The Blackcoat's Daughter

 

The best slow burn atmospheric horror film I've seen since The House of the Devil. What sets this apart from that movie is this ends more satisfyingly. Oz Perkins does many things in this movie that I enjoyed. Instead of twists he reveals things from another perspective which doesn't feel like a cop out. He'll show the characters certain things but not the audience which allows for more suspense to build for certain reveals. He gets the most out of a wintery, snowy school setting that is perfect for this movie. The three interlinked stories, with different characters unfold in such a way where suspense is built by just cutting away to the next story. Not only do you want to figure out how things link up but you want to see what happens in each scenario. This movie unfolds somewhat tragically and it is really a story about people wanting to do something for themselves or others and putting their trust or faith in the wrong person or entity.

The films starts with Kat (Kiernan Shipka) talking to a priest (Greg Ellwand) at the catholic boarding school she is staying at. Kat goes to her musical recital where her parents don't show up. She has had a premonition that her parents will die. Rose (Lucy Boynton) a senior at the boarding school and Kat have to stay at the school after it closes as their parents aren't there to pick them up for some kind of winter location. Rose had lied to her parents about when she wanted to leave because she suspects she may be pregnant. Meanwhile a woman named Joan (Emma Roberts) escapes from a mental institution and is picked up by a man named Bill (James Remar) and Linda (Lauren Holly) who are heading to Bramford where the boarding school is located. 

There isn't a whole lot I can't tell you without going into spoiler territory. Some of the things I will cover more specifically are within my thesis above. There is a long drawn out suspense scene where Rose wanders through the school and finds Kat near a boiler room. Perkins does such a great job of making the school come alive. There is a moment later where the camera goes all the way through a door and to the midsection of a room but you never see the ground which is what the characters who come into the room see. That is one instance of him keeping a reveal from you. There is a brilliant transition when you see the sticker for Bramford Boarding school on Bill and Linda's car and you see the license plate. The scene then transitions to Rose and her boyfriend in the car and I had to rewind because I wondered if the license plate was the same. Whether or not it was the same doesn't matter I just like that this movie held my attention enough to pay attention to such a detail. There are some reveals that I am hinting toward all ready and this movie does a good job of hinting at reveals and revealing them but you don't always know if it reveals everything completely until the very end. 

Spoiler Section

After Rose finds Kat in the boiler room, throwing her body up and down she asks her questions. Kat says she sleepwalks. Before going to sleep Kat starts acting much more creepy saying her parents are dead and telling Rose she smells pretty. Rose puts a drawer up against her drawer as she sleeps. Meanwhile, Joan has a flashback inside a hotel room to a gunshot wound as we see the scar on her shoulder. Later that morning Bill mentions that she reminds him of her daughter whom they lost nine years ago. Bill takes out a picture and it is Rose's yearbook picture which was taken just the day before in that storyline. Joan excuses herself and has a giggle in the bathroom. She later has another flashback which shows her strangling someone and taking her ID card which has the name "Joan," on it. 

The next morning at the boarding school Kat refuses to say grace at breakfast. She vomits and while having a tense moment with the nuns and Rose in the infirmary they get a call confirming her parents were dead. Rose goes out to shovel and hears Kat playing music. She walks off to clear her head. Meanwhile the headmaster, Gordon, and a police officer show up. This is when that reveal happens as the cops see the nuns dead, though we don't see that until later. It is at this point that Kat is shown talking on the phone and hearing the voice of the entity telling her that her parents are going to die. After Rose has her period in the bathroom, confirming she is not pregnant, Kat goes and kills her. This is as masterful a build of tension and a jump scare I've seen since the Exorcist 3. It is even filmed like it where Rose is seen across a long shot of a hallway and the music blares as soon as you see Kat leave a room with scissors to stab her. While back in the boiler room the police officer arrives and shoots Kat in the shoulder, confirming that Kat and Joan are one and the same. Meanwhile, Bill and Linda have an argument about Bill leaving out the part that their daughter was murdered and decapitated when he tells others that they remind him of Rose. Rose says she is going to be sick and asks to pull over, coincidentally somewhere near the school. Rose gets up with knife and slits Bill's throat and stabs Linda to kill her. Going to the boiler room she finds it no longer boiling. In the past, the same priest from the beginning of the film exorcises the spirit from Kat before she goes to the mental institution. The film ends with Kat finally realizing she is alone with no one to help her as she screams and cries. 

As I said earlier this film has a tragic element to it. Rose trusts that she will be safe in that building for an extra day or two and her anxieties end up being for not. Kat puts her trust in the devil and since we know her parents are dead and whatever she could have had with Bill and Linda is now gone, she put her trust in the wrong thing. Bill and Linda no longer have a daughter. Bill says at one point "I see God in unsuspecting things." Since Bill's beliefs and Kat's beliefs get them nowhere but either dead or alone there is something to be found in this movie about having faith in the wrong ways. Bill is trying to help Kat to the point where he gets killed for it. Kat believes in the devil being a good entity for her even after it has been exorcised from her. The slow burn makes every reveal and every moment worth it in this. Elvis Perkins' score is great becuase it adds a bang to some of the more suspenseful and tension-breaking moments. I really enjoyed seeing James Remar as the nice father figure. Remar in this and in Dexter has an unequaled warmth as a person you just think wants to help and do the best for someone. That makes his fate even more tragic. Lauren Holly is perfect as the coldhearted wife. 

Rating: 10/10

Trivia: This film was made before I am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House, Oz Perkins' first movie but it was released widely after it. 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRc_-iK3RVE