Directed by Natalie Erika James, Relic introduces us to Kay and Sam, a mother and daughter team portrayed by Emily Mortimer and Bella Heathcote respectively. They visit the home of Edna, Kay’s mother (Robyn Nevin), who has gone missing.
Early in the movie, in an unsettling montage that puts Black Christmas to shame, we are made aware of something not right lurking in Edna’s home. What is it? This is the mystery these women must solve.
Upon arriving at the house, they find it deserted, and daughter Kay must report her mother’s disappearance to the authorities. It is here that we learn Kay is “hands off” when it comes to her relationship with her mom, only checking in occasionally. Mortimer effectively plays a daughter who doesn’t have the best camaraderie with her remaining parent.
As the film continues, search parties prove to be pointless, and Edna still doesn’t appear. Then, the nightmares begin for Kay. While she and her daughter Sam take up residence in the house, Kay dreams. And these dreams prove to be a nightmarish clue as to who or what has also taken up residence in Edna’s home.
Later, Edna shows up without much fanfare. Leading to more unanswered questions. It is not implicitly stated where she had wandered off to. Soon, Kay comes to grips with the thought of having to put her mother in a home, a chore nobody is really prepared for, least of all Kay.
As Relic evolves, it relies heavily on visual story telling. Jarring images abound in Kay’s recurring nightmare of a long demolished cabin that used to exist on the property, and its former inhabitant.
As Edna begins to slip further into dementia, a viewer might wonder, is Relic a profound statement as to what adult children must face – caring for an aging parent – or is there more to this story?
The movie hits its climax when both Kay and Sam get lost in the halls of the home. It smacks of Insidious as they enter an ominous nether realm. Perhaps… it’s where Edna got lost in the first place.
In all, Relic works. Be forewarned though, it doesn’t spell out what it’s trying to convey. The viewer has to connect their own dots. On one level, we can simply attribute the eventual decline of Edna to dementia. Yet, horror fans who prefer a more personified villain, there are glimmers of that as well.
Relic is a far cry from a slasher/stalker movie, where victims typically run away recklessly from a masked man. Instead, the characters in Relic are running from a faceless fear. A fear many of us must one day confront whether we like it or not: what to do if our elderly parents no longer resemble themselves, and have become something else.
Relic is currently available for rent or purchase on all major streaming platforms.
