Reunion (2020), Julia Ormond, Emma Draper (Horror Movie Review)

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

PLOT: When pregnant Ellie (Emma Draper) returns to her grandparent’s old house to finish writing a book, she reopens old wounds and creates new lasting ones with her cold and distant mother, Ivy (Julia Ormond).

REVIEW: After acquitting himself with his two prior films, Wellness and Free in Deed, New Zealand writer/director Jake Mahaffy makes his first foray into the genre realm with Reunion, a dour and depressing, moody and malaise-laden mystery that takes a while to fully invest in its deliberate pace and languid tempo. However, if the somber and soporific affair doesn’t make nod off in the first half hour, then those patient enough to wait for the fruits of the strained labor will likely feel justified in doing so. Morbidly satisfied, even. Look, this is a deeply disquieting, uneasy, and uncomfortable movie to deal with – both thematically and tonally – but thanks to the committed performances, fine craftsmanship for a modest budget and unpredictably unnerving final 15 minutes, Reunion (watch it here) is an atmospheric psychological chiller that overcomes its slow start, gets better as it unspools, and erupts with a much welcome onslaught of grisly mayhem in the end. Sadomasochistic gluttons for punishment take note, Reunion is a balefully bruising and unshakably sinister tale to peep when it drops on Friday, February 5th.

At roughly nine months pregnant, Ellie (Draper) arrives at an old bucolic abode in the English countryside to finish her survey book on the history of science and occult black magic. There, she reunites with her icily estranged mother, Ivy (Ormond), who isn’t particularly happy to see her daughter. Also in the house is Ellie’s senile stepfather Jack (John Bach), whom Ellie has hated since she met him as a child. As Ellie settles in, she immediately begins seeing a ghostly figure of a little girl in a red dress throughout the house. Through drips and drabs, we gather the girl is Ellie’s stepsister Cara (Ava Keane), whose tragic death years prior Ellie feels guilty and responsible for. As Ellie is about to give birth to a new life, she can’t help but ruminate on the life lost inside her childhood home, and the rueful PTSD weighs on her as the film advances. Mahaffy does a good job of amplifying these feelings through a hormonal fog of third-trimester pregnancy, leaving the audience to wonder if Ellie is losing her mind or if something far more nefarious is at play. Adding to the maddening mystery is a series of bodily lesions and welts Ellie develops on her face and pregnant belly.

Once Ellie reconciles with the truth about what happened to Cara, the movie twists and trickily poses as a genuinely sad mother-daughter drama under the guise of a genre piece. There’s a tremendous acting scene between Draper and Ormond as they discuss the past, unveil their unspoken feelings, and try to connect on a healing path of togetherness for the sake of Ellie’s impending newborn. The movie could have ended here and still be lauded for its genre-tinged approach to dramatic storytelling, based solely on the content of the scene and the convincing performances. I do not want to give away the big twist, but it makes us rethink all that we’d seen up to that point in the film and even recalibrate how we view Ellie as the protagonist. In fact, I do think the film should have ended here, as it would have inverted the drama-first-horror-second formula that makes the all-time greatest films in the genre work, but still, retain the resonant impact. Alas, the Mahaffy shoehorns one last violent salvo in the end to satiate the horror crowd, much to the detriment of the overall story. The original twist was sufficient enough.

Aside from the languid and ponderous pacing that will surely turn off the most ADD-riddled of viewers, the film is imbued with such a punishing tone and tenor that not much joy is to be had while watching it. This is a much more melancholic, psychological genre outing that requires patience to reap its cathartic rewards. This is doable thanks to the aforesaid acting work, but also through the dreadful setting diffused with desaturated colors and natural light, shadows, and frigid wintery hues. The cinematography by Adam Luxton crisply sets the stage to mirror the morbid subject matter, and doing so on what has to be a modest budget at best makes it all the more impressive. There’s also a recurring visual motif in the film that features historical slideshows to link with Ellie’s book. However, this motif isn’t as fully developed on the thematic level, as the whole occult black magic subplot is never fully wrapped up and made convincing. If anything, it comes back to sully the conclusion of the film rather than bolster it.

If you like slow-boilers to uncoil your nerves, Reunion is the place to be. The film excels in its sinister setting and dreadful ambiance, its upper-tier performances, its first big twist reveal, and its solid technical craftsmanship for a low budget affair. It falls much flatter with its extraneous final twist, impregnable pacing, and depressing tone. All tallied, REUNION offers more reasons than not to see when it comes out this Friday.