is made to feel like a third wheel. He starts to leave the house more often to wander in the nearby woods. Here, three girls chase him and bully him. Moriah, one of the girls, is one who stands by while the twin girls called Donna and Rose harass and beat up Lucas.
Lucas leads them to the haunted building where the twins force him to break into the basement through an opening and bring them a souvenir. While searching the dingy and dirty area, Lucas is startled by the reflection of the Virago Witch in the mirror. He turns and is horrified when he faces her. The Virago Witch has a distorted face and a tall frame that cowers over everyone. She is shown to be dressed in dirty rags. Lucas attempts to run but is grabbed by the witch.
Lucas gains consciousness and realizes he is lying next to Moriah in the woods. He attempts to explain his experience briefly before giving up when Moriah says she would like to date him secretly. This creates lots of problems for Lucas as the bullying continues. Moriah in order to keep her friendship with the twins also takes part in mocking him despite seeing him secretly. At home, we see how Anna is getting perplexed by the way Tom neglects Lucas.
All her attempts to speak to Lucas go in vain as well. Lucas follows a trail of blue flowers that lead him from his house to the same building. Curiosity gets the better of him and he enters the building again. He is startled by the witch’s presence and runs out. The witch follows him into the woods where she grabs him again.
Yet, the scene that follows speaks volumes. She puts Lucas down gently and instead of fleeing, he stays. He does not try to run but instead, looks at her intently and even moves closer when he felt safe. This is how Lucas and the Virago Witch establish a relationship. They communicate wordlessly for the most part and their interactions are eerily gentle.
Lucas’s relationship with the Virago Witch always tethers on aggressive and tender. After he visits the building one day, he is chased by a Husky in the woods. The witch immediately appears and kills the dog violently. Lucas watches silently as she proceeds to smear dog blood all over his face and clothes.
Anna at home later discovers Lucas washing off this blood. She is incredibly alarmed despite Lucas telling him it is the blood of a dog and snaps at Tom saying he is a neglectful and abusive brother. She brings up ‘Slapface’ telling him how that is not a game but an excuse to hit Lucas. When Tom screams at Anna in retaliation, she decides to leave for the second time. On her way back, Anna sees a little girl handing out flyers for a missing dog.
She instantly puts two and two together and rushes back to the house. Little did she know that both brothers were not at home but Virago the witch herself had been in the house. Anna after hearing no response to her incessant knocking lets herself in. She starts going through Tom’s stuff when she hears a thud outside.
Thinking it is one of the siblings she calls for them repeatedly before deciding to pick up Tom’s gun and walk outside the room. It is here that she is confronted with the witch. She points the gun at her and the witch mockingly imitates her gesture. She then immediately grabs Anna.
Lucas returns home and sees Anna’s car outside with scratch marks on it. He receives a call saying Tom is too drunk and required to be picked up. Lucas calls for Anna before noticing a bloodied poster of the missing dog and a bullet hole in the wall. Lucas covers up the bullet hole before going to Tom at the club who is trying to instigate the bartender to fight. Lucas asks him if he met Anna but Tom is too drunk to be coherent.
It is only the next day that Tom after gaining consciousness discovers the bullet hole behind the photo frame. He frantically looks for Anna but all in vain. Lucas meanwhile goes to the forest seeking out the witch wanting to know what happened to Anna. When Lucas returns home that day, Tom confronts him, accusing him of shooting at Anna.
He proceeds to hit Lucas who asks if they are playing ‘Slapface’. He continues to scream and shove Lucas when he tries to explain ‘the monster’. Tom then suddenly hugs him saying he is the only one he has. It is precisely such moments that show the viewer the complexity and nuance of abusive interpersonal relationships.
Later the same day, Tom is shown to be drunk and is soaking fully clothed in a bathtub. He starts crying recounting the car accident where they lost their mother whereas Lucas emotionlessly states they have a rule to not bring the story up. The way both brothers are dealing with immense grief and trials of life differently is highlighted at this moment.
The following day Tom leaves for work and Lucas is lying in the bathtub when the Virago Witch enters their house. She quietly approaches Lucas and joins him in the bathtub. We see hesitation written clear on Lucas’ face which slowly begins to fade as the witch gingerly pours water over him and strokes his face.
After this, Lucas guides the witch to the bullet hole behind the frame, in an attempt to find out what happened to Anna. This enrages the witch and she smashes the photo frame. Lucas follows suit and imitates her by smashing a second family photo frame. We see childish glee written on both the witch and Lucas’ faces as they begin to thrash the entire house. The scene showcases pent-up frustration being released in this act of rebellion.
Soon, the witch reaches into a closet and takes out presumably their mom’s dress. She hugs it close to her torso and begins to slow dance. This bothers Lucas and he rudely asks the witch to put the article of clothing back. This angers her and we see her slow and eerily graceful movements again shift tempo and become aggressive.
At the same time, we hear Tom get back from work. Lucas then forces the witch inside the closet in order to hide her. Tom who is immediately taken aback by the state of their house, asks to play a game of ‘Slapface’ to rid himself of his anger and reprimand Lucas for the future.
