Australian horror film about the heart-wrenching reality of dementia

The horror movie Relic has been in theaters and digital platforms across the UK since October 30. It’s the perfect movie to watch this Halloween weekend. With Emily Mortimer, Robyn Nevin and Bella Heathcote, Relic is the feature debut by Australian director Natalie Erika James, with a screenplay co-written by James and Christian White, inspired by the director’s own experience with her grandmother’s Alzheimer’s disease.

Relic tells the story of three generations of women: Edna, Kay and Sam. After Edna (Robyn Nevin) disappears, Kay (Emily Mortimer) returns to her childhood home with her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) to find her . They soon feel an evil presence within this decaying family home.

Relic is a slow-burning horror film centered around a family drama that turns into a grand finale that is both disturbing and heartbreaking. Relic is an exceptional first feature film, with three great performances.

The film opens with footage of an overflowing bath, dripping down to the floor, the water coming down the stairs to the living room, where an old woman stands, naked, gazing out into the dark room only partially lit by the sun. flickering lights of a Christmas tree. It’s a disturbing opening that mirrors the tone and pace of the rest of the film.

Edna has been missing for a few days. Her daughter Kay and granddaughter Sam are on their way from Melbourne to her home. They find the house locked, but Edna cannot be found. The fruits of the kitchen are all rotting. There is no one in his bed. But there’s a post-it on the nightstand that says “Take some pills.” Many of these post-its are scattered around the house. A sinister, which Sam will later find in his grandmother’s cardigan pocket while his mother is at the station, says “Don’t follow him.”

At the police station, Kay tells the officer that she hasn’t spoken to her mother for a few weeks. We discover that it was Edna’s neighbor who alerted the police after not seeing her for a week. A search team through the woods is organized, but Edna is still nowhere to be found.

There is a strangeness in the house. Crackles and muffled noises are heard by the two women at night. There are door locks everywhere. Sam even finds a closet with a lock on the outside. Kay reveals to Sam that Edna had called her a few weeks before, scared that someone would try to enter the house, as she found the doors open, the lights still on and her chair in the living room facing the window. . For Kay, this was just the first sign that her mother was losing her mind.

The next day, Kay wakes up to hear the kettle whistle. Her mother is in the kitchen. The mystery around where she has been, however, remains intact as Edna never responds to her daughter when asked. Things are getting progressively more worrying and frightening.

Relic becomes a family drama in a haunted house story. There is something wrong with the house with its creaky walls and heavy, soaring breathing at night. There’s a lot of scares and tense suspense in this slow-burning movie. However, what is lurking around the corner is not some supernatural being, but the real horror of dementia, of seeing someone you love slowly change and irreversibly deteriorate. Dementia is scary. It’s scary for the person who has suffered memory loss, and it’s scary for their loved ones and family.

What is remarkable about James’ film is that she situates dementia as a disease that affects not only the mind, but also the body and by extension the home. The family house is visibly starting to rot. Stains houses its walls, through which Kay and Sam can hear mysterious sounds of banging and banging. Towards the end, Kay and Sam will experience the labyrinthine prison that the house has become for Edna. As Sam gets lost beyond the closet, the hallways are full of cardboard boxes with post-it reminders of Edna, “My mom has green eyes”, “My name is Edna”. Edna now lives in an alternate reality, where everywhere looks the same but is not, and from which she cannot escape.

Relic is much more about the effect of such a disease on relatives. It is Kay and Sam that we follow. Here, Kay and Sam find themselves confronted with their own guilt. The guilt of not visiting Edna in what seems like weeks, if not months. They have, in a way, forgotten her, just as she becomes forgetful. They left Edna to fend for herself, too busy with their own life. It is a neighbor who notices that Edna has disappeared. Kay even decided to dismiss and ignore the signs, when Edna called for her help.

By creating sympathy for Edna, the James film suggests that the horror lies in the guilt of not being there when a loved one needs us most, of not wanting to see until they are. apparently too late. It is the guilt of not wanting to recognize what could be your own destiny and that of your children.

Relic is now in theaters in the UK The film was released in the US in July and is available to stream at Main video and other online platforms.