After the disappearance of her mother, Edna (Robyn Nevin), Kay (Emily Mortimer) returns to the family homestead accompanied by her daughter, Sam (Bella Heathcote). From searching the property they realise that Edna may be suffering from dementia and is in dire need of help. This assessment is further reinforced when Edna returns home, after being missing for several days, with no recollection of where she has been. As Kay starts to think about putting things into motion to keep Edna safe, Sam discovers that there may be a more sinister reason for her grandmother’s strange behaviour. Can the three generations of women puzzle the problem out before it’s too late?
The horror genre has always been popular and has yet to go out of fashion. It’s a genre that manages to evade becoming obsolete by constantly shifting to cater for the tastes of current audiences. The eighties for example, was a decade where horror was defined by the slasher film, whereas in the wake of The Blair Witch Project, the 2000’s was all about found-footage films. Thanks to Ari Aster’s Hereditary and Midsommar, the most recent trend is the slow-burn chiller. Relic definitely fits within that sub-genre, director Natalie Erika James taking her time to get things moving. Thankfully, the film does so quicker than both of Aster’s films (which both clock in well over the two-hour mark), and despite it’s drawn out revelations and scare moments, has a fairly zippy pace to it. It does, however, require your attention and a fair amount of brain power as James opts to leave some things rather ambiguous, encouraging interaction and debate from the audience instead of just spoon-feeding them one narrative.
Relic is a film soaked in hidden meanings, unspoken truths, and fractured relationships. Told through three generations of women within the same family, James deftly analyses the estrangement that often plagues families, even those that on the surface appear to be close. These women do not hate each other, rather the opposite, but their lives have gotten in the way and have seen them drift apart. There are the odd glimpses of what life was once like between the three, but memories are all that they are.
As much of a horror film as Relic is, jump scares and all, it isn’t these moments that form the true horror. The real sense of dread and terror is that of dementia, a very real disease, that is highlighted as the true monster of the piece. There’s much more than this to dissect within the film though; Relic is most definitely an example of a movie that needs time, and a couple of viewings, to truly sink in.
Relic
Summary
A tightly-wound story that screams out for second-helpings, with Relic, Natalie Erika James makes her voice heard and sets her out as a director to watch.
