Three More from Brooklyn Horror Film Festival 2023

by Eric McClanahan

Breathing In

Breathing In is the latest feature from director Jaco Bouwer, adapted from the stage play by Reza de Wet. A minimal piece in a chamber setting with three principles, Anna (Michele Burgers) sets the viewer at unease immediately and throughout, exploring the duality of the matriarch as both nurturer and disciplinarian. Jamie-Lee Money as her daughter is given little more to do than appear alluring while also breathless. The score by Pierre-Henri Wicomb is a standout and the film enforces the claustrophobia of the stage setting by offering fleeting yet effective glances at the horrors that lie beyond the central set.

Property

Property, written and directed by Daniel Bandeira, does what proper thriller cinema intends to do, shock and unnerve the viewer. Rather than an examination of class differences it actually shakes out to be a brutal deconstruction of all civility, à la LORD OF THE FLIES. No one character begins the film evil, and none end pure. It serves as a magnifying glass on the meniscus separating the impoverished from the desperate. Opening with a literal bang and ending with a whimper, this is a taut existential thriller that will have audiences talking long after the final frame.

T Blockers

T Blockers, by Alice Maio Mackay, is loud, brash, neon, and unconcerned with hiding its message under layers of subtext. It screams its message as the immediacy cannot be downplayed. It does, however, overcomplicate its characters by giving even tertiary players multiple backstories, creating layers that are less like onions and more like calluses. The young cast carries the material with a natural ease, and what the film lacks in budget it makes up for in authenticity. The expository film-within-the-film leading to the creation of another film-within-the-film is a cheeky call to spread the call to action beyond its runtime.

Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on October 20, 2023.