Relic (2020)

Rating: ⭐

The only reason I watched this slow burn low budget Australian horror movie is because it came under the radar with generally good reviews. Given the dire supply of anything new lately and my fondness for horror movies this was not something I would miss. I was also curious to see how effectively the movie manages to scare without the use of gimmicks like jump scares, and excessive gore that is normally to be expected in this genre.

Unfortunately this turned out to be a pure waste of time. Despite its short running time of 89 minutes, this still felt too long and tedious. My main gripe is the way the whole film looked. It was shot entirely in semi darkness. Even the scenes outdoors and with indoor lights on, looked too dark rendering the entire movie quite unwatchable. You can imagine how frustrating this begins to feel when you have to struggle to see whatever facial expression, or subtle details that are supposed to be on screen because you will simply not be able to see anything clearly. Any make up effects is also completely lost in darkness and is left pretty much to the imagination of the viewer.

The story could have been interesting as it uncharacteristically dealt with the very real horror when a member of the family ages and have dementia. However, mixing it with unexplained noises in the house and an unknown entity that finally manifest itself into some silly monster like presence merely cheapens and dishonor the serious subject matter which it had intended to use as the plot's foundation. The performances may have been decent, I could not really tell, but all their efforts were wasted with the poor lighting and darkness that engulf the entire the length of the film. 

Finally, the poor script. Watching the movie I get the impression that the script was really thin and lacking as all I hear uttered from the characters endlessly is "Mum?" which got really annoying. Given that the story revolves around a daughter, mother and grandmother, the frequency of the utterance of "Mum?" becomes exponentially higher! 

I believe I am doing everyone who is reading this review and haven't watched Relic yet, a favour by saying you should avoid this movie and save you 90 minutes to do anything else.