There are many horror movies A.F.M. this year but I went to the topNew Zealand director Samuel Van Grinsven’s second film offers a very different take on the genre, using a tale of haunting and possession to delve into much deeper emotional territory.

Stranger Things star dacre montgomery And Vicky Krieps (Stale, Ghost Thread) Play Jack and Jill, two strangers connected by their troubled relationship with Elizabeth, who left Jack and became Jill’s domineering lover. The two meet following Elizabeth’s suicide. Jill asks Jack to stay. That night, Elizabeth’s ghost possesses Jill to talk to Jack. Then the process is reversed: Elizabeth captures her son Jack to interact with her ex. “This is a three-hand game played by two people, with two people playing the same person,” Montgomery says.

We are not inside exorcist area here. Krieps and Montgomery deliver wonderfully understated performances, with no spooky sounds or OTT violence and only subtle hints indicating change. Playing Jill, possessed by Elizabeth, Krieps becomes colder, harsher and weirder. Speaking through Jack’s mouth, Montgomery as Elizabeth is softer, kinder, but also tougher.

This approach turns what could have been a sensational joke into a nuanced study of trauma, grief, and the emotional pressure the dead exert on those still living. “I had just lost someone, and when I read the script I thought: ‘Wow, this is so true,’” Krieps said. world premiere of the film At the Toronto Film Festival. “Even without a toxic person like Elizabeth, our past lives, our past relationships, have taken over us. The dead don’t go away. “They continue to disturb us emotionally.”

Montgomery and Krieps used separate scents for Jack, Jill, and Elizabeth to provide a sensory trigger to transition between performances. “This was something we both found independently of each other, and it felt like part of destiny,” Montgomery says. “By using perfumes created for a different sensory experience on set, the scent became a trigger moment, a physical cue that triggered memories in your body. “It was a lot busier than I expected.”

As the story gradually reveals the toxic dynamics of Elizabeth’s life; his abandonment of Jack, his (physical, emotional and sexual) abuse of Jill, I went to the top dives deeper into the emotional well and moves ever closer to the real horror zone. When Elizabeth captures Jack and forces himself on his ex-wife, a deeply disturbing, not-quite-incestuous sexual encounter ensues. The fact that Jack is also gay makes the scene even more complex and emotionally confusing.

But Van Grinsven, who first gained critical attention with his 2019 student film Sequins in the Blue Roomdemonstrates remarkable directorial control, masterfully handling even the most garish and outlandish elements of the story.

The film’s spookiness derives not from traditional horror tropes—though there’s a single, highly effective jump scare in the final reel—but from the technical flourishes and over-the-top credits below the line, including Robert Mackenzie’s vague sound design, Tyson Perkins’ disorientation, and more. cinematography and minimalist production design by Sherree Philips. Hanan Townshend’s music creates a constant atmosphere of uneasiness with its heavy, rhythmic breathing and ethereal tones.

The single most effective special effect is the color-stripped, bleak atmospheric backdrop of the New Zealand countryside. The result is one of the most stunningly original ghost stories of recent years; It’s a horror movie that’s less about supernatural terror and more about the horror of the emotional abuse we all carry.

Bankside Films is selling I went to the top Internationally, we represent North American sales rights together with CAA Media Finance.