I had not heard of this when I came across the dvd in a charity shop recently, but I saw it is part of the Tartan Asia Extreme collection, which has never let me down. After 20 minutes I was cautiously optimistic, and as it went on, I was more and more convinced of it's quality. By the end, I was happy to use the word classic, it really is.
I won't summarise the story, but it is focused on a family of father, step mother and two sisters, plus the recently deceased mother, whose presence is still being felt in the house. Like lots of good horror films, the story isn't necessarily at the forefront of the experience, but lots of themes are explored. One of the main ones is how one tragic event can shape the lives of those around it, leaving fractured minds, shown through different technical traits and reveals - this aspect felt almost Lynchian at points, which is about as high as praise gets for films of this sort.
The story elements may not boast much originality, but it is so well done, technically top notch, with some great, creative horror filmmaking moments. Not least the sound design, which uses silence/ambient noise to great effect on more than one occasion. It cultuvates a real feel of unease that makes you expect the worse and search the frames that are in darkness (something I remember doing during the brilliant Hereditary). There are only 1 or 2 jump scares, where there could have been many, showing the director's considerable restraint. The rest of the palpable tension is left to the small details and filming techniques, which I personally appreciate.
The reveals in the last act made things complex enough that I understood almost all, but not every specific aspect of it, which is perfect. I'm already looking forward to my second viewing of this, hugely competent, engrossing horror that I would now very highly recommend.
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