On the final marathon viewing day of the Soho Horror Film Festival weekend dedicated to titles by LGBT film makers,I started trying to decide what my final streaming viewing would be at the online event. Intrigued by the description on the site, I decided that I'd wrap it up,by meeting mother.
Note:Review contains plot details.
View on the film:
Moving back home in order to support her granddad caring for his dementia-suffering wife,Fayelyn Bilodeau gives a superb, expressive performance as Marcy, whose warmth and empathy for her grandparents is kept at the front by Bilodeau of Marcy's thoughts,which flicker into terror when supernatural forces cross the assumed safety of their home.
Sharing laughs together and telling Marcy off when catching her having a to ke, Richard Riehle and Helen Slayton-Hughes give loving performances as the grandparents,who even when confronted with a supernatural nightmare,and one of them suffering debilitating dementia, hold firm in standing united,and taking on the challenges one day at a time.
Working as "Story editor" on a number of Reality TV shows,and having only made a 10 minute short in 2014, co-writers/co-directors Matthew Diebler & Jacob Gillman unveil an immaculate feature film directing debut, which wipes away the traditional dour colours of Haunted House chillers, for candy coloured wallpaper and glittering spilt screens slicing into Marcy frantically calling for help from the relentless evil spirit.
Displaying a sharp eye for detail by colour coding each shot, the directors decision to withhold from using moody colours,results in the ghostly set-pieces brilliantly popping on screen with excellent ultra-stylised whip-pans, tracking shots and split diopter shots capturing the haunting.
Shaking the foundations of the household, the directors drip strikingly colourful surrealist appearances of the spirits terrifying the family, which crescendos in a perfectly composed, dialogue-free, down-beat final shot.
Cleverly setting up the cause to the events of the ending with a sleight of hand,the screenplay by Gillman and Diebler wisely hold back from the supernatural shocks for the first first minutes,instead exploring the personal horror of the grandmother's dementia,and the good nature,lightly comedic dialogue between Marcy and her grandfather, establishing a foundation of support.
Living in what looks on the outside like a perfect suburbia home, the writers splendidly chip away at the family with incredibly creepy, slithering ghosts from the shadows of a family from the past,as the mother becomes visible.
