Directed By Natalie Erika James

Starring – Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote

The Plot – When elderly mother Edna (Nevin) inexplicably vanishes, her daughter Kay (Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Heathcote) rush to their family’s decaying country home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. After Edna returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay’s concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she’s been clashes with Sam’s unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back. As Edna’s behavior turns increasingly volatile, both begin to sense that an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her.

Rated R for some horror violence/disturbing images, and adult language

POSITIVES

– Accurate depiction. First and foremost I appreciate any property of media that not only has the respect for the condition known as dementia, but also one that accurately conveys its clutches in the most elaborate of circumstances. This is not an easy feat, because James must toe a thin line where her grotesque imagery and metaphorical manifestations must feel effective in the eyes of the audience without feeling hokey for the sake of the genre. It does this and so much more with a truly dark and dreadful atmosphere that fleshes itself out in the film’s audio and aesthetic categories, making this an intentionally jumbled surreal nightmare that pits you in the shoes of its tortured elder protagonist, all the while illustrating a common condition in cinematically horrific encapsulation that weighs as heavily on our psyche as the dampest towel that only grows thicker the longer we immerse ourselves in this world. It shows how the victims are rendered, but more importantly how those around her treat the situation, and you can’t help but feel empathetic for everyone involved.

– Trio of trepidation. This is an exceptionally well casted film that offers substantially different portrayals in each of its leading ladies. Nevin, easily the show-stealer here, juggles a range of emotions like confusion, anger, pity, and sorrow, all the while using her body to contort and distort reality in a way that makes us question the laws of physics. Her transitions between sweet grandmother to disillusioned old woman feel earned despite us spending so little actual screen time with her. Her facial registries between moments ate a hole in my heart and stomach, and produced several moments where the character’s psychological transformation matched the physical one that defied her for the better of the role. As a mother and daughter combination, the Mortimer and Heathcote dynamic is one that I found uniquely beneficial for entirely different reasons, with the former being defined by sadness, as to where the latter is defined by fear. This represents the colorful juxtaposition that the entirety of the movie centers around, and offers each leading lady a slice of the attention-stealing pie that allowed them to captivate us for scene after scene.

– Dread conjured. The key to any successful horror film is a chilling atmospheric tension that better illustrates the dark narrative better than any jump scares or computer generation ever could, and James makes the most bang for her buck with a presentation that immediately lures you into its false sense of security. The film opens up with lights slowly flickering on and off. We don’t see the complete picture until it pulls out, and we notice it’s a Christmas tree. These kind of tricks set the mood for everything that’s about to come, but especially a complex series of shot compositions and hazy cinematography from Charlie Sarroff that prescribes meaning to each image that alludes to a bigger picture. Finally, the film’s intentionally dull color correction emits this poisonous fog in the air that you can barely see, but constantly comprehend its presence over the heads of these characters. In this sense, the movie feels very much like a ghost movie, but one that breaks conventions by deeming its ghost as the inevitable haze that awaits this family far beyond this film, and one that is emitted in a presentation that affords us a stay in the minds of the tortured.

– Entrancing sound mixing. There is music somewhere off in the distance of this isolated townhouse, but it’s more the combination of awkward sounds with unabashed persistence that garnered my attention. To say this constant creaking and whispering is unnerving is the understatement of the year, so instead I will say that it audibly narrates the decay of Edna’s deteriorating psyche with undeterred echoing that ratchets anxiety. This would be expected for a haunted house movie, and I guess in some context that is exactly what this is, but these sounds are so expansive in their defining features that they really bring to life what about this particular story is especially terrifying, and not for what is typically expected in conventional horror. Most importantly, its constant presence never stales or oversteps its boundaries to the point of annoyance, instead occasionally popping up to play towards the heat of the scene, giving us a symphony of sound that stirs all of the right ingredients.

– Special effects. Almost all of it is practical with make-up and prosthetics, and all of it stretches the imagination in ways that you truly didn’t expect from a narrative that until the third act is so psychologically grounded. But once that threshold has been crossed, we are treated to skin-stretching and an acceleration on the natural aging process that clearly makes it easy to see where James spent her rumored two million dollar budget. There’s subtlety all along the way when you see the progression of Edna’s character, and how you can spot the occasional enhancement in her appearance, but I loved that so much was saved until the film’s climax for a big blow-off that is every bit unsettling to watch from a family perspective as it is compelling from a horror lover’s perspective.

