White Coffin review: The Crow by way of Mad Max with a dusting of the occult.
White Coffin review by Kat Hughes, Frightfest 2016.
White Coffin Review
Young mother Virginia is on the run. After a custody battle ruled in favour of her estranged husband, Virginia decided to take matters into her owns hands and has absconded with her daughter Rebeca. Things are going well until a break to refuel leads to Rebeca going missing. Frantic Virginia pursues the vehicle that she believes took Rebeca, but things don’t go to plan and she wakes up dead. That’s right dead.
Brought back from the grave by a local priest, Virginia discovers that her daughter is one of several that have been taken. The kidnapped youngsters are to form part of a sacrificial ritual. However, one child will be spared, all Virginia has to do to save her daughter is track down the titular white coffin. With her time in the realm of the living dwindling, she must do everything in her power to save her daughter.
Virginia is of course our heroine and as such, we as the audience root for her. Yet there are several children in peril and only one can be saved. By rooting for Virginia to win we’re unwittingly sentencing the rest to death. Similarly, when we meet her competition, another desperate mother and a school teacher (who has lost one of her wards), we don’t want them to succeed. It’s an odd and uncomfortable position to be placed in, we’re used to heroes and villains, but White Coffin offers ordinary people in a dire situation.
White Coffin Review
With a heavy helping of the road movie genre, as well as revenge films, White Coffin is an odd mixture of Mad Max and The Crow. The blend works beautifully, especially with the added kidnapping, occult, and supernatural elements. It is a strange but compelling film that forces the viewer to place themselves in Virginia’s position.
Sensitive folks may struggle with several moments in White Coffin, especially during the end. Let’s just say that Game of Thrones has nothing on this ending.
This is a film that perfectly highlights the lengths in which a parent will go to keep their child safe and save them from harm. White Coffin is a compelling tale of kidnapping, ritual sacrifices and the supernatural.
White Coffin forms part of this year’s Frightfest programme.
