Family Dinner

No pun intended - someone who supposedly is good at diets, should be able to help a family member out, right? Well you would think that, but on the other hand, it seems like she has issues to keep her own son in check, so maybe she is not the best person to get advice from.

Now overall I assume most will know (predict) where the movie is going. You will not get bonus points (or brownies for that matter), if you guess that right. Even the weirdly placed wooden ritual thing is very on the nose. Still, this is a first time filmmaker (feature length that is) and maybe you are able to cut him some slack for that.

The performances are good, though quite understated. As intended I assume. There is insanity, but there could be more. There is some logic to it all, but there could be way better decision making. From all involved ... but it is what it is. Either go with the flow or leave it be.

I wouldn't consider this a real horror movie, it's more of a slow paced psychological thriller with some horror elements towards the third act. Usually I'm not a big fan of slow-paced movies but since this was an Austrian horror movie which we don't see a lot from I was intrigued.

It follows Simi, an overweight teenager who's staying at her aunts farm in her holidays. Her aunt is a famous writer and nutrition expert and is teaching Simi a lot about eating healthy. The aunt portrayed by Pia Hierzegger immediately has a weird presence and also her husband Stefan sometimes just seems too nice and is creating an uncomfortable sexual tension between the teenager and him. He also doesn't seem to like the aunts son Filipp. Filipp is acting creepy and keeps weirding out Simi even telling her that he thinks that his mother has evil plans for him. The movie slowly makes its tension-filled way towards the final act where you get the answer to your questions. Some might say it was predictable but I still enjoyed it and think it was a decent watch. [5,6/10]

Peter Hengl is one sick puppy, and I mean that as a compliment. He is both the writer and director of this wicked German film.

A teenage girl seeking to lose a few pounds is left with her aunt by her mother six days prior to Easter Sunday but do not expect a big bunny rabbit with colored eggs for the Holiday celebration.

Instead, the best selling author of diet books takes the young girl under her supervision with a crash diet program of no food for the six days leading up to a wonderful dinner with the aunt, her young son and her live-in boyfriend.

The diet coach is a strange woman filled with what seems to be a new age kind of religion. Earth mom is not playing with a full deck.

The ending was not a surprise to me but I still recommend Family Dinner.

A slow moving, atmospheric, uncomfortable viewing is not going to be everyone's cup of tea... but there was something I quite liked about this one. It viscerally makes you uncomfortable and I love when a movie is able to do that. The acting is pretty great all around as well, everyone had very solid moments.

There truly wasn't all that much to the story here. There were hints of folk horror aspects here and there but nothing was ever really explained or elaborated on. This kept up the air of mystery, but I would have loved a little more just as far as a semblance of a solidified story's sake goes... that was a little lacking for me. But as a whole experience, it was a positive for me. 5.5 rounding up to a 6. Would recommend.

The film was advertised as a domestic horror film and the mood and the location was very well met. In terms of action, the whole film takes place on a farm in the countryside (Lower Austria), the actors are all very convincing and were well chosen. Pia Hierzegger is of course fantastic as the aunt, very believable.

The label horror film is too strong for me, although it certainly fits into the genre, but measured against today's usual horror films, the film is already rather harmless, more psychological thriller. Also, the film offers little surprising.

The story: overweight teenager Simi visits aunt Claudia, a nutrition expert, in the countryside (with hopes to be helped with dieting), with (newly married) uncle Stefan and cousin Fillip (from the first marriage of the aunt). Simi feels uncomfortable from the beginning, the cousin a creep, the aunt strict, the uncle too nice?

I felt they got inspired by films like "Get Out," "The Wicker Man," as well as some Hammer films from the sixties. Without giving more away, you definitely guess what the whole thing is leading up to in the course of the film. That's what I meant by unsurprising. I was missing a twist that would change your view of the story and question your perception, so to speak, but that twist doesn't come. Conclusion: well done, but not top notch.