| “ | Dr. Conway: This is gonna take some time to process Dax, but I told you, I told all of you. These films, they're dangerous, they're savage. But you wouldn't listen, none of you would listen, well listen now. They'll never make another horror again, not after tonight. Dax: You did this because you hate horror movies?! Dr. Conway: Horror killed my wife! Horror killed your mother, so tonight, I kill horror. |
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So, a while ago I decided I wanted to propose Anthony Walsh from Blood Fest for Pure Evil on Halloween, so I decided to rewatch the movie. However, I completely forgot the movie also had a really solid Near Pure Evil candidate in the form of this guy. With that said, let's get on with the proposal.
What's The Work?[]
Blood Fest is a 2018 horror comedy directed by Owen Egerton and produced by Rooster Teeth Productions. It follows Dax, Sam, Krill and Ashley, who are attending a horror festival that is supposed to be the coolest one of all time. With recreations of iconic horror movie locales and various celebrities appearances. However, once the opening show of the event happens. It becomes clear the event's creator has far more sinister intentions, and that the horror will be far realer than anyone is expecting.
Who Is He? What Has He Done?[]
Dr. Conway is one of two main antagonists of the film, alongside Anthony Walsh. We first see him at the start of the film when his house is broken into by an intruder wearing a mask, who ends up killing his wife. He would end up walking in on the intruder staring down his son Dax, telling Dax to look away while he shoots the intruder dead. In the present time when Dax is older, Dr. Conway calls him into his office to talk about how he’s going to go on the news to talk about blood fest and how no child of his would ever be going. Conway then pulls out Dax’s wristband to blood fest and tells him he won’t be needing it, and how he doesn’t understand Dax’s obsession with violent horror movies when it’s those same kinds of movies that drove Conway’s patient to kill Dax’s mother. He then cuts up the wristband with scissors, however, Dax manages to get in anyway.
Later on we see him on the news speaking out about horror on the news, with him talking about how it’s all about the glorification of violence and rampant sexualisation. He also rants about blood fest saying it’s a tragedy waiting to happen and how he wouldn’t let his children attend it. But before he can finish he has to step out a minute. Eventually later on in the movie when the protagonists are able to open the door to escape, Conway shows up from outside. But then the killer from earlier Red shows up and puts a knife to Sam’s throat. The hotdog vendor of the event who narrowly survived being killed earlier tells him to shoot Red, but instead Conway shoots him. It’s then revealed Red is Dax’s sister Jamie, with it being explained her involvement was Conway’s idea, and that Conway is behind everything alongside Walsh, with him having planned this for years all because he hates horror and wants to destroy the genre and everyone who likes it.
Conway goes up to where Walsh is. He yells at Walsh because the festival almost killed his son, and when he’s informed there’s 231 people left alive, he says it’s too high and wants to blow the place up. Walsh gets mad at him because the place was rigged to blow in the morning, and Conway was supposed to give him until dawn to make his movie because he provided him the fans and celebrities. Conway then tells him that they should’ve just stuck to blowing up the venue like the original plan was before Walsh talked him into what blood fest now is.Walsh brags him about how they’ve created real fear, but Conway responds by yelling at him that his son was there all night.
Soon after, Conway is convinced to agree to activating “the pulse”, explaining the pulse as a vibration that goes through the skin that induces extreme anger and violent tendencies. Which he discovered when testing it as a form of lobotomy on his patients at the asylum. He put this technology into everyone, including the blood fest staff’s wristbands, to ensure they’d all kill each other. Walsh activates it and it immediately takes effect on the staff, With Conway then one by one executing them all. Eventually Drax makes it to the tower and when Conway becomes aware he’s still there, he becomes extremely angry with Walsh. Walsh points out his hypocrisy, saying half the monsters are his patients who were forced to watch the same horror movie over and over again until they turned into the villains from them. With Conway responding by aiming his gun at Walsh.
But before he can fire Dax shows up. Conway then states his plan to make it seem like Walsh was solely responsible for everything while he and his family walk out and blow the place up. The only thing Walsh objects to is the fact he still needs a shocking ending, Conway responds by shooting him dead. He then threatens to shoot Dax, but when he doesn’t back down, Conway can’t bring himself to do it. So instead he decides to blow up blood fest to kill everyone, Dax and Jamie included. But before he can, Jamie stabs him in the chest, resulting in him falling out a window to his death.
Mitigating Factors[]
Despite the film being a comedy, he lacks even the laughably evil moments of Walsh and is played entirely seriously. He constantly talks about how evil the horror genre is but he is in no way an extremist. To prove how evil horror is, he decided to kill off as many horror fans as possible by brainwashing vulnerable mentally ill people put under his watch into being violent killers. He also teamed up with a deranged horror director who wants to make a snuff film to do it, and is shown to be pretty sadistic in his own right. He ultimately has no good intentions and just wants to let his hatred of horror be known to the world.
And ultimately, I don't think he cares for his children either. Sure, he got mad at Walsh when he found out his son was still in the event, and was ultimately unable to shoot Dax when he stood up to him. But he ultimately subverts any possible care for them when he attempts to blow up blood fest to kill them along with everyone else. Not to mention he also suggested his daughter Jayme become one of the killers, endangering her in the process and also turning her into a mass murderer for his own gain. So I'm inclined to say this isn't preventing.
Heinous Standard[]
He's repeatedly to be just as responsible for blood fest as Walsh is, with him having to agree to any of Walsh's ideas for them to be used. This includes mass brainwashing mentally ill people (later revealed to be his own patients) by forcing them to continuously watch the same horror movie over and over again until they act like the villain from it. Tricking European women into entering America so they can be turned into blood thirsty vampires. And tricking several people into committing mass murder by making them think they're just playing a game when in actuality they're controlling corpses reanimated using electros. All to brutally massacre hundreds of horror fans out of his hatred for the horror genre. He also created the pulse that is used to turn all the remaining festival goers and employees into angry violent zombies. With him stating he previously tested it on his patients, showing no remorse over the way they ended up. He also repeatedly states his desire to blow up the festival when things aren't going fast enough to his liking, attempting to blow it up with his children inside before being killed by Jayme. He also turned his daughter into a mass murderer, which is really just the cherry on top here.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Evil?[]
Ultimately I believe his tragedy holds up too much. He was a regular psychiatrist until one day one of his patients broke into his house dressed like a horror movie villain and killed his wife. This incident made him despise the horror genre and seek to destroy it, with it being clear his warped view on the world comes entirely from this experience. On top of this, he also cares about his wife, he believes he's avenging by destroying the horror genre. Though I don't believe this is too much for Pure Evil, as it ultimately amounts to care for a single person and a tragedy that pretty weakly holds up due to just how warped his ideals and goals are, and the lengths of which he goes to achieve them.
Verdict[]
I'm saying yes, what do you think?