'Relic' film review: Terrifying, heartbreaking dementia horror
The horror family drama 'Relic' (opening in select theaters and on VOD on July 10) really is the perfect encapsulation of the increasing dread of watching a loved one inevitably succumb to an incurable, degenerative disease.
In short: When elderly grandmother Edna (Robyn Nevin) suddenly disappears, her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) arrive at her secluded home, finding clues of Edna's increasing dementia.
Director, co-writer Natalie Erika James patiently, quietly seeds ever increasing, wracking tension in her feature film directorial debut. An elusive jump scare always seems just around the corner, but the 'Relic' rejects lazy startles for more sinister, personal unease.
'Relic' drops the audience into the mystery of Edna's disappearance, leaving viewers just as baffled as Kay and Sam as they find the grandmother's cryptic notes and hear odd creaks from the aged home. And just when the film appears to tip its hand, 'Relic' transforms into something more ominous.
Dementia is a scourge that robs the afflicted of their memories and strains relations with family members. This family drama is rooted in the terrible and tragic transformation dementia exacts on loved ones, but 'Relic' lives in the emotional turmoil beyond a failing memory and deteriorating cognitive faculties.
Edna is, for brief moments, painfully and tragically aware of her worsening condition. And these moments are the most cruel because flickering normalcy is washed away by the grim and daunting realities of her progressively worsening disease. Kay struggles with the inherent guilt any adult child feels as they are unable to balance work and caring for an ailing parent. And the film's true horror core is the underlying dread that comes with the genetic legacy of dementia and wondering "will this happen to me when I get old?"
If there's any weakness in 'Relic,' it's simply that the film could make a stronger case for Kay's hesitancy to care for her mother, and how her feelings are connected to how her family abandoned her great grandfather. As it is, 'Relic' lightly addresses these plot beats - but spending a few more minutes creating that connective tissue could have increased the internal conflict Kay struggles with. It's a small quibble really because at just under an hour and a half in length, 'Relic' is a well-edited, lean bit of psychological horror that compels from start to finish.
Final verdict: 'Relic' leverages disturbing horror tropes that tap into the emotional horrors that ravages every family forced to watch a loved one's painful decline into the darkness of senility.
Score: 4.5/5
'Relic' opens in select cities and is available as a digital VOD rental on July 10. This horror film is rated R for some horror violence/disturbing images, and language and has a running time of 90 minutes.
