Rented a new indie horror film called Relic. I hadn’t seen any trailers but did see that it was getting buzz and pretty positive reviews so I gave it a try on streaming (via iTunes).
The film is about a mother and her adult daughter trying to care for their elderly mother/grandmother who lives alone out in the woods. She has some level of dementia… but she’s also sure someone is living in the house with her. The mother and daughter start hearing and sensing things and soon we begin to wonder if the house is haunted, if someone is living in the walls, if it’s all in their heads, or something else entirely.
This is a slow burn, art house horror film that’s thoughtful, that’s about something, that has a stellar use of sound and environmental chills. It’s very well acted by Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote too. For the first two acts (and, indeed, maybe into the third) the viewer is left uncertain what’s going on. What kind of suspense/horror film world are we living in? And it’s nice not to have everything telegraphed to you, that’s for sure.
But the movie might be a bit too slow a burn with a few too many red herrings and nebulous answers. I get that the movie is clearly a personal story, probably from someone who has lived through an elderly family member’s slow descent. That decay is certainly presented well on screen. But I was a little bored and over the movie’s various misdirections a little too early. That said, I’d rather be bored by a movie that’s trying something with style and craft than be bored by a generic jump scare laden mainstream horror movie full of stupid teenagers and generic scares. So I forgive the movie some of its sins.
If you like your horror methodical and creepy, prefer a sense of mood and dread over jump scares, and you want a movie that’s about something, this could be a good watch. It wasn’t perfect for me and I wish I enjoyed it more… but I certainly respect the honest attempt to tell a personal story.
Score: 80