Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Mini movie review: The Blackcoat's Daughter

Another gorgeous, creeping and creepy horror film from Oz Perkins - auteur of I Am the Pretty Thing that Lives in the House - The Blackcoat's Daughter is all atmosphere with a little bit of stabbing.  To paraphrase an online review I read, you can't call it a slow burn because that makes you think it's all leading to something big.  TBD doesn't lead to anything big (except that little bit of stabbing) but the journey is the point, I think.

At an isolated upstate New York Catholic girls' school, almost everyone has taken off for the break.  Only Kat, an awkward freshman (Kiernan Shipka), and upperclassman Rose (Lucy Boynton) are still there, their parents not having shown up to pick them up yet.  Rose fears she may be pregnant and uses the extra time to tell her boyfriend about it; Kat is weird even before the rumors of Satan-worshiping nuns start floating around and when we learn that her parents have died in a car crash on their way to the school, well, that's just not good for anyone.  In a separate but connected storyline, Joan (Emma Roberts) is an obviously disturbed and/or abused young woman who gets picked up by good samaritans at the bus station.

I don't want to go into the plot any further because, well, there's just not that much more.  The acting is all very good; the cinematography shows the stark bleakness of the school's interiors and exteriors.  There is some violence (little bit of stabbing) and some blood, but most everything happens out of frame.  What I didn't expect was the accumulation of dread: I was sincerely creeped out by the end of this movie - without being actually scared or grossed out - and had to watch an episode of Supernatural afterwards so I could be sure to fall asleep.

The Blackcoat's Daughter is good for people who like their Satan-worshiping/demonic possessions on the sophisticated, atmospheric and stylish-yet-creepy side.  Recommended.

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