Horror is going through a bit of a renaissance over the past few years. Sure, there are still those micro-budget teen splatterfests and the B-movie dreck that will never leave the genre. But alongside those films is a new group of films and interesting filmmakers, taking horror tropes and twisting them, creating new, dare I say artistic liberties with the genre. The obvious example would be 2018’s “Hereditary.” But now, in 2020, we have “Relic,” which is looking to attract not just horror fans, but folks looking for a dark thriller with something on its mind.
READ MORE: ‘Relic’ Is A Terrifying Look At Mental Decay & Intergenerational Trauma [Sundance Review]
As seen in the trailer for “Relic,” the film definitely still shares quite a bit with its horror brethren. The film follows the story of a woman and her daughter that go to their family’s country home to find clues to help them locate the woman’s aging mother. And as you might expect, the house isn’t all it’s cracked up to be and there may or may not be malevolent forces working against them.
The film stars Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote, and Robyn Nevin. “Relic” is directed by Natalie Erika James, who co-wrote the script alongside Christian White.
In our review from this year’s Sundance Film Festival (remember film festivals?), we said, “An impressive first feature, humanist in its compassionate consideration of mental fragility and the melancholy inherent in spiritual degeneration, yet never forgetting to deliver spooky frights, ‘Relic’ could quickly go down as one of the best horror movies of the year when 2020 is over.”
“Relic” will open in select theaters and VOD on July 10.
Here’s the synopsis:
When elderly mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) inexplicably vanishes, her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) rush to their family’s decaying country home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. After Edna returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay’s concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she’s been clashes with Sam’s unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back. As Edna’s behavior turns increasingly volatile, both begin to sense that an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her. All three generations of women are brought together through trauma and a powerful sense of strength and loyalty to face the ultimate fear together.
