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.
