Potent horror cocktail of arthouse and grindhouse
Violation (TBC, 107 mins) Directed by Dusty Mancinelli, Madeleine Sims-fewer Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★
There are echoes of horrors past in this provocative Canadian chiller. The opening evokesmemories of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, with its combination of overhead shots and lush landscapes, and there’s more than a hint of Lars von Trier (most notably his controversial couple-in-torment drama Antichrist) about the conceit, imagery and extensive use of a haunting choral and classical score.
And, like Amazon’s recent tale The Rental, this is a tale of two couples. While Greta (Anna Maguire) and Dylan (Jesse Lavercombe) are still very much in synch, her sister Miriam (Madeleine Sims-fewer, who also co-wrote and directed with Dusty Mancinelli) and Caleb (Obi Abili) appear to be close to breaking point when they turn up at Dylan’s family’s lakeside retreat.
Outwardly their relationship would best be described as frosty, and Miriam admits to her sister that they haven’t been intimate for months.
Greta tries to convince her that not all is lost and that relationships ‘‘take work’’, but Miriam is not used to taking advice from her little sis. After all, she’s always been Greta’s ‘‘white knight’’, rushing to her rescue in times of trouble, something Greta hasn’t exactly appreciated. ‘‘It’s always beenmore important for you to be my crusader than to give a f… about my feelings,’’ she growls.
Turning the tables, by suggesting their former schoolmate Dylan isn’t a saint, just makes Greta even angrier. ‘‘You just can’t stand me being happy can you?’’
During a night by the fire, Dylan and Miriam, fuelled by a little liquor, fan the flames of the ‘‘tension’’ between them with a little, seemingly harmless, flirting. However, after both fall asleep, an incident in the early hours of the morning threatens to cause repercussions there might be no coming back from.
Cleverly told via a fractured narrative and with a potentially unreliable protagonist front and centre, Violation is an interesting companion piece to this year’s much-lauded Promising Young Woman. As she seeks to mete out her own justice, Miriam’s character traits leave ‘‘just’’ a hint of doubt as to whether the punishment fits the crime.
The horrors, when they come, are shocking, delivered without warning and pack a punch, cleverly subverting the usual tropes and gendered-visuals of the genre. Like Elliot Page’s starmaking thriller Hard Candy, this teases the viewer before lowering the boom in truly disturbing fashion.
Now arriving in a suitable home having freaked out virtual audiences at Toronto, Sundance and South by South West, Violation is a potent cocktail of arthouse and grindhouse not easily forgotten.
Violation is now available to stream on Shudder.