Director Natalie Erika James
Genre Drama | Horror
Cast Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote, Robyn Nevin, Chris Bunton
Rating R
Release Date July 10th, 2020 (Limited & On-Demand)
“A daughter, mother and grandmother are haunted by a manifestation of dementia that consumes their family’s home.”
After an entire bowl of popcorn and half a pack of Haribo gummies, I finally had the chance to watch the new horror film Relic, an IFC Midnight release produced by The Russo Brothers and Jake Gyllenhaal – so was it worth my time?
Historically horror movies are all over the damn place and that's okay, what matters is the film sticks to a specific formula and drives it home. For example, I love the old-school slasher genre of horror films but I'm not bringing up my obsession with the Friday the 13th franchise when talking about movies that I personally consider scary. Halloween, maybe only because those films mess with your head as much as they are in your face slashers. Same idea with the Child's Play films, admittedly that damn doll literally scared me enough to piss my pants as a kid but as an adult, I now realize it’s a stupid doll that I can kick across the living room if need be.
Now fast forward to how the horror genre has evolved in the last 5 years or so and you have horror films like The Witch, Goodnight Mommy, Hereditary, and the recently released, The Lodge. What these films have in common is they are rooted in the scariest thing you can possibly focus on which is… reality. The most effective way to instill fear in viewers is to reach them on a very personal and emotional level, to focus on themes that they may have dealt with personally or at least something they know is very much something that could be waiting around the corner for them – and this is the sweet spot Relic exposes from start to finish as it is purely rooted in past and present trauma.
This film is the perfect length at only an hour and a half, it's paced well and never overstays it's welcome. One thing I will say is that it doesn't really take advantage of the score as much as a film like Hereditary. Instead, it focuses on eerie quiet and sound effects. The film actually goes as far as to utilize sound effects to mimic sensorial and memory loss described by dementia patients.
The directorial debut for Natalie Erika James, who also co-wrote the script with Christian White, Relic tells the story of a daughter, mother, and grandmother who are haunted by a manifestation of dementia that consumes their family home. Edna is in her 80's and living alone in the picturesque countryside, but one day turns up missing prompting her daughter and granddaughter to come out to the home to try and track her down. The very first feature film for James who has only worked on shorts leading up to this, she has displayed an obvious fascination with the horror genre leading back to her 2017 horror short film Creswick, which has a very similar premise to Relic. One of my favorite horror films in the last 5 years which I actually watched in theaters three times is Ari Aster's Hereditary, which was so damn traumatizing I just couldn't get enough. It's hard to ignore the similarities between Relic and Hereditary and I actually found out that James and co-writer Christian White had to change part of the script for the film after watching Hereditary due to a spot on similarity between the main antagonists in the films.
The first 30 seconds of Relic is more terrifying than the majority of the trash releasing as of late claiming to be horror. I won't give anything away because I want you to have the opportunity to actually watch it for yourself if this review intrigues you enough to shell out $6.99 of your hard-earned cash, but I will say that Natalie Erika James has an eye for horror and she has a successful career ahead of her if she continues down the path she is on. After watching Relic, it seems James draws inspiration from directors Robert Eggers and Ari Aster, The Witch and Hereditary respectively. Eggers was quoted previously as saying the monster is scariest in the shadows and I whole-heartedly agree with that. And to say that following in the footsteps of these two would be a great career move for her is an understatement. The Witch was very under-the-radar and Hereditary luckily found itself receiving a fairly mainstream release, but horror films like this are often overlooked. They are truly scary and not the jump scare trash wannabe horror fans eat up and for that reason, they often go under appreciated as well. Relic finds itself in that company resorting to slow-burn horror rooted in reality and magnified by believable characters and what feels like a claustrophobic setting – and it works extremely well. From just a visuals standpoint James definitely understands how to make a horror movie, ensuring viewers are left with images that will surely be ingrained in their heads for days.
Relic is not going to spoon-feed the audience and includes a number of underlying meanings that will require some in-depth discussion but for me, that is what makes this movie so good – this tends to piss off casual viewers who as I mentioned before just want a bunch of cheesy jump scares and simply don't want to think too much. For this reason, horror movies like Relic will never get the praise they rightfully deserve but for my money, they are the lifeblood of the genre. To be honest it annoys me on a personal level knowing that we see fewer horror movies like this because of people who are incapable of appreciating genuine horror.
Thought-provoking, visually terrifying, and rooted in our darkest realities, Relic is a tremendous debut film for writer-director Natalie Erika James. If you consider yourself a genuine horror fan, do yourself a favor and check this out sooner than later and be sure to put James on your list of up-and-coming talent. Also, feel free to reach out to me once you've seen it because I would love to have that “what the fu** just happened?!” discussion.
