 | MOVIE DETAILS • Name: The Blackcoat’s Daughter • Year: 2015 • Country: USA, Canada • Director: Oz Perkins • Main cast: Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton • Runtime: 93 minutes • Production company: Paris Film, Eggplant Pictures, Traveling Picture Show Company (TPSC) • TRAILER |
The Blackcoat’s Daughter is a damn good film. Atmospheric, haunting, and creepy enough that halfway through I had to get up to turn on the lights.
Spinning outwards from three converging stories, the film takes place in a boarding school where two girls have been left over winter break. Before they are able to enjoy the solitude and catch up on their reading list, sinister forces take advantage of their isolation.
The pace is methodical and volleyed between the different perspectives, and it did take a while for things to become clear. While in one scene we are treated to a slow moving camera, blood stains on the wall, and a police officer pressed in the door with his hands over his mouth, just as quickly we are pulled back into a car two towns over. Perkins takes his time cluing us in on what’s going on, and the suspense he builds is well worth the wait.
Apart from one awkward encounter early on, the acting is flawless and engaging. While you may expect this from a well-known name like Roberts (who many people will recognize from American Horror Story), it is some of the unknown faces that really steal the show. One scene, in particular, took place in a car with Lauren Holly delivering a monologue while looking over her shoulder into the camera. Bundled up in fur with one black gloved hand held up in the air, her performance was hypnotic. Just thinking back on it gives me chills.
Besides the fantastic cast, the movie is so well filmed that Perkins was able to let his cast do almost everything. We knew that something was wrong, not because of a swelling soundtrack or a shaky camera, but because we were able to see the fully fleshed out characters reacting to the atmosphere.
Near the end, the plot becomes a bit muddled, and the confusing ending may leave some asking for more. While I do love a thinker, in some ways I think too much was muddled in order to preserve the atmosphere, and people walking away scratching their heads isn’t always a good thing.
Overall, the acting, the script, and the stunning filming make up for the moments of confusion, and an open ended finale does leave us room to speculate and build our own conclusions.
RATE: 5/10
IMDB URL: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3286052
