If you’re searching for a deliciously twisted new horror movie to stream this weekend, IFC Film's Relic should be at the top of your list.
When an elderly woman named Edna (Robin Nevyn) goes missing, Edna's daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) fear the worst. They return to their old family home in search of the disappeared matriarch, scouring the property for clues. What they find instead is evidence of a deteriorating mind. Post-it notes litter surfaces, deadbolts signal paranoia, and dirt and decay is everywhere.
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Sam and Kay worry over Edna's fate. Then, three days later, Edna mysteriously reappears—but she's entirely silent. She refuses to say a single word about what happened to her while she was gone. As Edna becomes more aggressive by the hour, Sam and Kay start to wonder if something more sinister may be at play in Edna’s life, in her mind, and in her home.
In this expertly paced horror film, dementia is the real source of terror. While Relic undoubtedly delivers on its promise of a creepy, twisted haunted house story, it also approaches its subject matter with care. Here, the terror comes from the tension Australian director Natalie Erika James builds around the unknown, and the all-too-real horrors of the mind. Grounded by the powerful performances of its three female leads, characters bound together in their struggle for answers and their handling of grief, illness, and loss, this feature debut is not one to miss.
Relic, which won rave reviews at Sundance 2020, screened at drive-ins across the country over the Independence Day holiday weekend. It now hits Video on Demand platforms everywhere starting today for your streaming pleasure.
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Watch the trailer for Relic now, and then stream the film on Amazon. You’ll have the whole family sleeping with the lights on after this twisted horror movie.
Featured still from "Relic" via IFC Midnight.