– Natural exposition. So much of the dialogue and conversations between characters impressed me for its realistic approach to convey information that is valuable to us the audience. In particular, nothing spoon feeds us to the point of obviousness that sells or spoils a scene’s intention, and instead James as a storyteller has enough faith in her audience to pick up on the pieces and see where they synthetically fit. For my money, it’s the lack of emphasis around dementia that really caught my attention, particularly that it’s rarely ever brought up in defining terms that solidifies her condition. In addition to this, the relationships between the three ladies in the family is told through body language and interaction that subtly plays into the histories between them, alluding to a lot of regret playing into the conditions that have defined the elderly in their family. It proves that information can be conveyed in a way that isn’t forced into the forefront of a scene, and makes this as realistic of a horror narrative that I’ve seen since “The Babadook”.

– Cleverness with the camera. There’s the occasional spring in personality for James that presents itself candidly in some clever transitions and tricks with the lens that proves she has a sense of humor. Without spoiling much, one such scene involves Edna losing her bodily functions on the floor, only to be succeeded by a scene that begins with running water from a faucet. Instances like these are a fine tension breaker in psychological horror films if they don’t become a constant intrusion to the film’s tonal consistency. Thankfully, these are tricks that James only reaches into her bag once or twice throughout the 84 minute run time, keeping her grip firmly on the button of horror all the while throwing a couple of curveballs in between to make sure the audience is paying attention. It’s a welcome breath of fresh air between the somber consistency.

– Stinging slow-burn. If you’re someone who doesn’t appreciate a narrative that takes its time to develop things naturally, then “Relic” might not be for you. For me, this was a film that I was never bored or lifeless from despite the depressing atmosphere and plodding storytelling that breaks conventions to give these people and places a history, and does so without a care towards pacing that doesn’t make for the easiest of sits. What I think this does creatively is allow the climax to stand out with an impact that it otherwise wouldn’t have if the movie were like contemporary horror films, in all of their scares every other scene formula that tires midway through. Instead, “Relic” keeps us entertained with its commitment in focus to the sounds that go bump in the night, and does so while articulating the speed of its mental antagonist. A psychological delve into a life on pause while everyone else around catches up.

– Metaphorical significance. (MAJOR SPOILERS HERE) One critique that I’ve heard about the film is that rules are occasionally broken, and the powers of this beast become a bit blurred during a third act when all of the bets are off. I couldn’t disagree more about this, as dementia is very much an inherited illness that bends and breaks its members at any given time, and if each of these ladies has that sickness, then we are very much seeing the impossible through their eyes. As for my interpretations, the house itself is obviously a manifestation of the deteriorating state of Edna’s subconscious, echoing this sentiment in a black mold that slowly overtakes the family heirlooms until they are no longer visible. Similar to this is the film’s closing moments, which sees Kay peeling a layer of skin off of Edna until she is nothing more than the demon (Dementia) that consumes her. There’s a sentimental significance to this because Edna becomes a person that her family doesn’t recognize anymore, and instead of abandoning her once more, they choose to stay to her final breath. How can you not love horror with circumstance like that?

NEGATIVES

– Minor nitpicks. Two things about the film took away from this being a perfect grade, one of which I feel will inevitably hinder people’s final score after they watched it. On that subject, the movie is minimal on its scares, instead relying on creepy, unsettling imagery that occasionally turns your stomach, but offers very little in the way of genuine scares that will remain with you long after the movie’s conclusion. For me, the movie is a drama movie with horror elements seen through the eyes of a crippling condition, but not one that lives up fully to such a gifted context. The other small problem I had was with the neighbor boy subplot, which led to very little that our characters didn’t already know about their family patriarch. This subplot not only has very little wiggle room of creativity, but also hinders the isolation element of the film that colorfully illustrated how alone this family truly were with their haunting reality, and for me this film would be better left a three woman piece.

My Grade: 9/10 or A