Relic
directed by Natalie James, USA / Australia 2020, 89'
A sudden disappearance of the family matriarch, Edna (Robyn Nevin), forces her daughter (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter (Bella Heathcote) to travel back to their family home. While the two desperately seek for clues that could lead them to Edna’s whereabouts, she turns up at the house. The women’s relief is interrupted by Edna’s behaviour: she won’t tell them where she had been, she keeps forgetting her relatives’ names and becomes increasingly aggressive.
Natalie James’s debut is a horror revelation of the year and a film that has already terrified the US audience, reaching number one at their box office. Relic is not just another haunted house horror, but a dark, sombre, mind-bending story about a disease passed down from generation to generation that will keep you awake for several nights.
