| Title | The golden age of horror: The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh (2013) |
| Author | Chris Hornbostel and Barac Wiley |
| Posted in | Features |
| When | October 28, 2014 |
Chris: Often in the last month, we've thrown out the term "slow burn" to describe a movie that works deliberately towards its scariest moments. It's an effective technique, and one that informs some of the best pictures we've watched over the last few weeks..
Read the full articleStrangely enough, the game Gone Home really reminded me of this movie, at least parts of it. I suppose a lot of the reason for that is the interspersed storytelling narration that is present in both.
Mike, I don't think that's strange at all, because I absolutely felt the same way watching this. In fact, it reminded me of both Gone Home and another adventure game as well, but since I might talk about that on a podcast coming up, no spoilers!
But yeah, I totally agree with you, and I think it's also because of the story itself. Leon's never been in this house. While all the stuff there is stuff he sold, everything there is still very foreign to him...and then he's basically piecing together bits of his mother's life over the past few years, also just like in Gone Home. I think it's a terrific comparison.
I don't think everything in the house is stuff Leon sold - the impression I got was that he is an artist of some kind (though I don't think it's ever specified what kind, exactly) and there's far too eclectic a collection of stuff for it to all be the work of one artist. Plus I doubt he would have gone in for religious/angel-related stuff. The implication was more that everything he -had- sold was sold to his mother, which is obviously a bit of an ego blow to an artist.
Wow, yeah, Gone Home. That's perfect.
I have to take strong exception to this film being even remotely scary. After your glowing review I purchased it, cautioned my family that it might be really scary and we watched it together. Afterwards, our gentle 16-year old girl whose only exposure to anything horrorlike in movies had so far been The Sixth Sense said "Was that supposed to be scary?" We all shared that reaction. Talk about a letdown.
Now, the movie was fine and as advertised otherwise, I liked it OK. But scary it was not, not by a long shot. Most thrillers are scarier. I understand one's mileage always varies in such matters but c'mon. Bah.
You might think me and us hardened horror hounds and thus beyond the wiles of the likes of this movie but nothing could be further from the truth. I don't actually like horror and neither does any of us. I watch probably less than a horror movie per decade myself and the other members of my family even less. Your talk made this one sound so intriguing I decided to watch it and the same happened to the rest of my immediate family.
To other potential viewers I say: This is a fine family relationship study with some horror imagery thrown in. You probably won't lose any sleep over it.
