Rating: 3.5/5
Hooptober 9.0 | 4/34 | Countries 4/6 | Ukraine
The beast shall say unto the world, "I am alpha and omega, the first and the last. I am she that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore and have the keys of Hell and death."
On an island, a nun runs away from a convent carrying an amulet. The amulet depicts the face of a humanoid monster. In the convent sanctuary, a priest reads from a text in an unknown language, its pages imprinted with the same monstrous images.
In the rainstorm, the walls of the convent break, flooding the church. Something in the water kills the priest.
As the storm breaks, the nun emerges from the cliffside. Something pushes her off the cliff, the amulet shattering against the rocks. Other nuns take and hide the remaining pieces.
Twenty years later, Elizabeth receives a letter from her friend Theresa urging her to come to the remote island convent.
But Theresa is missing. Instead, Sarah greets her.
Sarah takes Elizabeth to a blind Mother Superior, who speaks in strange clicks and chitters that a translator interprets for them.
The Mother Superior tells her she will understand in time.
The movie has incredible world-building that drew me in almost immediately. I’m a sucker for an island full of dark secrets and hidden passages, and this movie has plenty of both.
The soundtrack has a synth orchestration, distorted like old tape running and skipping. It drones and hiccups, inspiring dread.
The movie never treats the audience like they’re stupid — we get to the island, we get the rundown, and the exploration begins. Sarah loves Sherlock Holmes, so she is also eager to unravel the mystery. What they learn won’t shock or surprise any horror fans, but the journey is fun.
Stuart Gordon should have made this movie. Dagon is the closest I’ve seen him get. But Mariano Baino channels Lovecraft with a more mainstream appeal (for what that’s worth), matching lore and horror in equal measure.