Jonathan Aris Archives

Review: ‘She Will,’ starring Alice Krige, Kota Eberhardt, Rupert Everett and Malcolm McDowell

August 21, 2022

by Carla Hay

Alice Krige and Kota Eberhardt in “She Will” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films/IFC Midnight)

Directed by Charlotte Colbert

Culture Representation: Taking place in Scotland, the horror film “She Will” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few black people and one Asian) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A middle-aged actress, who’s been famous since she was a child, goes to a retreat in rural Scotland, where she is haunted by memories of a traumatic past, and she decides to do something about it.

Culture Audience: “She Will” will appeal primarily to people who don’t mind watching horror movies that have a lot of distracting imagery and useless scenes to cover up for a one-note, very thin concept.

Malcolm McDowell in “She Will” (Photo courtesy of IFC Films/IFC Midnight)

The horror movie “She Will” is a female revenge tale that’s heavy on atmospheric images but lacks substance in storytelling and character development. Too much of the movie is dull and meandering, with no surprises. “She Will” (which has a very man-hating tone to it) essentially goes down a predictable movie path of a woman getting revenge for being abused. It’s disappointing that the movie doesn’t bring depth to any of the characters.

“She Will” is the feature-film directorial debut of Charlotte Colbert, who co-wrote the “She Will” screenplay with Kitty Percy. The movie shows that Colbert certainly has a talent for setting up creepy visuals in an emotionally dark horror movie. But these striking visuals ultimately don’t add up to much when the people in the story are just two-dimensional personalities.

The movie makes a half-hearted attempt to have social commentary about age discrimination and sexual misconduct in the movie industry. However, this commentary is overshadowed by “She Will” turning into a turgid revenge flick. And the movie’s constant misandry becomes very lazy, tiresome and misguided because it tries to equate feminism with having negative perceptions of men. True feminism isn’t about thinking that men should be disliked and feared because they’re men. True feminism is about believing in gender equality.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that “She Will” bungles its feminist messaging by going overboard in the man-hating aspects of the movie. Every single man with a significant speaking role in “She Will” is either a misogynistic creep, someone who is condescending to women, or someone who enables misogyny. “She Will” takes the easiest and most predictable route in how the female protagonist deals with these conflicts, even if her decisions are dressed up in horror gimmickry that’s trying desperately to be artsy.

In “She Will,” the central character is a British actress in her 60s named Veronica Ghent (played by Alice Krige), who is deeply insecure about being perceived as an old, unattractive has-been. The movie opens with a montage of showing women getting plastic surgery and putting on makeup. Veronica says in a voiceover: “It’s become a ritual, putting the layers on. Every mask has a function: the eyes, the cheeks, the lips.”

The movie has multiple scenes where Veronica looks in a mirror and seems repulsed or disappointed by what she sees of herself. It’s implied that Veronica is obsessed with her outward physical appearance, especially her face. Years in the movie industry have conditioned her into the sexist belief that female entertainers, more than male entertainers, are expected to look as youthful as possible, in order to be hired for work.

Veronica has been an actress since she was a child. At 13 years old, Veronica became famous when her 1969 movie “Navaho Frontier” became a big hit. “Navaho Frontier” is probably still Veronica’s main claim to fame, because when people talk about her career, “Navaho Frontier” is the movie that is inevitably mentioned. After all these years, Veronica’s fame from “Navaho Frontier” has overshadowed her other work, so she has bitter feelings about being thought of as an actress who peaked before she was an adult.

In recent years, Veronica has become a pill-popping, cranky recluse who’s probably an alcoholic, based on her frequent consumption of alcoholic drinks. Her only companion is her personal assistant Desi Hatoum (played by Kota Eberhardt), a loyal, tolerant and practical-minded employee in her 20s. Veronica’s attitude toward Desi is often cold and haughty. But over time, Veronica sees things about Desi that remind Veronica of when Veronica was young. Not much is known about Desi until later in the story when she opens up a little about her childhood.

The beginning of “She Will” shows how Veronica is rude and dismissive to Desi. It’s also revealed that Veronica is a survivor of breast cancer who has had a double mastectomy and wears prosthetic breasts. When Desi places the removable prosthetic breasts in the bra that Veronica is wearing, Desi says to her employer: “It’s too soon for you to be wearing prosthetics.”

Veronica angrily snaps back, “What do you know?” Veronica adds that she’s had a “mastectomy, not a lobotomy.” Later, Veronica tells Desi, “What I need from you are bandages and the occasional bath.” When Veronica is awake, she overindulges in taking the painkiller Tramadol, which Veronica sarcastically calls “breakfast of movie stars.” When Veronica is asleep, she has nightmares, because let’s not forget that “She Will” is supposed to be a horror movie.

