Six friends meet for a holiday in an isolated beach house, and strange things start happening.
You might think you know this story, but you're so very wrong.
The story - or at least what can be guessed for a story - is everything but original, similar to any other slasher/shocker/splatter/ghost story. The innovation of this film is actually form - it's all about form indeed. This picture oozes style. The plot is just an excuse for setting a beautiful mise-en-scène, photography, people and songs - and still it doesn't sound like Sweeney Todd, though it definitely borrows some (modern) gothic elements.
It is portrayed in a dream-like form (or nightmare-like, if you may), so what may seem like cringeworth moments, plot holes and screenplay errors are carefully purposeful, in order to stress the dream-like quality. For instance, the friendship between the two main protagonists develops in a rushed and unrealistic way - specially considered the utterly unamicable circumstances in which they met, by one hitting the other in head because the latter was disguised as a zombie/ghost. It also doesn't make sense at that moment why he was like that, if not for performing a fake scare in the audience, and even after the scare the hitter takes for granted that people like to dress like that when they're occupying their dead aunt's house. On the other hand, the transition of said friendship to love is carefully and truthfully developed, to the point that at a certain moment I was already screaming "Go on an kiss already!".
This is specially due to the obvious influence Matheus Marchetti has had of Italian Horror, specially Dario Argento and Mario Bava - the child killer, childish atmosphere and past traumas borrowed from the former, especially "Deep Red" and "Sleepless", and the location and its use from the latter's "Bay of Blood", as well as the lavish lightning from his color gothic horrors and "gialli". There's also an abundance of homages to Ken Loach, "Naked Lunch", "Evil Dead" and even "Ringu".
The inattentive audience might react just like Rocky Hudson did after watching "2001 - A Space Odissey", since little is given at face value; however, in a truly lynchean way, several interpretations of the story might be inferred - and, as far as we know, they are all true.
It also has funny, corny and even cute moments - and they're all effective, which, more often than not, is not when they are attempted in horror films.
Although the production is exclusively Brazilian, this film's DNA is definitely European. I'm not short of saying this is Cannes or Venice material, and "Phantom Summer" should be submitted to these festivals, in order for it to achieve the recognition it's due.
