Emily Mortimer confronts the specter of a fraying mind in this spooky trailer for Relic

By Randall Colburn  |  May 21, 2020 | 3:03pm
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Emily Mortimer confronts the specter of a fraying mind in this spooky trailer for Relic
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If being trapped indoors with your loved ones has turned from a comfort into a horror over these last few months, boy, do we have a movie for you. Today, IFC Midnight dropped a trailer for Natalie Erika James’ Relic, a metaphor-heavy spooker about family and dementia that garnered quite the reception at Sundance, including from our own A.A. Dowd.

A “dread-infused slow burn,” the film follows an elderly woman (Robyn Nevin) who vanishes only to reappear with her daughter (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter (Bella Heathcote) suddenly concerned over her deteriorating mental state. From there, familial terrors merge with supernatural ones, resulting in what Dowd called a “go-for-broke, haunted-house final act” and a “strangely, profoundly moving” ending.

Here’s a synopsis:

When elderly mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) inexplicably vanishes, her daughter Kay (Emily Mortimer) and granddaughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) rush to their family’s decaying country home, finding clues of her increasing dementia scattered around the house in her absence. After Edna returns just as mysteriously as she disappeared, Kay’s concern that her mother seems unwilling or unable to say where she’s been clashes with Sam’s unabashed enthusiasm to have her grandma back. As Edna’s behavior turns increasingly volatile, both begin to sense that an insidious presence in the house might be taking control of her. All three generations of women are brought together through trauma and a powerful sense of strength and loyalty to face the ultimate fear together.

Relic will hit VOD (and, if they’re open, a few theaters) on July 10.

 
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