WATCHED - Relic

These days some Horror movies are receiving plaudits and praise for their commentary on political or social issues, of which Get Out was perhaps the most significant step up in that trend. But it has had some seriously good precedents too, one of which was The Babadook with both its creepy book and struggling single mum, are her concerns real or psychotic?, both narratives feeding into its fearful terror. It also took risks and didn't always take the well travelled route. The same can be said for Relic. 

Similarly its an Australian produced movie, brilliantly made by first time director Natalie Erika James. It starts from a Grandma going missing. Her daughter and Grand-daughter have to come to terms with the fact that they'd taken her for granted and neglected her at the moment she most needed them. Then she returns unexpectedly, she appears fine, cantankerous and independent as ever. As the film progresses doubts about her mental state grow, can she continue to live on her own anymore? should she go in a home,? should she live with her daughter? or her Grand-daughter live with her? When do you take someone's independence away from them, for their own saftey.?

These are very modern human questions, how do you continue to care when your love one becomes a relic of who they once were, lost to their mental instability? Underpinning this, giving the story a further grissly twist, is that the house appears to be diseased or in the possession of something. Spatterings of dark mould constantly become more extensive. Junk filled confined spaces may be hiding something altogether more malevolent. Is there another form of relic still inhabiting the house?

During the last twenty minutes of the movie you have to remind yourself to breath. Where - without making a major spoiler - a nightmarish reality unfurls.  Both thought and fear provoking. This is not your standard horror jump scare fest, its much more of a subtle slow build, psychologically and emotionally tense, its an gripping watch. Recommended.