The witch emerges behind Tom such that she is just in Lucas’ view. They begin the game and the witch imitates getting slapped every time Tom smacks Lucas. We see her slowly approach Tom when Lucas screams and hugs his brother across the table in an attempt to save him. Tom is startled and stops the game and the witch retreats.
The next day, Lucas follows another blue flower trail into the forest but this time it leads him to the buried body of Anna. This flusters him as since Anna’s disappearance he has pondered over whether or not the Virago Witch is evil. He has always defended her saying the articles and fables have got her wrong.
Yet the discovery of Anna’s body is the first time the gravity of the situation he is in hits him. He is rushing back when he is stopped by Moriah and the twins who begin to beat him up. He begs Moriah to not take part screaming that ‘she’ will hurt him too. As the bullying continues, they all hear the witch’s scream and Lucas frees himself and runs. He hides in the forest where Moriah tries to find him and apologies.
The witch however gets to Moriah first and uses blunt force to hit her in the head with a stone. Lucas hearing her scream finds her lifeless body and cries out for help. The twins find them in this state and run away. The witch shows herself at the scene to Lucas where he screams and throws sticks at her asking her to stop this. The witch simply disappears.
The scene shifts and we see Tom outside the police station where officers tell him this time Lucas will not be let off easy. The Sheriff questions Lucas and scoffs at all his attempts to pin the violence onto the Virago Witch. Meanwhile, we see Moriah die at the hospital where her family is grieving.
Tom who is now also at the hospital is horror-stricken at the repercussions of what he believes is his brother’s actions. At the station, we see Lucas wake up at the interrogation table, only to realize that something ominous has happened. The door is ajar and the lights of the station are flickering. He goes outside to discover the whole place thrashed and the bodies of policemen lying on the ground. Blood is smeared all across the walls.
He discovers the witch standing behind the Sheriff’s body. Lucas had taken a gun from a dead policeman’s body. He points it at the witch. Her eyes flare up in anger as she imitates his gesture. Lucas drops the gun and runs out of the station. He reaches home and calls Tom asking him to come home.
At home, Lucas keeps a gun and knife ready. He then empties his toys on the floor separating them into teams. The witch appears next to him as he asks her if she is good or evil. He cries and asks if he was the reason for all the violence that was enacted by her. He says he can no longer be friends with her. We see Tom pull up in the driveway and he walks in on Lucas and the Virago Witch in an embrace.
The witch immediately rushes and smacks Tom. Meanwhile, Lucas laughs and cries in the background saying ‘It’s Slapface!’. As Lucas continues to cry, Tom is being attacked by the witch. Lucas even attempts to shoot at the ceiling to garner attention and then at the witch.
Finally, he grabs a knife and stabs the witch, who falls to her knees and gingerly touches Lucas’ face smearing Tom’s blood over it. The movie concludes with a shot of a crying Lucas cradling Tom’s body asking him to wake up as the lights from the police siren flash red and blue from outside the door on his tear-stricken face.
The Virago Witch
Lucas’ loss of his mother, his neglectful and abusive brother along with his bullying drives him to seek solace in the folklore of the Virago Witch. He seeks her out himself. While the nature of his curiosity initially strikes the viewer as childlike it soon shifts. The viewers release how deep the wounds of his trauma and abuse are causing him to be devoid of emotions like fear at times and be overwhelmed by them at other times.
Lucas is also seen humming Virago’s song which goes ‘Then she was a breeze, then she was a tree, then she was a witch, killing all the parents of the bad little boys, Virago’ on numerous occasions. The song is indicative of Virago’s character and foreshadows her behavior. Virago herself is portrayed as sometimes gentle yet other times capable of horrendous violent acts.
It is this flipping back and forth from loving and caring to terrify that is said to be an analogy for abusive and toxic relationships. Not knowing which version, she will express at a given moment adds to the thrill of the movie.
In the movie’s concluding scenes wherein, Virago is asked if she is evil or not, she simply refuses to answer. It is left to the viewers to ponder what they feel about revenge and retribution meted out to the characters in the film. Meanwhile, ‘Virago’ the witch simply remains as a vehicle that enacts ugly human desires. Can we blame her?
Why should You Watch Slapface?
The film deals with a multitude of themes like unresolved trauma, loneliness, abuse, bullying, and bereavement. The way the two characters the brothers evolve and how their grief affects them is portrayed in a striking yet honest and believable manner. The film remains ominous and despairing from start to end.
There is no sliver of hope that is offered at the end which can cause some viewers who seek a happy ending some discomfort. However, it is precisely this bleak portrayal that drives home the gravity of trauma and abuse as well as Jeremiah Kipp intended. While the jump scares in this film are scarce, the true way it embraces the horror genre is by showcasing the dark side of human emotions.
Especially, intense negative emotions like grief and sorrow which are often repressed. This is what horror does best. It allows us to experience and relate to parts of being human that we are forced to shove to the margins. This movie is a must-watch for all those willing to engage in such themes. It highlights how our circumstances, trauma, and childhood inform the trajectory of our lives.