Director: Péter Bergendy
Year: 2020
Country: Hungary
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Ghosts
Plot:
Following the end of World War I, a photographer tasked with taking the final photos of the deceased arrives in a village to help the residents deal with their relatives but soon stumbles upon a series of eerie incidents that bring about the belief that ghosts haunt the area and must stop them from continuing.
Review:
Overall, this was a rather solid and enjoyable outing. One of the better features here is the rather strong atmosphere present that makes this one far more chilling than it really should be. Building on the isolated village in the countryside ideal where they’re already isolated but filled with rural houses, a lack of technology even at the current time period, and a folklore steeped in superstition, the setting provides a truly captivating presence here much like that of the surrounding area. With the area littered with dead trees, the remnants of the war left behind, and a real eerie tone with the fog constantly rolling in, there’s plenty to like here as this one goes for the quintessential Gothic horror route of providing an eerie and foreboding landscape to work with.
That’s all enhanced by the stellar work done in the haunting scenes to generate a wholly creepy and sometimes outright chilling series of hauntings. The first encounter in the house, with the residents being manipulated against their will by shadows, thrown about the room, or confronted by hallucinations of figures doing things they shouldn’t, leads to some more fun later on when the dead villager is removed from the chimney of the house that’s on fire. This revelation sparks a further series of encounters throughout here with the quest to uncover the truth about the hauntings where the action increases mightily from more visceral versions of the previous haunting scenarios to full-blown attacks on villagers involving them being attacked and thrown about or even dragged through the town streets. Taking on more of a spectacle-filled approach due to the use of several high-energy confrontations that look difficult to pull off in full view of others or utilizing multiple individuals at once, there’s a great deal of fun to be had with these scenes.
As well, there’s also the engaging central storyline here that manages to provide a worthwhile investigation angle into the incidents to hold things over between the hauntings. With his ability to photograph the dead proving to be a valuable ally in the fight against the supernatural occurrences plaguing them, this provides a great meeting point between the clinical investigation into what’s happening and offering a chance to know the villagers who are thankfully not turned into absolute heathens at the sight of his technological advances with their acceptance of his ways going a long way towards making these segments more fun than they should. However, this also provides the film with its one main drawback as these scenes manage to drag this one out to nearly two hours when it really shouldn’t and it definitely feels its length at points. It’s not an overall detrimental offering but it’s enough to impact it.
Overview: ****.5/5
A highly impressive and enjoyable genre effort, there’s quite a lot to like with this one which is let down only by small inconsequential aspects that aren’t as bad as expected. Those who are intrigued by this type of ghost genre effort or are drawn to more Gothic-leaning pieces will have the most fun here and not too many will be disappointed here with the vast amount of positives featured.
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