Amulet (2020)
Written by: ML
Edited by: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Romola Garai
Producers: Matthew James Wilkinson, Maggie Monteith
Writers: Romola Garai
Date Released: July 24, 2020
Cast:
Carla Juri as Magda
Alec Secareanu as Tomaz
Angeliki Papoulia as Miriam
Imelda Staunton as Sister Claire
Anah Ruddin as Mother
Rating = 3/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
Amulet (2020) is about a homeless ex-soldier who is constantly having nightmares about his solitary life in the woods. After a fire destroyed his shelter, he was brought in by a nun who tasked him to live in a deteriorating house and help a young woman who was taking care of her mother. As he started to have feelings for the woman, he also discovers more about the house and what goes on in the attic. In a horrific turn of events, they eventually exchanged roles in the end.
Gore Factor
The gory scenes start to happen after the appearance of the half bat, half rat creature in the toilet. From the murky waters right until the dead creature was removed from the table, it was a squirmy sequence. Another notable scene was the mother giving birth to the creature. It was “alienish” from the enlargement of the tummy up to the part where Magda stomps on the creature. As with all the scary scenes with the mother looking like a possessed evil woman, the scene where she was stabbed with a knife and still be alive was bloody. A second part of this neck stabbing happened towards the end where Tomaz used a chisel to chop her head off.
The Grave Review
This is a slow burn movie where audiences have to endure moments of boredom and sit through narratives as character development unfolds. Some parts may not be easily understood since explanations are not revealed up until the end of the movie.
Speaking of which, the best part about it is the revelation towards the end. Audiences might think that Tomaz is a good man and a victim of circumstance, but he was actually a rapist. As a viewer, there is an emotional shift from rooting for a supposed protagonist to a mind-blowing reveal. The actor acting innocent all throughout the movie is what made this shocking.
The other one was when it was revealed that the “mother” was actually a man, the owner of the house as a matter of fact. During this time, symbolisms can become clear. The men actually have the “essence of evil” and they deserve to be punished by becoming a mother. By transforming into a mother, they now have the chance to experience the pain and suffering of giving birth to something they don’t want, hence the creatures. The amulet was indeed a symbol of protection for the women.
The ending is also good in the sense that it took the movie full circle when Tomaz became the “mother” experiencing giving birth to a creature and Magda finally free. She was able to find the woman who Tomaz raped and returned the amulet as a sign that she had been avenged.
The only weird thing in the movie is the part where there was a giant glowing shell in the room. Tomaz entered the shell with throbbing walls and saw the personification of the amulet floating inside. Aside from the nun’s explanation, it was some form of acceptance for Tomaz that he was actually evil because of what he did to the woman in the woods.
Overall, this movie is good to watch if you are looking for thought-provoking and mind-blowing revenge films.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Amulet (2020) three graves out of five graves.
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