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etting ahead of myself traditional medicine seems to fail christine for her symptoms disappear every time she sees a doctor the film is set in both ireland and the philippines making this work a solid coproduction spectators are first introduced to christine eva green while she s at work she s a children s fashion designer and she s putting on a runway show for her latest designs having to take a phone call we only see her side of the conversation but she appears deeply upset and says pulling out bodies at one point ruh roh my first thought was that either her husband felix mark strong or her daughter roberta aka bobs billie gadsdon have been in a car accident this narrative move seems to be more and more common in horror films with female protagonists while christine is on the phone a mangy looking dog walks into the showroom and slowly shakes itself all over christine showering her with ticks yeah it s nasty but we never learn what the phone call is about until much much later cut to eight months later and christine is a shadow of her former self with a mysterious ailment that she cannot seem to shake her symptoms weirdly disappear every time she goes to the doctor and thus felix thinks it s all in her head of course he does because the unsupportive and suspicious spouse is the go to in horror films that focus on women protagonists then her savior arrives the lovely and enigmatic diana chai fonacier because of christine s frequent memory lapses she s not at all phased that she has forgotten she s hired diana a filipino woman to take care of the house and her daughter diana chai fonacier employs folk practices to help heal christine s various ailments chai fonacier as diana is a force of nature in nocebo literally and figuratively she arrives claiming to be there to help christine and she does so using various folk traditions and practices to pull the sickness out of her she s a bit mysterious though with a shrine set up in her bedroom that she hides away from her employers and a pile of ash that she leaves in front of her bedroom door one that a child s footprints are nestled in christine grows more dependent on diana as time passes and even bobs becomes increasingly close to her gentle kindness yet what is she hiding certainly felix is extremely suspicious and feels like he s in an emotional tug of war with her over christine s well being diana as a child being possessed by the ongo one that gives her great powers diana eventually discloses to christine that her healing powers come from her possession by an ongo whose powers were passed to her as a young girl when the ongo originally passed in her childhood home now diana has the ability to heal and to also cause great harm like any good folk horror the cultural clash between this rich white privileged family and a poor woman of color struggling to make money determines much of the film s conflict viewers discover later through flashbacks to the philippines that diana used to work in sweatshop eking out fast fashion in a philippine city and her daughter who she was forced to bring to work with her perished when a fire erupted in the warehouse crucially spoilers moving forward diana was making clothing children s clothing for christine once viewers think back to the film s instigating incident and the start of christine s mysterious illness the urgent phone call she takes at her fashion show is news of her workers perishing in this fire they were harmed because they were 1 forced to work in unsafe conditions 2 asked to increase their quota of garments significantly and 3 locked into the building in order to prevent them from stealing something that christine specifically makes a policy diana s long game is revenge diana s rituals escalate as she helps christine to understand her complicity in her daughter s death christine s husband felix was suspicious of diana from the start but diana expertly uses bobs as a way to cast doubt on his trustworthiness asking her to lie in order to turn christine against him then a fortuitous fall over the bannister lands felix in the hospital and diana conveniently steps up her treatment of christine s illness including having her slave over a sewing machine in intense heat and without breaks while i m not going to give a way the film s ending it s pretty damn satisfying bobs as the new ongo collects valuable herbs in the forest nocebo is unique for its clever mixture of occult and supernatural rituals with a specific philippine focus as well as its frank and powerful indictment of white privilege fast fashion and sweatshop labor while i do love eva green her character christine is pretty hard to like by film s end and her fate seems fair for the crimes she however unwittingly commits a comment by diana that she ll always be with christine s daughter bobs plays out as true and rather poignant as viewers witness in the film s final images the young girl communing with the nature that surrounds her finnegan s work here actually makes me want to give vivarium a try nocebo is currently streaming on shudder and highly recommended posted by dark iris at 10 45 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels eva green folk horror lorcan finnegan mothers and daughters nocebo 2022 ongo social commentary sweatshops white privilege women and madness wednesday july 12 2023 review the twin taneli mustonen 2022 one creepy kid tristan ruggeri and finnish folks with dorky hats are in the twin 2022 i was really really digging the twin taneli mustonen 2022 through most of its run time then came the film s ending and i was so outraged outraged sometime in the 1980s rachel teresa palmer and anthony steven cree are struggling with immeasurable grief as they lost one of their twin sons nathan in a car accident haunted by this incident they leave new york city with their son elliot in tow and travel to anthony s homeland a small village in finland it was actually shot in estonia the majority of the film takes place here as the couple and their son hastily move into a giant house in the finnish countryside in order to start anew the house in which the film is set has multiple floors and seems to be the setting for a former funeral home or mortuary it s kind of unclear elliot immediately decides to live at the very top of the house in the attic with a super sinister round window at the top and asks that mom and dad put a twin bed in for his dear departed twin rachel acquiesces to his request while anthony immediately pushes back suggesting that this situation is exactly what the doctor warned against this set up easily slides into the haunted heroine horror film where a female protagonist struggles with seemingly supernatural events while everyone else the local folk anthony and even elliot actively question every single move that rachel makes yet there s a ton of creepy stuff afoot rachel and elliot cling to each other in the menacing finnish forest first the family visits a local pagan shrine where if you press your hand against the red handprints on the rock and make a wish your wish very well might come true elliot proceeds to make a wish and you just know he s wishing for his brother s return then at a welcoming party that the family attends everyone seems to ignore rachel except for the elderly helen barbara marten who the villagers believe has a screw loose she pulls rachel aside and tells her that she dreamed of her and that her son has made