Relic is a brand new psychological horror and the feature film debut from Natalie James, first released at Sundance on January 25th, and released on VOD today, July 10th!

Kay(Emily Mortimer) and her daughter Sam(Bella Heathcote), as they return to their remote family home to search for Edna(Robyn Nevin), the elderly and widowed matriarch who has recently went missing.
Soon after she returns they start to discover a sinister presence haunting the house and taking control of Edna.

This is a dark and intense journey that follows three generations of women stuck inside a house together, it’s a slow burn that focuses on character development and relationship dynamics, which are my two favourite elements for a horror film.
Speaking of the horror… It doesn’t once rely on jump scares and instead starts off ominous and unsettling, but over its 89mins runtime the dread builds, until we reach a terrifying and emotional climax that will surely be giving me nightmares for the next week.

Relic is a heartbreaking and beautiful exploration in to Alzheimer’s disease that resonated with me in a very real way. It brought my greatest fears to life and showed me how it would feel to live them out with our characters.

There are very few films that have explored a mental illness so well, and so accurately. It never portrays anyone as solely good or evil, especially those suffering, and leaves just the right amount unsaid or ambiguous.

I would highly recommend watching Relic, but would also advise going in with caution, this is a very real and emotional subject that has touched many people’s lives and it is not an easy thing to watch.

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If you’ve seen Relic I’d love to know what you thought in the comments!

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