Chapter 62: Cutting off the Source of Evil

More photo albums were found by Haley in Jeff's bedroom. The girls in the pictures were some bound, some with a vacant look in their eyes, some collapsed on the ground. Even though they were just photos, it was evident that these girls lacked the ability to resist during the shoots, being subjected to exploitation.

"Scum!" Daisy muttered under her breath.

Everything indicated that Jeff was not only a pedophile but also a very dangerous one.

Haley poured another glass of water and forcibly poured it into Jeff's mouth, and the screen went black again.

When the screen lit up again, Jeff was lying on his workbench, naked from the waist down, covered only by a large bag of ice.

The little girl was about to castrate this pedophile!

Daisy felt relieved, but her male companion's mouth twitched.

At the back, Tony Gusman had moved forward a couple of rows again, finding the film more and more intriguing.

Unlike the others, Jones Butler smiled. As a career woman who had experienced some unfair treatment due to gender issues, seeing Haley about to start the castration show filled her with a strange satisfaction.

Due to his own circumstances, Beck Larson remained relatively calm, viewing the scene from a professional perspective.

The director, Murphy Stanton, used overhead shots here, focusing on Jeff's bound hands, scanning his body from top to bottom until reaching the area covered by ice. This clearly depicted Jeff's situation and set the stage for the upcoming castration.

Jeff lying on the metal table, the harsh light reflecting off the metal surface was captured perfectly due to the overhead angle, enhancing the eerie and ominous atmosphere, foreshadowing the impending horror.

Then came the dialogue between Haley and Jeff. The camera kept switching between them, both in close-up shots, creating a psychological montage that vividly displayed the inner world of the characters, allowing viewers to feel Haley's calmness and Jeff's panic.

The director's 2 to 3-second switch of shots also accelerated the pace of the film, intensifying the viewers' psychological tension.

This part was consistently shot in backlighting, creating a stark contrast between the bright background and the dark characters, enhancing the eerie and mysterious feeling, easily making viewers speculate about what was going to happen.

The director showed remarkable skills in the use of cinematography, editing, and lighting, far beyond those amateur filmmakers on the streets of Park City.

When Jeff asked, "What's the ice for?"

The camera immediately cut to Haley pulling back the curtains, instantly brightening the scene, indicating that the mystery was about to be revealed. Then the camera switched to a close-up of Jeff's face, clearly showing his nervous and struggling expression, conveying Jeff's realization that something bad was about to happen to him. And then switching to Jeff's point of view, zooming in to let viewers see Haley's smug expression and the surgical knife she brought.

The mystery was on the verge of being revealed, and this synchronous editing made viewers deeply empathize with Jeff's current state of mind.

When Jeff learned that Haley was going to castrate him, another close-up shot captured his terrified facial expression, while Haley sat on the other side, talking to him.

The director's techniques were quite clever, and what pleased Tony Gusman the most was that all the techniques were simple and easy to understand. This was crucial because obscure shots often drove away viewers.

This section had only three types of shots: close-ups of Haley's face, full shots of Haley, and long shots of Jeff's torso.

The information conveyed through these shots easily showed that Haley was completely in control, remaining calm and confident, while Jeff was the controlled and weak one. Interestingly, when Haley appeared, the background was a blue wall, matching the tone of Haley's surgical gown. When Jeff appeared, the background was a red wall, cleverly using the cold blue tone to highlight Haley's calmness and the warm red tone to highlight Jeff's nervousness and fear.

These things might sound simple, but any director who wanted to achieve them must have considerable skills.

Undoubtedly, Murphy Stanton, this newcomer director's abilities far exceeded Tony's expectations.

The frequent jumps between short shots allowed Tony Gusman to see the director's control over the rhythm, and the subsequent long shots kept him nodding in approval, showing the newcomer director's excellent narrative ability.

When Haley briefly left, the scene returned to Jeff, becoming a long shot. The camera moved frantically between the struggling Jeff and the phone on the coffee table, vividly expressing Jeff's desire to escape.

After Haley returned, Jeff recounted a memory, and the entire memory also used a long shot. The director used shaking and moving shots, as well as close-ups, to show Jeff telling the memory, highlighting Jeff's sincerity and pitifulness, trying to move Haley with genuine emotion to spare him.

But then the camera shifted to the nearby picture frames, one by one, showing the girls' images, juxtaposing Jeff's mere sophistry with his actions.

At the same time, eerie background music started playing, and Haley walked up to Jeff, who stopped shouting, his eyes filled with despair, indicating that the castration was about to begin.

The sounds in the hall became eerie, Jeff gasping hurriedly, Haley exhaling softly, the knife sliding over the skin with a distinctive tearing sound, something suddenly ruptured...

There were no direct images of castration on the screen, but through these sounds, every viewer in the hall was vividly informed that an operation to remove the source of Jeff's evil was underway.

Coupled with the previous rendering, even without seeing the images, just hearing these sounds made viewers feel extremely painful, and the cruelty was extreme.

Of course, such thoughts were definitely from men.

For female viewers like Daisy, there was only one word in their hearts: satisfaction.

The little girl punishing Jeff's actions was just too satisfying and cool! All the jerk men should receive such punishment!

A burst of blood spattered onto Haley's surgical gown, and the little girl displayed an incongruously calm demeanor for her age. She simply put away the surgical knife and said, "OK!"

The music immediately changed to a peaceful piano melody, giving viewers a sense of relief, as if the castration had finally come to an end.