Enter From Above Review: A Dysfunctional Family From Hell
Enter From Above by Juliano Angeliano follows a story of familial dysfunction, abuse, trauma, and addiction. In each reality, the devil’s daughter, Rooster takes on a role to do her father’s bidding whether that be swindling a band into signing themselves to the devil or trying to become a porn star to escape from hell.
It is difficult to pinpoint concretely what Rooster’s goals are as a character besides immediate stimulation from drugs, sex, and alcohol. Rooster proves herself to be a psychopath willing to kill for the thrill, without much regard for others yet she still does what they want. It seems she wants freedom from her father but is also very willing to give him what he wants as well. Perhaps that is because they are family, but it made her somewhat inconsistent as a character.
The devil seems to want to keep a hold on Rooster by asking her for favors and putting plants in the worlds Rooster enters to keep watch on her. This is a compelling counter-conflict to Rooster, especially if Rooster were shown to go against him, and continually try to ruin her father’s plans.
The plot often felt tangential. It was easy to lose the thread of what was most essential to the story. The world was very stylish: full of designer clothing, glitz, glamor and sex. That made it playful, but tighter formatting could have greatly aided the pacing of the script. Less time could have been given explaining extraneous details in action/description to make time for the emotional stuff of character and plot which could have made the story feel more focused.
Still, there was a nice metaphor present in the story of feeling stuck in patterns of behavior, and that being akin to hell. In each new reality, Rooster ventures further and further from control, doing what other people want until she is literally someone else entirely. Trauma can transform a person in that way. Angeliano’s ability to weave theme felt like the strongest element of the script.
There is so much internal strife to mine within Rooster that has a lot of potential if given a little more clarity and focus. The dissenting dynamic between Rooster and the devil carries this script forward, and the metaphor of feeling trapped in a cycle of abuse is powerful.
