• It’s hard not to see Hereditary (out in 2018- a year before) in the formal construct of the horror film with a reoccurring dollhouse motif- but still- this is a unique enough effort- and undoubtedly a sign I owe 2014’s Goodnight Mommy (the 2014 debut of the Austrian auteur duo of Severin Fiala &Veronika Franz) another (and closer) viewing

It’s hard not to see Hereditary (out in 2018- a year before) in the formal construct of the horror film with a reoccurring dollhouse motif

  • Opens on that dollhouse—immaculate miniature craftsmanship. The film makes strong use of reoccurring set pieces and images (like the same striking white hallway again and again).

The film makes strong use of reoccurring set pieces and images (like the same striking white hallway again and again).

  • Fiala and Franz know how to set a frame. It tapers off as we go along through the running time but the first 15 minutes are evidence enough of their talents. We get the symmetrical frame composition at the funeral with the stain glass. We follow that up with a gorgeous on a wall in a museum shot- a composition of the family after the funeral huddled together each holding black balloons. Impressive imagery

Fiala and Franz know how to set a frame. It tapers off as we go along through the running time but the first 15 minutes are evidence enough of their talents. We get the symmetrical frame composition at the funeral with the stain glass. We follow that up with a gorgeous on a wall in a museum shot- a composition of the family after the funeral huddled together each holding black balloons. Impressive imagery

  • Blocking the frame like von Sternberg in The Blue Angel with the hanging plastic turkey in the frame at thanksgiving
  • Modern architecture
  • Elements of the occult, crucifixes, Grace is her name, doubling/doppelgänger (Alicia Silverstone looks a little like the Aunt of lead Riley Keough

Elements of the occult, crucifixes, Grace is her name, doubling/doppelgänger (Alicia Silverstone looks a little like the Aunt of lead Riley Keough

This is a nice resume builder for Keough. She’s been on a phenomenal run since 2015. Seven archiveable films in that time including American Honey

  • This is a nice resume builder for Keough. She’s been on a phenomenal run since 2015. Seven archiveable films in that time including American Honey
  • Fiala and Franz take the cabin fever from The Shining, very nice slow dolly shots in on empty rooms
  • It isn’t at the pace of Eisenstein (this will test the patience of some genre enthusiasts who hate the new “elevated horror” or “art horror”) but Fiala and Franz have a formal eye. They bounce the narrative driving story action off of images of the creepy painting, the dolls and dollhouses as I said before, the hallway with the elevated window, the attic with the uniquely shaped ceiling

Fiala and Franz have a formal eye- they bounce the narrative driving story action off of images of the creepy painting, the dolls and dollhouses as I said before, the hallway with the elevated window, the attic with the uniquely shaped ceiling

  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 2019