Family Dinner

One will need subtitles, as the film is in German. Aunt Claudia and Uncle Stefan and son Philipp live on an isolated farm in the countryside. Simi, a bit overweight is to visit and arrives the Tuesday before Easter, thinking she would stay through Easter. But she is informed that Easter is a very special and private time, and they didn't expect her to stay that long. Claudia is a nutrition expert, and puts Simi on a diet. Diet is the wrong term, as it is to be NO food until Easter, and she is then invited to stay longer. She has to share the room with Filipp, and it is clear he doesn't like her. Claudia says he has a personality disorder and often runs away. It is slow paced, very moody, and there are many undercurrents to the story. As Easter approaches, Stefan says he doesn't agree with the entire ritual, but it is very important to Claudia, so Simi should just go along with it. I can't really consider it a horror movie in the true sense, as there are no jump scares or other things associated with horror movies. It is decent movie, well acted but not really special.

Who cares what genre it is; it's a combination of all three, and while you've seen films with similar plot lines like this before, you know what to expect and even how it might turn out, but it's still worth the watch to get there.

This is a slow burn film, with no wasted scenes or padding, with believable and sympathetic actors, and you don't really have to suspend disbelief because the girl and the boy act like real kids would act around parents and adults. True, the girl is a bit smarter at the end than you may have thought she should be, but since it's only one small contrivance, it was acceptable as it was needed to get to a satisfying conclusion.

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.