Ever since premiering “Hereditary” and “Mandy” in 2018, the Midnight Madness section at the Sundance Film Festival has become a hot commodity for mainstream festgoers looking for the next big horror movie. Having attended this past January’s edition of Sundance, I can attest the Midnight Madness lineup was a letdown, the big titles (“Bad Hair,” “The Night House,” “Amulet”) were all met with a shrug, whereas the one true standout was the St. Vincent meta-doc “The Nowhere Inn,” which didn’t really belong in the Midnight Section, but would have been better suited in the more experimental NEXT section.
However, during the last weekend of Sundance, I had heard rumblings that a movie called “Relic” may have been the best horror title of the 2020 fest. I managed to find a publicist, on a Saturday no less, to sneak me into the final screening of this Australian-American horror movie.
Although not in the same league as the very best of the genre, Natalie Erika James’ directorial debut will please plenty of genre fans this summer, hungry for new fare during the COVID-19 lockdown. Starring Emily Mortimer and produced by Jake Gyllenhaal, the film, much like “Hereditary,” deals with haunted genetics, following a daughter (Emily Mortimer) troubled by the disappearance and sudden reemergence of her elderly mother (Robyn Nevin). I won’t say more about the plot, the less you know the better.
“Relic” is expected to have its VOD premiere on July 10.