Powerful, poignant horror at its best
All the Moons (NR, 102 mins) Directed by Igor Legarreta Reviewed by James Croot ★★★★ 1⁄
2 In Basque with English subtitles
First there was darkness, then lights arrived, then fear. ‘‘There’s no reason to be afraid,’’ the nuns assure them, as chandeliers sway and guns boom. ‘‘Why aren’t we leaving?’’ the girls ask while ordered to continue to pray.
It’s 1876 and the third Carlist War has come to this tiny corner of Basque Country, destroying everything it touches.
As the girls’ orphanage roof collapses, one of the young women is trapped (Haizea Carneros) – and left for dead. As she contemplates and makes peace with her fate, a mysteriouswoman appears. ‘‘Are you an angel?’’ the girl asks.
‘‘Do you want to be healed? I can do it, but you must really want it,’’ the figure (Itziar Ituno) replies, as she offers her something to drink.
As the girl begins to heal and regain her strength, thewoman warns that she’ll no longer be able to go outside during the day. ‘‘It’s a rule,’’ she insists, suggesting it has something to do with the nearby soldiers’ movements, before adding that ‘‘from now on, you’ll never be alone again – and neither will I. We have the same destiny – together forever.’’
A deserved winner of the Audience Award for Best International Feature and Best Director at last year’s Fantasia Film Festival (as well as receiving a special award for its cinematography), this SpanishFrench co-production has echoes of The Orphanage, Ravenous, Let the Right One In, White Oleander and Interview With the Vampire.
Director and co-writer Igor Legarreta (2018’sWhen You No Longer Love Me) does a terrific job of evoking a sense of space and place, creating an atmospheric aesthetic and mood that draws you into the six-decade spanning story and delivering visceral thrills in an understated way that belies its potentially pulpy premise.
Despite traditional tropes and allusions, the v-word is never uttered and ‘‘Amaia’s’’ – as the girl eventually becomes called – desire to live a normal life is seemingly as strong as her need to feed.
Debutant Carneros is magnificent and mesmerising as the girl who discovers the terrible price shemust pay for seemingly eternal life. We see her euphoria as shemakes her first kill and her despair as she asks a priest if he can ‘‘help a demon’’.
Legarreta and cinematographer Imanol Nabea capture the drama in all its earthy, grimy glory, leaving the viewer touched by a powerfully poignant story and haunted by some truly heartbreaking, searing imagery.