Resurrection review.
More than anything Resurrection is another example of the high quality of acting horror movies are receiving nowadays. Rebecca Hall is what you’ll be thinking about while you’re watching. Rebecca Hall is what you’ll be thinking about after it’s over. Well…that and “what the hell did I just watch”?
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Resurrection
Directed by Andrew Semans
Written by Andrew Semans
Starring Rebecca Hall, Tim Roth, Grace Kaufman and Michael Esper
Resurrection Review
Resurrection is a movie that demands discussion of its ending. As the movie has only been available to the general public for about 4 months (and just hit the Shudder streaming service recently), we aren’t going to delve into spoilers in this review. Just know as you are reading it…there’s an ending that would prompt much discussion were we able to have it.
Resurrection is what I’m going to go ahead and call “performance horror”. We’ve talked about “gateway horror” and “investigative horror” a few times. Well…here’s a new one. “Performance horror” is a movie that is almost solely built around a lead performance. Earlier this year Ti West’s Pearl was kind of like this. Mia Goth so dominates why things work in that movie that I probably should have brought this term up in that review. The reason I didn’t was that there are more standard horror moments throughout that movie than we see in this one.
Rebecca Hall is almost the entirety of Resurrection. Tim Roth is on hand to give his own excellent, creepy performance in support…but this is the Rebecca Hall show. Her portrayal of Margaret is nothing short of phenomenal. Watching Margaret’s fall from successful driven businesswoman to the shattered, terrified abuse survivor is an intense experience. Hall’s physical performance is just as strong as her emotional one.
Margaret seems to have her life completely under control, but she’s having anxiety about her daughter leaving for college. One day she sees a man from her past and everything starts to unravel for her. David (Tim Roth) is her former lover who has re-emerged after decades. Their backstory is as tragic as it is disgusting. He has complete control over her. And that’s not even the worst part.
We come to learn that Margaret was with him when she was very young and became pregnant. One day she finds her baby is gone…and David claims to have eaten him. He taunts her about her son still being with him in his belly. She escapes him and has a daughter and builds a successful career. Now he has returned and continues to insist that she has abandoned her son who is still alive…inside of him.
So, it’s a messed-up movie. There’s no way around it with that set up. What makes it click from start to finish is Rebecca Hall’s performance. For most of the run time of Resurrection we don’t see violence or gore. But we hear Margaret tell us about it. And it’s somehow way more effective.
We also see Margaret become completely manipulated and controlled by David again. She fears for her daughter’s safety, giving David an easy way back into her life. She desperately wants to kill David, but he tells her that if he dies her son will die with him. Although she knows that her son is dead, threats against her daughter and David’s control over her make finishing the job, and every moment, a struggle.
If you have any interest in the story to this point, I highly recommend watching Resurrection and seeing where the story goes. It’s third act is a wild affair. The kind that you’ll be thinking about for days and want to convince others to watch so you can talk about it. One day we will revisit this so we can discuss it here. Until then…do yourself a favor and give this one a watch for Rebecca Hall’s performance alone. 2022 has been an incredible year for women in horror. So many lead performances have elevated their movies to higher places you wouldn’t be blamed for losing count. Hall’s performance doesn’t just help Resurrection…it is the movie.
Scare Value
A powerhouse performance can take a movie a long way. Rebecca Hall’s certainly pushes Resurrection into must watch territory. Tim Roth brings his finest, unsettling, performance as well. You’ll come away from Resurrection with theories and questions…but you’ll be happy you spent time in this increasingly strange story and with its characters. We’ll be sure to circle back with a spoiler filled Resurrection review discussion in the future.
3.5/5
