Hey what's up guys.
Today I'll review a psychological horror film: "Relic"!
Spoilers ahead, watch out and take care! The film begins with water overflowing the
bathtub, spreading across the floor, and slowly flooding the house.
As this happens, Edna, a demented elderly, stands naked as she stares at the Christmas tree.
A shadowy black figure appears beside the tree as she slightly turns her head.
The scene then transitions to Edna's daughter Kay, and granddaughter Sam, traveling to her
remote house, as the neighbors have reported that they haven't seen her in a few days. They arrive
not long after, and they enter through the dog door fence since the front door is locked.
They look around, looking for her. but instead, all they find is the strange black
mold-like substance on an upstairs wall and the furniture, with adorned Post-it reminders notes.
Later that rainy night, Kay leaves Sam in the house for a while, and goes to the police station.
The questioning is short, since Kay hasn't been in contact with her mother for a few weeks.
Meanwhile, Sam settles into her mom's old bedroom, and finds a strange locked closet
door. She also finds the same black mold on some parts of the walls. The following day,
the search for Edna begins early in the morning. Kay and Sam join the police on the search in the
woods, despite the grotesque weather that falls upon them. However, they can't find her.
Later that night, Sam is visited by their young and special neighbor, Jamie, who refuses Sam's
invitation to come to the house. He shares that he had not been to visit her grandma for a while,
after his father forbade him to come back. but he doesn't tell her why.
As she returns inside, Sam points out to her mother that all the locks in the house are new.
Kay notices them too, and shares with Sam that Edna had called a few weeks ago.
Edna thought someone was coming to the house; that's why she renewed the locks.
Kay didn't tell the police because Edna's too old and has dementia, which upsets Sam.
In frustration, Sam storms upstairs to Edna's room, and wears her cardigan when she sees a
note saying, "Don't follow it." They then hear a loud creak, and when Kay follows it,
she discovers that it's coming from inside the walls. Sam comes in shortly after, and they both
notice that the black mold-like substance has slowly spread throughout the house.
Kay then sees herself in the woodlands, where she finds a withered rotting corpse in an old shack,
while the black mold-like substance spreads throughout the wooden shack.
Kay suddenly wakes up and realizes that it's a nightmare. Even though it's just a dream,
it creeps her out. So she goes downstairs, and joins Sam on the couch to sleep. Hours later,
while they're sound asleep, someone sits and caresses Kay's head.
The following day, Kay is astounded as she finds her mother standing in the kitchen, making tea.
Kay expectantly asks where she's been; but Edna changes the subject and offers her tea.
Before Kay can ask another question, Sam rushes in and embraces her grandmother.
Later that day, the town nurse checks up on Edna's physical and mental state,
and finds a blackened bruise on her chest area. Edna explains that she hurt herself from being
clumsy, so the nurse puts her on "house arrest" for the next couple of weeks, just to be safe.
After the check-up, Sam watches over her grandmother, who does her wax carving.
Not long after, Kay comes in and confronts her mother about the blood on her nightgown.
Kay pressures her to confess what really happened; but Sam cuts in, telling her mother
to calm down and give Edna some time, since she just came back. Kay leaves in frustration.
Later that day, Edna checks out the blackened bruise on her chest area, similar to the black
mold slowly spreading throughout the house. She immediately hides it in her nightgown,
as Sam comes in with her tea. Sam apologizes about her mother, and explains that they're worried.
Edna dismisses that, and gives Sam their matriarchy family wedding ring. Sam takes it,
goes to her mother's room, and discovers a sketchbook. As they go through the pages,
they find a drawing of the same old shack in the woodlands that Kay had dreamed of.
Kay shares that her great-grandfather used to live in that old shack alone. He was neglected of care,
and his body had been putrefied when anyone found him. She adds that when the old shack was torn
down, some parts were used to build Edna's house, including the relic on the front door downstairs.
Kay then changes the subject, and reveals to Sam that she had booked a retirement place for Edna.
This causes a heated argument between the two of them.
Sam doesn't want to put her grandma in a retirement home.
but Kay insists it's a good idea because she has to be watched. This frustrates Sam, because Kay
should be the one taking care of her mother, not other people. However, Kay stands tall in
her decision, without even confronting Edna. Later that night, as she struggles to fall asleep,
Kay hears indistinct noises. So she goes down and finds her mother muttering something, while facing
the relic. As she walks toward her, a shadowy black figure appears on her behind. Kay has no
idea of this, so she calls Edna and takes her to her room, where Edna hears a ringing noise.
Edna tells Kay that it's under the bed, with visible fear on her face. Kay denies that there's
anything under the bed. but Edna pleads with her to check it. Just to put an end to the evening,
Kay obliges her mother, and true enough, she sees something breathing under.
Suddenly, Edna drops a book over Kay's head, weirdly diverting her attention from the thing
underneath the bed. Edna denies purposely dropping the book, so Kay storms out in frustration.
the following day, Kay checks out the retirement home she booked for Edna.
Meanwhile, Sam enjoys a tender moment with her grandmother by dancing with her,
and listening to a melancholic love song. As they spend their moment together, Sam suggests
to her grandmother that she moves in to take care of her, which Edna firmly rejects.
Sam points out that it's better than her mother checking out a retirement home for her.