Veronica decides that what she needs is to go on a retreat. This upscale retreat takes place at a mansion in an unnamed, rural part of Scotland in a (horror movie cliché) remote, wooded area. Veronica (accompanied by Desi) is there for what Veronica thinks will be a quiet getaway where she won’t have to interact with any of the other guests at the retreat. Veronica very irritated when she finds out that it’s the type of retreat where the guests are supposed to participate in several group activities.

The retreat only has about five or six guests (all of them are unmemorable), but that’s still too many other people for Veronica, who doesn’t want anything to do with these other guests. She’s miffed when she’s told that the solo retreat that she thought she signed up for is only offered during the summer. Most of the guests immediately recognize Veronica and surround her like star-struck fans. Veronica quickly lets it be known she doesn’t want that type of attention while she’s at this retreat.

Veronica immediately wants to leave with Desi, but they can’t leave, because the roads are flooded due to a recent storm. And because this is a horror movie in a remote, wooded area, it should come as no surprise when Desi finds out that she can’t get a signal on her phone. It’s just the movie’s way of making sure that Veronica are Desi are stuck at this place for most of the story.

The leader of the retreat is an eccentric named Tirador (played by Rupert Everett), who spouts a lot of spiritual guru gibberish, but his qualifications for being a “guru” are very vague and murky. Tirador calls himself a “teacher.” Tirador thinks of himself as an innovative and highly intelligent leader, so he conducts himself with more than a hint of arrogance.

Tirador gets into an unspoken power struggle with grumpy Veronica, who wants to do her own thing at the retreat, but Tirador won’t let her. Tirador’s way of dealing with Veronica is to make her feel like an out-of-touch old woman if she doesn’t go along with what he has planned. He uses mind games and his perceived authority to get Veronica to do what he wants.

Later, Tirador urinates on a tree in front of the retreat guests. He says with a laugh at this indecent exposure, which is a form of sexual harassment because he exposed his genitals without consent: “It’s important to leave your mark on the land.” (The movie doesn’t show any nudity from Tirador, but this nudity is implied.) Tirador, like all of the male characters with prominent roles in “She Will,” is a very obvious symbol of sexist patriarchy. This movie has no subtlety at all.

During her time at the retreat, Veronica continues to have nightmares. She also sleepwalks and finds herself waking up outdoors for reasons that she can’t remember. “She Will” has a recurring image of a sticky substance that resembles black mud, which keeps showing up in places where Veronica happens to be. Tirador mentions at one point that Earth (as in Mother Earth) is supposed to have healing powers affected by witches that were burned at the stake. (Again, no subtlety at all.)

Later, Tirador leads the group in an art class that takes place outdoors, where the retreat guests are doing illustrations with charcoal. Veronica predictably draws a sketch representing her nightmares. And then the mysterious mud shows up again. And again and again and again, until the mud (which just looks messy, not scary) fails to have a shocking impact in what’s supposed to be a horror movie.

Veronica gets a little closer to emotionally bonding with Desi when she asks Desi one day: “Would you go back and relive your childhood?” Desi replies, “Not even if you paid me.” Veronica confides in Desi: “I’m having dark thoughts.” Desi says, “That’s normal. Everyone has them.” Veronica adds, “I mean, really dark thoughts.”

Desi’s mental health issues are eventually revealed in the movie. “She Will” has a subplot about Desi meeting a local guy named Owen (played by Jack Greenlees) at a pub in the nearest town. Desi is at this pub because she wants a break from constantly being around dreary Veronica at this retreat. Desi and Owen have an immediate flirtation. But because “She Will” is a horror movie, don’t expect things to go smoothly in this possible romance.

It’s eventually revealed that Veronica has gone to this retreat because she wants to hide out from the media and other people. That’s because of the recent news that “Navaho Frontier” director Eric Hathbourne (played by Malcolm McDowell) is about to be knighted. Eric has also been in the news because he wants to remake “Navaho Frontier,” and he’s been conducting an extensive search to find a teenage actress for the starring role that Veronica originally had.

There’s a scene in “She Will” where Veronica sees Eric being interviewed on a TV talk show that’s hosted by a well-known TV personality named Podrick Lochran (played by Jonathan Aris). Podrick asks Eric if he’s ever done anything illegal, in reference to stories that Eric had an illegal sexual relationship with underage Veronica when making “Navaho Frontier.” Eric replies defensively, “It was a different era. We were very close. We had a special bond.” (In other words, Eric doesn’t deny that he had a sexual relationship with underage Veronica.)

