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27 December 2018, 15:45
A scene was deleted from the Netflix movie that showed Malorie coming face to face with one of the creatures - and it's really not what we were expecting.
After one week, Netflix's Bird Box has become one of the most talked about movies of the year on social media. The film, starring Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, Danielle Macdonald and Machine Gun Kelly (to name a few), has sparked a huge wave of memes and has had audiences screaming over its terrifying plot.
The movie, which is based on Josh Malerman’s novel of the same name, follows the story of Malorie (Bullock) and her two children, Girl and Boy (we won't spoil their eventual names, you can cry about that at the end of the movie yourselves) as they attempt to escape from a mysterious entity that forces people to kill themselves if they look directly at it.
The entity (or monster, if you will) is prevalent throughout the whole movie but is never shown on screen. It's presence is signalled through shadows, harsh winds and whispered imitations of deceased loved ones. Those who have seen it, say that it's 'beautiful'.
And now, for those who have been dying to know what the monsters actually look like, it's been revealed that there a scene was deleted from the film that would have shown the actual monster on screen and to be honest, we're kinda glad we never saw it.
Speaking to Bloody Disgusting, Bird Box screenwriter Eric Heisserer detailed a very specific scene where one of the actual monsters was going to be brought to life on screen for us all to see.
“There was a time when one of the producers was like, ‘No, you have to see something at some point’ and forced me to write essentially a nightmare sequence where Malorie experiences one in that house,” Heisserer said.
Sandra Bullock described the creature in the scene as "a green man with a horrific baby face. It was snake-like, and I was like, 'I don't want to see it when it first happens. Just bring it into the room. We'll shoot the scene.' I turn and he's like [growling at me.] It's making me laugh. It was just a long fat baby."
First of all, LOL. Second of all, a green man with a horrific baby face?! NO THANK YOU!
Of course, the only visuals we are ever given of the monsters in the film are the sketches drawn by Gary, one of the infected who is able to look at the monsters without killing himself. After hearing about what they were meant to look like, Gary's sketches suddenly look much scarier and much more intimidating.
Director Susanne Bier also explained that the decision to keep the actual monsters off screen was, in the end, the much better choice.
“Whatever those beings are, they tap into your deepest fear. Everybody’s deepest fear is going to be different from the other person. I think to suddenly take upon a concrete shape in order to illustrate that becomes weak. Where the conceit is really strong, then trying to illustrate it is kind of almost meaningless. So it would have been the wrong decision.”
And there you have it. There's your answer as to why we never see the monsters on screen. And thank God, to be honest.