Film Review: Resurrection

Resurrection is the second film from writer/director, Andrew Semans, following his 2012 debut Nancy, Please. The film follows a woman named Margaret (Rebecca Hall) who is a working professional and a single mother to an almost 18 year old Abbie (Grace Kaufman). She seems to have things under control, arguably too much control, as any parent would be when faced with the notion of their child leaving the nest. But something changes in Margaret when she sees a familiar face from her past in the form of David (Tim Roth), and things very quickly take a dark and sinister turn, leaving Margaret’s mind in shambles.

Resurrection can probably be classified as a psychological thriller, but there is more going on than meets the eye. It takes the premise of what could be considered a stalker film, but takes continuously weirder and more surreal directions as it goes along. It’s a genuinely unpredictable film, one that kept zagging when I thought it would zig. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible, as I didn’t recall much of the trailer that I saw, and found the whole experience of the film to be relentlessly gripping and intense and effortlessly left one of the strongest impressions of any film I’ve seen all year.

To dig more into the film, it is ultimately about abuse and grooming, but not so much the process of it, as much as it is about the way it affects the mind. How it warps your perception, of not only the world around you, but also yourself. This isn’t necessarily new territory, especially for something that is fairly horror-adjacent. However, the film lulls you into this rhythm where you feel like you know where this is going because you’ve seen stuff like this before, but once it starts bringing in these stranger notions, it all changes.

For the whole first half, as it brings up these weirder ideas regarding the relationship between Margaret and David and the thing that connects them, I figured the film wouldn’t necessarily commit to these ideas in a…let’s just say “literal way.” This felt like a far too sophisticated film to get into some really gnarly stuff, but as it goes along, it does commit to those bizarre ideas, and it all builds and builds until it culminates into a sequence that practically had my jaw on the floor. It’s an ending that will be in my head for quite a while.

If that all sounds super vague, it’s because I’m trying to be. I could tell you what happens, but it would be difficult to get across just how effective and how powerful the film is. A large part of that is due to Rebecca Hall’s performance. She has been killing it these past few years in these smaller films like Christine, last year’s The Night House, not to mention a fairly acclaimed directorial debut, and now this. This film contains perhaps her finest work as an actor. She goes so deep into this character, and bares out all her vulnerabilities, her fears, her anxieties, her emotional shields, and she peels it all back so meticulously as the film goes along, showing her mental breakdown from everything that is happening. It’s truly astonishing work.

And that’s not to say the rest of the fairly small cast doesn’t make an impression. Tim Roth is at his most sleaziest here, just a purely detestable from the second he opens his mouth. It’s the kind of performance that had it been done by a relative unknown, would easily result in them being typecast as a total creep for the rest of their career. Grace Kaufman also gets several moments to shine, providing a grounded perspective in the midst of all the wild turns the story takes, and her dynamic with Hall feels very natural and lived-in.

From a technical perspective, Resurrection is strong across the board. Wyatt Garfield’s cinematography is careful yet intuitive in creating an unsettling environment, Jim Williams’ score provides a propulsive and eerie undercurrent to the proceedings, and Ron Dulin’s editing is top notch, carefully holding and timing the various reveals and subversions for maximum impact. I was really surprised by how strong of a film this was, and especially by how far it was willing to go with the conceit. The emotional intensity is so well sustained for practically its entire runtime, and the payoff was more than worth the wait. Though, it wouldn’t surprise me if some were frustrated by it. There’s a lot to love here, and while it reaches into some dark and touchy territory, I would advise anyone who has experienced abuse and grooming to proceed with caution, the storytelling keeps it effortlessly watchable and enthralling. This is definitely a film worth supporting.

Resurrection is now out in select theaters. It will be available on VOD platforms on August 5th before streaming exclusively on Shudder on October 28th.