And you know what that means in a female revenge horror movie made during the #MeToo era. “She Will” overloads on nightmarish visions that are supposed to blur the lines between Veronica’s fantasies and realities. And yes, there are stereotypical scenes where Veronica’s inner child—specifically, Veronica as a 13-year-old (played by Layla Burns)—appears as a haunting figure. After a while, it becomes tedious when the first two-thirds of the movie are essentially this back-and-forth slog of nightmares, Veronica’s moodiness and the mud appearances, with not much to move the story along.

And although Krige gives an admirable performance as Veronica (all the other cast members give average performances), take away all the flashy and eye-catching imagery, and “She Will” doesn’t have much of an intriguing story. Desi is very underdeveloped as a character and only seems to be in the movie for a “female solidarity” plot development in “She Will.” As a horror movie, “She Will” ultimately fails at being suspenseful once it becomes obvious who will be the target of revenge and why.

IFC Films/IFC Midnight released “She Will” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on July 15, 2022.

Review: ‘Vivarium,’ starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots

March 27, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Vivarium”

Directed by Lorcan Finnegan

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in England, the sci-fi thriller “Vivarium” has an all-white cast representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: An unmarried couple who live together go to a mysterious housing development to look for a new home and find out that they can’t leave.

Culture Audience: “Vivarium” will appeal mostly to people who like unsettling suspense stories with a sci-fi angle.

Senan Jennings in “Vivarium” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate/Saban Films)

“Vivarium” is a somewhat haunting sci-fi thriller that’s meant to give people the creeps and/or anxiety throughout the entire film. The movie—directed by Lorcan Finnegan and written by Garret Shanley—is actually a very simple story that gets drawn out over approximately 97 minutes. The middle of the film has a very sluggish pace, but there’s enough of the story to keep people interested to find out what happens in the end.

In the beginning of “Vivarium,” there are startling images of hungry baby birds in nests, demanding to be fed by their parents. It’s a metaphor for what happens later in the story, which takes place in present-day England. Gemma Pierce (played by Imogen Poots) is a teacher at a primary school (which is called elementary school in the United States) to children who look about 5 or 6 years old. After school lets out for the day, one of the girl students finds two baby birds stomped to death near a tree in the school front lawn.

It’s here that viewers first see Gemma’s live-in American boyfriend Tom (played by Jesse Eisenberg), who climbs down from a ladder placed near the tree where the birds were found. It’s not made clear what Tom does for a living, but since this is one of the movie’s few scenes that’s set in the “outside world,” one can assume he works as a handyman at the school.

Tom and Gemma are looking for a house and they have an appointment at a real-estate company that wants to show them a new housing development in the area. When they arrive at the office, Gemma and Tom are greeted by a very creepy real-estate agent named Martin (played by Jonathan Aris), who has the kind of unblinking, crazy-eyed look that would make most people feel very uncomfortable. There’s something “off” about his mannerisms too: His smile is too fake, his way of talking seems unnatural, and at one point in the conversation, he mimics what Gemma says, almost as if he’s mocking her.

Tom senses that something isn’t quite right about Martin, and so Tom is a little reluctant to go any further in the inquiry about the house. However, Gemma (in an effort to be polite) indicates that she still wants to see the property. Against his better judgment (and since they arrived in the same car), Tom agrees to go with Gemma to get a tour of the house. They follow Martin (who drives in a separate car) to see the house where they might live.

The housing development is named Yonder, which Martin describes as “both tranquil and practical.” And it’s definitely a Stepford-type environment. All of the development’s green two-story houses and yards are identical to each other. Somehow, Tom and Gemma don’t notice that there is no one outside on the streets of this large neighborhood. It’s a major red flag of what’s to come.

Unfortunately, probably because of this film’s low budget, all of the exterior shots of the housing development looks very CGI fake. Once the characters are in the mysterious Yonder environment, it’s very obvious where the “green screen” is whenever there are scenes that are supposed to take place outside.

During a brief tour of the house, which has the number 9 as its address, Martin abruptly leaves Tom and Gemma at the house without a goodbye or any explanation. Gemma and Tom are ready to just write it off as a weird experience, so they get in their car to leave. But every time they try to find their way out of Yonder, they come right back to the house where they were. The bird’s eye view of the Yonder housing development also looks very CGI fake, like a video game.

