The Blackcoat's Daughter (2017)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This movie captures the feeling of I shouldn't be here and loneliness. The entire movie is giant nonlinear puzzle you have to piece together to understand some character motivations and what is going on. The whole movie made me feel lost and confused and I loved it. It's the type of horror movie we don't get enough of, with no jump scares just straight atmosphere. Think of vvicth or if you play videos games silent hill 3. Anyone who likes slow confusing movies try it.

My Grandfather smoked his whole life. I was about 10 years old when my mother said to him, 'If you ever want to see your grandchildren graduate, you have to stop immediately.'. Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake. He gave it up immediately. Three years later he died of lung cancer. It was really sad and destroyed me. My mother said to me- 'Don't ever smoke. Please don't put your family through what your Grandfather put us through." I agreed. At 28, I have never touched a cigarette. I must say, I feel a very slight sense of regret for never having done it, because this movie gave me cancer anyway.Yours truly,anon

I wanted to like this movie since I really enjoy the genre of supernatural horror/thriller but this wasn't really good at all. Since it had a farily good rating I thought I'd give it a go, but I was disappointed beyond words. The film is really, really slow and nothing happens. When things do happen it's boring and you're not surprised at all or feel frightened. The music and the way the film was edited played a huge part in it, plus the meh script. You could smell who the killer was a mile away, but it still took them far too long to reveal that the two narratives were set in different times - the future and the past. The actors weren't that qualified either, everything felt forced and unnatural.

In this brooding psychological horror film, two female students become stranded at their prep school over the winter, one abandoned by her parents, the other by deceiving hers. A second story thread told simultaneously, has another girl, a hospital escapee, head towards the school, accepting a lift from a middle aged couple who are grieving the anniversary of their daughter's death.Set in the middle of winter, this one has a chilly atmosphere from the get-go and I found it to be a very good example of a modern horror movie. It is not afraid to hold things back from the viewer and instead reveal its details as it goes on; this sense of mystery accentuates the suspense and feeling of dread that permeates events. The two plot strands do eventually dovetail together and the puzzle is finally revealed. Although I think it would be fair to say that there is an element of audience manipulation here once you understand the twist, given the different actresses used but I am willing to forgive this as the movie earned a certain amount of slack on account of delivering such an effectively creepy and unpredictable narrative. Audience cheating aside, this is a film which feels like it demands a re-watch to me. Its enigmatic qualities and off-kilter ambiance ensured that it had a very good atmosphere throughout, helped considerably by the impressive low ominous soundtrack used throughout. The acting is very good too, with Kiernan Shipka especially impressive as the girl who begins the piece very timid and then becomes very scary later on. The horror is a mixture of visceral moments with atmosphere-driven oddness, such as strange conversations in the dead of night, a shadowy demon and uncanny rituals in a furnace room. It all adds up to a very impressive feature which offers us some genuine intrigue, well delivered sinister scenes and a fragmented story we are allowed to piece together ourselves. This is definitely something of an under-rated gem I would say.