Relic

One of the scariest things in life is watching the people you love age and weaken. It's true horror. One you can do nothing about. No crucifix, incantations, holy water or silver bullets will help you here. The slow inexorable march to the grave that we must all take is a horrible thing to witness but if we're lucky we'll find some way to make peace with it. The only way to deal with what scares you is to lie down with it.

Edna's (Robyn Nevin) gone missing and her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) are worried. They search the house and find it's condition disturbing and when Edna does finally turn up she's bruised but ok physically although psychologically it's another matter. Kay feels Edna's at the stage where assisted living is needed but the independent Edna doesn't see it that way. Slowly but surely the mother and grandmother they once knew is changing before their eyes.

This was a troubling watch. There's little on this earth worse than watching those you love when they're afflicted by an illness and Relic goes all in with the darkness of the situation. It does it right too, in a creeping dread kind of way that really gets under your skin. There's nothing exploitative here, there's no cheap jump scares only a familiar tale that turns to abject terror by degrees. It's a film that starts as a family drama and ends like a fever fuelled nightmare. It nails the sense of dread, that gut clenching feeling when you know things aren't going to be the same again. The fear of the real unknown. One small moment really got to me. Kay and her mother are sitting at a table and Kay notices her mother staring at her like she's a stranger, a stare that turns to pure malevolence. It's genuinely unsettling and proof that horror movies never need to rely on gore splashed around or crappy shrieking jump scares. All they need to do is make the fear relatable and they've succeeded.

Like with most horror movies the scares do ramp up as the climax is built towards and you might find yourself rolling your eyes considering the subtle way the scares play out in the early half of the film but just keep saying to yourself "this is all a metaphor, this is all a metaphor" and you'll get through it. Part of the reason it works so well are the characters created by Emily Mortimer, Bella Heathcote and Robyn Nevin. They feel real and their relationships feel lived in. The shorthand between them, animosity between Kay and Edna hinting at a troubled past, love between Edna and Sam feeling genuine and causing friction between Kay and Sam as a result. We all know people like these, we've all experienced familial relationships like this and so we're in their shoes, praying to whatever you believe in that we never have to deal with anything like this. It's why Relic works, because it really makes us feel something.

Relic is a hell of a feature length directorial debut from Natalie Erika James. I can't wait to see what she does next. And I kind of dread it too. Relic is available to stream online now. Just make sure your head is in a good place before you watch it because that final shot.......oh it lingers.