Marisol’s Baby

Into The Dark: Culture Shock, the tenth installment in a series of films, surprised me at how good it was. I’m used to every movie I watch on Hulu being absolute garbage. I’ve legitimately almost never seen a good movie on Hulu, until I watched Culture Shock. The movie stars the Mexican actress Martha Higareda as a young woman, Marisol, attempting to cross the border into America.

Marisol finds a variety of different allies and enemies in the first part of the movie as she looks to make the crossing. Someone she knows very well has assaulted her sexually and impregnated her. But she’s still trying to migrate, even with the chance of her baby popping out any day. The film makes it apparent that what happened to Marisol deeply affected her. Sexual assault is a large theme in this movie, and Marisol is constantly skeptical of everything, since she doesn’t even know what to trust anymore.

This movie reminded me a lot of Get Out. It tackles hot political issues, but in a new way, where it doesn’t make the characters seem too stereotypically oppressed. Culture Shock shows someone trying to achieve the American Dream. It shows the harsh reality of the great struggle it takes some to even get close to that goal.

The scariest part about Culture Shock is how it doesn’t even need to stretch things too far from the truth to be frightening. Some people putting their entire lives on the line simply trying to get into a better situation, which is scary enough. It’s rare that a horror movie conveys a good political message, but when it does, the message is often profoundly and excellently delivered. Get Out did this as well.

The second part of the film tackles another important issue, American ignorance. Marisol comes to a new society that she thinks will be better. While everything seems good to at least the viewer, because it’s the life that many Americans live daily. But to Marisol, something seems off, no matter how good the situation seems. Of course, it turns out her suspicions are correct, and something else more sinister is occurring, but it would be no fun if I told you what that was.

I wasn’t terribly excited to watch this movie, because I was definitely not a fan of They Come Knocking, the previous installment of the Into The Dark series, but I was very wrong. The movie provides interesting social commentary, but not by portraying anyone as a victim. It shows real and current human struggles and regular people’s ability to overcome them. Along with that, it has a gripping plot that slightly falls off at the end, but overall it makes for an interesting movie that might get you thinking. I highly recommend giving Culture Shock a watch, you won’t regret it.