Family Dinner review
Family Dinner is a slow burn horror movie that expertly builds tension until it reaches a boiling point. Things don’t feel right from the moment the picture starts. Discovering what is actually wrong is part of the fun. Watching it go wrong is even better.
Streaming exclusively on Screambox April 7, 2023
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Family Dinner
Directed by Peter Hengl
Written by Peter Hengl and Onur Özcan
Starring Pie Hierzegger, Michael Pink, Nina Katlein and Alexander Sladek
Family Dinner Review
When it comes to holiday horror movies…Easter has always gotten the short end of the stick. Settling for the cheesier d level movies while its famous counterparts Christmas and Halloween get all the glory. Even Thanksgiving has Blood Rage. Ok…maybe that’s not the best endorsement for Thanksgiving horror either…but the point stands. Easter deserves better treatment from horror. With the release of Family Dinner, it finally gets some respect.
Simi (Nina Katlein) arrives at her Aunt Claudia’s (Pia Hierzegger) house for an Easter visit. Claudia is a famous nutritionist and Simi wants help losing weight. Immediately upon arrival things don’t feel right. Claudia’s husband is a bit too strict with her son. A son there may be something wrong with that has taken its toll on Claudia. Or, perhaps Claudia is the one to be afraid of in the house. Is this a simple case of being a stranger in a strange house…or is there something really wrong here?
Family Dinner does a good job keeping you guessing as to who in the house is the one to watch out for. It does so while consistently building tension and leaving Simi not knowing where to turn. If we look at it through the lens of Easter dinner with extended family…it’s kind of perfect. We all know the uncomfortable feeling of being around people we barely or do not know at such an intimate event as holiday dinner.
Make no mistake, Easter dinner is what this movie is building towards. It leaves no mistake from the opening dialogue that this is an important event. An event that we will be counting down to. That Simi is not invited to stay for the festivities paints her as the outsider. It’s a familiar feeling for her. Later, she is invited to stay…which may feel even worse. Is this potentially dangers dysfunctional family the kind of thing you want to be a part of? Simi’s desire to lose weight anchors her to Claudia’s mentorship…and draws her closer to possible danger.
Family Dinner keeps the guessing game going throughout its first two acts. Despite its deliberate pacing, it never drags. That’s because of the excellent performances from the cast. Family Dinner doesn’t want you to trust anyone. The performances put us in the same strange situation as Simi. Everyone walking a fine line between dangerous and misunderstood. Simi stands in the middle of the quiet chaos. She (and we) not so much pulled in all directions as repelled from them.
Her pull is towards the dietary secrets that her Aunt has become famous for. Wanting to better yourself is a very unfortunate way to find oneself inside of a horror movie. It makes Simi the one character we can sympathize with. Even when you want to yell for her to get out of the house…you understand why she doesn’t. It comes from an emotional place. Simi tires of the world looking past her. There’s nothing she wants more than her Aunt’s secrets. But there is a much more dangerous secret in this house.
All the mystery and suspense build until Easter Sunday arrives. That’s when the tension finally boils over and Family Dinner becomes something more. Its secrets revealed and its patient build justified. I wouldn’t go as far to say that Family Dinner saves the fun for its final act…because there is a lot of fun to be had getting to know the characters. What it does do is rachet up the fun exponentially.
I was somewhat joking about this being an Easter movie. Yes, Easter dinner is the ticking time bomb for the family…but there is a much deeper movie here than a simple holiday themed horror film. Although…the strangeness of distant family and the odd holiday meal traditions are a staple of most people’s holiday experiences. So…while there is no Easter Bunny with an axe taking people apart piece by piece…Family Dinner deserves a watch during your Easter celebrations. It’s arriving just in time.
Scare Value
Easter finally has a good movie to call its own. Excellent performances, confident direction and an unnerving mystery combine to create a tense build to an explosive payoff. Family Dinner revels in the small moments…and has fun with the big nasty ones. Filled with relatable feelings and capped by unforgivable acts.
3.5/5
Family Dinner Link
Streaming on Screambox April 7
Family Dinner Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of Family Dinner, check out our review of Hatching, Children of the Corn or fellow Screambox release Cube
