relentless

Rating: 7/10 (29 February 2016)

A young women is pursued by a terrifying demonic force, a curse she inherited through the act of sexual intercourse. The only way to buy time for herself seems to be by passing on the curse through sex to someone else. This premise has echoes of 1998's 'Fallen' with Denzel Washington, but the execution is much more lush and laden with deliberate ambiguity. Jay is marked for victimhood by Jeff, who in his own tortured angst sees no alternative than to put Jay between him and IT. He at least gives her a sporting chance, explaining the rules of the game as he understands them. Jeff's explanations underpin the ambiguity: the IT he sees seems far more able to blend in with the common population than Jay's perception of IT, which is almost always dishevelled, if not downright naked. Does IT always take the form of our own nightmares? If so, what exactly is the psychology behind the form IT takes in the climactic encounter with Jay in a swimming pool? The film does a wonderful job of creating a brooding storyworld. The ravages of fiscal and political immorality threaten youth as much as casual sex, as Jay and her cohort drive numbed and hunted through economically ravaged landscapes that seem to belong to a time not of their making. The film plays on dread, self-aware in its evocation of 70s and 80s horror, down to the cars people drive, the incongruous TV sets they watch, and the electronic score. Maika Monroe as Jay is the able conduit for this sense of dread, plausibly unhinged by the fearful and uncanny episodes of IT's ineluctable approach. Keir Gilchrist as the love-struck Paul embodies the frustrations and bitter compromises that his generation have had foisted upon them. There is no American dream here, no bright future, just the day-to-day coping with an unpalatable present. Jay swims to a speedboat, Paul buys time with hookers, and another character seems to use his female classmates as a buffer, but there is a sense here of simply delaying the inevitable, both plot-wise and thematically. The film works to make assets of its limitations, throwing up more questions than answers. The ending is somewhat abrupt, smacking of first installment rather than finality, but that open-ended full stop also sparks conversations. Disturbing, intelligent and lovingly crafted, this film gets under your skin and lingers.