This circling around the neighborhood goes on for quite a bit, as Tom argues with Gemma, demands to do the driving, and then he gets “lost” too. Gemma and Tom soon find out that they have no cell phone service. And as it starts to get dark, the car runs out of gas. In a major plot hole, Gemma and Tom don’t even try to see if anyone else is home who can help. Not that it would matter, since the movie’s entire plot is about them being stuck in this neighborhood with no one to help them get out.

Exhausted by their strange ordeal, they have no choice but to spend the night at the house. Tom and Gemma look in the house’s refrigerator and find it has a gift basket containing a bottle of champagne and strawberries, which Gemma and Tom consume since they have nothing else to eat and drink. Tom remarks that the strawberries have no taste.

The next day, Tom has the idea that he and Gemma should follow the direction of the sun to find their way out. They spend most of the day doing just that, climbing over neighbors’ fences and trekking through the streets. But to no avail. As it gets dark, the only house that they see with its lights on is the same No. 9 house that they were at in the beginning.

Then another strange thing happens: A box of food and other house essentials have mysteriously been delivered at the front of the house. (There’s no sign of who delivered the box.) Out of desperation, Tom (who’s a smoker) decides to use one of his cigarettes to light the house on fire, to see if anyone will notice the fire and call for help. Tom and Gemma watch nearby as the house burns to the ground, before they fall asleep.

When they wake up, Gemma and Tom are covered in ash. And the house has mysteriously appeared again, completely intact, as if the fire never happened. And then they get another box delivered to them. And what’s in the box sets in motion the rest of what happens to Tom and Gemma in the story.

The box has a baby boy in it, with a message: “Raise the child and be released.” Given that Gemma and Tom are stuck in this weird limbo environment, they basically don’t have a choice but to raise the child. (Côme Thiry plays the child as a baby.) The movie then fast forwards to 98 days later, and the baby has grown into what looks like a human boy who’s about 7 or 8 years old (played by Senan Jennings), thereby making it very clear to viewers that whoever Tom and Gemma are raising is definitely not human.

Tom is extremely resentful of the child, who has a tendency to randomly scream at the top of his lungs until he gets something. He always screams this way when he wants food, which is a nod to the bird scene that was shown in the beginning of the movie. One of the creepiest aspects of “Viviarium” is that the child (who doesn’t have a name) mimics what Tom and Gemma say in their own voices. The boy has a normal child’s voice, but more often than not, the voice that comes out when he speaks is a male or female adult voice.

Tom is quick to lose his temper and, at times, he deliberately abuses the child through physical assault and later by locking him in the car and refusing to give him food. Tom also refuses to call the child “he” and instead calls the child “it.” Gemma doesn’t like taking care of the child either, but she’s more patient than Tom is. In a scene that sums up their feelings about their forced parenting of this odd creature, Tom and Gemma both show the child their middle fingers in anger, and the child does the same.

The middle section of the film somewhat drags down the pace of the story. There are repetitive scenes of the boy doing things that irritate Tom and Gemma. Although Tom wants to try and get rid of the boy in some way, Gemma can’t bring herself to do it, no matter how much she detests taking care of the boy.

At this point in the story, Tom has a distraction to keep him out of the house for long periods of time. He’s discovered, by flicking a cigarette on the front lawn, that the cigarette has burned a mysterious circle on the grass, which exposes the dirt on the ground. Tom begins digging the dirt and hears menacing sounds underneath. Digging as far as he can into the ground then becomes Tom’s obsession and takes up a great deal of his (and this movie’s) time. In one scene, Gemma speculates that the hole that Tom is digging will lead to hell. Tom replies, “No, we’re already there.”

Meanwhile, the boy who lives with them has been fixating on watching something bizarre on the house’s TV: black-and-white color patterns that look like psychedelic cell mutations. And in the house, Gemma finds a book that has strange coding and illustrations which are clues to what is possibly going on and what kind of being that she and Tom are raising.

“Vivarium” is by no means on the level of a Christopher Nolan sci-fi movie. A Nolan film has layers and layers of deep meaning that viewers will contemplate long after the movie is over. The ending of “Vivarium” actually explains exactly why all of this is happening to Tom and Gemma. The explanation is kind of basic and actually not all that surprising.

And because so much of “Vivarium” is repetitive (Tom and Gemma’s stir-crazy angst is pretty much 90% of the movie), the movie probably would’ve been better as a short film. However, if you’re looking for a movie to pass the time and give you some suspenseful chills, “Vivarium” should do the trick. Just don’t expect anything close to a masterpiece.

Lionsgate and Saban Films released “Vivarium” on digital and VOD on March 27, 2020. The film’s Blu-ray and DVD release is on May 12, 2020.