GETS BETTER BY THE VIEWING
I want to start this deep dive review with the fact that I saw this movie twice within 3 days. I told two buddies I’d see it with them and ended up seeing it separately with each and even knowing what to expect the second time it still was tough to swallow what I was seeing on screen (not as hard as trying to swallow a knife though). There were scenes that made me clench my popcorn bucket and tense up and almost rip the bucket apart while clenching my teeth. But then there was so much body gore with teeth that I was trying to ease up on the clenching through straight fear. The physical body horror and gore elevates this well written horror film to something you only want to recommend to the most die hard horror fans. This is not a movie for the casual horror fan to stomach in my opinion. If you like horror because you like ghosts and paranormal frights, this one will put you through a fucking blender. Seeing it a second time further cemented my feeling that this movie is still much better on a second viewing when you pick up on all the small details and plot connections the Philippou brothers showcase in the story. All these small details getting noticed and appreciated only make the overall premise feel so much more extreme.
WHY PUT US THROUGH SOME OF THIS GORE
Anyone you talk to that has seen this film is going to talk about some of the same things that shook them. And that’s the physical body horror gore. Not that the rest of the film doesn’t deserve to be talked about. It’s just that these moments of extreme realistic physical harm and gore are unlike some moments you’ve ever seen on screen in a horror movie. The thought of Ollie chewing through a knife after eating the cantaloupe because he is so hungry and awaiting his meal of a soul is bizarre enough, seeing him actually do it before the knife has to be yanked out of his mouth and cut his lip will make you physically sick and frozen with “what the fuck did I just watch” face.
That’s only one moment that will get under your skin (literally). When Ollie is at the verge of starvation because he is awaiting his meal of Cathy, he goes on a absolute bitch fit trying to eat Laura (played by the amazing Sally Hawkins) and when she is bit badly and escapes into a room, he goes berserk taking bites of the wooden table and just obliterating his teeth zoomed in on screen. Like this shit is not for the faint of heart. The thoughts of him doing this will make your skin crawl and again, seeing it on scream just will absolutely abuse you mentally. Then he starts taking bites of his skin which you just want him to stop and wonder how long he can do this. Topping it off with pealing a long strip of his forearm off with his teeth like if you were pulling a small piece of loose skin at your fingernail that you accidentally pull too far to a point of a bad cut. Except this man does it up his whole damn forearm. Brutal to watch happen and stomach.
LIKE TALK TO ME, THE CASTING COULDN’T BE BETTER FOR THE PREMISE AND CHARACTERS
Sally Hawkins made waves in the film industry when she played the lead in The Shape Of Water that was nominated for several oscars and winning four in 2018. She is in very respectable films since then, but this one of playing an unhinged mother who is trying to bring her dead daughter back through a cult ritual using demons and possession is something I didn’t expect from her, and she fucking crushed it. Yea she is insufferable at points, but in a good way. She gaslights Andy (Billy Barratt) nonstop through the film and makes you want to pull your hair out because of how much she is getting away with and how much bullshit she is trying to pull off to get to her end goal. It’s such an insane performance that you don’t expect when you first are introduced to her that you can only respect the effort by the end. She is broken, and slowly breaking even more throughout the story. I am very glad she executed so well some of the most unhinged moments like punching Piper, pouring piss on Andy and calming Ollie back down after he breaks the circle. It makes the third act that much better when you feel like anyone that steps foot into the house at that moment is going to get fucked up, which most do.
Piper is my favorite performance of the film by far. Sora Wong had basically zero acting experience and you’ve have no idea because you fall in love with her and her performance very early on. Her being visually impaired is a key plot device and adds so much to the film and you can tell the Phillippou brothers used that to their fullest advantage to elevate the film from her performance. Her love for Andy feels extremely authentic, her emotions never feel forced, and you genuinely feel bad for her and are rooting for her of course with what you know her fate possibly could be. She is so sweet and loving and you want nothing bad to happen to her at all. This is how you should feel connected to characters and huge props to her and the Philippou brothers for making us feel that connection.
Andy (Billy Barratt) displays his trauma and triggers extremely well throughout the movie. You almost feel the impact of his dad’s abuse on him, and how regretful he is that it has impacted his relationship with Piper in any way at all. He is openly concerned about Piper the whole movie like a brother should be, and the one small misstep he makes when lying after saying grapefruit (their phrase to always tell each other the truth) at the funeral to Piper was a nice touch on how their relationship went. Felt similar to Alex Wolfe in Hereditary. His phone call to Piper’s voicemail at the end is a highlight of his emotional range and as it cuts through scenes with the voicemail playing you can feel the emotional weight of the scene and their relationship. Just a great job done by him to make the viewers connect so emotionally to him and the other characters. He felt like the center piece to the film.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I have to cut this blog off somewhere before I write a novel, but there is just so much to unpack on this. The directors know how to make a traumatic and dreadful horror film, if that’s their lane then they’ll be extremely successful based on their two major films. The special effects with the gore, the makeup, and body mutilation was top tier and looked so realistic that it tickled your spine over and over without stopping. The movie is also shot carefully and specifically to make the film feel so confined in the layout in the house and you barely noticed that majority of the film is focused on one location, felt much more vast than that. The ending is one of the highlights of the film as well. Laura killing Wendy and Andy, and then ready to kill Piper before Piper screams for her mom and it triggers something in Laura that almost wakes her up out of this blinded path to bring Cathy back. She seemingly accepts that Cathy died and she should not try to bring her back, and that the videos throughout and her lasting memories of Cathy is what she wants to leave this earth remembering, before taking her life and holding Cathy’s dead body in the pool. Connor Bird also escaping and getting saved was a nice touching piece. A kid kidnapped and hopefully reunited with his family after being put through the absolute most. This film is not for the faint of heart and that’s exactly what they wanted to achieve. Bravo Philippou brothers.
The Cinema Speakeasy Theatre Room 
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