Three Films Make A Post: Killing for Two

Blood Born (2021): While this is a thing that has gotten better outside of the big blockbuster business (where the problem is probably caused by an audience that expects quantity for the not inconsiderable sums cinemas and Disney+ VIP ask for a ticket), there are still quite a few films that feel the need to blow forty-five minutes of material up to ninety elsewhere, too. An example is this sometimes somewhat satirical horror movie by Reed Shusterman about the horrors of childbirth and childlessness as exemplified via a childless couple turning to a weird sorcerer company for a last chance at breeding. There are a couple of fun, even poignant ideas in here, but everything feels too drawn out, the film repeating ideas much too often, losing the kick it could and should have because it needs to fill out one of those ninety minute cinema slots that don’t actually exist for films of this type anymore.

Kandisha (2020): I never got as much out of French directing and writing duo Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s much-loved first film Inside but absolutely loved their second one, the supernatural giallo fairy tale Livide. Their newest effort, Kandisha, doesn’t quite work for me, alas. I really like their portrayal of their three urban poor (and therefore two-thirds brown and black) teenage protagonists and the world they inhabit, their avoidance of poverty porn without denying the pain of poverty, and the quick and sure creation of the world their characters people. The supernatural element, on the other hand, despite being based on actual folklore, is curiously bland. The titular entity’s activities are as generic as possible, never connecting with the characters on anything but the level of physical threat. Disconnected as it is from the rest of the film, it might as well be a leprechaun.

Prevenge (2016): Returning to the horrors of pregnancy, writer/director/star Alice Lowe’s movie about a woman driven to murder the people she holds responsible for the death of her husband by the voice of her unborn child, does a rather more effective job at pregnancy horror than Blood Born. In part, that’s “simply” because of Lowe’s sharp, macabre and very funny writing (and her perfectly fitting lead performance). Yet it is also because her film expresses so many of the negative things about pregnancy, children and guilt we as a society dislike very much to talk about in such a brutally efficient yet compassionate manner. At the same time, the film finds quite a bit of unexpected genre resonance beyond macabre comedy and vengeance movie, effortlessly suggesting fairy lore and folklore and their dark undergrowth of the human spirit without ever making grand gestures towards these things.