The art direction is expectedly lush. The sylized cinematography and editing add an extra layer to how the story unfolds. The acting is strong, even from the supporting characters (my hot take: the domestic worker, Ida, is the true hero of the film). There is no doubt this movie was made with thoughtful care and talent.
Unfortunately slow-burn melodramas aren’t my thing. If they are your thing you will love this movie.
This is easily the strongest episode from the Hammer House of Horror series I’ve seen so far. The most succinct description I can think of for it, if you can pardon the simple (but accurate!) comparisons: Village of the Damned meets The Howling meets Rosemary’s Baby.
More than any of the previous episodes, this one does an effective job of establishing some atmosphere. The outdoor nighttime scenes are clearly still filmed during the day, but at least they’re darkly wooded…
The trailer (and my preconditioning from other post-apocalyptic survival films) had me expecting the storyline to focus on typical end-of-civilization themes: fending off bad guys, murder, survival of the fittest, venturing out to find other survivors, struggling to maintain a status quo, etc. While some of those aspects are present, I was pleasantly surprised to find the film focus on more subtle concepts: sisterhood, post-traumatic stress, adaptation to the unknown, and, ultimately, embracing the potential benefits of change. There isn’t…
A snapshot of rural USA in the mid-1900s, with every cast member delivering A+ performances. The photography takes full advantage of a wide format for the sprawling ranch landscapes, and benefits from stark black and white contrast at a time when color was all the rage. Though the storyline centers around the worst qualities of American capitalism and male chauvinism, and even romanticizes some of those things early on, by the end it’s clearly a critique and cautionary tale –…
