Horror is a difficult genre to execute. Horror for the sake of horror is the worst kind. However, Natalie Erika James’s directional debut Relic uses horror as a metaphor for dementia. With themes similar to The Babadook, we see the overwhelming effects of confusion and isolation that dementia brings. My attention was first brought to the film at The London Film Festival, which this year is brought to the public virtually this year, with designated time slots for the films. I don’t know who decided that it would be a good idea to screen Relic at nine in the morning, but this made the horror all the more harrowing and disturbing for me.
Besides exploring dementia, this film also deals with generational themes. Grandma Edna (Robin Nevyn) goes missing and her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) return to their family home to find her. Upon arriving in the house, Kay and Sam find examples of her dementia everywhere, including Post-it notes, rotten food, and indications of poor hygiene. After three days of being missing Edna returns, not having remembered where she’s been. After spending a week in the house Kay and Sam become increasingly paranoid about an ominous and lurking presence taking control of Edna as a black bruise on her chest consumes her body more and more.
What makes Relic stand out from most horror films is that James doesn’t use jump scares and horror movie tropes to terrify, but rather opts to deal with the real-life horrors of disease and its complicated impacts. That being said, the final section of the film does dabble in cliché territory with gruesome and claustrophobic scenes. Relic is a unique experience where the three female protagonists are the film’s anchor. The family dynamic adds many heartfelt moments, exploring emotions of loss, sorrow, isolation, and happiness which provide a dimension that most horror films lack. But, as the genre dictates, there is only so much time for this. Relic reveals little about the characters and their shared histories which could have provided even more depth to the character development and explored the theme of family in the face of dementia.
Relic never relents in the atmosphere of insufferable decay surrounding the family and manages to be both a creepy and heartbreaking addition to this year’s festival.