a wish and it was granted ruh roh not only is rachel not fitting in but she and anthony are compelled to climb onto some giant wooden wedding swing as another pagan tradition of the town as the pagan traditions start to add up i was getting really excited about a potential folk horror title to add to my very long list helen appears to be the only person really willing to talk to rachel or take her seriously especially when elliot disappears and then comes back claiming that he s nathan sure helen equates pagans with satanists which is rally sloppy for 2022 but i went with it rachel dressed up as some may queen is tended to by a bunch of nuns cultists the strange folk of their new town are rendered stranger at every turn at first they stand around silently looking disapproving and whispering behind rachel s back then her visit to the doctor about elliot s claims that he s nathan just serves to piss her off helen then brings up a cockamamie story about her husband being possessed by some demon his face twisted into an obscene grimace as he dies a pretty awful death there s even one scene that juxtaposes teresa s weird nightmares visions with helen s to suggest that these two women are struggling within a foreign environment helen is british intent on destroying them at this point in the film like rachel viewers do not trust anyone especially anthony who comes from this pretty grim place helen also suggests that there are some weird town related conspiracies involving circles and we then see numerous rituals on bleak hillsides where the strange folk are standing in circles doing who knows what rachel looks pretty awesome in mourning garb if not for teresa palmer s persuasive portrayal of rachel this film would be dead from the start but she s so convincing that viewers care about the stakes here the husband and son are not very well developed but after they move to finland anthony comes across as a gaslighting mastermind who has the whole town convinced that rachel needs medicating in fact there are numerous shots of rachel waking up in bed after being dosed with a hypodermic what are these people up to you wonder as clumps of townsfolk stare and stare at her as i said the explanation jettisons all the potential folk horror possession haunting possibilities spoilers follow turns out according to that jerk anthony that he and rachel never had a twin that nathan died in a car crash where rachel was driving and that she s just crazy hallucinating another twin when there isn t one oh and helen s clearly crazy too just as the rest of the town thinks she is sure the haunted heroine narrative always oscillates between supernatural happenings and unreliable narrator madness but something about the twin felt cheap and dirty in choosing to end the film this way leaving the cemetery one last time with her family s two gravestones in front of her rachel climbs into her car to discover that everyone s alive including the imaginary twin she created basically the ending completely negates all of the spooky stuff happening throughout the earlier portions of the film rendering any supernatural questions pointless the it was all just a dream delusion finale does not feel earned and i m still angry at the bait and switch perhaps the she was always just insane approach has worn thin for me but the twin now streaming on shudder disappoints not recommended posted by dark iris at 7 01 pm email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels evil children finnish folklore folk horror grief haunted heroine taneli mustonen teresa palmer the twin 2022 twins and horror women and madness monday july 10 2023 review huesera the bone woman michelle garza cervera 2022 the baby causes grave consequences in huesera the bone woman michelle garza cervera 2022 first off a warning if you hate the sounds of knuckles cracking and bones breaking that snapping sounds that makes one flinch then this film is not for you i m just pointing out one of the chief ways that horror is produced in huesera the bone woman 2022 pregnancy horror has been a hot horror topic for quite some time including everything from rosemary s baby to the recent 2021 film false positive but michelle garza cervera s debut film provides a unique perspective on the topic the film has many of the common tropes unsupportive family members insensitive partners tone deaf medical practitioners a woman alienated from her own body but it views these challenges in a woman s life through a queer viewpoint the film is not only a deeply empathetic character study of its protagonist valeria natalia solian but also mixes in mexican folklore to create a truly chilling portrait of the ambivalence depression and despair many women feel when they are compelled to fit into a heterosexual world and its restrictions including having a child raul alfonso dosal only treats valeria natalia solian with impatience as the film evolves valeria is married to raul who works in advertising and she s trying to get pregnant with the usual après sex legs up calisthenics common to this desire their married sex is very perfunctory she actually prays to the virgin mary with her mother in order to achieve this goal and lo and behold she s pregnant what so few women realize is that in both mexican and u s culture childbearing and rearing are what women are supposed to do and they are not fully prepared with the loss of individuality and the push toward conformity that motherhood entails in flashbacks viewers discover that valeria was once a free wheeling punk in a queer relationship preparing to leave town with her girlfriend octavia mayra batalla with the sudden death of her brother valeria makes the choice to stay with her conservative family instead of escaping the expectations that confine her she has made the choice to make her family proud by marrying a man and conforming to the heterosexual life that her family demands she have the tensions around her queer sexuality come across in numerous jabs and insults that her parents and sister hurl at her reminding her of some babysitting accident in her past that taints her and just telling her to suck it up as she struggles with her new condition mentally and physically valeria s sneaking of a cigarette will soon be punished beyond imagining as a young fledgling furniture designer she makes unique furniture but is told by her doctor that she should quit because of the fumes soon she s left home alone and bored while raul is off to work one evening upon waking she sneaks a cigarette only to watch a woman across the way climb on top of a balcony and jump yet when valeria looks at the ground the woman slowly rises her bones cracking as she stumbles upright her body unnaturally shifting and moving in a jarring manner raul convinces her that it s all a dream but it isn t and watching everyone gaslight valeria and think that she s crazy is a bit frustrating the film implies that watching this death has tainted her and dark magic must be used to help her escape from the horrors that consume her and her newborn daughter valeria s journey to motherhood and beyond affects her body significantly the mexican folklore that the film employs is fascinating here s a summation of the legend from a nerdist review of the film the film s title itself stems from the legend of la huesera this mexican myth is about a woman who collects animal bones specifically from wolves until she has a complete skeleton she sings life into those bones bring...