Relic

In "Relic", a woman and her teenage daughter hurry back to the parental home in a remote Australian region because their mother/grandmother is reported missing for a few days already. This simple and basic piece of information already takes the film more than 20 minutes to illustrate. After another few days of worrying and panic, the grandmother comes back home and pretends as if everything is normal, but she's clearly suffering physically and - in particular - mentally. That covers pretty much the rest of the film and gives you an idea of how slow-paced "Relic" is.

Writer/director Nathalie Erika James definitely understood that genuine horror relies on building suspense and on the strong personalities of the lead characters, but I'm guessing that, along the way, she forgot that also a minimum of action is required. I wouldn't even refer to "Relic" as horror, in fact, since it's more of a family drama in which clichéd themes like (demonic) possession serve as metaphors for life's real tragedies & ordeals, like Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and care for the elder. Intelligent and socially relevant, for sure, but unfortunately rather dull.

It's so rare that anyone uses the horror genre to tell you something you needed to know about life. I'm absolutely overwhelmed at how elegantly this film horrified me, how totally it drew me in, and the *work* being done by the cast.

A really beautiful, touching, absolutely terrifying movie, that hit me across nearly every note. My gosh. Worth a watch.

The movie is good in the sense that it makes you feel how does it to have a family member who has dementia illness, alzheimer.

The movie depicts the feelings of being lost, and helplessness in the face of an illness that can turn a person into something else, to a different person. And it also teaches you to deal with it, you need to embrace it.

Good visual scenes, and sound effects. Normally, I don't like movies like this but I liked this one.

Making movies for today's horror audience is a tricky proposition, but Relic impressed me with it's commitment to telling an emotional story that resonates with issues which you may recognise from our lives outside of the "fantasy-horror" tropes. The movie is a slow burn which devotes the majority of its time to establishing the central 3 characters (impressive performances), who make up 3 generations of women from an old family in an old house in rural Victoria. If you enjoy thoughtful film-making with a "less is more" approach, you'll be rewarded by a masterfully disturbing and shocking third act climax with an emotional kick that will give you closure but leave you thinking. It should be noted though, just the like characters in Relic, you'll have to give attention to the people in front of you to reap the rewards.

A solid debut for Natalie James. This is a slow burn horror that builds with each minute, and by the third act is full blown terror. All of the acting was surprisingly phenomenal, extremely impressed by Bella Heathcote. The third act is a fun ride, claustrophobic and even a little gore. Give it a shot, you wont be disappointed.