Adult siblings Dwight and Jessie take care of their sick, teenaged brother Thomas in a house on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Thomas needs fresh blood to survive and depends on his brother and sister to provide it for him.
Over time, Thomas's affliction traps all three of them in an endless cycle of murder and suffocating loneliness. They all want to be someplace else. They all want companionship and love, but duty to the family prevents them from leaving.
As a horror movie, the film has no jump scares or creepy monsters. People looking for bared fangs and disemboweled bodies probably won't like this film.
As a metaphor for caring for a dying family member, however, the film underscores a terrifying reality and culturally unacknowledged reality. The efforts made to keep a terminally ill loved one alive crush the hopes and dreams of the caretaker. Each day spent in the arms of death with the dying is a day away from life. The caretaker gives up his life for the person who is dying, until the dying person dies.
The hardest part of this reality is that caretaking is done out of love. It typically isn't paid labor, but in fact drains the pocketbook. The heart of the dying person can't beat without the caretaker, and every beat costs the caretaker a beat of his own. In this situation, the afflicted feels like a burden and can't die fast enough. The caretaker is overwhelmed with guilt for wanting him to.
Jonathan Cuartas, the film maker, does a brilliant job of reinforcing the terror with the sets. When the characters are outside in the daylight, beautiful Utah is green and bursting with life. When the characters are inside the house, it is dark, oppressive and suffocating. It's always Christmas inside the house, but we don't know whether the tree is supposed to be comforting or someone could not bring himself to take it down. The only music and sound comes from an organ, which no one knows how to play.
There's also a strong subtext here about trying to escape the weight of the LDS Church in Utah, which is brought home when Dwight refuses to kill a young blond boy after murdering drifters and immigrants. And, when Dwight stands at the Great Salt Lake with all his freedom, the look on his face says he doesn't know what to do with it.
Anyway, I liked the film.
Over time, Thomas's affliction traps all three of them in an endless cycle of murder and suffocating loneliness. They all want to be someplace else. They all want companionship and love, but duty to the family prevents them from leaving.
As a horror movie, the film has no jump scares or creepy monsters. People looking for bared fangs and disemboweled bodies probably won't like this film.
As a metaphor for caring for a dying family member, however, the film underscores a terrifying reality and culturally unacknowledged reality. The efforts made to keep a terminally ill loved one alive crush the hopes and dreams of the caretaker. Each day spent in the arms of death with the dying is a day away from life. The caretaker gives up his life for the person who is dying, until the dying person dies.
The hardest part of this reality is that caretaking is done out of love. It typically isn't paid labor, but in fact drains the pocketbook. The heart of the dying person can't beat without the caretaker, and every beat costs the caretaker a beat of his own. In this situation, the afflicted feels like a burden and can't die fast enough. The caretaker is overwhelmed with guilt for wanting him to.
Jonathan Cuartas, the film maker, does a brilliant job of reinforcing the terror with the sets. When the characters are outside in the daylight, beautiful Utah is green and bursting with life. When the characters are inside the house, it is dark, oppressive and suffocating. It's always Christmas inside the house, but we don't know whether the tree is supposed to be comforting or someone could not bring himself to take it down. The only music and sound comes from an organ, which no one knows how to play.
There's also a strong subtext here about trying to escape the weight of the LDS Church in Utah, which is brought home when Dwight refuses to kill a young blond boy after murdering drifters and immigrants. And, when Dwight stands at the Great Salt Lake with all his freedom, the look on his face says he doesn't know what to do with it.
Anyway, I liked the film.