This leaves Edna speechless; but then her dementia attacks, as Sam helps her with her cardigan. After
noticing that she's wearing the ring, Edna accuses her of stealing, and forcefully tries to take it
from her. Sam breaks free from the pain, and tosses Edna the ring， before storming out.
Later that day, a heated argument develops among the three, as Edna shares with Kay
in a not subtle way that Sam is moving in with her. Kay disagrees with this;
but Sam responds that it's not her decision, since she's an adult. Edna then confronts Kay
about her visit to the retirement place, which surprises Kay. Later that night, Sam cannot help
but notice that the black mold-like substance has spread across the relic on the front door.
She dismisses it and goes to her room, where she finds her grandma standing in front of
the walk-in closet. Edna explains that she put those locks because she thought it was the place,
where whatever was coming to her house. Since her spouse's death, the house seems to be bigger.
Later that night, Sam follows the continuous creaking noise, leading her to the laundry room,
where she finds the washing machine rocking back and forth. Sam stops it from moving, and walks
away when the machine's lid slams shut by itself. Meanwhile, Kay sees herself in the woodlands
again; but instead of the withered rotting corpse, it's her mother in the old shack.
Also, the black mold-like substance spreads fast throughout the old shack, including the relic,
like an infectious virus. the following day, Sam finds her grandmother talking to herself,
while hearing a stabbing noise. As she walks to her, Sam finds her hands bleeding.
when she tries to help, Edna pushes her away, and threatens to hurt her with her wax carver.
In confusion, Sam resorts to Jamie's father, who informs her about an
incident involving Edna. he reveals that Jamie and Edna played hide-and-seek, the last he visited.
However, Edna mistakenly locked Jamie in his hiding spot, and left him there for hours,
forgetting that she had played a game with him. The father came over when Jamie didn't return,
and he could hear his screams from upstairs. When he found Jamie, he had paint underneath
his fingernails from scratching the door, and they've kept their distance since then.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Kay follows her mother to the garden after seeing her through
the windows. She finds her in the woods, ripping pages from the photo album and eating them.
Kay intervenes and tries to stop her from eating; but Edna bites her fingers and storms off.
Kay still follows her, and finds her digging the soil with her bare hands to bury the photo
album, claiming it will be safer there. Fearing that something may come to get her, Edna breaks
down into tears; and out of guilt, Kay offers to take care of her, to which she agrees.
Meanwhile, Sam returns to the house, where she discovers a hidden passageway to another
part of the place. Her curiosity gets the best of her, so she enters to investigate; but she
becomes lost as the corridors begin to loop. At that same time, the two return to the house.
Disoriented and hysterical, Sam resorts to screaming while banging on the walls. Meanwhile,
Edna's condition worsens, and now she glares at Kay with mistrustful eyes. She refuses to eat and
wets herself; so Kay immediately takes her to the bathroom, and lets her clean herself.
She goes downstairs to clean up her mother's mess, when she notices that the urine's stained black.
As Edna sits in the bathtub, she begins to scratch what once was her bruise.
it is now rotting black flesh that has spread across her frontal body. Kay repeatedly bangs on
the bathroom door while calling out to her mother, who remains seated as the water overflows.
Suddenly, Edna opens the door and leaves Kay worried and confused,
as her chest is bleeding from stabbing herself with the wax carver. Meanwhile,
Sam travels deeper into the corridors, sloping slower, forcing her to crawl.
Eventually, Sam escapes the loop corridors by knocking holes through the molding walls.
However, she remains behind the walls. Kay turns off the faucet; but it's too late
as the water reacts with an electric heater, causing the house's power to go out. She takes
a candle with her to look for her mother; and to her horror, she finds her picking at her rotting
face with the wax carver. Kay runs away from her mother after witnessing her stab herself,
and walk with a mysterious broken left leg. Not long after, Sam and Kay reunite, and they both
run away from a now crazed Edna that's chasing them. Kay forcefully knocks on a molding wall,
while Sam witnesses her grandma crawl at her, now disfigured and physically contorted.
Kay immediately lets Sam escape first while she beats her mother. After that, Sam pulls out her
mother from the hole; but a now wheezing and decaying Edna crawls out too, and chases them.
Kay pushes her off, and repeatedly beats her with a metal pipe. Edna gestures toward a post-it note
on the floor with her remaining strength, labeled "I am loved," and she smiles.
Kay ignores her and walks away. but when she reaches the door and notices that the black
mold-like substance has disappeared from the relic, she realizes something. She returns to
her corpse-like mother, and carries her upstairs to her bed, where she peels off Edna's last
remnants of hair and flesh, revealing her true form, a withered rotting corpse.
Edna's form is just like the one Kay had in her dream, and that corpse was her great grandfather,
who was neglected of care and mistreated by Edna for a long time, and was found too late in the old
shack. As she hugs her mother, Kay realizes that it's not something sinister disturbing
their family; it's the infection of neglecting a loved one. The relic from the old shack that was
transferred, infected the house and Edna. Sam then comes in; and they both lay down on
the bed with Edna, until she peacefully falls asleep and presumably dies. The film ends with
Sam noticing a tiny black bruise on the nape of Kay's neck, resembling Edna's old bruise,
indicating that Kay will suffer the same fate as her mother in time.
This's Daniel cc movie channel! Stay safe and enjoy your day!