Frightfest - Relic Review

 

Certificate: 15

Running time: 90 minutes

Starring: Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin, Bella Heathcote

Directed by: Natalie Erika James

The story: When Edna goes missing, her daughter and granddaughter travel to her house to search for her.

The verdict: I had little knowledge of this film before seeing it, bar hearing that it had really divisive reviews - critics seemed to love it whilst audience scores were low. So, I went into it with some trepidation, often audiences can get it right where critics have got it wrong. However, the opposite can also be true and in this case I firmly agree with the critics on this one - Relic was brilliant. 

Relic centres around a woman whose mother has gone missing from her home. Along with her daughter, she travels to her mother's house to search the surrounding area fearing that old age has meant that her mother may be lost nearby and unable to remember her way home. The characters each work really well in this, each embodying a familial role that we can all empathise with and recognise within ourselves. Throughout there is a strong theme of family and especially of responsibility towards our family - the idea of parental roles and how they change, dementia, decay and burden is all explored and I found the way that this was done really intriguing and thought provoking.

Relic is a slow burn film and much of it is about waiting. This is not a fast paced film whatsoever and it takes its time to set the scene, to build an atmosphere and work to its conclusion. Relic is another one of those films that many people will automatically label as "boring" because it is very understated. However, again I would disagree with that - I was fully engaged throughout and actually on the edge of my seat for most of it. I found the experience of watching Relic to be very intense and I found that I had actual goosebumps, which I cannot recall ever having had before whilst watching a film. 

Visually, I also found Relic very strong and I liked the dreary colour palette used throughout. The sound design also helped enhance the overall feeling of uneasiness and creepiness. Unlike many other horrors, I found Relic genuinely terrifying and even though Relic certainly does not rely on any jump scares, I definitely jumped several times and even screamed aloud at one point. 

Relic stood out to me in the way that it uses the horror of something so real, recognisable and tangible and turns it into the supernatural - the horror in this comes from both the mental and the physical. I may not have known what to expect with this film, but I was left with a myriad of feelings upon its conclusion. A horror film that truly lives up to the meaning of the genre, Relic is one of the best horrors of the year.

The rating: ★★★★★