Somewhere near the end of Andrew Semands’ sleek, sprinting, and ridiculously entertaining horror movie “Resurrection,” there’s a scene of horrifying, horrifying intent that I actually took my breath away. And I laughed and was tickled by Semanz and his star charismatic Rebecca Hall persuading me to invest in their crazy Shenanigan.
But, as evidenced by last year’s creepout, Hall has the knack for sending Gravita into a slightly fluttering story. Here she plays Margaret, an executive of some pharmaceutical company, and from the beginning we find that we are approaching obsession. Whether at work or as a protective single mother for her teenage daughter Abbey (Grace Kaufman), Margaret is a model of calculated control. Even her sexual life is tightly regulated, and contact with her married colleague Peter (Michael Esper) is more efficient than joy. Margaret isn’t cold — many times I see her sympathetically advising a young intern to leave an emotionally abusive boyfriend — it’s forever vigilant. It just looks like.
But what? Clue begins to accumulate. Abby, who is about to go to college, finds a human molar in her purse. Later, when she sees a mysterious man in the lecture room, Margaret blanchs and sways as if she had seen a ghost. More than 20 years ago, she was involved with this man, David (Tim Roth), and her relationship literally left her hurt. Now he seems to want something and she appears randomly without approaching her until she fears and attacks him. His vulgar grin reveals the missing teeth.
As we are trying to learn, David is more than a heel, he is hell, and the stalker’s story begins with a rapid slip into fall and humiliation. And when Margaret’s carefully raised life begins to crack-she snipers her colleague and closely monitors Abbey’s movements- “Resurrection” teases the well-known parable of a woman’s collapse. .. However, Semans, who made his debut in the cheeky psycho-comedy “Nancy, Please” in 2013, is too confident in his twisted-minded explorer to settle for the cliché. The bargain that David wants to strike with Margaret about her old tragedy is incredibly unthinkable and crazy. Still, Ross’s eerie body language and quietly ominous line readings choke on the urge to laugh. He is a magnetic sadist.
Encouraged by Jim Williams’ uneasy score, Hall and Ross convincingly sell their character’s illness psychological bond. Therefore, “Resurrection” includes multiple themes. With empty nest anxiety, toxic men, and the long tail of their maneuvers, the film feels like a hingeless test of how much the audience can step into Looney Bath. ..
That’s why a 7-minute monologue that tingles Hall’s skin early in the movie is so important. She tells Margaret and David’s horrific history with irresistible honesty as the screen darkens behind her and her thin face fills the frame. It’s the perfect setup to end the delicious ambiguity I couldn’t admire.
Revival
Unrated. Execution time: 1 hour 43 minutes. In the theater.
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